In this episode of the Fluid Mechanics 101 Podcast, I discuss the challenges in tidal stream turbine design with Wouter Remmerie. Wouter Remmerie is a founder and owner of AirShaper. AirShaper is an online platform that allows you to carry out aerodynamics CFD simulations in the cloud, with no expert knowledge of CFD, aerodynamics or specific software.
Checkout the abbreviated podcast (with video clips and diagrams) here: https://youtu.be/c3VaPgTJh88
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Timetamps
0:00 Introduction
3:11 Aidan's CFD Background
4:48 Wind Rotors and Tidal Rotors
9:30 Aeroplane Tip Vortices
12:10 Rotor Tip Vortices
14:30 Turbine Farm Layout
17:40 Downstream spacing
21:21 Marine life growth
24:30 Rotor power and size
28:59 Tidal Sites around the World
34:41 Lateral Blockage
39:55 Spacing research (MeyGen)
41:45 Ducted Turbines
43:12 Support Structures
45:28 Cavitation
49:39 Outro
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Follow Wouter Remmerie on:
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YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/AirShaper
Web https://www.airshaper.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AirShaper
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/airshaper
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More Information:
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Dr Aidan Wimshurst's Doctoral Thesis https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a91acd6f-dc86-4cad-bf5e-b042e81840dc
Dr Aidan Wimshurst's Research on ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aidan-Wimshurst
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51:06
Dr Giovanni Giustini on Steam Bubbles in Water-Cooled Nuclear Reactors
In this episode of the Fluid Mechanics 101 Podcast, I discuss new research in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) that is being carried out to model steam bubbles in water-cooled nuclear reactors with Dr Giovanni Giustini. Dr Giovanni Giustini is a research fellow in the Nuclear Engineering Research Group at Imperial College London. His research focusses on interface capturing methods that can be used to track steam bubbles in boiling water, which have direct application to water-cooled nuclear reactors.
Some useful timestamps for the discussion are:
02:41 An Introduction to Dr Giovanni Giustini and Nuclear Engineering
09:34 How do Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) work? What are the differences between them?
12:10 What is a Generation 4 Nuclear Reactor?
15:16 Are we looking at nuclear fission?
17:28 How is CFD used in the Nuclear Reactor design and analysis?
18:33 Not all reactors use water as a coolant. But most of them do!
19:48 The problem with steam bubbles in the primary circuit of a Nuclear Reactor.
25:50 The generation of steam bubbles under accident or fault conditions.
28:40 Why are steam bubbles difficult to model in CFD?
30:36 How do you model the presence of steam in water in a CFD model?
34:04 The limits of a continuum representation when studying phase change processes.
36:45 Developing new phase change models for CFD.
38:14 What are the differences between air bubbles and steam bubbles?
42:17 Developing new experiments to support steam bubble research.
43:03 What CFD code does Giovanni use to develop new models?
45:32 How is the research unit structured? Is it all doctoral students?
49:00 What does the future look like for CFD in the nuclear industry?
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Links and Further Information
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2020 NIRAB (Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board) report
https://www.nirab.org.uk/our-work/annual-reports
UK Government 'The ten point plan for a green industrial revolution'
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution
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Follow Dr Giovanni Giustini on:
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Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=a1vPILAAAAAJ&hl=en
Research Gate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giovanni-Giustini
... and read his Doctoral thesis:
https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/handle/10044/1/44077
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57:27
Dr Chris Vogel on Challenges and Opportunities in Tidal Stream Energy
In this episode of the Fluid Mechanics 101 Podcast, I discuss challenges and opportunities in Tidal Stream Energy with Dr Chris Vogel. Dr Chris Vogel is a departmental lecturer at the University of Oxford in the Department of Engineering Science. His research focusses on Wind and Tidal Turbine energy extraction.
Some useful timestamps for the discussion are:
02:25 An Introduction to Dr. Chris Vogel and Tidal Stream Energy
06:50 What is tidal range / barrage technology?
12:05 What are tidal stream turbines and what are some of the challenges with this technology?
13:45 What are the different options for installation of tidal stream turbines?
16:40 Some examples of sites where tidal stream turbines are already installed and operational.
18:53 A discussion of challenges faced by tidal stream turbines.
24:00 The effect of blockage on tidal turbine rotor loading and design.
29:47 One of the challenges faces by tidal stream turbines: blade deformation
35:17 Investigating tidal turbine blade deformation with a fluid-structure interaction analysis
41:49 Dr Chris Vogel's roles and resposibilities as a lecturer at the University of Oxford.
46:20 The interface between research groups, academia and industry. How large is the tidal energy community?
54:37 What contribution can tidal stream energy make to a low-carbon electricity network and help to meet climate change targets?
01:00:44 Closing thoughts
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Links and Further Information
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The MeyGen Site in Scotland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeyGen
OpenFAST - An open source wind turbine simulation tool, developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory
https://www.nrel.gov/wind/nwtc/openfast.html
Dr Chris Vogel's paper on Tidal Turbine Blade Deformation:
F. Zilic, C. Vogel and R. Willden, 'Hydrodynamic analysis of turbine control through blade-deformation', Developments in Renewable Energies Offshore, September 2020. DOI: 10.1201/9781003134572-67
Dr Chris Vogel on Research Gate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christopher_Vogel5
Dr Chris Vogel's Doctoral thesis:
http://www2.eng.ox.ac.uk/civil/publications/theses/vogel
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