CFD Simulation of an Ocean Current Turbine Energy Converter with Dynamic Electric Load at Kepa Strait, Indonesia

Abstract

The interaction of fluids and turbines in ocean current energy converter systems is a crucial step to be studied in realizing ocean current energy converters. In this study, a marine current turbine system was simulated in conditions connected to a loaded generator with a constant ocean current inlet, to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the turbine under that condition. The simulation was carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) technique in Ansys software to observe the characteristics of no-load and loaded turbines. The results show that loading the turbine-generator system results in a decrease in the average value of the turbine angular velocity, together with a reduction in the angular velocity spikes that were previously present in the unloaded condition. In the fluid velocity contours, it can be seen that under loaded conditions the turbulence around the blade becomes higher because the turbine rotation slows down slightly, which in theory can reduce the energy conversion efficiency of the turbine-generator system.