High-fidelity numerical analysis of the interaction between the unsteady flow and the blade structure oscillation of a marine current turbine

Abstract Marine current energy is a promising renewable resource due to its predictability. However, marine current turbines face unsteady loading, which can influence the turbine performance. This study models the interaction between the unsteady flow and blade oscillation using a coupled computational fluid dynamics–finite element analysis method. A nonlinear frequency domain solution method is proposed and extensively validated. Results show that blade oscillation impacts the hydrodynamic and hydroelastic performance of the blade and increases thrust, torque, and power coefficients by 5.5 times compared to a rigid blade case. The frequency domain solution method accurately predicts performance while reducing the computation time to only 2.5 hours.