Intro Method Results Comp Con References

CFD Simulation of a 3-Bladed Horizontal Axis Tidal Stream Turbine using RANS and LES
J. McNaughton, I. Afgan, D.D. Apsley, S. Rolfo, T. Stallard and P.K. Stansby
Modelling and Simulation Centre, School of MACE, The University of Manchester

Oxford Tidal Energy Workshop Oxford, UK. 29 - 30 March 2012

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Overview

Introduction Methodology RANS Results RANS and LES comparison Conclusions & Further work

Intro Method Results Comp Con References

Introduction
ReDAPT (Reliable Data Acquisition Platform for Tidal): Project designed to accelerate the tidal energy industry. Aim to inspire market condence in tidal stream turbines (TST). Deployment of a full scale 1MW turbine at EMEC in the Orkneys. This work: Using Code Saturne to accurately predict loading on tidal turbines. Assess the inuence of turbulence and waves on TSTs. Current results compare Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) model and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) against those for a laboratory scale turbine.

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Introduction
Case overview

CFD modelling of experimental study of Bahaj et al. (2005). 0.4 m radius, R , turbine pulled through a towing tank. Parametric study of force coecients against tip-speed-ratio (TSR).

Photo reproduced from Bahaj et al. (2005).

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Methodology
CFD Solver

EDFs open-source CFD code, Code Saturne (Archambeau et al., 2004), is used to simulate turbulent ow past a TST. A sliding mesh method is developed in Code Saturne to allow for the TST rotation. Second order in space (central dierencing). First-order in time with t 1.5 of rotation per time-step. The k SST RANS turbulence model is used to simulate the ow. Results are also compared against an LES that is also been performed as part of this project.

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Methodology
Sliding-mesh method

Start in cell centre, I , with face-centre, F . I is projected through F to give a halo point, H . Search for, J , the nearest cell-centre to the halo-point. The face-centre value is given a Dirichlet condition with the value: 1 F = (I + H ), 2 Where: H = J + x (JH).
J

Interface

I F

H J

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Methodology
Meshing strategy

Geometry built in two parts, inner turbine and outer domain. Block-structured approach with hanging nodes to control cell-count. 2 million cells with 15 < y + < 200 at the walls. LES mesh is wall rened with 7.7 million cells.

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RANS Results
Flow-eld

Pressure iso-surfaces coloured by velocity are shown for the instantaneous ow-eld for TSR = 6. Tip eects are clearly visible in the near wake whilst the mast creates main structures further down-stream.

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RANS Results
Flow-eld

Instantaneous velocity on centre-plane shows tip-eects and inuence of mast on ow.

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RANS Results
Force coecients

Eect of blades passing the mast is clear from instantaneous force coecients. Power Spectral Density (PSD) analysis of the CP shows peaks at 3 and 6 times the blade rotation frequency (f).
0.743 0.742 0.741 0.74 0.739 0.408 0.407 0.406 0.405 0.404 7.68 7.82 7.96 CT CP

Force coefficients over one full rotation for TSR=6

Time (s)

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RANS Results
Force coecients

k SST predicts force curve against TSR although under predicted by approximately 10%. LES shows gain in precision matching experiments within 3% except for the lower values of TSR.
1.2

Bahaj et al 2005 k- - Present work k- - McSherry et al 2011 LES

0.5

0.4

CT 0.8

CP 0.3
0.2

0.6 0.1

0.4

TSR

TSR

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RANS and LES comparison

Flow structures

Iso-Q 0.5 (ij ij Sij Sij ) surfaces coloured by vorticity are shown for RANS and LES. LES maintains the tip vortices and captures structures in the wake better than RANS.

k SST

LES

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RANS and LES comparison

Pressure coecients on the blades

Mean pressure coecients are shown on the blades at quarter length locations. Both RANS and LES predict similar behaviour although LES captures larger forces on pressure and suction surfaces.

r/R = 0.25 r/R = 0.50 r/R = 0.75

r/R = 0.25 r/R = 0.50 r/R = 0.75

-CP

-CP

-1

-1

-2

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

-2

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

x/c

x/c

k SST

LES

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Conclusions & Further work

Conclusions: Sliding-mesh method successfully implemented in Code Saturne to simulate a rotating TST. Flow features are captured well by RANS and LES. RANS under predicts the force coecients whilst LES is far more accurate. Dierence in calculations is near wall modelling and higher order time-scheme used by Code Saturne for LES. Further work: Wall rened RANS simulation to compare with experiments. Assess inuence of waves on full scale MCT comparing with data from EMEC.

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Acknowledgements
This research was performed as part of the Reliable Data Acquisition Platform for Tidal (ReDAPT) project commissioned and funded by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). The authors are highly grateful to EDF for additional funding and access to its High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.

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References

Archambeau, F., Mechitoua, N., and Sakiz, M. (2004). Code Saturne: a nite volume code for the computation of turbulent incompressible ows-industrial applications. International Journal on Finite Volumes, 1(1):162. Bahaj, A. S., Batten, W. M. J., Molland, A. F., and Chaplin, J. R. (2005). Experimental investigation into the eect of rotor blade sweep on the performance of the Marine Current Turbines. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, 215(5):611622. Mcsherry, R., Grimwade, J., Jones, I., Mathias, S., Wells, A., Mateus, A., and House, E. F. (2011). 3D CFD modelling of tidal turbine performance with validation against laboratory experiments.

Intro Method Results Comp Con References

Sliding-mesh method
Implementation: Code Saturne Subroutines

Black - Unchanged. Red - Modied. Blue - New. ndha - Search for closest cell-centre to halo-point. upcoef - Updates Dirichlet values on interface.

caltri inivar tridim usclim navsto preduv resolp upcoef upcoef codits upcoef ndha usiniv

Intro Method Results Comp Con References

Sliding-mesh method
Implementation: Pressure-Velocity Loop

Code Saturne s existing pressure-velocity loop is enabled by setting NTERUP > 1. Loop used to ensure continuity over the interface. Modication to include the RANS subroutines.

tridim phyvar usclim P-V Loop navsto turb** phyvar

Intro Method Results Comp Con References

RANS and LES comparison

Comparison of numerical set-up

RANS (k SST) Time-scheme Rotation per time-step Space discretization Wall modelling Mesh size 1st order 1.5 Centred Wall-functions 2.2 million

LES 2nd order 0.05 Centred Wall rened 7.6 million