Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Numerical characterization of a preliminary portable micro-

hydrokinetic turbine rotor design
W.C. Schleicher, J.D. Riglin, A. Oztekin*
Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, P. C. Rossin School of Engineering and Applied Science, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Portable micro-hydrokinetic turbines are designed and characterized using computational fluid dy-
Received 22 February 2014 namics (CFD) simulations. The two equation keu shear-stress transport (SST) turbulence model is
Accepted 12 November 2014 employed to predict quasi steady flow structures for a wide range of tip-speed ratios. Seven input design
Available online 29 November 2014
parameters selected a priori are used to create preliminary turbine rotor designs by using a hydraulic
design methodology. Various blade designs are characterized and compared in terms of torque and
Keywords:
thrust over a range of operating conditions. Performance characteristics of two, three, and four blade
Micro-hydrokinetic
designs are shown to be similar. The results indicate that a maximum power coefficient of 0.43 with a
Portable turbine
Turbulence
73.7% efficiency relative to Betz limit is achieved. The portable hydrokinetic turbines, designed and
CFD characterized here, do not require large civil structures, making this technology an attractive alternative
to conventional hydropower.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Micro-hydro refers to projects that generate between 0.5 kW

Conventional hydropower produces nearly 80 GW of energy
annually in the United States, amounting to approximately half of
the nation's renewable energy capacity [1]. However, conventional
hydropower requires large capital investments, especially in civil
structures such as dams, and can have negative consequences on
the local aquatic environment. Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK)
technology does not require these civil structures, thus offering an
advantage over conventional hydropower.
Hydrokinetic technology encompasses a broad range of systems
from horizontal and vertical axis turbines to oscillating hydrofoils.
The common theme between these types of machines is that they
rely on hydrodynamic principles to convert flowing water into
mechanical rotational energy, which in turn drives an electrical
generator. These technologies are not as mature as conventional
hydropower systems in terms of design and implementation;
however, it is estimated that there is 1381 TWh/yr of untapped for
power generation in the continental United States for MHK tech-
nologies [2]. Hydrokinetic turbines can make use of the previously
unexploited potential power generation of these rivers.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 610 758 4343.
E-mail address: alo2@lehigh.edu (A. Oztekin).
and 100 kW of power, which is the amount of power typically
required by a single family home or a small business [3]. Small
hydrokinetic systems fall within this micro-hydro category and
offer portability. These characteristics are especially desirable in
temporary encampment situations such as military field opera-
tions. A photovoltaic battery system called the Ground Renewable
Expeditionary Energy System, or GREENS, has been developed for
use by the U.S. Marine Corps to produce 300 W of continuous po-
wer to run these encampments [4]. However, when sunlight is not
available, a secondary source of energy is needed to power neces-
sary equipment. A micro-hydrokinetic system could potentially
interface with this system to provide the required power.
Hydrokinetic turbines are a popular research topic, with engi-
neers investigating multiple configurations. Batten et al. [5e7] used
a blade element methodology (BEM) approach for horizontal axis
tidal turbines. They validated their method using a scaled model in
a cavitation tunnel, and concluded that their BEM model agreed
with their experiments. Mukherji et al. [8] compared BEM with CFD
for a horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine, and determined the ef-
fect of solidity, angle of attack, and number of blades on power
generation. Myer and Bahaj [9] conducted experiments on a hori-
zontal axis turbine and concluded that the blade twist distribution,
centrifugal force at the surface of the blade, lift and drag perfor-
mance, and rotor yaw angle affect the stall delay of the hydrofoil

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.11.032
0960-1481/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241 235

Nomenclature D change in variable

ε permutation symbol
q wrap angle, 
Full scripts m dynamic viscosity, Pa-s
C coefficient n kinematic viscosity, m2/s
c chord length, m x local tip-speed ratio
D diameter, m r density, kg/m3
e error, % s solidity
F blending function 4 dummy variable
GCI Grid Convergence Index, % j stagger angle, 
k turbulent kinetic energy, J/kg u angular velocity, rad/s
L length scale, m U specific dissipation rate, rad/s
m meridional length, m ~
u normalized vorticity
N number of cells
p pressure, Pa Superscripts
~
p normalized pressure * denotes a closure coefficient
0 denotes the blade angle
P power, W
r refinement factor
R radius of rotor tip, m Subscripts
S mean rate-of-strain tensor, rad/s a absolute
s blade spacing, m B blades
t time, s ext extrapolated
b thickness, m H hydraulic
T thrust, N h at the hub
U velocity, m/s k, u, u2 denotes different colure coefficients
~
U normalized velocity i,j,l,q,s,t tensor indices
Z quantity m at the mean value
r relative
Greek symbols T turbulent/thrust
a, b, s closure coefficients t at the tip
b relative angle, 

sections and thus can affect the power output from the rotor.
Hwang et al. [10] studied a vertical axis turbine that actively
controlled blade attack to maximize power output and improved
self-start. They showed that by individually controlling each blade's
attack based on the oncoming flow that there was a 25%
improvement in performance compared to pure cycloidal motion
for the same operating conditions.
The design principles used for wind turbines, marine propellers,
and propeller turbines can be used in hydrokinetic designs. Mas-
souh and Dobrev [11] studied the vortex wake behind a horizontal
axis wind turbine in a wind tunnel and compared the results to CFD
analysis. Their results showed that the tip vortices are not limited to
a cylindrical surface as predicted from linear propeller theory, and
expand radially as they move downstream. This increases the
diameter of the stream-tube that encompasses the turbine. Ver-
meer et al. [12] also studied the wake characteristics behind wind
turbines in the near and far wake regions. Alexander et al. [13] have
studied axial-flow, flat blade propeller turbines that can be man-
ufactured in underdeveloped countries to provide sustainable po-
wer generation for communities. They have shown that simplifying
the blade geometry on propeller turbines can still produce a sig-
nificant amount of power and can be easier to manufacture for
locations where advanced machining may not be possible. The
the blades. Hayati et al. [18] investigated the effect of rake angle on
marine propeller performance and concluded that increasing the
rake angle improved the thrust performance of conventional pro-
pellers. Even though these propellers are imposing energy onto the
fluid and not absorbing the energy, it is possible that adjusting the
rake angle may improve thrust performance in the energy
absorbing case.
2. Hydraulic design
Some design parameters must be assumed a priori to the design
process. These input variables are shown in Table 1.
First, the tip diameter (Dt), hub diameter (Dh), and mean
diameter (Dm) are calculated. A rough estimate of the required tip
diameter (D*t ) is calculated as shown in equation (1). This rela-
tionship is derived from the fluid's power flux through the rotor
blade. This equation assumes that there is no hub, therefore the
result must be rounded up to account for the area lost by the hub.
Once the rounded tip diameter (Dt) is selected, the hub diameter is
Table 1
Input design variables selected a priori.

work of Alexander et al. [13] was validated and compared with an Input variable Description
Archimedean screw turbine by Schleicher et al. [14], who have P Designed mechanical power output [W]
studied different micro-hydro systems [15,16]. Singh and Nestmann CP Designed power coefficient [e]
[17] experimentally studied the part-load performance on small U Designed free-stream velocity [m s1]
axial-flow propeller turbines and found that modifying the exit tip U Designed rotation rate [rad s1]
ZB Designed number of blades [e]
region on their studied propellers consistently showed an increase
s Designed solidity [e]
in flow and output shaft power and thus the hydraulic efficiency of b Designed blade thickness [m]
236 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241

predicted as depicted in equation (2). The selected hub and tip Table 2
diameters are used to calculate the mean diameter. The mean Preliminary turbine design variables studied.

diameter is where the blade angles will be prescribed for the pre- Input design variables
liminary design. Multiple diameters between the hub and tip can P 500 [W] s 0.83 [e]
be used if more control of the blade angles is desired. CP 0.4 [e] ZB 2 [e]
U 2.25 [m s1] b 0.0127 [m]
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi U 15.708 [s1]
8P Output design variables
D*t y (1) Dt 0.5334 [m] j 72.26 [ ]
CP prU 3 Dh 0.0635 [m] s 0.5882 [m]
Dm 0.3745 [m] c 0.4882 [m]
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi x 1.3072 [e] Dq 142.29 [ ]
8P b 52.58 [ ] Dm 0.1488 [m]
Dh y D2t  (2) b0 72.26 [ ]
CP prU 3

rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pDm
1 2 
s¼ (7)
Dm ¼ Dt  D2h (3) ZB
2
Once the mean diameter has been selected, the relative flow
c ¼ ss (8)
angles to the turbine's rotating reference frame can then be
determined. A simplifying assumption used is that the relative flow
angles entering and leaving the turbine are only functions of radial
Dm ¼ c cos j (9)
distance. This means that the relative flow angle incident to the
leading edge is the same as the deviation of the flow from the 2c
Dq ¼ sin j (10)
trailing edge (b1 ¼ b2 ¼ b). This leaves the local tip-speed ratio (x) Dm
and relative flow angle to be calculated from equations (4)e(6). The preliminary design studied is pictured in Fig. 1. The corre-
sponding design variables are listed in Table 2.
1D U
m Further optimization of the design could be achieved using a
x¼2 (4)
U response surface methodology. This method provides a systematic
design strategy by changing all variables at the same time, allowing
for optimum conditions to be found regardless of initial values.
b ¼ tan1 x (5)
Changing one variable at a time while holding other variables
constant is a common approach to optimization, however, it is
b0 ¼ b þ 24:874x0:876 (6) inefficient and usually unsuccessful at arriving at an optimized
design. A central composite design of experiments will be used to
The relative blade angles can then be evaluated. Since the
determine the simulations needed to model a second-order
relative incidence and deviation flow angles are equal, the leading
regression of the results. From this regression analysis, minimum
edge and trailing edge relative blade angles are equal as well
and maximum quantities can be obtained for performance char-
ðb01 ¼ b02 ¼ b0 Þ, thus the relative blade angle is equal to the stagger
acteristics of the turbine-diffuser system, helping to narrow in on
angle (b0 ¼ j). Cebria n et al. [19] empirically related the relative
an optimum hydraulic design. The present authors employ this
blade angle to the relative flow angle and the local tip-speed ratio
method to optimize a system consisting of a hydrokinetic turbine
for maximum pressure loading in flat plate cascades as seen in
and a diffuser. The results of such optimization will be presented in
equation (6).
a full paper.
Finally, the mean chord length, meridional blade length, and
wrap angle are determined. The circumferential spacing between
blades (s) is calculated as shown in equation (7). The solidity chosen 3. Modeling, meshing, and numerical method
a priori is used to calculate the mean chord length. The meridional
blade length and wrap angle are determined once the mean chord Pictured in Fig. 2a is an overview of the computational domain
length is calculated. mesh. The domain is made up of two regions: the outer region and

Fig. 1. Preliminary turbine blade geometry.

 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241 237

a cylindrical region interior to the mesh encompassing the turbine frame was used in the vicinity of the turbine which transformed
(See Fig. 2d). These two regions are not conformal between meshes flow from an unsteady inertial frame to a steady non-inertial frame
in order to generate a structured hexahedral mesh needed for these with the inclusion of the centrifugal and Coriolis forces into the
computations. The outer domain is channel-like and has a diameter transport equations shown below
of 11.4Dt and length of 14.6Dt. These dimensions were determined
to be large enough that the far-field boundary conditions had little vUr;i
to no effect on the turbine's performance characteristics. The inner ¼0 (11)
vxi
cylindrical domain is 2Dt in diameter and extends 6Dt downstream
and 5.7Dt upstream of the turbine. The centerline of the turbine sits vUr;i vUr;i 1 vp v2 Ur;i
midstream in the channel and 2.3Dt below the slip wall. Fig. 2b þ Ur;j ¼  2εilq Ul Ur;q  εilq εqst Ul Us xt þ n
vt vxj r vxi vxj vxj
depicts the surface mesh on the inlet to the computational domain
(12)
and Fig. 2c shows the surface mesh on the turbine blades. Special
attention was paid to resolve the boundary layers adequately for Here, Ur is the velocity relative to the rotating frame of reference.
the implemented turbulence model. The position is represented by x and time by t. Static pressure is
The computations were carried out with the extended library of depicted as p, density by r, angular rotation rate of the frame of
OpenFOAM [20] using the steady-state SIMPLE segregated solver reference by U, ε is the permutation symbol and the subscripts i, j, l,
method with multiple frames of reference. A rotating reference q, s, and t are index placeholders.

Fig. 2. A) Overview of domain mesh B) mesh on the inlet C) mesh on the turbine blades D) clip through the mesh showing the placement of the rotor.
238 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241

Turbulence modeling was accomplished using Menter's keu SST Table 3

[21,22] two equation eddy-viscosity model. This model offers Sample calculations of discretization error.

improved prediction of adverse pressure gradients in the near wall f ¼ torque [Nm] f ¼ thrust [N]
region as compared to the standard keu and keε models by N1, N2, N3 1,188,542, 5,929,864, 14,607,868 1,188,542, 5,929,864, 14,607,868
incorporating Bradshaw's observation that turbulent shear-stress is r21 1.709 1.709
proportional to the turbulent kinetic energy in the wake region of r32 1.351 1.351
the boundary layer [22]. The equations for kinematic eddy viscosity, f1 34.5242 644.4971
f2 35.3426 636.9606
turbulent kinetic energy, and specific dissipation rate are written as
f3 35.2616 636.3088
p 1.25 1.02
a1 k f21 33.6621 654.8748
nT ¼ (13) ext
maxða1 u; SF2 Þ e21
a 2.4% 1.2%
e21
ext 2.6% 1.6%
" # GCI21fine 3.1% 2.0%
vk vk vU v vk
þ Uj ¼ tij i  b* ku þ ðn þ sk nT Þ (14)
vt vxj vxj vxj vxj
(GCI21
fine ) were calculated. The results show that there is a 2e3%
error band on the calculated quantities of torque and thrust due to
" #
vu vu v vu discretization.
þ Uj ¼ aS2  bu2 þ ðn þ su nT Þ Pictured in Fig. 3 are the flow field results for the N2 mesh on the
vt vxj vxj vxj
meridional plane with a free-stream velocity of 2.25 m/s and con-
1 vk vu stant rotation rate of 150 rpm. The results presented in Fig. 3 have
þ 2ð1  F1 Þsu2 (15)
u vxj vxj been normalized as

Here, nT is the turbulent viscosity, n is the kinematic viscosity, k is jUi j

the turbulent kinetic energy, u is the specific dissipation rate, a1 is a
closure coefficient, U is the velocity, and S is the mean rate-of-strain
tensor. For the sake of brevity, the blending functions F1 and F2 are
not shown but the implemented model uses the original imple-
mentation of the keu SST turbulence model.
On the inlet of the computational domain, a fixed velocity value
was assumed as well as a zero gradient condition for the pressure
field. A turbulent intensity of approximately 2% and a turbulent
mixing length of L ¼ 0.07DH, where DH is the hydraulic diameter of
the inlet, was assumed as well. On the outlet, a zero gradient
condition for velocity, turbulent kinetic energy, and specific dissi-
pation rate was imposed as well as a fixed gauge pressure. The bed
of the channel was a no-slip wall while the upper surface was a slip
wall to attempt to mimic a bounded free-surface or watereair
interface. The turbine itself was a no-slip wall that was rotating
with the surrounding inner domain. Wall functions were employed
to link the turbulent quantities to the no-slip walls. The inner and
out regions of the mesh were linked together through the Gener-
alized Grid Interface algorithm available with the OpenFOAM
extended package.
4. Results and discussion
Spectral convergence was verified for the presented computa-
tional domain using the Richardson extrapolation based Grid
Convergence Index (GCI) method [23e26]. This method provides
an estimate of the error band on solution quantities due to dis-
cretization error. Simulations were conducted at the turbine's
design conditions on three successively refined meshes. These
meshes contained N1 ¼ 1,188,542 cells, N2 ¼ 5,929,864 cells, and
N3 ¼ 14,607,868 cells. All simulation conditions were held constant
for each mesh. A summary of this study is depicted in Table 3. The
refinement ratio between meshes N2 and N1 as well as between
meshes N3 and N2 are defined by r21 and r32, respectfully. The so-
lution quantities for torque and thrust are represented by f1, f2,
and f3 for each respective mesh, and p is the observed order of
convergence between the studied meshes. Based on the results of
this convergence study and weighing computational costs, the N2
mesh was chosen to characterize the design. With the rate of
convergence known, the extrapolated value for the solution
quantities (f21 21
ext ), the relative error (ea ), the extrapolated relative
error (e21
ext ), and the Grid Convergence Index for the N2 mesh
~ ¼
U
2:25 m=s
(16)
p  ð3kPaÞ
~¼
p (17)
6kPa  ð3kPaÞ
 
 
 vUk 
εijk xj 
 
~¼
u (18)
15:707 1s
~ is depicted in Fig. 3a, the
The normalized velocity magnitude (U)
~
normalized static pressure (p) in Fig. 3b, and the normalized
u) in Fig. 3c. The right column shows the same results as
vorticity (~
the left column, with the exception of an isosurfaces of the vortex
core with a constant vorticity of 150 rpm (15.707 rad/s). The
vortices originated from the tip and hub of each blade form a
double helix as depicted in Fig. 3. These three dimensional vortices
and their interactions govern the flow field in the wake of the
turbine blade, influencing both velocity and pressure fields.
The flow field downstream of the turbine blades is dominated
by regions of high vorticity as depicted in Fig. 3. The two prominent
double helix structures, the vortex ropes shed from the tip of each
blades and the hub, dissipate as they are convected downstream.
The pressure and vorticity fields shown in Fig. 3a and b, respec-
tively, best depict these structures. Low pressure regions seen on
the meridional plane are the centers where the double helix vortex
rope passes through, as seen periodically spaced downstream.
These regions slowly dissipate and begin to blend with the free-
stream pressure field. This dissipation is seen in the vorticity field
as well, where the regions of high vorticity spread out downstream
of the turbine. The periodicity of these ropes appears to be a
function of the local circumferential speed and the axial-flow
speed.
Other flow features can be seen in the velocity field of Fig. 3a.
The stream-tube that encompasses the blades can be seen, where
the contours of lower velocity magnitude neighbor the free-stream
velocity magnitude downstream. In reality, the flow features
directly behind the hub will not be present, because the hub will be
connected to a nacelle which will have an effect on this flow field
downstream.
CFD simulations for two, three, and four bladed geometries were
conducted for a tip-speed ratio from 0.5 to 4.0. The solidity was
 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241 239

Fig. 3. A) Normalized velocity B) normalized static pressure C) normalized vorticity.

held constant at s ¼ 0.83 between these designs. The results from

characterizing the performance of these geometries are presented
A) B)
in Fig. 4. The power coefficient is presented in Fig. 4a and thrust 0.6 2.5
coefficient in Fig. 4b as a function of tip-speed ratio. These non- Z =2
B
dimensional parameters are defined as 0.5 2 ZB = 3
RU 0.4 Z =4
TSR ¼ (19) B
U 1.5
CT [ − ]
C [−]

0.3
P

P 1
CP ¼ p (20) 0.2
8 rU Dt
3 2

0.1 0.5
T
CT ¼ p (21)
8 rU 2 D2
t 0 0
0 2 4 0 2 4
Here, R is the blade tip radius, T is the thrust force, TSR is the tip- TSR [ − ] TSR [ − ]
speed ratio, CP is the power coefficient, and CT is the thrust
coefficient. Fig. 4. Characterization of a two, three, and four blade preliminary design.
240 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241

A) B) C)
6 6 6

4 4 4

2 2 2

[−]
press 0 0 0
C

−2 −2 −2

−4 −4 −4

−6 −6 −6
0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1
Normalized Chord [−]
Fig. 5. Pressure coefficient as a function of normalized chord length for A) near the hub radius B) at the mean diameter and C) near the blade tip.

The results indicate that there is no significant improvement in
power generation with the addition of blades, however, the addi-
tion of blades does appear to significantly affect the thrust gener-
ated from the blades. As the number of blades increases, the net
thrust on the propeller turbine increases. The preliminary design
methodology predicted the power performance at the designed
tip-speed ratio within 7% of the CFD results, with a power coeffi-
cient of 0.43 at the turbine's best efficiency point. This results in a
73.7% relative efficiency to the Betz limit (CP ¼ 0.593), the theo-
retical limit to the power coefficient.
The thrust coefficient trend observed is similar to that of Batten
et al. [5e7]. Fig. 4b shows that the initial increase in thrust coeffi-
cient occurs quicker at lower tip-speed ratios and peaks around a
tip-speed ratio of 0.5. Thrust coefficient decreases as tip-speed in-
creases above 0.5, as shown in Fig. 4b for the two bladed design. The
calculated thrust coefficient is also higher than the results reported
by Batten et al. It is believed these differences are a result of the
propeller-type design as opposed to the axial fan designs studied by
Batten et al.
Plots of the pressure coefficient near the hub, mean, and tip radii
are shown in Fig. 5. Here, pressure coefficient is defined as
Cpress ¼ (p  p∞)/(rU2/2), where p∞ is the free-stream pressure and
U is the free-stream velocity magnitude. The normalized chord at
the 0 station corresponds to the leading edge and 1 station at the
trailing edge. The hub plot in Fig. 5a depicts a well loaded segment
of the blade. The mean radius in Fig. 5b indicates that the loading on
this portion of the blade has peaked. Fig. 5c is near the tip radius of
the turbine and shows that the pressure loading is beginning to
approach a stalled condition. Future optimization simulations will
be conducted to improve the loading on the blade by more uni-
formly distributing the pressure acting on the blades.
Presented in Fig. 6 is a comparison of power coefficient with
general performance of various wind turbine designs [27]. The
preliminary design is in compliance with the Betz limit and
Glauert's ideal prediction of efficiency. The design also has a higher
power coefficient compared to wind turbines operating in a similar
tip-speed ratio range; however, the data used to compile the wind
turbine plots may be dated and have higher power coefficients.
5. Conclusions
A preliminary design methodology was presented for a person-
portable micro-hydrokinetic turbine. This system will be used in
military temporary encampment situations to provide enough
energy to run necessary equipment. The design will be interfacial
with the US Marine's GREENS solar modules.
The keu SST turbulence model was employed with a steady-
state SIMPLE segregated solver with multiple frames of reference
to characterize the preliminary design. A spectral convergence
study was conducted, and a 5,929,864 cell mesh was chosen for the
calculations, providing a GCI of 3.1% for torque and 2.0% on thrust.
This was a compromise between computational resources and
spectral independence for the computations. The detailed spatial
structure of velocity, pressure, and vorticity fields is characterized
both upstream and downstream of the turbine. The flow field in the
wake of the turbine is governed by pairs of double helix vortex
structures.

0.6

0.5
Betz Limit
C [−]

0.4
Glauert Ideal
P

0.3 Two−blade Darrieus

Two−blade High Speed
0.2 Savonius
American Multi−blade
0.1 Dutch Windmill
Proposed Turbine
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
TSR [ − ]

Fig. 6. Comparison of the preliminary design's performance with existing wind turbine designs (adapted from Fox et al. [27]).
 W.C. Schleicher et al. / Renewable Energy 76 (2015) 234e241
The preliminary design method and computational results agree
within 7% for the best efficiency design point at 2.25 m/s and a
150 rpm rotation rate. The results indicate a maximum power co-
efficient of 0.43 with a relative efficiency of 73.7% compared to the
Betz limit. The results match well with general trends for various
wind turbine designs [27]. It also exceeds the performance of wind
turbine designs that operate in the same tip-speed ratio range.
Future design optimization will be conducted with the addition
of a diffuser to enhance power generation characteristics. Optimi-
zation will also occur at slower fluid speeds to broaden the appli-
cable range of the system. Once an optimized design is found, a
prototype will be constructed and the numerical results will be
validated with experimental results at the David Taylor Model
Basin.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge funding from
the Office of Naval Research for this work under Award N00014-12-
M-0050.
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