Design and Optimization of a Horizontal Axis Marine Current Turbine

As fossil fuels near depletion and their detrimental side effects become prominent on ecosystems, the world searches for renewable sources of energy. Marine current energy is an emerging and promising renewable energy resource. At the heart of the horizontal axis marine current turbines (HAMCT) are carefully designed hydrofoil sections and optimized blade twist and chord distribution. While there is growing needs to have hydrofoils that provide good hydrodynamic and structural performance, the hydrofoils also have to avoid cavitation due to high suction pressures. This study focuses on designing efficient hydrofoils - HM05XX series; this series has very good hydrodynamic properties and also these sections are thick enough to provide structural strength to the blades. The HM05XX series hydrofoils were used to design and optimize HAMCT. The designed HAMCT has rated operating speed of 1.5 m/s, cut in speed of 0.5 m/s and cut-off speed of 3 m/s. The turbine was optimized using HARP-Opt (Horizontal axis rotor optimization) code that utilizes a multiple objective genetic algorithm and blade-element momentum (BEM) theory flow model to design horizontal-axis wind and hydrokinetic turbine rotors