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International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering (IJAME)

ISSN: 2229-8648 (Print); ISSN: 2180-1606 (Online); Volume 6, pp. 723-730, July-December 2012
Universiti Malaysia Pahang

723

OPTIMIZING THE SHAPE OF ROTOR BLADES FOR MAXIMUM
POWER EXTRACTION IN MARINE CURRENT TURBINES

J.A. Esfahani and H.R. Karbasian

Center of Excellence on Modeling and Control Systems (CEMCS) & Mechanical
Engineering Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 91775-1111, Iran
Phone: (+98) 915-1344361, Fax: (+98) 511-77240488
Email: abolfazl@um.ac.ir, hamid.karbasian@gmail.com


ABSTRACT

In this paper the shape of rotor blades in Marine Current Turbines (MCTs) are
investigated. The evaluation of hydrodynamic loads on blades is performed base on the
Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory. According to main parameters in
configurations and operations of these devices the shape of blades are optimized. The
optimization is conducted based on the ability of blades to harness the maximum energy
during operation conditions. The main parameters investigated here are tip speed ratio
and angle of attack. Furthermore, the influence of these considered parameters on the
maximum energy extraction from fluid flow over hydrofoil are evaluated. It is shown
the effect of angle of attack on power extraction is more than that of tip speed ratio,
while both of them are found to be noticeable. Additionally, the proper angle of attack is
the angle at which the lift to drag ratio is maximum value. However, if a proper angle of
attack is chosen, the variations of power coefficient would not be effectively changed
with small variations on tip speed ratio.

Keywords: Marine current turbine (MCT), Hydrodynamics, Tidal current flows,
Renewable energy, Optimization.

INTRODUCTION

Marine currents are formed from tidal movements and ocean circulations, while the
differences in temperature or salinity levels may affect the local currents (Chakrabarti
and Subrata, 2005). Kinetic energy contained within marine currents can be harnessed
using various technologies. The physics is similar to that of wind energy (Rourke et al.,
2009), where the power available at any site is proportional to the fluid density and cube
of its velocity (Twidell and Weir, 2006; Lee et al., 2009). The biggest difference
between wind and marine current resources is density of working fluid (Bryden et al.,
2004) and therefore, the power output of Marine Current Energy Devices (MCEDs) is
more than wind turbines with similar dimensions and operation conditions (Hwang,
2009). One of devices that can be used to capture energy from tidal currents is Marine
Current Turbines (MCTs); consist of a number of blades connected to a support hub
which rotate around horizontal axis. For instance, Figure 1 shows the schematic of a
full-span pitch control SeaFlow turbine, with a single 11 m-diameter rotor mounted on a
steel tubular pile (Lundin and Leijon, 2010). This type of marine current device is
designed for slow velocity marine currents. Its pitch control system is conducted to
control of angle of attack in different tip speed ratios. Furthermore, the stability of this


Optimizing the shape of rotor blades for maximum power extraction in marine current turbines
724

device against marine storms is appreciable and it can produce electricity even in hard
atmospheric conditions.



Figure 1.Schematic of Marine Current Turbine Ltd. (MCT) SeaFlow project in
Lynmouth, Devon, UK (Lundin and Leijon, 2010)

Many investigations have been done to design of horizontal MCTs which can
operate in the good conditions. Configurations of these turbines depend on the
hydrodynamic forces generated by fluid flow over hydrofoil-shaped blades to generate
electricity (Bryden et al., 1998). However, there is no overall agreement in the optimum
shape or form of these devices (Bryden and Couch, 2006 and Schonborn and
Chantzidakis, 2007). The main objective of this study is to investigate on optimization
of hydrofoil-shaped blades which can harness the maximum energy from fluid flow.
The considered parameters in this study are tip speed ratio (TSR) and hydrofoils angle
of attack (AOA). According to these key parameters the proper shape of blade (chord
profile along with the span of blade) is developed. Furthermore, the sensitivity of each
given parameters on the maximum extracted energy is evaluated.

PHYSICAL MODEL

Figure 2 displays a schematic of MCT used to extract energy from tidal current flows.
The root of blade (ROB) is where the blade is fixed to hub, which is rotating the shaft.
Tip of blade (TOB) is the end part of blade and distance from ROB to TOB is called as
radius of turbine, R. the blade is divided on small elements, at which the chord and span
of each element in defined as c(r) and dr, respectively. The distance form ROB to
element of dr is called as blade local radius and defined as r.


Esfahani and Karbasian /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 723-730
725




Figure 2. Schematic of Marine Current Turbine (MCT) and preliminary concept of
BEM

The performance of MCT is evaluated based on the Blade Element Momentum
(BEM) theory. The BEM theory is based on the Glauert propeller theory (Glauert,
1926), modified for application to wind turbines. In recent years the BEM theory has
been optimized and modified to provide increasingly accurate results. The force is
acting on blade and is parallel to direction of rotation leads to produce power, P
y
, which
rotates the shaft connected to generator. P
y
is defined as follow:

P

=
1
2
pu
0
3
_ c( r)
1
z[ z
2
+ ( 1 -o)
2
] Jr
R
0

(1)
where , a, U
0
, C
L
, C
D
are water density, axial induction factor, free stream velocity, lift
and drag coefficients of hydrofoil, respectively.
1
is defined as:

1
= C
L
c o s ( t a n
-1
z) -C

s i n ( t a n
-1
z) (2)

where is also local velocity ratio and is defined as follows:

z = r/ [ u
0
( 1 -o) ] (3)

where is angular velocity of shaft. Additionally, tip speed ratio (TSR) is given by
following relation:
ISR = R/ u
0
(4)
The total power available in water flow through extraction area is given by
following relation:
P
t
=
1
2
pu
0
3
( nR
2
)
(5)

The power coefficient, C
p
, is defined as ratio of kinetic power (transferred to
shaft) to total power available:


Optimizing the shape of rotor blades for maximum power extraction in marine current turbines
726

C
P
=
1
nR
2
_ c( r)
1
z[ z
2
+ ( 1 - o)
2
] Jr
R
0

(6)

The axial induction factor can be predicted by procedure explained by
Lanzafame and Messina (2010). In Eq. (6) all parameters are given except the chord
profile of blade (shape of blade). To determine the maximum power extracted by
MCTs, the chord profile has notable influence on the optimization. To Figure out the
proper chord profile it is assumed that the total power available in water flow can be
captured by hydrofoil. Thus it can be written as follows:

0 c( r)
2 nr
[ z
2
+ ( 1 - o)
2
] (
1
z +
2
)

(7)
where,

2
= C
L
s i n ( t a n
-1
z) + C

c o s ( t a n
-1
z) (8)

According to assumption in Eq. (7) the chord function is limited between zero
and other parameter. The maximum chord function can capture the total power available
in water flow, but this assumption can only help to find out the proper shape of blades,
while the Betz limit is always appreciable in power extracted by MCTs.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this study the shape of blades employed in MCTs are designed based on the
maximum energy extraction from current flows. For investigations, NACA 63-215
hydrofoil is specified and length of each blade (radius of turbine) is chosen as 3.5 m.
The free stream velocity is also specified as 0.5 m/s. Figure 3 shows the lift and drag
coefficients of NACA 63-215 with Angle of attack. These coefficients are
experimentally determined and reported by Bertagnolio et al. (2001). The angle of
attack is one of key parameters investigated in this study and the importance of this
parameter can be referred to lift to drag ratio. The lift to drag ratio determines the
quantity of generated and loss power in operation conditions and has a great influence
on performance of MCTs.




Figure 3. Experimentally lift and drag coefficients for NACA 63-215 to be reported by
Bertagnolio et al. (2001)



Esfahani and Karbasian /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 723-730
727

Figure 4 displays the optimized shaped of blades in different angles of attack and
TSR=6. In Figure 4(a) the angle of attack is specified as 5. In this angle the chord
profile along with the length of blade is thick and has a relative sharp edge at ROB. In
Figure 4(b) the angle of attack is defined as 10 and chord profile is thinner than that of
Figure 4(a). In Figure 4(c) the angle of attack is defined as 15. At the end of blade
(TOB) the chord profile is fairly thicker than that of Figure 4(b), but at the ROB the
sharp edge is vanished and variations of chord section through the length of blade
become moderate.



Figure 4. Optimized shape of blade in different angles of attack (AOA=5, 10 and 15)
and TSR=6

Figure 5 shows the optimized shape of blades in TSR of 4 and three different
angles of attack. In Figure 5(a) the angle of attack is kept on 5. Thus, the variations of
chord profile through the length of blade are much and at ROB the variations become
thicker. In Figure 5(b) the variations of chord at angle of attack of 10 are more
moderate than that of blade with angle of attack of 5. In Figure 5(c) the angle of attack
is 15 and all sharp variations at ROB and through the length of blade become more
moderate. The conclusions can be drawn from Figure 4 and 5 are that the shape of blade
can be influenced by tip speed ratio and angle of attack (lift to drag ratio). It is shown
that the increasing tip speed ratio causes the optimized shape of chord profile along with
the length of blade becomes thinner. Furthermore, if angle of attack is kept as a constant
value through the length of blade the chord is thicker at ROB and becomes thinner at
TOB. At ROB the sharp edge of blade is originated from the effect of foils drag
coefficient. When drag coefficient of hydrofoil is increased by some manipulations in
angle of attack, this sharp edge would be vanished and the changes of chord profile
would be more moderate. Furthermore, the lift coefficient of hydrofoil caused the
changes of chord profile become less, while the overall chord profile is thinner through
the length of blade.


Optimizing the shape of rotor blades for maximum power extraction in marine current turbines
728



Figure 5. Optimized shape of blade in different angles of attack (AOA=5, 10 and 15)
and TSR=4

Figure 6 shows the variations of partial power coefficient through the length of
blade. For simplicity, the length of blade is presented as a non-dimensional parameter,
r/R, and is defined as ratio of blade local radius to radius of turbine (R). In Figure 6 the
maximum power can be captured in each section of blade is presented at two different
angles of attack and tip speed ratios. As seen from Figure 6, at the constant angle of
attack, increasing the tip speed ratio from 4 to 6 decreases the overall power coefficient.
At ROB the power coefficient for TSR=6 is more than that for TSR=4. But through the
length of blade and reaching to TOB the power coefficient for TSR=6 becomes less than
that for TSR=4. Furthermore, at the constant Tip speed ratio, the power coefficient for
AOA=10 is more than that of AOA=15. This reason is originated from the effect of
lift to drag ratio. For NACA 63-215 the lift to drag ratio is around 50 and 10 at
AOA=10 and AOA=15, respectively. As seen from these ratios, blade at AOA=10,
which has more lift to drag ratio, extract more energy from current flows rather than
blade at AOA=15. However, it is demonstrated that at AOA=10 (or angle of attack at
which the lift to drag ratio is maximum) the effect of tip speed ratio on the power
coefficient is insignificant. In the other word, increasing the tip speed ratio causes the
reduction of power coefficient to be negligible.

Consequently, the effect of tip speed ratio and angle of attack on performance of
MCTs is briefly investigated and based on the results obtained with evaluation of
hydrodynamic loads acting on MCT the best shape in optimum range of operation is
specified. As the results, Figure 7 displays three dimensional shape of blade which can
be used in different tip speed ratios and AOA=10. This blade is designed based on the
maximum lift to drag ratio beyond the static stall region. As the hydrofoil is extruded
from ROB to TOB, each element of hydrofoil is regularly twisted, so that the angle of
attack is remained constant through the length of blade.



Esfahani and Karbasian /International Journal of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering 6(2012) 723-730
729



Figure 6. Partial power coefficient for each section of blade at two different angles of
attack (AOA=10 and 15) and tip speed ratios (TSR=4 and 6)




Figure 7. Three dimensional optimized shape of blade for MCTs in optimum range of
operation

CONCLUSION

Hydrodynamics of blades in MCTs are investigated based on the Blade Element
momentum (BEM) theory. NACA 63-215 hydrofoil is specified for simulation of
performance. The angle of attack and tip speed ratio are evaluated as key parameters in
MCTs. These parameters are given value, but shape of blade (or chord profile) is
unknown parameter and must be determined. To determine the appropriate shape of
blade, the optimization of MCTs with horizontal axis is considered. According to the
maximum energy extracted by each section of blade the chord profile is obtained. It is
shown that the shape of blades is strongly influenced by angle of attack and tip speed
ratio, while the influence of tip speed ratio would be insignificant at the higher lift to
drag ratios. Additionally, it is demonstrated when lift to drag ratio is maximum value,


Optimizing the shape of rotor blades for maximum power extraction in marine current turbines
730

the effect of tip speed ratio on shape of blade would be insignificant. Thus, the chord
profile extruded thought the span of blades must be design with the maximum lift to
drag ratio at each section of blades.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Ferdowsi
University of Mashhad, under Grant No 22752.

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