Influence of the aspect ratio on the behaviour of an undulating membrane tidal energy converter

Other titles Influence du rapport d'aspect sur le comportement d'une hydrolienne à membrane ondulante
Type Proceedings paper
Date 2020
Language English
Other localization http://www.paralia.fr/jngcgc/16_59_moreau.pdf
Author(s) Moreau MartinORCID1, 2, Trasch MartinORCID2, Delacroix Sylvain2, Germain GregoryORCID1
Affiliation(s) 1 : IFREMER, Marine Structure Laboratory, 150 Quai Gambetta, 62200 Boulogne sur Mer, France
2 : EEL Energy SAS, 98 Quai Gambetta, 62200 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Meeting JNGCGC 2020 - XVIèmes Journées Nationales Génie Côtier - Génie Civil, Le Havre, 2020
Source JNGCGC 2020 - XVIèmes Journées Nationales Génie Côtier - Génie Civil, Le Havre, 2020. D.Levacher, M. Sanchez et V.Rey (Eds). N°16 (2020), Thème 5 – Énergies et ressources marines pp.525-532
DOI 10.5150/jngcgc.2020.059
Note Cette conférence, initialement prévue en juin 2020, reportée en décembre 2020, a été finalement annulée.
Keyword(s) Tidal energy converter, Fluid-Structure interaction, Aspect ratio, Flume tank experiments.
Abstract

An experimental study of a 1/20th scale undulating membrane tidal energy converter (UMTEC) based on EEL Energy’s device is presented to assess the impact of the membrane's aspect ratio on its behaviour. The aim of this work is to study 3D effects on the machine to optimise the energy extraction. Five aspect ratios from 0.26 to 0.57 are tested at constant length, keeping other geometric parameters constant too. The mechanical energy of the membrane is conveyed above the free surface by a vertical cogwheel/chain assembly to be converted by an electric generator. After describing the experimental set-up, results are presented according to the reduced flow speed. Undulation dynamics and power conversion are analysed. This study highlights the effects of an undulation mode change on the undulation amplitude and frequency, independently from the aspect ratio. In addition, it shows that the UMTEC performances increase with the aspect ratio up to 0.5. Over this aspect ratio value, the efficiency of the device seems to stagnate at its highest value, suggesting that 3D effects become negligible.

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Moreau Martin, Trasch Martin, Delacroix Sylvain, Germain Gregory (2020). Influence of the aspect ratio on the behaviour of an undulating membrane tidal energy converter. JNGCGC 2020 - XVIèmes Journées Nationales Génie Côtier - Génie Civil, Le Havre, 2020. D.Levacher, M. Sanchez et V.Rey (Eds). N°16 (2020), Thème 5 – Énergies et ressources marines pp.525-532. https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00666/77802/