CFD Analysis of the Performance of a Double Decker Turbine for Wave Energy Conversion

Abstract

The Double Decker Turbine (DDT) is a recent design introduced for oscillating water column (OWC) devices. Its major contribution is the combination of two typical solutions in just one prototype: a self-rectifying performance, to deal with the bidirectional flow, and the twin-turbine concept, allowing the use of unidirectional turbines. This is achieved by a set of two concentric turbines, called external and internal turbines (ExT—InT). In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) numerical model is developed to study in detail the performance of a DDT, where geometrical components for both turbines have been taken from previous works of the authors. The ANSYS-Fluent code was first executed by means of a URANS simulation with a realizable k-e turbulence model to obtain the performance curve of the turbine under steady conditions. Results obtained reveal its potential with respect to other solutions in the current state-of-the-art of OWC solutions for Wave Energy Conversion. Following a non-steady analysis, we assumed a sinusoidal input from the chamber which also resulted in promising results. Finally, the flow analysis inside the DDT allowed the authors to envisage geometric improvements that could enhance the DDT efficiency on future works.