Prediction of Seabed Scour Induced by Full-Scale Darrieus-Type Tidal Current Turbine

Abstract

<jats:p>Scour induced by a Darrieus-type tidal current turbine was investigated by using a joint numerical and experimental method with emphasis on the scour process of a full-scale turbine. This work proposes a new numerical method to estimate turbine scour developments, followed by model validation through experimental data in the initial stage. The small-scale numerical model was further extended to a full-scale model for the prediction of turbine scour. The numerical model consists of (1) k-ω turbulence closure, (2) a sediment transport model, and (3) a sediment slide model. The transient-state model was coupled with a morphologic model to calculate scour development. A dynamic mesh updating technique was implemented, enabling the autoupdate of data for the grid nodes of the seabed at each time step. Comparisons between the numerical results and the experimental measurements showed that the proposed model was able to capture the main features of the scour process. However, the numerical model underestimated about 15%–20% of the equilibrium scour depth than experimental data. An investigation of the temporal and spatial development of seabed scour around a full-scale Darrieus-type tidal current turbine is demonstrated. This work concludes that the proposed numerical model can effectively predict the scour process of tidal current turbines, and the rotating rotor has a significant impact on the equilibrium scour depth for full-scale turbines.</jats:p>