| Abstract | Experimental model tests were conducted to predict the performance of two sets of metal and plastic bi-directional tidal turbine rotors. This test programme aims to provide reliable and accurate measurementdata as references for developers, designers and researchers on both model and full scale. The data setpresented in this paper makes available the detailed geometry and motion parameters that are valuablefor numerical tools validation. A rotor testing apparatus that was built using an off-the-shelf K&R propellerdynamometer, its configuration, testing set-up, calibration of the apparatus and data acquisition aredescribed. Comparison analysis between the metal and plastic rotors hydrodynamic performance interms of torque, drag and derived power and drag coefficients are also presented. The results show asubstantial decrease in maximum power performance for the plastic rotors – about 40% decrease at a tipspeed ratio of around 3.0, compared with rigid metal rotors. The plastic rotors have also a much highercut-in speed. It showed that materials for rotor models with low rigidity such as polyamide (nylon)produced by selective laser sintering (SLS) systems may substantially under-predict power generationcapacity. As a result, they are considered unsuitable for rotor model performance evaluation. |
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