Comparative Numerical Study of Conventional and Hydraulic Wells Turbine for Ocean-Wave Energy Conversion

Abstract

The Wells turbine is an ocean wave energy converter that has been implemented in several countries around the world. The hysteresis phenomenon, which causes a torque reduction when the rotor acquires air flow acceleration, is one of the Wells turbine's drawbacks. One enhancement strategy is converting the conventional Wells turbine, which operates in air, into a hydraulic Wells turbine, which operates in ocean water. This method aims to obtain a higher density of working fluid, which can increase the momentum acting on the Wells turbine blades. This research compared the performance and hysteresis phenomenon of conventional and hydraulic Wells turbines. A CFD method based on Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and k-ω SST turbulence model is used in this study. Under transient conditions, 3D modeling with periodic boundaries is applied to model the hysteresis phenomenon. This study demonstrated that the hydraulic Wells turbine outperforms the conventional Wells turbine. According to the simulation result, the hydraulic turbine achieves a significant improvement in maximum torque, approximately 124% of the conventional air turbine torque. The concept of immersing the Wells turbine in ocean water improves its efficiency as well. Furthermore, unlike the conventional one, the hydraulic Wells turbine does not exhibit hysteresis.