Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy contributes to national energy objectives by providing clean energy to reduce oil dependency and lower carbon emission. The long-term water program goal is to significantly reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for marine and hydrokinetic devices and enable significant deployment of grid-scale cost-competitive MHK by 2030. In 2017, the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), entitled Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Development and Advancement, to support MHK research and development for current energy converters (CECs).
This project will use model-scale tank testing and fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulations to investigate the behavior of hydrofoils with large deflections and the effect of the radial and rotational deflections on cross-flow turbine performance with the ultimate goal of determining the maximum allowable deflections consonant with efficiency and a robust, durable structure. Care will be given to developing a robust, validated modeling and simulation approach, which will be used in the design of ORPC’s full-scale turbines, and will be applicable to the design of other MHK devices.
