Biomimetic Design of Turbine Blades for Ocean Current Power Generation

The enhancement of energy technology and innovation play a crucial role in order to meet the challenges related to global warming in the coming decades. Inspired by bird wings, the performance of a bio-inspired blade assembled to a marine turbine model, is examined. Following a biomimetic pathway, the aerodynamic performance of the bird wings of the species Common Guillemot (Uria aalge) was tested in a wind tunnel laboratory. Based on our results, we derived a bio-inspired blade model by following a laser scanning method. Lastly, the bio-inspired blades were assembled to a marine turbine model and tested in a large flow tank facility. We found efficiencies (Cp) up to 0.3 which is around 53% of the maximum power that can be expected from the turbine model according to the Betz approach. Our findings are analyzed in the discussion section as well as considerations for future research

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 193)

This bibliography lists 682 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in October 1985

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 216)

This bibliography lists 505 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in July, 1987

Load Reduction Using Rapidly Deployed Trailing-Edge Flaps

This thesis details investigations into the aerodynamic properties of a small, rapidlyactuated, actively controlled trailing-edge ap and the potential of such a device to alleviate the unsteady loading experienced by wind turbine blades due to atmospheric turbulence and the atmospheric boundary layer, although such a device would have potential applications in other elds such as rotorcraft. The main goals of this work were to investigate whether aerodynamic loadings could in fact be alleviated by the use of a small trailing-edge ap using only measurements of the unsteady lift on the wing as a control input and to assess such a device's capacity to reject atmospheric disturbances with both numerical and experimental work, carried out in the Aeronautics Department at Imperial College London. The numerical work covered in the thesis comprises the results of linear and nonlinear aerodynamic and control simulations (e.g. PID, LQG controllers) and the results of computational uid dynamics (CFD) simulations using the commercial package FLUENT. The thesis also lays out the results obtained from testing an experimental prototype in the Hydrodynamics Laboratory in the Aeronautics Department. This prototype successfully rejected intentionally introduced ow disturbances from the vortex street of a square block upstream of the wing and the application of control provided a very signi cant reduction in the unsteady loading experienced by the wing. The ndings show the potential of this method of load control for the rejection of unsteady aerodynamic loading by the sole use of measurements of the wing loading and this has been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. The work is closed with a conclusion and suggestions for future research proposals