Numerical investigation of an efficient blade design for a flow driven horizontal axis marine current turbine

The power generation efficiency of a flow driven Marine Current Turbine (MCT) depends upon the Torque (Q) induced by the flow on the turbine and the Angular velocity (x) achieved. The greater the mass of turbine blade, the more will be the Q induced but subsequently will result in lower x. However, on the contrary, lower mass will result in higher x and lower Q. It is therefore necessary for any flow driven MCT to achieve the optimum balance of Q and x so that a turbine model with maximum efficiency can be designed. In this paper, a similar study has been discussed where three different profiles by varying the radius of a horizontal axis turbine blade have been studied using numerical simulations. Emphasis has been given to obtain a blade profile which can attain an optimal combination of Q and x to maximize the power output. The simulations have been carried out for flow velocity of 1 m/s and the average values have been reported in results