Abstract
This paper presents the effect of blade profile and rotor solidity on the performance of Wells turbine operating under unidirectional unsteady flow conditions. In the study, four kinds of blade profile were selected, that is, NACA0020, NACA0015, CA9, and HSIM 15-262123-1576. The experiments have been carried out for two solidities,σ= 0.48 andσ= 0.64, under sinusoidal and irregular unsteady flow conditions based on Irish waves (site2). As a result, it was found that the preferable rotor geometry is the one with blade profile of CA9 with solidityσ= 0.64. In addition, the effect of blade profile and rotor solidity on hysteretic characteristics of the turbine has been clarified experimentally and it was found to be in good agreement qualitatively when compared to numerical results (Setoguchi et al. (2003)).
Highlights
Over the last few decades, scientists have been investigating and defining different methods for power extraction from wave motion
In order to clarify the effect of blade profile on the performance of 0.6 m Wells turbine for wave energy conversion, four kinds of blade profile were selected, that is, NACA0020, NACA0015, CA9, and HSIM15
The experimental investigations have been performed for two Wells turbine solidities σ = 0.48 and σ = 0.64, operating under sinusoidal and real sea conditions
Summary
Over the last few decades, scientists have been investigating and defining different methods for power extraction from wave motion. Two different turbines are currently in use around the world for wave energy power generation, the Wells turbine, introduced by Dr A.A Wells (Raghunathan [1]) in 1976, and impulse turbine by some authors (Kim et al [2]; Setoguchi et al [3]). Both these turbines are currently in operation in different power plants in Europe, India, Japan, Korea, and so forth. The research around the world is focused on improving the performance of both these turbines under different operating conditions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
