A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Mechanical Engineering Programme Area of Universiti Teknologi Brunei Abstract
This thesis discusses the numerical investigation of the performance of a tidal turbine integrated with biomimetic design at different incoming yaw angles. The referred tidal turbines is known as the HS280 turbine. The turbine is simulated in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using a software called ANSYS CFX. The simulations ran were in a single domain or single rotating frame of reference system. Pre-simulation, the inlet velocity has been decided which is 3 m/s in reference to the Reynolds number of 7.8 x 105. The turbulence model to conduct the simulations is the Menter SST k - w model. To get the range of the operational TSR, the angular velocity is varied. The incoming yaw angles chosen were 15°, 30°, 45°. After simulations of the tubercled HS280 turbine in different TSR are completed, results are obtained. Coefficient of power for all angles have shown the same pattern but none of the angles have surpassed the default configurated HS280 turbine (0°) performance. As for coefficient of thrust, the 30° and 45° simulation results are not showing the same pattern as the default configurated HS280 and 15° where they have peaked at TSR-2. One recommendation is to fabricate and put into test and validate the results with numerical results. Applying the biomimetic design further in-depth can also be a new interesting designing aspect to explore. From the results obtained, it is highly recommended to simulate multiple HS280 turbines in suited/recommended arrays to enhance performances.