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Design and optimization for strength and integrity of tidal turbine rotor blades

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  • Liu, Pengfei
  • Veitch, Brian

Abstract

Tidal turbine rotor blade fractures and failures have resulted in substantial damage and hence cost of repair and recovery. The present work presents a rotor blade design and optimization method to address the blade structural strength design problem. The generic procedure is applicable to both turbine rotors and propellers. The optimization method seeks an optimum blade thickness distribution across the span with a prescribed constant safety factor for all the blade sections. This optimization procedure serves two purposes: while maintaining the required structural strength and integrity for an ultimate inflow speed, it aims to reduce the material to a minimum and to maintain power generation efficiency or improve the hydrodynamic efficiency. The value of the chosen minimum safety factor depends on the actual working conditions of the turbine in which the sectional peak loading and frequency are used: the harsher the environment, the larger the required safety factor. An engineering software tool with both hydrodynamic and structural capabilities was required to predict the instantaneous loading acting on all the blade sections, as well as the strength of a local blade section with a given blade geometry and chosen material. A time-domain, 3D unsteady panel method was then implemented based on a marine propeller software tool and used to perform the optimization. A 3-blade 20-m tidal turbine that was prototyped in parallel with the current work for the Bay of Fundy was used as an example for optimization. The optimum thickness distribution for a required safety factor at the ultimate possible inflow speed resulted in 37.6% saving in blade material. The blade thickness and distribution as a function of a maximum inflow speed of 6 m/s is also presented. The blade material used in the example was taken as nickel–aluminium–bronze (NAB) but the procedure was developed to be applicable to propeller or turbine blades of basically any material.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Pengfei & Veitch, Brian, 2012. "Design and optimization for strength and integrity of tidal turbine rotor blades," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 393-404.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:46:y:2012:i:1:p:393-404
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2012.08.011
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    1. Bahaj, A.S. & Molland, A.F. & Chaplin, J.R. & Batten, W.M.J., 2007. "Power and thrust measurements of marine current turbines under various hydrodynamic flow conditions in a cavitation tunnel and a towing tank," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 407-426.
    2. Liu, Pengfei, 2010. "A computational hydrodynamics method for horizontal axis turbine – Panel method modeling migration from propulsion to turbine energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 2843-2851.
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    1. Thiébaut, Maxime & Filipot, Jean-François & Maisondieu, Christophe & Damblans, Guillaume & Duarte, Rui & Droniou, Eloi & Chaplain, Nicolas & Guillou, Sylvain, 2020. "A comprehensive assessment of turbulence at a tidal-stream energy site influenced by wind-generated ocean waves," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
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    6. Milne, I.A. & Day, A.H. & Sharma, R.N. & Flay, R.G.J., 2015. "Blade loading on tidal turbines for uniform unsteady flow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 338-350.
    7. Calero Quesada, María Concepción & García Lafuente, Jesús & Sánchez Garrido, José Carlos & Sammartino, Simone & Delgado, Javier, 2014. "Energy of marine currents in the Strait of Gibraltar and its potential as a renewable energy resource," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 98-109.
    8. Lam, Raymond & Dubon, Sergio Lopez & Sellar, Brian & Vogel, Christopher & Davey, Thomas & Steynor, Jeffrey, 2023. "Temporal and spatial characterisation of tidal blade load variation for structural fatigue testing," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 665-678.
    9. Liu, Pengfei & Bose, Neil & Chen, Keqiang & Xu, Yiyi, 2018. "Development and optimization of dual-mode propellers for renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 566-576.
    10. Zeiner-Gundersen, Dag Herman, 2015. "A novel flexible foil vertical axis turbine for river, ocean, and tidal applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 60-66.
    11. Li, Wei & Zhou, Hongbin & Liu, Hongwei & Lin, Yonggang & Xu, Quankun, 2016. "Review on the blade design technologies of tidal current turbine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 414-422.
    12. Liu, Penfei & Bose, Neil & Frost, Rowan & Macfarlane, Gregor & Lilienthal, Tim & Penesis, Irene & Windsor, Fraser & Thomas, Giles, 2014. "Model testing of a series of bi-directional tidal turbine rotors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 397-410.
    13. Zhang, Jisheng & Liu, Siyuan & Guo, Yakun & Sun, Ke & Guan, Dawei, 2022. "Performance of a bidirectional horizontal-axis tidal turbine with passive flow control devices," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 997-1008.
    14. Lam, Wei-Haur & Bhatia, Aalisha, 2013. "Folding tidal turbine as an innovative concept toward the new era of turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 463-473.
    15. Murray, Robynne E. & Ordonez-Sanchez, Stephanie & Porter, Kate E. & Doman, Darrel A. & Pegg, Michael J. & Johnstone, Cameron M., 2018. "Towing tank testing of passively adaptive composite tidal turbine blades and comparison to design tool," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 202-214.
    16. Milne, I.A. & Day, A.H. & Sharma, R.N. & Flay, R.G.J., 2016. "The characterisation of the hydrodynamic loads on tidal turbines due to turbulence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 851-864.
    17. Attukur Nandagopal, Rajaram & Narasimalu, Srikanth, 2020. "Multi-objective optimization of hydrofoil geometry used in horizontal axis tidal turbine blade designed for operation in tropical conditions of South East Asia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 166-180.

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