Turbulence measurements at three potential tidal energy sites in the Salish Sea

McVey, James R.; Kilcher, Levi; Thomson, Jim; Yang, Zhaoqing

doi:10.1016/j.apor.2025.104561

Turbulence measurements at three potential tidal energy sites in the Salish Sea

Journal Article · Fri Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Applied Ocean Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2025.104561· OSTI ID:2565371

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); DeerStone Consulting, Anchorage, AK (United States)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

Understanding turbulence is critical for the robust design of current energy converters. Subsurface moorings were deployed in the Salish Sea, WA to characterize the turbulence statistics at three potential tidal energy sites: Bellingham Channel, Rosario Strait, and Tacoma Narrows. Measurements were made over two days during spring tides with a combination of acoustic Doppler velocimeters and current profilers in order to analyze the turbulence intensity, integral length scales and turbulent kinetic energy balance. For the four full tidal cycles collected at each site, water velocity peaks at 2.0, 2.8, and 2.5 m/s with average turbulence intensities of 12%, 9%, and 10% for Bellingham Channel, Rosario Strait, and Tacoma Narrows, respectively. The majority of turbulent energy is contained in horizontal anisotropic structures, consistent with the integral length scales observed, and turbulent energy production and dissipation are roughly balanced at the observed sites. Additionally, these channels have significant transverse shear stresses and should not be approximated as wall-bounded flows. This study shows the successful use of buoy-mounted ADVs to gain mid-water column turbulence measurements pertinent to the tidal energy industry, and results from this deployment are important for future work improving a numerical resource characterization model for the Salish Sea.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308; AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 2565371

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA--5700-94766; MainId:96548; UUID:352d32ab-5e34-4f26-9c73-40cd885c06ad; MainAdminId:76845

Journal Information:: Applied Ocean Research, Journal Name: Applied Ocean Research Vol. 158; ISSN 0141-1187

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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