Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

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Ocean Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/oceaneng

Vertical-axis ocean current turbine design research based on separate

design concept
Jiaming Xie a, b, *, Jianyun Chen a, b
a
State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China
b
Institute of Earthquake Engineering, Faculty of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, 116024, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Through reasonable structure design, this work made the blades that make up the impeller of turbine auto­
Vertical-axis turbine matically opened and closed under the force of ocean current, realizing the capture of ocean current energy in
Structural design different directions, which greatly improved the power generation efficiency of the turbine. The design of this
Control system
turbine breaks the traditional integral single-blade design idea, divides the traditional integral blade that con­
Ocean current energy
stitutes the large impeller into a series of sub-blades and solves the contradiction of the opposite torque caused by
the water flow in the left and right blades during the rotation of the impeller. The control system composed of the
fan-shaped angle control grooves and the gravity-tilted rotors realized the automatic opening and closing of the
blades under the force of ocean current. The blades were designed into fish-shape based on the principle of fluid
dynamics to reduce the water flow resistance. The physical model test and numerical simulation of the power
generation efficiency of the device were carried out to verify the feasibility of the design model. And the results
showed that the energy utilization efficiency of the new vertical-axis ocean current turbine was higher than that
of the traditional single-blade turbine.

1. Introduction
In the recent decades, many countries have done a lot of research on
the design of wind turbines, developed ocean current generators based
on wind turbines and put them into operation. Many kinds of horizontal
axis wind or ocean current turbines have been designed and researched.
For instance, traditional horizontal-axis wind turbines are mainly
designed as upwind configuration, so in order to avoid blade strikes, the
rotor blades have to be positioned far enough away from the turbine
tower and have to be designed as inflexible as possible (Wang et al.,
2018). And a new semi-active fuzzy control strategy is proposed for
controlling edgewise vibrations of wind turbine blades under extreme
wind (Chen et al., 2015). Besides, as a green sustainable energy source,
ocean current energy has also received the attention and development of
all countries. Ocean current power does not occupy land resources, and
it never stops (Day et al., 2015), (Zanforlin et al., 2016). Horizontal Axis
Marine Current Turbine (HAMCT) is widely used as an obtaining devise
for tidal energy. Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) and CFD
have been conducted on this devise (Noruzi et al., 2015).
So far it seems that horizontal-axis wind turbines have won the
competition with vertical-axis wind turbines in the large-scale wind
power industry. However, in the field of tidal stream energy exploita­
tion, it is still too soon to make a conclusion about their competition
(Chen et al., 2018). Vertical-axis ocean current turbine is being
improved and put into use gradually.
Initially, the vertical axis turbines are in the form of fixed
declination-angle structure. When the fixed declination-angle turbine is
in operation, the blades are fixed on the rotating shaft and no rotation
occurs on the blades. This type of structure is relatively simple and
reliable. With the deepening of research, the shortcomings of fixed
declination-angle turbine are gradually found: its self-starting perfor­
mance is poor, and often requires a large flow rate to achieve self-
starting of fixed-angle turbines; low energy utilization, which directly
affects the economics of vertical axis turbines. Therefore, people began
to develop variable declination-angle turbines, which can be divided
into active control and passive control according to the different angle
control mechanisms.
Previously, Garrett and Cummins (2007) studied the maximum
output power of a channel from an oceanography point of view by
treating the turbine as a black box and the channel as a two dimensional
flow with lateral boundary. Whelan et al. (2009) studied the maximum
output power of a channel by treating the channel as a two dimensional

* Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China.
E-mail address: xjm@mail.dlut.edu.cn (J. Xie).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2019.106258
Received 31 January 2019; Received in revised form 6 July 2019; Accepted 2 August 2019
Available online 9 August 2019
0029-8018/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Xie and J. Chen
flow with vertical boundary.
Recently, one of the axial turbines with movable blades named as
Hunter turbine was investigated by Yang and Lawn (2011, 2013), which
was reported to be more efficient than conventional vertical fixed blades
turbines. In addition, research has been done through two-dimensional
numerical CFD simulations to enhance the hydrodynamic performance
of a low cut-in speed current Vertical Axis Tidal Turbine (VATT) by
means of the nested hybridization of Savonius and Darrieus (Ed-Dı^n
Fertahi et al., 2018a). A 2D numerical model is built to simulate the
influence of induced speed on the hydrodynamic loads of vertical axis
turbines (VATs) (Sheng et al., 2016). And on the base of that research, a
vertical axis tidal turbine with movable blades was investigated using
experimental and numerical methods. A laboratory model of this turbine
type nominated as Hunter turbine was manufactured and tested in an
established test rig. In the next step, 3D steady Reynolds-Averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were solved by CFD using k-ω turbu­
lence model to predict turbine’s performance (Derakhshan et al.,
2017a).
So we can conclude that the ocean current power generation tech­
nology has developed to some extent, but there are still many technical
defects. For example, the existing horizontal-axis ocean current power
generation device can effectively utilize ocean current, but its structure
is complicated and the stability is poor (Nash and Phoenix, 2017), (Zhu
et al., 2018). In order to realize the utilization of ocean currents in all
directions, a yaw axis must be set, which increases the complexity of the
structure and makes the device efficiency limited by the sensitivity of
the yaw axis and is not universal in ocean current environment.
Based on the above deficiencies, this paper proposes a new design on
vertical axis ocean current power generation device that is more appli­
cable in a variable ocean current environment, and innovatively divides
the traditional monolithic blade into a plurality of sub-blades, which
solves the problem that the left and right blades are in the contradiction
of producing opposite torque subjected to water flow during the rotation
of the impeller.
Besides, the vertical axis design effectively achieves 360-degree
capture of the horizontal flow. The fish-shaped blade design reduces
the water flow resistance during the opening and closing process of
blades. The control system consisting of the gravity-inclined rotors and
the fan-shaped grooves realize the automatic opening and closing of the
blade under the force of ocean current. So the new type of ocean current
turbine has more advantages in terms of stability, applicability, and
effectiveness compared with previous design and research.
2. Design principle
Separate design concept refers to the design concept that the sub-
blades can move on the impeller frame to achieve automatic opening
and closing and can be separated from the frame, which is different from
the conventional fixed blade design concept. Since sub-blades based on
this design can realize automatic opening and closing during the
movement of the impeller, sub-blades on one side of the impeller frame
can be fully opened and separated from the impeller frame during the
movement of the impeller. That is different from the blades on the
conventional turbine impeller frame, which are always fixed together
with the impeller frame. So this design concept is called separate design
concept.
The control system for each blade of the power generation device is
mainly composed of a fan-shaped angle-controlling groove, a gravity-
tilted rotor, and a direction tail. The gravity-tilted rotor system in­
cludes a small steel ball and a “T"-shaped lever, and the main structure of
the gravity-tilted rotor is fixed by providing two fixed levers at the upper
portion of the frame. The function of the gravity-tilted rotor system is to
adjust the force state of the blade.
Our fish-shaped blade design is primarily based on the principle of
bionics. Considering when the fish swim in the water, its fusiform body
shape can reduce the water flow resistance, the blades of this designed
2
Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258
turbine is similar to the swimming fish in the water during their
movement, so the fish-shaped blades have the advantages of reducing
the water flow resistance.
This work consists of a central main shaft, an outer arc frame, vertical
bionic fish-shaped blades, lower-grooves, horizontal bearings, upper
gravity-tilted rotors, and directional tails. The power generation system
includes a central main shaft, fish-shaped blades, bearings etc. In prac­
tice, the base shown in the model can be fixed to the sea floor by the
lower anchoring system, as shown in Fig. 1.
2.1. Overall structural design
Traditional turbine has only one blade at the edge of each frame.
While the proposed turbine has multiple sub-blades on each frame, as
shown in Fig. 1. Thus, dividing each integral blade into multiple sub-
blades improves power efficiency mainly because the area which bears
the ocean current force is increased(see Figs. 2 and 3 for physical
model). So the proposed turbine can get more ocean current energy and
generate power more efficiently than conventional turbine in uni-
directional current, which improves the power efficiency.
Overall, the turbine is based on vertical axis design to achieve 360�
capture of horizontal ocean currents. The central spindle is connected to
the base through the generator casing and is connected to the impeller
composed of the frame structure by welding. The blade is connected to
the frame structure through the control system, and an outer arc frame is
arranged at the edge of the impeller to achieve the purpose of collecting
water.
The blade of the device is characterized in that the arcs on both sides
of the blade are designed in accordance with the outer contour of the
fish, as shown in Fig. 4. The blade can form a non-impacting water
nozzle approximately when the impeller rotates against the direction of
the water flow, which can greatly reduce the impact and friction be­
tween the water flow and the blade, reduce the loss of the kinetic energy
of the impeller, and improve the efficiency of power generation.
2.2. Control system design
The control system for each blade of the power generation device is
mainly composed of a fan-shaped angle-controlling groove, a gravity-
tilted rotor, and a direction tail. The gravity-tilted rotor system in­
cludes a small steel ball and a “T"-shaped lever, and the main structure of
the gravity-tilted rotor is fixed by providing two fixed levers at the upper
portion of the frame. The function of the gravity-tilted rotor system is to
adjust the force state of the blade. On one hand, it can control all the
blades to close before the whole device is started; On the other hand, it
Fig. 1. Main view of the design model.
J. Xie and J. Chen Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

can overcome the centrifugal force generated by the blade during the
rotation of the impeller, making the blade normally closed. The lower
edge of the outer frame is provided with a groove, and the groove is an
fan-shaped groove with 2� –162� opening angle (the horizontal axis of
the lower edge of the frame is an angle baseline). The function of the fan-
shaped angle-controlling groove is to control the rotation angle of the
blade within a certain range and improve the flexibility of opening and
closing the blade (see Figs. 5 and 6 for the details of control system).

2.3. Device working principle

Macroscopically, with the motion of ocean current, the blades are all
closed when the impeller rotates in the direction of water flow, so the
water flow can push the impeller to rotate, and the generator generates
electricity. When the impeller rotates against the direction of water flow,
the blades are all opened under the force of water flow, and the fish-
shaped blades can reduce the resistance of water flow to make the
power generation efficiency improved.
Meticulously, due to the action of the gravity-tilted rotor, the blade
Fig. 2. Main view of the physical model.
will be completely closed in the initial state. Then under the force of
water flow, the water will impact the fully closed blade and push the
impeller to rotate. While when the impeller on the other side rotates
against the water flow direction, the blade will be opened to maintain
the state parallel to the direction of water flow. Besides, the design of the
fish-shaped blade can form a non-impacting water nozzle approxi­
mately, which greatly reduce the impact and friction between the water
flow and the blade, reduce the loss of the kinetic energy of the impeller,
and improve the power generation efficiency. This allows the device to
be free from changes in the direction of the ocean current and can be
used to receive ocean current energy from a horizontal 360� direction
(See Fig. 8 for the physical model test that reflects the working
principle).
Therefore, compared with the prior work, this work has a simpler
structure, can be assembled on site, is not subject to the changes in the
direction of ocean current, is applicable to a wider sea area and has
higher utilization efficiency of ocean current energy.

3. Experimental research

3.1. Experimental arrangement

Fig. 3. Top view of the physical model.

In order to verify the feasibility of the above working principle, it is

necessary to carry out physical model tests (Myers and Bahaj, 2010),
(Derakhshan et al., 2017b). For this reason, the small model that is
fabricated and assembled on site is placed in a long open channel with a
measured flow velocity of 2 m/s, and the test effect is observed. (see

Fig. 4. The design-blade of the turbine.

Fig. 5. The upper gravity-tilted rotors.

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J. Xie and J. Chen
Fig. 6. The lower controlling-grooves.
Fig. 7) The model test phenomenon is shown in Fig. 8.
A large-model test has also been conducted to test the working effect
in complex flow state, we found that under the complicated flow state
simulated by the propeller, the device can still rotate normally according
to the above working principle, and two lamps are lighted, further
verifying the feasibility of the practical application of the design model
(see Fig. 9).
The left side shows the state of “the right side of the blade starts to
open”. The middle figure shows the state of “the left blade starts to close,
the right blade is further opened”. The right side shows “the left blade is
completely closed, the right side of the blade is fully open” state. It can
be obtained that the experimental phenomenon is consistent with the
above working principle, thus verifying the feasibility of the practical
application of the design model (see Fig. 8).
In addition, in order to test the working effect of the device in
complex flow state, we conducted a large-model test. We used a pro­
peller to simulate the complex flow state in a circular cistern, and placed
the produced large model into the circular pool. The large-model can
work normally with the automatic opening and closing of the blades
under the complex flow state.( see Table 1 for the test parameter)
3.2. Experimental data
Through model test in the open channel, we can obtain the following
parameters, including the flow velocity V0 in front of the device and the
average inlet velocity V1 at the leading edge of the impeller, as shown in
Table 2. The flow velocity was measured by a flow velocity meter.
Compared with horizontal axis turbine, the inlet velocity V1 for the
vertical axis turbine is not easy to be defined, so the inlet velocity V1 is
Fig. 7. The physical small-model test arrangement in the open channel (unit: mm).
4
Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258
approximately replaced by the average velocity of the impeller edge
inlet velocity. Besides, V1 is measured by a propeller flow velocity meter.
The experimental data is used to calculate the average value of the
power generation efficiency coefficient which is used to compute the
approximate power of the device in the theoretical calculation section.
4. Theoretical calculation
4.1. Force analysis
We analyze the force of one of the blades at a certain time during the
operation of vertical axis turbine, as shown in Fig. 10. The radius of the
turbine is R, and the dotted line represents the trajectory of the blade.
There are two coordinate systems, as shown in Fig. 10:the global
coordinate system OXYZ and the local coordinate system oxyz. The
origin point of the global coordinate system is at the center of the tur­
bine, and the positive direction of the X-axis is the same as the direction
of the water flow. The origin point of the local coordinate system is taken
at the blade rotation axis. The x-axis positive direction of the local co­
ordinate system is from the head of the blade to the tail (Hou, 2013),
(Wimshurst et al., 2018). The velocity of the water flow is VA, the
angular velocity of the turbine is ω, the direction is counterclockwise,
and θ represents the position angle of the blade, and the position of the
blade rotation center o in the overall coordinate system can be deter­
mined by the position angle of the blade and the radius of the impeller:
ðX; YÞoi ¼ ðri � cos θ; ri � sin θÞ (1)
The force of the water flow caused by a single blade during the
operation of the turbine can be decomposed into lift L and resistance Dr,
as shown in Fig. 10. The force of the blade is not convenient for L and Dr.
According to the principle of force synthesis and decomposition, the
force of the blade can be converted to the direction along the chord
length of the blade and the direction perpendicular to the chord length.
The fx is used to indicate the force of the blade along the chord length,
and fy is the force perpendicular to the chord length. The force at the
center o of the local coordinate system can be expressed as follows:
0 1
� cosαi sinαi A
fi ¼ fxi ; fyi ¼ ðDri ; Li Þ@ (2)
sinαi cosαi
In order to conveniently represent the force of the turbine, the force
of the blade can be decomposed into the radial and tangential directions
of the turbine, ft is the tangential force of the blade, and fn is the radial
force received by the blade. The specific expression is as follows:
0 1
cosðαi þ ϕi Þ sinðαi þ ϕi Þ A
fi ’ ¼ ðfti ; fni Þ ¼ ðDri ; Li Þ@ (3)
sinðαi þ ϕi Þ cosðαi þ ϕi Þ
Define fX and fY respectively representing the components of the
J. Xie and J. Chen Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

Fig. 8. The physical model test phenomenon to reflect the working principle for this design.

Fig. 9. The physical large-model test arrangement.

Table 1 Fig. 10. The force analysis for blade (from Ref.).
Physical large-model test parameter.
Parameter Value
qi ¼ fti ⋅ri þ Moi ¼ ri ⋅½Li sinðαi þ ϕi Þ Dri cosðαi þ ϕi Þ� þ Moi (5)
The material of the blade Plexiglass
The material of outer frame Steel FX is used to indicate the instantaneous thrust received by the
The quantity of the blade 12 impeller, FY is the instantaneous lateral force, Z is the number of blades
The diameter of the cistern 4.5 m
and Q is the instantaneous torque, we will get:
The diameter of the turbine 1.6 m
The height of the turbine 1.2 m X
Z X
Z X
Z
FX ¼ fXi ; FY ¼ fYi ; Q ¼ qi (6)
i¼1 i¼1 i¼1

Table 2 Q⋅ω
Water flow parameter. CP ¼ (7)
ρV 3A RH
ExperimentalSequence V0(m/s) V1(m/s) α ¼ V1/V0 Cp

1 2.01 0.95 0.473 0.471 where R is the radius of the turbine, H is the height of the turbine, CP
2 1.97 0.94 0.477 0.476 represents the energy conversion efficiency of the turbine. According to
3 2.03 0.98 0.483 0.482 Betz theorem, the efficiency limit of any energy conversion device is
4 2.00 0.98 0.490 0.490
0.593, and no device can exceed this value. CP is the most important
5 2.02 0.99 0.490 0.490
6 2.01 0.95 0.473 0.471
indicator of turbine performance.
7 1.96 0.88 0.449 0.444
8 2.03 0.91 0.448 0.443
4.2. Power calculation
9 2.05 0.92 0.449 0.444
10 1.95 0.89 0.456 0.453
In order to make the device suitable for most of sea areas, combined
with the multi-year statistics of various sea areas, the flow speed of 2 m/
blade along the X and Y axes in the global coordinate system. The force s is used for design.
of a single blade on the turbine can be expressed as follows: Based on the Betz theory, a calculation model for solving the power
0 1 generation and power generation efficiency of ocean current generators
Fi ¼ ðfXi ; fYi Þ ¼ ðDri ; Li Þ@
cosðαi þ θi þ ϕi Þ sinðαi þ θi þ ϕi Þ A
(4) is established. Assume that the forward inlet flow velocity is V0, the
sinðαi þ θi þ ϕi Þ cosðαi þ θi þ ϕi Þ impeller edge inlet velocity is V1, the induction factor is α ¼ V1/V0, and
the impeller downstream velocity is V∞, then:
Considering the torque at the center of the local coordinate system is 8
Mo, the moment generated by the action of a single blade at the center of <
v1 ¼ v0 α
the turbine can be expressed as: (8)
: v∞ ¼ v0 ð2α 1Þ

5
J. Xie and J. Chen
The mass of the fluid in the area swept by the impeller per unit time is
m ¼ v1 ρA, and the energy input into the area per unit time is:
1 1
E0 ¼ mv20 ¼ ρAv1 v20
2 2
Similarly, the output energy of the area per unit time is E∞ ¼
1
2
mv2∞ ¼ 12 ρAv1 v2∞ , so the impeller capture power is:
� 5.1. Flow-computation model
1
P ¼ ρAv1 v20 v2∞
2
Eliminate V0 and V∞, we get:
P ¼ 2ρAv30 a2 ð1 αÞ
So the energy conversion efficiency of the turbine is:
P P
Cp ¼ ¼ ¼ 4α2 4α3
E0 12 ρAv30
Based on the average value of the power generation efficiency co­
efficient obtained by experimental measurement, the approximate
power of the device is calculated by the formula:
ρv30 ηe ηm Cp D2
P¼
8 2018). This choice of the turbulence model is also consistent with that of
And the relationship between the power generation of the device and
the diameter of the device impeller is obtained by MATLAB, as shown in
Fig. 11. Through this curve, we can find the power generation capacity
of the device can reach more than 500 kW when the impeller diameter is
20 m.
In Fig. 11, the blue curve is the generated power-impeller diameter
relationship curve based on experimental data and theoretical calcula­
tion. While the red points represent the numerical calculation value of
the generated power at several discrete points. The numerical calcula­
tion value and the theoretical relationship curve are well fitted, which
verifies the reliability of power calculation in this paper.
5. Numerical simulation
In the numerical simulation part, the pressure distribution of a single
sub-blade under fluent action is firstly analyzed, which shows the
advantage of the fish-shaped blade compared with the ordinary blade.
After that, the fish-shaped sub-blades on each frame of variable angle
turbine and fixed angle turbine are simulated and analyzed respectively
Fig. 11. Generated power-impeller diameter relationship curve.
Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258
during their movement. The pressure distribution contours under
different tip-speed ratios show the advantages of the variable angle
turbine compared with the fixed angle turbine - the flow field distribu­
(9) tion around the turbine is more orderly. Finally, two different arrange­
ment ways of turbines is compared, which indicates the interlaced
arrangement is a better turbine layout way.
(10)
Two commercial computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software-
ANSYS FLUENT and STARCCM þ are used to solve the Reynolds-
Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and simulate the flow field.
(11)
ANSYS FLUENT is used to simulate the pressure distribution of sub-
blades under fluent action. STARCCMþ is used to simulate the flow
field for two different arrangement ways of turbines. Besides, the nu­
(12) merical computational method is finite volume method (FVM).
The onset ocean current is turbulent, as well as the flow across the
turbine rotor. The effect of the turbulence is modeled with a κ - ω SST
turbulence model across the entire domain. Therefore, the boundary
layer on the blades is also modeled as turbulent. It is assumed, in fact,
that biofouling would trigger laminar to turbulent transition at a loca­
(13) tion in the boundary layer very close to the leading edge (Chen et al.,
other authors who tested VAT’s at similar Reynolds numbers.
Considering the opening and closing process of the blade, the blade
deflection angle of the variable-angle turbine is changing. If the rotation
angle of the turbine at each time step is too large, the calculation is not
easy to converge. If it is too small, the calculation time is too long.
Therefore, the following scheme is adopted: The turbine is rotated by 3�
every time step. In addition, the deflection angle of the blade is also
rotated every time step, in order to make the deflection angle move
according to the specified law, it is necessary to borrow the function
customization in CFX Function (Hou, 2013). In CFX, the user can input
any function according to his need, which can be a complete function
expression or a data point that can fully describe the function. Therefore,
as long as the function of the law of variation of the deflection angle is
input, the control of the deflection angle motion of the turbine can be
realized.
In order to make the impeller move according to the specified rules,
it’s necessary to use the secondary development function of CFX - User
Fortran. When CFX solves a problem, the user can achieve his own
calculation object by writing a FORTRAN program. The FORTRAN
program is recognized by CFX and compiled into a shared library. The
user can define the CFX solution at a specific time. These FORTRAN
programs are called in an iteration step or in a specific flow field location
and operate on the corresponding data (Hou, 2013). Using the User
Fortran feature, as long as you know the structure of the data store, you
can quickly and easily call the data and reassign them to control the next
iteration.
5.2. Grid information and computational domain
A structured grid is a structure with a very regular grid
distribution. The position of arbitrary grids can be marked by three pa­
rameters - i, j, k (i ¼ Minimum Orthogonality Angle, j ¼ Aspect Ratio,
k ¼ Mesh Expansion Factor). The i, j, k between adjacent grid elements
is adjacent in number. The structured grid does not need to store its
topology during the calculation process. The structured grid has the
advantages of fast dividing speed, regular grid shape and neatness.
In this paper, the professional meshing software ICEM CFD is used for
meshing. In order to improve the calculation accuracy and save the
calculation time, the structured grid is used for meshing.
The grid around the rotor moves following the rotation of the rotor,
and the grid around the blades rotates when the blades are changing
their inclination angle around their pivots. To cope with these complex
motions the grid is divided into several zones as shown in Fig. 13,
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J. Xie and J. Chen Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

Fig. 14. Boundary conditions setting of the model.

Table 3
Specifications of the tested vertical-axis turbine model.
Diameter of rotor, D (m) 0.8
Fig. 12. Single-blade grid information.
Radius of rotor, R (m) 0.4
Number of blades, N 3
Blade airfoil NACA0018
Height of the blade, H (m) 1.0
Blade chord, C (m) 0.12
Rotational inertia, Jz (kg m2) 1.6

5.4. Simulation results and analysis

Numerical simulation has been done to simulate the pressure dis­

Fig. 13. Sub-blades grid information.
including the blade zones around each blade, a rotor zone around the
rotor and containing all blade zones, an outer zone covering the whole
computational domain and the rotor zone. The grids in adjacent zones
slide along the interfaces. The blade zones are further divided into sub-
zones according to geometric features. Each zone or sub-zone is mapped
by a structural mesh with quadrilateral cells, as shown in Fig. 12.
tribution around the blade (see Fig. 15). Based on the result of numerical
simulation which is shown in Fig. 16 (Li and Li, 2014), the following
conclusions can be drawn: On the one hand, the fish-shaped blade design
can form a non-impacting water nozzle at the front edge of the blade
approximately. On the other hand, based on the principle of fluid me­
chanics, a pressure difference can be formed on both sides of the blade to
promote further opening of the blade.
Besides, the fish-shaped sub-blades on each frame of variable angle
turbine and fixed angle turbine are simulated and analyzed respectively
during their movement, as shown in Fig. 17. The pressure distribution
under different tip-speed ratios shows the advantages of the variable
angle turbine compared with the fixed angle turbine - the flow field
distribution around the turbine is more orderly (Hou, 2013).
(Fig. 17(a)is the pressure distribution contour for fixed angle turbine
when the tip-speed ratio is 1; Fig. 17(b)is the pressure distribution
contour for variable angle turbine when the tip-speed ratio is 1. Fig. 17

5.3. Boundary conditions and parameters setting of the model

We set the atmospheric pressure as the reference air pressure, set the
speed inlet condition at the inlet boundary, and give the uniform flow
velocity V ¼ 2 m/s (see Fig. 14). The exit boundary adopts the open
boundary and the side of the fluid calculation domain also adopts the
open type (Opening). Besides, the blade surface is a non-slip wall, the
rotation domain gives a rotational angular velocity, the rotation domain
and the static domain are connected through the interface and the flow
parameters at the inlet are used to initialize the flow field. The transient
solver is used to solve the model. Specific parameters setting of the
tested model are listed in Table 3.

Fig. 15. Fish-shaped blade design.

7
J. Xie and J. Chen
Fig. 16. Blade surface pressure contour(from Ref.).
(c)is the pressure distribution contour for fixed angle turbine when the
tip-speed ratio is 2; Fig. 17(d)is the pressure distribution contour for
variable angle turbine when the tip-speed ratio is 2. Fig. 17(e)is the
pressure distribution contour for fixed angle turbine when the tip-speed
ratio is 3; Fig. 17(f)is the pressure distribution contour for variable angle
turbine when the tip-speed ratio is 3.)
We can find that with the increase of tip-speed ratio, both of the flow
field distribution around the fixed angle turbine and the variable angle
turbine are more chaotic than before. But the change of the flow field
distribution around the variable angle turbine is smaller than that of the
fixed angle turbine. In addition, the flow field distribution around the
variable angle turbine is more orderly under the same tip-speed ratio,
which will make the power and efficiency of the turbine improved.
Through the numerical calculation (Ed-Dı^n Fertahi et al., 2018b),
the power and efficiency of the two devices under basic sea conditions
are obtained, as shown in Table 4. The result of numerical calculation is
consistent with above numerical simulation analysis of the flow field
distribution around the turbine.
The above results should be used carefully because of three-
dimensional effects and the coupling effect among the blades,
including those due to the arms and the finite length of blades, which
would reduce the power generation efficiency of the turbine.
The arrangement of turbines is also a problem worth considering, so
it is meaningful to simulate the flow field of different turbine arrange­
ments. There are two main ways to arrange turbines: non-interlaced and
interlaced. As the name implies, the non-interlaced turbines are not
staggered along the flow direction, and the interlaced turbines are
staggered along the flow direction. This work controls the same distance
between the turbines and selects the same number of turbines. Only the
arrangement between the turbines is changed to explore the effect of the
arrangement on the operation of the ocean current turbines. Each tur­
bine is simplified to a cylinder for numerical simulation. Parameters
setting of the model are shown in Table 5.
Careful 3D modeling of each turbine will inevitably result in a huge
number of grids, resulting in the inability to calculate existing computer
resources. Considering the convenience and reliable calculation results
of 2D-CFD simulation, 2D-CFD modeling was used to conduct qualita­
tive research. Hexagonal unstructured grid generated by STARCCMþ is
used to mesh the zone around the turbines to improve the computation-
model’s robustness. The methods of meshing and velocity distribution
contour for numerical simulation are shown in Figs. 18–20.
Through numerical simulation results, we can find that the turbines
in the interlaced arrangement have a smaller distribution area of the
low-velocity water flow region at the front edge of the impeller under
the same boundary conditions and water flow conditions, and a faster
8
Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258
flow velocity can be obtained on both sides of the impeller. So this
arrangement is more advantageous and improves the power generation
efficiency of each turbine. Some literatures indicate that the staggered
arrangement of turbines can make good use of tidal currents (Guo,
2013). This is mainly because the latter row of turbines can effectively
avoid the wake of the previous row, so the staggered arrangement is
preferred, which is consistent with the results of above 2D-CFD nu­
merical simulation.
6. Discussion
The purpose of this article is to introduce a new kind of design idea of
variable declination-angle vertical-axis turbines using more reasonable
controlling strategy to realize the high-efficiency use of ocean current.
Variable declination-angle vertical-axis turbines can be divided into
active control and passive control according to the different angle con­
trol mechanisms. Active control adopts cam mechanism, hydraulic sys­
tem or motor system to realize the change of deflection angle. The
structure of this control mechanism is mostly complicated and the reli­
ability is poor. The passive control mainly relies on the force generated
by the fluid to realize the change of the blade deflection angle. In order
to control the range and amplitude of the deflection angle, a damping
system such as a spring or a mass is added to limit the movement of the
deflection angle. The structure is relatively simple and the reliability is
relatively high, but the precise control of the blade yaw angle cannot be
achieved. This vertical axis turbine based on separate design concept
combines the advantages of active control and passive control. On the
one hand, the damping system composed of gravity-tilted rotors etc.
limits the movement of the blades and is beneficial to improve the self-
starting performance of the turbine. On the other hand, the fan-shaped
angle-controlling grooves allow precise control of blade deflection
angle.
Compared with the horizontal axis turbine, this device does not need
to set the yaw axis, so the structure is simpler, the stability is higher, the
applicative sea area is wider, the impact on marine life is smaller, and
the energy utilization rate is higher. Compared with the integral vertical
axis turbine, the control mechanism of this device has better control
effect on the blades, the blades have better opening and closing flexi­
bility, and can realize free feathering with the change of the water flow
direction and the blade deflection angle. Besides, the power generation
efficiency is higher. To realize automatic opening of blades, the vertical-
blade with vertical-shaft turbine needs to overcome the gravity effect, so
it is not easy to control, and requires a light-weight blade. Compared
with the vertical-blade turbine, this vertical-axis multi-blade turbine can
eliminate the influence of the blades gravity without limiting the blade
material. The automatic opening and closing of the blades of the turbine
is easier to implement, and the control strategy is simpler.
In general, this turbine is applicable to wider sea area, is not subject
to changes in the direction of ocean current, and has more energy uti­
lization rate for ocean current. It has simpler structure, can be assembled
on site, and is easy to modularize production. Therefore, the generator
set composed of multiple turbines is expected to transport the electric
energy generated by the ocean current generator to the land through the
submarine cable, and provide power for the urban power system, as
shown in Fig. 21.
In addition, the ocean current turbine can be used for the foundation
of the offshore wind power structure, which can reduce the scouring of
the wind power structure foundation, prevent the damage of the foun­
dation, and realize the comprehensive utilization of wind energy and
water energy. Generators based on this design concept can also be used
in the damping design of intelligent buildings. Those are the future
development direction of this research. Thus, this work has great
application prospects and promotion value.
J. Xie and J. Chen Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

Fig. 17. The pressure distribution around sub-blades under different tip-speed ratios.

7. Conclusion
Different from the traditional ocean current power generation de­
vice, this work provided a new design idea of vertical-axis ocean current
power generation device. Its innovative features and advantages are as
follows:
(1) Innovation of design concept: This device breaks the traditional
design idea of single-piece blade, and divides each integral blade
into multiple sub-blades, which solves the contradiction between
the opposite moments caused by water flow in the left and right
blades during the rotation of the impeller. And different from the
horizontal-axis ocean current power generation technology
widely used at present, in which the yaw axis is necessary to be
set to realize the capture of ocean current in different directions,

9
J. Xie and J. Chen Ocean Engineering 188 (2019) 106258

Table 4 automatically closes completely when it is in a natural state and

Comparison of power and power generation efficiency of two ocean current the fan-shaped control groove is designed to have an opening
power generation units under the same working conditions (D ¼ 8 m). angle of 2� –162� , which realizes the angle control of the blade
Project Monolithic Multi-Blades Increase Percentage motion. So this control system can make the turbine start auto­
Turbine Turbine of Value (%) matically and operate stably.
Power(kW) 84 102 21.43 (3) Blade design innovation: Based on the principle of bionics, the
Power Generation 35 47 34.29 device sets the blades that make up the large impeller into fish-
Efficiency (%) shape, so that the blade can form a non-impacting water nozzle
Annual Generation 735840 893520 21.43
approximately when the impeller rotates against the direction of
Capacity (kW⋅h)
water flow. This design reduces the impact and friction between
(Monolithic Turbine refers to the single-blade fixed-angle monolithic turbine water flow and blades, reduces the loss of the kinetic energy of
based on traditional design concept, while Multi-Blades Turbine refers to multi- the impeller and improves the power generation efficiency.
blades variable-angle separable turbine based on separate design concept.).
(4) Advantages of the turbine: This vertical-axis multi-blade turbine
has a simpler structure, can be assembled on site, is not subject to
the changes in the direction of ocean current, is applicable to a
Table 5
Parameters setting of the model in non-interlaced and interlaced layout. wider sea area and has higher utilization efficiency of ocean
current energy. The automatic opening and closing of the blades
Project Layout Diameter(m) Distance(m) Input velocity(m/s)
of the turbine is easier to implement without the need of setting
1 Non-interlaced 1 3 2 the yaw axis, and the control strategy is simpler.
2 Interlaced 1 3 2

this work is designed based on the vertical-axis to realize the 360-
degree capture of ocean current from the horizontal direction.
(2) Control system innovation: This turbine is controlled by a control
system consisting of fan-shaped angle control grooves, gravity-
tilted rotors, and directional tails. It realizes the automatic
opening and closing of the blades and improves the flexibility of
opening and closing of blades under the force of ocean current.
The unique gravity-tilted rotor design realizes that the blade
So this work has certain social value and broad market application
prospects.
8. Future work
The main purpose of this article is to introduce a new kind of design
idea of variable declination-angle vertical-axis turbines to control the
automatic opening and closing of the sub-bladess to realize the high-
efficiency use of ocean current. So only one blade on the same frame

Fig. 18. Meshing method of two ways to arrange turbines.

Fig. 19. Velocity contour of non-interlaced arrange.

10
J. Xie and J. Chen
Fig. 20. Velocity contour of interlaced arrange.
Fig. 21. Urban application prospects of this turbine.
was considered in numerical simulation part to explain the superiority of
the automatic opening and closing of the blades of the proposed turbine
compared with the fixed angle turbine. Studying the coupling effect
among the blades on the same frame is our future work.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities with grant No. DUT19ZD221. We are grateful for
previous experimental research and numerical simulation study con­
ducted by Harbin Engineering University and Dalian University of
Technology etc. And thanks for the test sink and test equipment pro­
vided by Chongqing Jiaotong University. Prof. Zheng Dan provided
guidance of comments and suggestions in designing this work, Yaning
Liu etc. have given a lot of help in physical model test. We also appre­
ciate their support.
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