An Evaluation for Predicting the Far Wake of Tidal Turbines

In the modern age, as man's demand of energy is continuously grew, tidal becomes one of the sustainable energy sources that have been investigating thoroughly recently. Tidal turbine has proved high potential as a future power-generating device. To effectively capture tidal energy on site, a group of tidal turbines should be used and positioned in some formation with proper size and space so that energy can be absorbed from multiple point. Thus, the turbines together with the flow filed becomes a huge domain, a tidal farm. So, it becomes more convenient if a whole turbine farm is simulated by means of actuator discs since the time and cost for analysis can be reduced. This paper aims to evaluate the operating performance (power efficiency and energy restoration rate), mutual influence (for different longitudinal and lateral spaces), the influence of velocity profiles, turbulence intensity and the far wake characteristic of tidal turbines operating in farm formation. The results of this study help contributing to the present development of tidal turbine as the future potential energy conversion machinery.