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Title: A 1:8.7 Scale Water Tunnel Verification & Validation Test of an Axial Flow Water Turbine

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1171589· OSTI ID:1171589

As interest in waterpower technologies has increased over the last few years, there has been a growing need for a public database of measured data for these devices. This would provide a basic understanding of the technology and means to validate analytic and numerical models. Through collaboration between Sandia National Laboratories, Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory, and University of California, Davis, a new marine hydrokinetic turbine rotor was designed, fabricated at 1:8.7-scale, and experimentally tested to provide an open platform and dataset for further study and development. The water tunnel test of this three-bladed, horizontal-axis rotor recorded power production, blade loading, near-wake characterization, cavitation effects, and noise generation. This report documents the small-scale model test in detail and provides a brief discussion of the rotor design and an initial look at the results with comparison against low-order modeling tools. Detailed geometry and experimental measurements are released to Sandia National Laboratories as a data report addendum.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1171589
Report Number(s):
SAND2014-17797R; 537583
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English