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Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines

Dissertation (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2023.

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Other Authors: Van Dijk, Marco
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Van Dijk, Marco
author_browse Van Dijk, Marco
author_facet Van Dijk, Marco
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2023.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/98576
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:45.339Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/98576 Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines Van Dijk, Marco Chantelniebuhr1@gmail.com Smith, Lelanie Niebuhr, Chantel Monica UCTD Hydrokinetic Hydropower Wake Backwater Computational fluid dynamics Dissertation (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2023. Hydrokinetic turbine deployment in inland water reticulation systems holds untapped potential for future development in renewable energy. However, prior to implementation, it is crucial to understand the hydrodynamic effects associated with these devices. In particular, the flow fields effects prevalent in bounded subcritical flow regimes such as wake propagation and possible backwater effects. While a few analytical approximations for wake determination have been developed, most of them do not account for operational conditions in confined flow. Moreover, there is a lack of usable approaches for backwater determination in the existing literature. This limitation complicates the design and deployment process, leading to problematic installations and issues with regulatory procedures due to the numerous unknowns surrounding turbine deployment. This study focuses on developing a new semi-empirical model for the prediction of the wake generation and flow recovery which includes a study on metrics found to affect wake generation. Once the flow behaviour is well understood a generic and simplified method for calculating the backwater effect of HK turbines is tested. In this dissertation, data obtained from experimentally validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations provides a basis for the new simplified wake and backwater prediction approach. Among the available commercial software capabilities, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models showed a strong correlation with turbine performance. A virtual disk model utilising the blade element momentum theory and employing Reynolds’s stress closure models was found to give the best representation of the wake and surrounding flow behaviour. The developed semi-empirical wake model performed well across various performance conditions (linked to the specific turbine thrust), ambient turbulence conditions, and blockage ratios. This model facilitates a reasonably accurate estimation of wake behaviour, enabling effective planning of turbine placement and spatial requirements for inland hydrokinetic schemes. The analytical backwater model developed in this study also demonstrated good correlation with experimental results. Its energy-based approach offers a simplified tool that can be easily incorporated into backwater approximations, also allowing for the inclusion of retaining structures as additional blockages. All models utilise only the flow characteristics and the turbine thrust coefficient, making them valuable tools for the initial analysis of wake and backwater effects resulting from the deployment of inland turbine system Civil Engineering PhD (Civil Engineering) Unrestricted Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology 2024-10-10T06:19:11Z 2024-10-10T06:19:11Z 2024-09 2023-07 Thesis * S2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/98576 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Hydrokinetic
Hydropower
Wake
Backwater
Computational fluid dynamics
Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title_full Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title_fullStr Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title_full_unstemmed Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title_short Development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
title_sort development of a wake and backwater prediction approach for hydrokinetic turbines
topic UCTD
Hydrokinetic
Hydropower
Wake
Backwater
Computational fluid dynamics
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/98576