Landon Fee
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Michael Bernitsas
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering / Engineering
Program:
Authors:
Session: Session 7: 4:40 pm – 5:30 pm
Poster: 92
Abstract
The world’s bodies of water have the potential to be a large source of clean and renewable energy production for the world. However, many of our current methods for harvesting hydrokinetic energy are inefficient or extremely bad for the local ecosystem. The research conducted here develops a more efficient and fish-friendly hydrokinetic energy generator by mimicking the synergistic dynamics of fish in schools without the complexity of its kinematics. The device being developed is called VIVACE Converter. It harnesses horizontal marine hydrokinetic (MHK) energy available in rivers, ocean currents and tides. The underlying physical phenomena are vortex induced vibrations (VIV) and galloping. They are investigated using oscillating cylinders on springs in flowing water. Data from past experiments are used to compare simulations run in OpenFOAM and visualizations in ParaFOAM. The actual phenomena are very complex and the CFD visualizations are analyzed to understand the interactions between cylinders, turbulent wakes, boundary layers, shear layers, and von Kármán vortices. The experiments were conducted in the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory (MRELab) of UofM, with three cylinders together moving in flow induced oscillations (FIO). The parameters that were changed between experiments include flow velocity, spring stiffness, cylinder spacing, damping ratio, and mass. The results of the experiments show that the pattern of the cylinders that generates the most energy matches the movement of fish. The energy harvester is able to mimic fish kinematics without the need to recreate complex fish dynamics. The cylinders move about 20%-40% faster than the flow, thus presenting no danger for fish.
