Improving tidal turbine array performance through the optimisation of layout and yaw angles

Can Zhang, Stephan Kramer, Athanasios Angeloudis, Jisheng Zhang, Xiangfeng Lin, Matthew D. Piggott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Tidal stream currents change in magnitudeand direction during flood and ebb tides. Setting themost appropriate yaw angles for a tidal turbine is notonly important to account for the performance of a singleturbine, but can also be significant for the interactionsbetween the turbines within an array. In this paper, a partialdifferentiation equation (PDE) constrained optimisationapproach is established based on the Thetis coastal oceanmodelling framework. The PDE constraint takes the formhere of the two-dimensional, depth-averaged shallow waterequations which are used to simulate tidal elevations andcurrents in the presence of tidal stream turbine arrays. TheSequential Least Squares Programming (SLSQP) algorithmis applied with a gradient obtained via the adjoint methodin order to perform array design optimisation. An idealisedrectangular channel test case is studied to demonstratethis optimisation framework. Located in the centre of thecomputational domain, arrays comprised of 12 turbines aretested in aligned and staggered layouts. The setups areinitially optimised based on their yaw angles alone. Inturn, turbine coordinates and yaw angles are also optimizedsimultaneously. Results indicate that for an aligned turbinearray case under steady state conditions, the energy output
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)273-280
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Marine Energy Journal
Volume5
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Dec 2022

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Improving tidal turbine array performance through the optimisation of layout and yaw angles'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this