Ocean Engineering Commons^™

Design, Optimization, And Testing Of A Cross-Flow Tidal Turbine, Megan Colleen Swanger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a summary of testing conducted with a Darrieus style cross-flow tidal turbine. Many locations around the world have locations suitable for tidal turbine energy, including the Cobscook Bay in Eastport, Maine. Cross-flow turbines are likely to have a smaller impact on the environment compared to axial flow turbines due to their operation at lower tip speed ratios. Since very little experimental data is available presently for cross-flow turbines, this study provides an expansive set of performance data for two NACA series blade profiles of the same chord length. One blade profile was used in two different orientations …