Analysis of Wake Interaction of Savonius Tidal Turbine in Shallow Water Application

Abstract

Malaysia highly depends on non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels to supply the country's growing energy needs. On the other side, the oil and gas industry is facing challenges due to the depletion of fossil fuel supplies. Renewable energy is an alternative to fossil fuels that has been developed as a means of maintaining steady development in Malaysia. This is due to the slow average current speed in the sea around the country. Various renewable energy sources have been researched, with tidal energy garnering the most interest. This study focuses on tidal turbine array configuration for shallow water applications by using a Savonius turbine. The turbine layout is challenging to deploy the tidal array properly, and the wake interaction between the devices must be studied. The multi-row and single-row arrays have been studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The numerical research using a CFD technique is used to explore the effect of turbine spacing and capacity on the array's wake production. The vertical axis turbine is represented by a hypothetical 'actuator' cylinder and a 'Savonius' disc (VATT). Following the domain configuration, the turbine has been configured to static modes. According to the findings, the VATT model has a faster wake recovery and follows the definition of the distant wake. When working in shallow water, staggered arrays with bigger spacing are recommended since there is a lower chance of wake mixing between the rows.