The study on the load and flow field of a twin-rotor vertical axis tidal current turbine

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of interference effects on the load and flow field of double-rotor vertical axis tidal current turbines. Numerical simulations were conducted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The study demonstrates that interference effects result in significant changes in both the load and flow field of double-rotor turbines. Compared to single-rotor turbines, the power coefficient and force coefficient of double-rotor turbines increase by 21% and 28%, respectively. The stronger the interference effects, the more significant these differences become, as interference effects lead to an increase in flow velocity near the double-rotor turbines. As the tip speed ratio decreases and the spacing between the two rotors increases, interference effects gradually weaken, while rotor rotation direction also influences interference effects.