Abstract
Oscillating water column-based Wells turbine is one of the potential possibilities for wave energy conversion. The early turbine stall caused an early performance loss, limiting the power produced and the operating range. The present work intends to boost the output power and operating range of the Wells turbine by using a tapered leading-edge micro-cylinder. This design is unique in that the micro-cylinder's diameter and its distance from the leading-edge change along the blade span. A response surface optimization technique based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to determine the optimal dimensions of the new design. Utilizing the optimal new design in the upgraded Wells turbine significantly increases power output and operating range, specifically by 78.13% and 33.33%, respectively. According to comprehensive flow analysis, the novel micro-cylinder design generates a pair of vortices that successfully reduce axial flow velocities close to the suction side across a sizable portion of the blade span. This, in turn, results in the postponement of flow separation towards the trailing edge.
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