Hydrodynamic Analysis of a Horizontal Axis Marine Current Turbine With a Boundary Element Method

A low order potential based panel code is used to analyse the flow around the blades of a horizontal axis marine current turbine. An empirical vortex model is assumed for the turbine wake which includes the variation of pitch of the helicoidal vortices trailing behind the blades. The analysis is carried out for uniform inflow conditions in steady flow for a turbine with controllable pitch for two different pitch settings in a wide range of tip-speed-ratios. Grid convergence studies carried out to verify the accuracy of predicted pressure distributions and integrated forces show a fast convergence with grid refinement for this geometry. The effect of the helicoidal wake model parameters used in the analysis is found to have a strong influence in the performance curves. The results are compared with experimental data from the literature and with the lifting line theory. A discussion of viscous effects is also provided to help explaining the main discrepancies with the data.