A Discrete Vortex Method for Flapping Foil Power Generator Modelling at Low Reynolds Numbers

Abstract eng:
Turbines harvesting energy from the motion of flapping foils have attracted significant research attention in the last 10 years. Several numerical and experimental studies have shown that a leading edge vortex (LEV) can provide lift enhancement and improve the performance of a flapping foil turbine. To overcome the obstacle for optimization and engineering design due to the substantial resources required for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods, a discrete vortex method (DVM) which incorporates motions of LEVs with computational time at least two orders of magnitude less than that for CFD is modified for flapping foil simulations. Semi-empirical functions are introduced to account for the effects of the trailing edge flow separation. Instantaneous power coefficients from the DVM with trailing edge flow separation corrections are compared against those from a dynamic stall model and CFD method. Results from the DVM shows good agreement with CFD simulations.

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