Experimental analysis of the ow eld around horizontal axis tidal turbines

by use of scale mesh disk rotor simulators

L.E. Myers
n,1
, A.S. Bahaj
Sustainable Energy Research Group, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO171BJ, UK
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 10 June 2009
Accepted 17 November 2009
Available online 24 November 2009
Keywords:
Marine current turbine
Wake
Flow eld
ADV
a b s t r a c t
Understanding the ow eld around horizontal axis marine current turbines is important if this new
energy generation technology is to advance. The aim of this work is to identify and provide an
understanding of the principal parameters that govern the downstream wake structure and its recovery
to the free-stream velocity prole. This will allow large farms or arrays of devices to be installed whilst
maximising device and array efciency. Wake characteristics of small-scale mesh disk rotor simulators
have been measured in a 21 m tilting ume at the University of Southampton. The results indicate that
wake velocities are reduced in the near wake region (close behind the rotor disk) for increasing levels of
disk thrust. Further downstream all normalised wake velocity values converge, enforcing that, as for
wind turbines, far wake recovery is a function of the ambient ow turbulence. Varying the disk
proximity to the water surface/bed introduces differential mass ow rates above and below the rotor
disk that can cause the wake to persist much further downstream. Finally, the introduction of increased
sea bed roughness whilst increasing the depth-averaged ambient turbulence actually decreases
downstream wake velocities. Results presented demonstrate that there are a number of interdependent
variables that affect the rate of wake recovery and will have a signicant impact on the spacing of
marine current turbines within an array.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Energy extraction from marine currents is poised to make the
jump from conservative demonstrator-type devices to full-scale
prototype machines in the near future with many companies
currently working to develop devices in various forms that can tap
the large marine current energy resource around the world. This
energy tends to be concentrated at relatively compact sites where
tidal ows are spatially constrained such as between islands,
around headlands or estuarine-type inlets (Garrett and Cummins,
2004; Carbon Trust, 2005). If MCEC technology is to achieve
electricity generation on any appreciable scale it will have to be
installed in farms or arrays (see Fig. 1).
Marine currents have many favourable characteristics that
lend themselves to electricity generation, particularly over other
renewable energy technologies. Tidal cycles are predictable with a
time-varying ow speed and direction, which is benecial for
control of the electrical grid as generation can be accurately
forecast ahead of time (Clarke et al., 2006). Many sites with strong
tidal ows have bi-directional ow characteristics that could lead
to more compact array or farm layouts compared with similar
technologies such as wind. Peak ow speeds can exceed 810
knots (45 m/s) and when coupled with the high density of sea
water result in large amounts of energy concentrated into what
are relatively small areas (Myers and Bahaj, 2005; Blunden and
Bahaj, 2007). However, marine current energy conversion is an
emerging technology that whilst being able to benet from some
technology transfer from similar applications (such as wind
energy) holds some unique problems that have yet to be
addressed.
The downstream ow eld is of importance when determining
inter-device spacing and layout of an array. Fluid passing through
a horizontal axis MCEC experiences a reduction in velocity across
the rotor plane. Downstream of the rotor this region of uid
moves at a lower velocity than the free stream uid (that passed
around the rotor) and hence must expand in order to conserve
momentum. This takes the form of a gradually expanding cone-
shaped region downstream of the rotor, commonly known as the
wake. Turbulent mixing in the boundary region between the wake
and the faster moving free stream uid serves to re-energise the
wake, breaking it up and increasing the velocity. At a distance far
downstream the wake will have almost completely dissipated and
the ow eld will closely resemble that which existed upstream
of the rotor disk. Variables that may inuence the wake structure
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng
Ocean Engineering
0029-8018/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2009.11.004
Abbreviations: ADV, acoustic Doppler velocimeter; MCEC, marine current energy
converter
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 238059 3940; fax: +44 238067 7519.
E-mail addresses: L.E.Myers@soton.ac.uk, luke@soton.ac.uk (L.E. Myers).
1
www.energy.soton.ac.uk
Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227
ARTICLE IN PRESS
for a single rotor disk include the momentum drop across the
rotor disk (rotor thrust), ambient and device generated turbu-
lence, proximity to seabed/water surface and the nature of the
vertical velocity prole. The length, width and persistence of the
wake created by an MCEC will be most important for inter-device
spacing within an array. Devices spaced too closely will suffer a
decrease in performance whilst spacing devices too far apart will
lead to a sub-optimal use of surface area within the region of
strong tidal ow. First-generation tidal energy devices are
expected to be installed relatively close to shore in water depths
of 3040 m that are suitable for conventional jack-up barges.
With expected rotor diameters of 1015 m it is clear that there is
a high vertical blockage associated with the devices in the ow.
Later generations of devices will most likely harness the stronger
and much deeper ows such as those in the Pentland Firth, where
depths can approach 100 m. Deep-water devices will require a
greater level of technical experience gained from the installation
and operation of initial device concepts.
Despite the installation of several single device prototypes in the
sea around the world there have been relatively few instances of
comprehensive spatial and temporal owmeasurement at sites with
strong tidal ows. Historically there has been little need for detailed
ow mapping of strong tidal ows; peak ow speeds and direction
are of use for shipping but such areas are generally avoided by heavy
shipping and marine civil works if possible. Thus data available tend
to be of low resolution and a number of empirical/theoretical
expressions have been developed to infer more detail.
There are a number of different models or expressions that are
used to simulate the vertical velocity prole in the sea using
surface ow speed or depth-averaged data. One early method
(UK Department of Energy, 1990) incorporated the sea bed
roughness as a variable to more accurately dene the velocity
(and associated shear prole) in the lower part of the water
column. The expression has been shown to be over-conservative
when applied to a measured ow domain (Myers and Bahaj,
2008). A later relationship was proposed (European Commission,
1996) that suggested a simple power law from the sea bed to half
depth, with the upper portion of the water column assigned a
constant velocity.
More recently some offshore survey work has been realized.
Vertical velocity proles have been measured in a few cases in UK
waters, where reasonably strong tidal streams exist. Work in the
Menai Strait in Wales (Rippeth et al., 2002) and measurements of
the inow velocity prole at a site near Lynmouth North Devon,
where a 300 kW prototype device was installed in 2003
(UK Department of Trade and Industry, 2005). More recently data
have been made available from the European Marine Energy
Centre (Norris and Droniou, 2007), where an Acoustic Doppler
Current Proler (ADCP) was installed in the Falls of Warness tidal
race in Orkney. Results showed that in waters 45 m deep,
turbulence induced by wave motion had a signicant effect on
the upper 15 m close to the water turbulence generated from the
sea bed also migrated towards the centre of the water column,
reinforcing the view that the central third of the depth is most
suitable for 1st-generation MCEC devices as it offers the most
tranquil conditions.
There is a distinct lack of ambient turbulence measurements at
sites where strong tidal ows exist. This aspect of the ow eld is
important for wake mixing at distances greater than ve rotor
diameters downstream (Ainslie, 1985). A signicant amount of
work has been conducted (Dyer, 1971, 1980; Heathershaw and
Langhorne, 1998) investigating turbulence and velocity proles
close to the seabed that serve to drive sediment transport under
strong tidal ows. However, high frequency measurements were
conned to regions close to the seabed and so are not very
pertinent for quantifying ow conditions in the region where
MCEC devices might operate.
The paucity of ow measurements at tidal sites and the
rapid development of technology highlight the very real need
to understand the formation and nature of the wake region
downstream of an MCEC. In addition, there is also a clear need
of knowledge to quantify the relative inuence of a number of
device and physical environment parameters on this volume of
ow. The experimental studies described in this paper attempt to
provide an insight into such issues. Working at medium or large
scale when investigating such a technology at basic research level
is clearly unfeasible. Therefore this work has focused on small
scale testing, which can be achieved at laboratory facilities.
Modeling horizontal axis rotors becomes impractical at very
small scale. Accurately scaling the channel ow properties whilst
maintaining rotor thrust, power and tip speed is not possible
without signicantly altering aspects of the downstream ow
eld. For instance, accurate tip speed scaling would require a
100 mm diameter model rotor to have a rotational rate in excess
of 1500 rpm in order to achieve a typical full-scale tip speed of
10 m/s. This is clearly impractical from a design point of view and
would add a great deal of swirl and induce large pressure
gradients in the wake. Since swirl and similar effects generally
dissipate a short distance downstream of the rotor it is thought
that accurate reproduction of the thrust exerted on the rotor is
of principal importance. This thrust can be provided by static
mesh disk rotor simulators that have the correct size for
appropriate hydraulic scaling of the ow properties and have
varying levels of thrust controlled through the level of porosity.
The use of mesh disk simulators will not have the same inuence
on the ow as an energy extracting rotor. The principal
differences are summarized below:
i. energy extracted from the ow is converted to small-scale
turbulence downstream of the disk as opposed to being
extracted as mechanical motion;
ii. vortices shed from the edges of the disk will differ from those
of a rotating blade;
iii. swirl angle of the ow from the mesh disk will be zero.
All the effects highlighted above have been observed in
previous studies of wind turbines as being exclusive to the
near-wake region and have little bearing on general (far) wake
recovery (Sforza et al., 1981; Connel and George, 1981). The
longitudinal limit of the near wake is dened as the point
at which the shear layer reaches the centerline turbine axis. This
is generally observed to occur within 25 rotor diameters
downstream for wind turbines (Vermeer et al., 2003). The extent
of the near wake has been shown to be of a similar magnitude for
Fig.1. Artists impression of an MCEC array.
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 219
ARTICLE IN PRESS
actuator disks replicating a tidal turbine in a shallow uid ow
(Bahaj et al., 2007). Whilst length scales and ow features shed
from a tidal turbine support structure may differ from those of
wind the fundamental issue of the far wake ow eld mixing
being driven by ambient turbulence is expected to remain. Key
differences between wind and tide include potential ow
acceleration above and below a tidal rotor and different turbulent
length scales in both the ambient and wake regions.
The structure of the near wake has little bearing on far wake
properties. In this region the rate of wake expansion and
dissipation is driven by ambient turbulence and proximity of
bounding surfaces. For wind turbines longitudinal (downwind)
spacing is in the order of 810 rotor diameters, comfortably
within the far wake region. Previous experiments conducted by
the authors (Myers et al., 2008a, 2008b) with a submerged
actuator disk demonstrated that centerline velocity decits are
still appreciable at 10 diameters downstream and that down-
stream spacing could be in the order of 1520 diameters. The
close proximity of sea bed and water surface constrains vertical
expansion of the wake and reduces ow entrainment on the
underside of the wake as demonstrated in previous studies of
tidal turbines in high blockage ratio environments (Strickland
et al., 1979). This increases the wake length for a given ambient
turbulence intensity compared with the relatively unconstrained
case for wind turbines.
Accurate representation of complex temporally and spatially
varying owof a full-scale tidal site is never going to be achievable
at small scale in a laboratory setting. Indeed it has been stated that
full scale wind turbine wake velocity decits were smaller than
wind tunnel experiments due to wake meandering caused by short
time scale direction changes in the wind reducing time-averaged
velocities downwind of the turbine (Ainslie, 1986). Another study
(Barthelmie et al., 2005) measured this direction change down-
wind of a full-scale wind turbine and highlighted the over-
estimation of wake velocity arising from a numerical model. It
remains to be seen if short term uctuations in direction will occur
at MCEC-suitable sites with strong tidal ows.
Far wake characteristics are assumed to be similar to that of
full-scale rotors due to parity between accurately scaled rotor
thrust and channel ow properties (velocity prole, ambient
turbulence, etc.). There is also evidence of previous investigations
(Builtjes, 1978; Sforza et al., 1981; Myers and Bahaj, 2008)
concerning the study of ow elds around horizontal axis rotors
using mesh disk simulators.
The overarching aim of this work is to investigate key variables
that affect the ow eld downstream of scale mesh disk rotor
simulators in a vertically constrained ow eld with vertical
blockage ratios similar to that expected for rst-generation tidal
turbines. Far wake properties (45 diameters downstream) will
be similar to an operational horizontal axis rotor and the
identication and quantication of specic trends will guide the
course of future research in this area. Work presented in this
paper describes the experimental arrangement and results of
investigation of the following parameters: varying rotor thrust,
proximity of the rotor disk to the sea bed/surface and the effect of
increasing sea bed roughness.
2. Experimental set-up
2.1. Scaling parameters
Scaling properties of an open channel can present problems at
small scale due to the relationship between both Froude and
Reynolds numbers as follows:
Fr
U

gd
p 1
Re
UL
n
2
where U is the ow velocity, g the acceleration due to gravity,
d the water depth, L the characteristic length (generally taken
as the depth for wide channels) and n the kinematic viscosity
of the uid. Linear scaling of these parameters cannot be achieved
when the model/prototype ratio becomes too small. Froude
scaling is important as there is a free surface in close proximity
to the rotor and thus gravitational effects cannot be ignored.
High Froude numbers can often occur in model systems that lead
to unsteady water surface proles; thus parity is generally
maintained between prototype and model systems. In a large
tidal channel, viscous forces dominate especially close to the
sea bed; thus Reynolds scaling is important. Channel properties
are used for this work (L represents the depth) as actuator
disks do not rotate and for horizontal axis turbines (wind and
tidal) Reynolds scaling is generally dened at the rotor blade
surface. Discrepancy in Reynolds numbers between model
and prototype is usually tolerated for the scaling of hydraulic
channels if Froude similarity is maintained and both full-scale
and model Reynolds numbers lie within the same turbulent
classication.
In terms of device scaling all physical distances are scaled in a
linear manner. The principal device scaling parameter is the
amount of thrust force exerted on the uid by the rotor. This is
generally expressed as a non-dimensionless parameter; the thrust
coefcient is given by
C
t

Thrust
0:5rU
2
0
A
d
4a1a 3
where r is the uid density, U
0
the free stream longitudinal ow
velocity, A
d
the area of the rotor and a the axial induction factor.
The axial induction factor has a peak value of 1/3; hence the
optimum value of C
t
=0.9. This equation is derived from actuator
disk theory and is commonly found in wind turbine texts (Burton
et al., 2001). It applies equally to horizontal axis MCECs, the only
difference being the uid density and typical operating ow
speeds. Thrust values for marine turbines per unit area are
approximately 50 times greater than wind turbines (at typical
operating ow speeds) and 5 times greater for typical rotor swept
areas.
2.2. Circulating ume
Experiments were conducted at the 21 m tilting ume at the
Chilworth research laboratory, University of Southampton. The
ume is a conventional gravity fed ume with a working section
21 m in length, 1.35 m width and depths up to 0.4 m. Water is
lifted from a large sump beneath the ume via 3 centrifugal
pumps that convey uid to a sump at the upstream end of the
working section. Flow rates are controlled with buttery valves on
each feeder pipe and depth can be varied with an overow
tailgate situated at the downstream end of the working section.
The vertical velocity prole in the ume is well developed (Fig. 2)
and closely resembles a modied (1/7)th power law with a more
uniform velocity close to the surface as measured at a full-scale
tidal site (Carbon Trust, 2005). Adding articial bed roughness
reduces the velocity and increases shear in the bottom third of the
water column.
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 220
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2.3. Mesh disk simulator rig
Mesh disks were constructed of varying porosity to replicate
changes in thrust force. Lower porosity disks were machined from
thin sheet PVC plastic. Porosity (ratio of open to closed area)
ranged from 0.48 to 0.35. Higher porosities were achieved by
using wire mesh disks. The diameter of all disks was 100 mm.
In order to accurately scale disk thrust coefcients from full
scale to model scale in the Chilworth ume, actual disk thrust
forces were in the order of 1 N. Disks were mounted in the ow
via a stainless steel lever arm that was mounted on a rig that
incorporated a variable point pivot arrangement to mechanically
amplify the force. Measurements were taken with a regularly
calibrated 10 N button load cell mounted at the top of the rig
(Fig. 3 right), which was consistently excited to a xed voltage for
all runs. Output responses were measured over a length of time
to ascertain mean disk thrust values using a Keithley 2700
multimeter/data acquisition system with 22-bit resolution.
2.4. Flow mapping
In order to visualise the ow eld around the mesh disk rotor
simulators, a large number of point measurements were taken
within the channel. A Nortek ADV device was used for high
frequency velocity sampling. The uptake of such devices has been
swift due to affordability and ease of use. The functionality and
the general accuracy of ADV devices have been addressed
elsewhere (Lohrmann et al., 1994); Voulgaris and Trowbridge,
1998; Rusello et al., 2006; Blanckaert and Lemmin, 2006). The
Vectrino ADV used for this work incorporated advanced rmware
and was set to sample at 50 Hz with a sample volume of 0.15 cm
3
.
The inow prole was measured upstream of the disk and a
comprehensive set of downstream points were measured. Offset
distances from the disk centre-axis were expressed in terms of
disk diameters (D). Downstream measurements in the long-
itudinal axis generally extended from 3 to 20D and laterally (cross
ume) up to 4D. For all tests presented, the water depth was equal
to 0.3 m or 3D, which is the ratio for prototype and 1st generation
devices. Vertical measurement distance intervals were taken
as 0.1d where d=total water depth. Each ow map consisted of
250350 downstream point measurements depending on the
function of the experiment. Sample periods ranged from 90 to
180 s depending on the ow conditions at any particular point
(generally a function of observed turbulence intensity).
3. Data reduction and accuracy
3.1. Flow conditions and data ltering
The ow characteristics of the Chilworth ume are quite stable
considering the large volume of water in the system. Table 1
illustrates the variation in mean ow velocity at a single point
over a range of sample periods. Generally the mean ow speed
can be ascertained to within 71% over a period of 90 s. Note that
sample #10 in Table 1 can be discounted according to Chauvenets
criterion (Taylor, 1982).
Due to the high concentration of suspended solids in the
Chilworth ume, no doubt arising from being located in a hard
water area, ADV acoustic signal strengths and device correlation Fig. 2. Chilworth ume velocity prole comparison.
Fig. 3. Experimental set-up at Chilworth ume (left) and close-up of mesh disk pivot unit (right).
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 221
ARTICLE IN PRESS
scores were consistently high. The correlation coefcient (R
2
) can
be expressed in terms of the dimensionless spectral width (f
r
):
R
2
e
2p
2
f
2
r
4
The dimensionless spectral width is the product of the
received signal width and the sample time interval. Higher
correlation values are commonly associated with greater mea-
surement accuracy. A value of correlation greater than 70% is
recommended by Nortek for measurement of turbulent velocities.
During experimental work typical device signal to noise (SNR)
ratios were above 22 and correlation 490%. However these are
not denitive measurements of sample accuracy and can be used
only as a crude guide for ADV performance. This is illustrated in
Fig. 4, where the correlation scores of U-direction velocity of a
3-min sample taken in low turbulence ow is presented. It can be
seen that whilst ltering out data with correlation scores 490%
removes the largest velocity spikes other data values that might
be removed using other ltering methods are missed. Sample size
is reduced by 27% in this example for lter criteria of correlation
490%; thus an amount of good quality data is lost.
In general ADV data sets were composed of good quality
samples. Flow downstreamof the disks contained no entrained air
within the water column and turbulence levels were not
excessive with any instances of large eddies or reversing ows.
The most adverse measurements occurred when the ADV suffered
reection errors. The down-looking or vertical ADV probe can
suffer from a number of weak or dead spots. This occurs when a
sound pulse has been emitted, reected and is returning to the
probe when it intercepts the following emitted pulse within
the sample volume. This event depends primarily on the height of
the measurement volume above the bed coupled to the ADV
velocity range. All experiments conducted in the Chilworth ume
measurements close to 90 mm above the bed often suffered from
such reection errors. The vertical extent of the weak spot
depends on the composition of the bed material and the rmware
of the ADV device (Nortek website (unpublished), 2006).
Measurements taken in such weak spots were characterised by
greater energy levels (than regions of ow immediately adjacent
to the sample volume) and increased data spiking was prevalent.
A velocity cross-correlation lter was applied to such data sets
(Cea et al., 2007). This method applies the lter and removes all
erroneous data before replacement data such as those from a
tailored algorithm does not re-introduce data spikes. Other lter
methods are available and a simple minimum/maximum lter
was generally applied to most data sets where a smaller number
of spikes were present. Fig. 5 shows raw data at one of the sample
points taken where ADV reection errors occurred. Data are
presented in velocity correlation space. As with the phase-space
lter (Goring and Nikora, 2002) good quality data are assumed to
lie within the bounds of an ellipsoid. In many instances dead spots
were identied from the ADV velocity trace and the probe
submersion depth adjusted to avoid this phenomenon.
3.2. Data presentation
Horizontal axis rotor wake recovery can be dened in terms of
velocity decit, which is a non-dimensional number relative to
the free-stream ow speed at hub height (U
0
) and the wake
velocity (U
W
):
U
deficit
1
U
W
U
0
5
Turbulence intensity is commonly dened as
I
s
U
6
where s is the root-mean square of the turbulent velocity
uctuations and U the mean velocity. Contour plots of turbulence
levels and mean velocity illustrate a vertical slice of the mesh disk
and associated ow eld running down the centre plane of
the ume as shown in the left part of Fig. 6. Line graphs show the
centreline data running in a downstream direction along the
centreline of the disk and ume as shown in the right of Fig. 6.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Varying disk thrust
The value of MCEC rotor disk thrust and hence thrust
coefcient (C
t
) will vary over the range of operational inow
speeds in a similar manner to wind turbines. Whilst an optimum
value of C
t
will be close to 0.9 (according to momentum theory)
there will be periods of ow speed less or greater than the rated
ow speed of the MCEC device, where values of C
t
might be lower
than the value of 0.9.Thus it is clear that MCEC devices may
operate over a range of C
t
during standard operation.
Fig. 7 shows some of the centre plane velocity decit proles
from a set of experiments with varying disk thrust. The near wake
region o5 diameters downstream is most affected with stronger
initial decits occurring for greater disk thrust. However, beyond
7 diameters downstreamthe velocity decits are broadly identical
for all disks tested.
Table 1
U-component velocity variation in Chilworth ume.
Sample
number
Sample
duration (s)
Mean U-component
velocity (m/s)
Difference from 600-s
sample (%)
1 90 0.2472 0.63
2 90 0.2516 1.16
3 90 0.2497 0.38
4 90 0.2502 0.60
5 90 0.2488 0.04
6 90 0.2506 0.75
7 90 0.2504 0.66
8 90 0.2517 1.21
9 90 0.2498 0.45
10 90 0.2430 2.31
11 300 0.2478 0.36
12 600 0.2487 0.00
Fig. 4. ADV correlation values for a typical 180-s sample.
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 222
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Fig. 8 shows centreline data that reinforce this observation.
Initial velocity decits close to the disk are not a true function of
disk porosity as one might expect. Hole size and frequency also
inuence thrust characteristics. This was assumed to be due to
increasing orice type losses associated with reducing hole
diameter. Thus for disks with equal porosity, smaller and more
numerous holes would result in a higher disk thrust than a disk
with fewer larger holes. Ambient turbulence has a signicant
effect on wake mixing and recovery in the far wake region and so
the convergence of the velocity decit proles for varying disk
thrust is somewhat expected. At distances greater than 10
diameters downstream all velocity decit proles are virtually
identical as the effects of varying thrust coefcient, which
primarily increase the initial momentum drop across the disk,
Fig. 5. Raw velocity data shown in velocity correlation space. Sample subject to beam reection error.
Fig. 6. Regions of ow mapped in the Results section of this report. Centre plane vertical slice (left) and centreline (right).
Fig. 7. Centre plane velocity decits for varying rotor disk thrust coefcient. C
t
=0.61 (top), 0.86 (centre) and 0.94 (bottom).
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 223
ARTICLE IN PRESS
have dissipated. It is expected that a reduction in velocity of 10%
or less would most likely be tolerated for placing an MCEC
downstream of another device. As the kinetic energy ux is
proportional to the cube of velocity this would still yield a
reasonable reduction in power output for a downstream device.
From these results it would seem unlikely that longitudinal
spacing of MCEC devices will be much less than 10 diameters
(possibly 15) unless downstream devices are offset laterally from
those operating upstream. Access for installation and
maintenance vessels may also drive MCEC device layout within
an array precluding tighter spacing. A further area worthy of
consideration is the differing amounts of turbulence added to the
near wake region by the MCEC device structure. With a wide
range of prototype forms presently in development, predicting the
ow eld in the near wake may prove quite difcult. The support
stem used for the mesh disk experiments in this work was
deliberately made as narrow as possible to minimise any added
turbulence in the near wake and to isolate the disk/ow
properties as the principal experimental variables.
4.2. Proximity to bounding surfaces
There are a number of device concepts for harnessing energy
from marine currents. Whilst the use of a horizontal axis rotor is
emerging as the most common form of prime mover the means of
supporting the rotor structure varies considerably. This gives rise
to devices potentially operating at various points down through
the water column. Fig. 9 shows the effect of variation of the
vertical position of the disk in the water column. There is a
signicant increase in wake velocity decit when the disk is
placed within close proximity of the bed. Fig. 10 reinforces this
observation, showing greater centerline velocity decit for the
lowest disk position persisting far downstream.
Observation of Reynolds stresses with increasing downstream
distance (Fig. 11) for the deeper disk immersion highlights the
lack of vertical symmetry that can result for a disk in a vertically
constrained ow. This gradually dissipates with downstream
distance until at 20D downstream the shear stress prole
approaches that of the inow condition, where the Reynolds
stress is more constant with depth. This observed lack of vertical
symmetry for mean velocity and higher order ow characteristics
effect has implications for numerical simulation of the ow eld
downstream of MCECs (Myers et al., 2008a, 2008b). A more in-
depth approach for modeling the ow eld will be required,
removing the assumption that the wake is axi-symmetric at all
distances downstream (Fig. 12).
Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) energy can be expressed as
TKE
1
2
u
02
v
02
w
02

7
The term is actually expressed per unit mass of uid, where u
0
is the varying component of the ow equal to the instantaneous
velocity minus the mean velocity. The over bar denotes the
time-averaged parameter.
For the deep immersion disk (centred at 0.33d) a normalised
representation of the TKE reveals no ow acceleration beneath the
disk and a much higher mass ow rate above the disk. This would
suggest that the mean pressure difference between the disk and
bed reduces inversely with distance and that there is very little
mass ow; hence ow re-energisation occurs beneath the disk Fig. 8. Centreline velocity decits for varying disk C
t
.
Fig. 9. Centre plane velocity decits for varying disk submersion depths. Disk centre at 0.75d (top), 0.66d (centre) and 0.33d (bottom).
L.E. Myers, A.S. Bahaj / Ocean Engineering 37 (2010) 218227 224
ARTICLE IN PRESS
and the underside of the downstream wake. As the distance
between the disk and bed is increased there is evidence of
increased TKE levels (in excess of inow levels), which aid mixing
of the wake with free stream uid and ultimately serve to reduce
wake velocity decits downstream. Increased TKE levels beneath
the disk persist downstream for disks centred at 0.5d and 0.66d.
The increased TKE levels above the deep immersion disk serve to
prevent large vertical expansion of the wake. Fig. 9 shows the
symmetry of the wake around the centreline and the band of fast
moving ow bounding the upper part of the wake. It seems as if
reducing the disk/bed distance ultimately causes the disk to act
hydraulically as a submerged obstruction. Seabed mounted MCEC
devices may need to ensure that rotors do not sweep too close to
the slower moving uid close to the sea bed if compact array
layouts are to be realised. Second-generation devices may well be
installed in much deeper ows (relative to rotor diameter) and
hence wake expansion will be altered from the length scaling
employed in this work. Previous work by the authors has
demonstrated that wake lengths could increase in very deep
(almost unconstrained) ows [Myers et al. 2008a, 2008b)
4.3. Increasing seabed roughness
Persistence and intensity of the rotor wake should be reduced
as ambient turbulence levels increase. This has been found to be
true with measurements from wind turbines (Baker et al., 1985).
To test this hypothesis for a constrained ow articial seabed
roughness was introduced to increase the turbulence intensity in
the bed region. The bed roughness was 4 m in length (40D)
beginning far upstream of the disks to ensure that the ow regime
was stable across the region of measurement. It was found that a
new boundary layer prole was fully developed and stable 1.8 m
downstream of the leading edge of the roughened bed. Particle
roughness length was between 6.7 and 10 mm, scaled to
represent a rocky seabed that would have the greatest effect on
added turbulence in the bed region. The increased shear in the
vertical velocity prole is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 13 shows the U-
direction turbulence intensity downstream of 2 disks placed at
varying distance from the rough seabed. The band of turbulence
generated by the bed roughness can be clearly observed. It is
encouraging to note that in the absence of the disk the bed-
generated turbulence migrates approximately (1/3)rd of the total
water depth up from the bed in close agreement with
observations from the EMEC tidal berth (Norris and Droniou,
2007). With the disk located at half depth the added disk-
generated turbulence remains separated from the ambient bed
turbulence. Placing the disk closer to the bed causes these regions
to merge and persist far downstream. Increased turbulent mixing
would suggest a shortened wake but conversely the close
proximity of the bed-generated turbulence increases the wake
velocity decit downstream of the rotor disk. As with the deep-
immersed disk (with a smooth bed) the low mean velocity close
to the bed allows little mass ow beneath the disk to re-energise
the underside of the wake. Despite the large increase in
turbulence intensity in this region the downstream velocity
remains very low as shown in Fig. 14. This reduces the shear
motion (and hence rate of wake recovery) that occurs when the
ow velocity between the wake and free stream uid is larger.
Therefore the higher turbulence intensities do not enhance wake
recovery in this instance; in fact it highlights the problem of
expressing turbulence intensities at low mean ow speeds.
Fig. 15 shows the centreline downstream velocity decits. In
both cases velocity decits are greater than similar smooth-bed
experiments. The far wake velocity decit of the deeper immersed
disk is clearly greater.
Tidal energy sites with a rocky seabed may therefore be less
attractive for the installation of MCEC technology. The more
pronounced velocity shear in the lower part of the water column
Fig. 10. Centreline velocity decits for varying disk submersion.
Fig. 11. Centre plane vertical slices of Reynolds stress of a disk with increasing
downstream distance (disk vertically centred at 0.33d from bed).
Fig. 12. Centre plane vertical slices of normalised TKE at 4D downstream for disk
at varying depths.
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ARTICLE IN PRESS
will result in a slow-moving turbulent ow that will reduce wake
recovery and increase structural loading on device rotor blades.
Devices installed at sites with these characteristics should avoid
extracting energy in the lower third of the water column.
5. Conclusions
The results of studies investigating the ow eld around
100 mm diameter mesh disk rotor simulators at the University of
Southampton Chilworth hydraulics laboratory has highlighted
some interesting results that will serve to shape on-going
research in this area.
Variation in the rotor disk thrust yielded the expected result that
there is little effect on the wake structure greater than six disk
diameters downstream. In the far wake region velocity decits
converged for all values of disk thrust, reinforcing the theory that
this region of wake recovery is principally driven by turbulent
mixing of the wake with the ambient ow. For full-scale MCEC
devices it is unlikely that changes in rotor disk thrust and the effect
on the downstreamowwill be a signicant driver for array design.
Reducing the distance between disk and seabed serves to
increase the persistence of the wake. It is postulated that this is
caused by a restriction of mass ow rate beneath the disk leading
to a stagnant slow-moving region of ow on the underside of the
wake. Higher shear forces act on the upper surface of the wake as
free stream ow velocity is only slightly retarded but still the
active surface area of the wake where re-energisation can occur is
much reduced. Increasing the distance between the rotor disk and
the bed allows increased ow beneath the disk and an increase in
the centerline rate of wake recovery. Full-scale MCECs operating
close to the sea bed may therefore require more generous
longitudinal inter-device spacing if individual device yields are
not to be compromised.
Added turbulence in the form of increased sea bed roughness
acted to reduce the amount of wake mixing when the rotor disk
was in close proximity to the bed. The slow-moving highly
turbulent layer of uid generated from the roughened bed mixed
with the underside of the wake but tended to stagnate, reducing
the mixing rate between wake and free stream uid in this region.
When the disk was placed higher up in the water column,
interaction with the bed-generated turbulence was reduced and
wake velocity decits approached those of similar experiments
with a smooth bed. Thus no reduction of wake persistence could
be realised by increasing ambient turbulence in the bed region.
The increased velocity shear associated with seabed roughness
should encourage device developers to avoid ow interaction in
this region, at least in the short term.
Fig. 13. Centre plane turbulence intensity for varying disk depth over a roughened bed. Disk centre at 0.5d (top) and 0.33d (bottom).
Fig. 14. Downstream centreplane velocity for an actuator disk placed within close proximity of a roughened bed. (Disk centre at 0.33d).
Fig. 15. Centreline velocity decits for varying disk depth over an articially
roughened bed.
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ARTICLE IN PRESS
It is acknowledged that the experiments presented here cannot
replicate the turbulent ow structure that exists at real tidal
energy sites. Site variability is also expected to be large; thus
recreation at small scale is virtually impossible. The experiments
do highlight trends associated with rotor thrust, vertical constraint
and close proximity to a turbulent but slow-moving region of ow.
Also the issues surrounding ow acceleration above and below a
rotor within a vertically constrained ow have been addressed to a
degree. Longer turbulent length scales in the sea generated from
wave motion and large changes in bathymetry should serve to
reduce the persistence of the wake through greater turbulent
mixing in the wake region. Absolute wake lengths and character-
istics can be predicted only when the full-scale conditions at tidal
energy sites have been accurately quantied.
Acknowledgments
This work is part of the Department of Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform-funded project on performance characteristics
and optimisation of marine current energy converter arrays, BERR
Project number T/06/00241/00/00.
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