Cavitation Inception on Hydrokinetic Turbine Blades Shrouded by Diffuser

Diffuser technology placed around hydrokinetic rotors may improve the conversion of the fluid’s kinetic energy into shaft power. However, rotor blades are susceptible to the phenomenon of cavitation, which can impact the overall power efficiency. This paper presents the development of a new optimization model applied to hydrokinetic blades shrouded by a diffuser. The proposed geometry optimization takes into account the effect of cavitation inception. The main contribution of this work to the state of the art is the development of an optimization procedure that takes into account the effects of diffuser efficiency, ηd, and thrust, CTd. The authors are unaware of any other work available in the literature considering the effect of ηd and CTd on the cavitation of shrouded hydrokinetic blades. The model uses the Blade Element Momentum Theory to seek optimized blade geometry in order to minimize or even avoid the occurrence of cavitation. The minimum pressure coefficient is used as a criterion to avoid cavitation inception. Additionally, a Computational Fluid Dynamics investigation was carried out to validate the model based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes formulation, using the κ−ω Shear-Stress Transport turbulence and Rayleigh–Plesset models, to estimate cavitation by means of water vapor production. The methodology was applied to the design of a 10 m diameter hydrokinetic rotor, rated at 250 kW of output power at a flow velocity of 2.5 m/s. An analysis of the proposed model with and without a diffuser was carried out to evaluate the changes in the optimized geometry in terms of chord and twist angle distribution. It was found that the flow around a diffuser-augmented hydrokinetic blade doubles the cavitation inception relative to the unshrouded case. Additionally, the proposed optimization model can completely remove the cavitation occurrence, making it a good alternative for the design of diffuser-augmented hydrokinetic blades free of cavitation

An Investigation of a Mathematical Model for the Internal Velocity Profile of Conical Diffusers Applied to DAWTs

The Diffuser Augmented Wind Turbines (DAWTs) have been widely studied, since the diffusers improve the power coefficient of the wind turbine, particularly of small systems. The diffuser is a device which has the function of causing an increase on the flow velocity through the wind rotor plane due to pressure drop downstream, therefore resulting in an increase of the rotor power coefficient. This technology aids the turbine to exceed the Betz limit, which states that the maximum kinetic energy extracted from the flow is 59.26%. Thus, the present study proposes a mathematical model describing the behavior of the internal velocity for three conical diffusers, taking into account the characteristics of flow around them. The proposed model is based on the Biot-Savart's Law, in which the vortex filament induces a velocity field at an arbitrary point on the axis of symmetry of the diffusers. The results are compared with experimental data obtained for the three diffusers, and present good agreement.Difusores de aumento da potência de turbinas eólicas (DAWTs) têm sido amplamente estudados, uma vez que os difusores melhoraram o coeficiente de potência de turbinas eólicas, particularmente dos sistemas de pequeno porte. O difusor é um dispositivo que tem a função de provocar um aumento da velocidade do vento que passa através do plano do rotor eólico, devido a queda de pressão a jusante do difusor, por conseguinte, resultando em um aumento do coeficiente de potência do rotor. Esta tecnologia faz com que a turbina exceda o limite de Betz, onde a energia cinética máxima extraída do fluxo é de 59,26%. Assim, o presente estudo propõe um modelo matemático que descreva o comportamento do perfil de velocidade interna a três difusores cônicos, considerando as características do escoamento em torno deles. O modelo proposto baseia-se na lei de Biot-Savart, em que o filamento de vórtice induz um campo de velocidade num ponto arbitrário nos eixos de simetria dos difusores. Os resultados são comparados com dados experimentais obtidos para os três difusores, apresentando boa concordância