Predictions of Wake and Central Mixing Region of Double Horizontal Axis Tidal Turbine

Abstract

Predicting the velocity distribution of double horizontal axis tidal turbines (DHATTs) is significant for the effective development of tidal streams. This current research gives an account on double turbine wake theory and flow structure of DHATT connected to single support by using the joint axial momentum theory and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Characteristics of single turbine wake were previously studied with two theoretical equations predicting the initial upstream velocity closer to the turbine, and it's lateral distributions along the downstream of the turbine. This current works agreed with the previous wake equations, which was used for predicting the velocity region along the downstream of the turbines. Flow field separating the two turbines is complicated in nature due to the indirect disturbance of turbines and no report was found on this central region. The Central region in the downstream flow is initially suppressed due to the blockage effects with a high velocity close to the free stream. Lateral expansion of two turbine wakes penetrated the central region with velocity reduction and followed by the flow recovery further downstream. This work provides more understandings of the wake and its central mixing region for double turbines with a proposed theoretical model.