Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Review on the blade design technologies of tidal current turbine

Wei Li, Hongbin Zhou, Hongwei Liu, Yonggang Lin, Quankun Xu
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province 310027, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Tidal current turbine (TCT) is a kind of device which converts the tidal current energy into electricity and
Received 21 January 2015 its technology has got rapid progress in last decade. The design of TCT includes the blade, power train,
Received in revised form electrical system and power converter, sealing system and foundation, etc. In spite of the principle
8 January 2016
similarity to the wind energy, the design of the blade should be specially carried on for its characteristics
Accepted 3 May 2016
of cavitation, corrosion resistance and the big force on the blades. In this paper, the technology devel-
opments of the TCT blade design are reviewed, including the hydrodynamics design and the structure
Keywords: design. Subsequently the key technologies to be researched for the TCT blade design are concluded and
Review forecasted.
Tidal current turbine
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Blade design
Performance prediction
Key technologies

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
2. State of the art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
2.1. Hydrodynamics design of the blade and its performance prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
2.1.1. Design and analysis of the hydrofoil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
2.1.2. Parameterization of the blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
2.1.3. Prediction of the hydrodynamic performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
2.1.4. Design optimization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
2.2. Mechanical design of the blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
3. Key technologies in the blade research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
3.1. Passive adaptive design of the blades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
3.2. Hydrodynamics and structure co-design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
3.3. Performance study of scruffy blades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
3.4. Multi-objective optimization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
4. Challenges and conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

1. Introduction principle is like the wind energy. Both of them capture the kinetic
energy of the flowing fluids. Based on the developed wind turbine
Because of the people's concerns about the environmental technology, the TCT has got rapid development in last decade and
pollution and the shortage of traditional fossil energy, the the power capacity of a single device has reached megawatt scale.
renewable energy receives more and more attentions, such as the Tidal current energy is an eco-friendly energy source, and
wind energy, ocean energy and solar energy, etc. The tidal current compared with wind and wave energy which are intermittent and
energy becomes a research hotspot in recent years, whose variable, tidal current energy has the distinct advantages of high
predictability and regularity, which makes the exploitation of tidal
current energy more attractive. Therefore, many countries have
E-mail address: lhw7802@zju.edu.cn (H. Liu). started the research of tidal current energy at the end of the last

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.05.017
1364-0321/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
century, such as UK, USA, Canada, Korea, China and Italy, etc. Some
megawatt scale TCT were designed or tested or planed by some
corporations such as Andritz Hydro Hammerfest (HS1000), Marine
Current Turbine (SeagenS, SeagenU, SeagenF), Openhydro, Voith
Siemens Hydro, Atlantis resource Corporation, and Alstom, etc. [1]
though few of them gave the design details of the devices.
Just as mentioned above, TCT capture the kinetic energy of the
flowing seawater, so the blades play a vital role, whose performance
will influence not only the efficiency of the TCT system, but also the
load characteristics of the rotor and the power train. In this paper,
the technology development status of the TCT blade design will be
firstly reviewed, including the problems the developers are facing.
Followed by the introduction of the traditional hydrodynamic
design methods and some new design methods. Then the
mechanical design methods of the blade including the structure
layout, material selection, are also given. At last in the author’s
opinion, the key technologies to be researched or the development
trend for the TCT blade design will be concluded and forecasted.
2. State of the art
According to the rotor configuration, the TCT can generally be
divided into two categories, namely the horizontal axis tidal current
turbine (HATCT) and the vertical axis tidal current turbine (VATCT).
This paper will mainly introduce the HATCT blade design because it
has gained its popularity in the exploitation of tidal current energy.
Despite the analogy with wind turbines, there are major dif-
ferences in the engineering of a TCT because of the higher density
of water compared with air and the much slower speed of rotation
[2], such as the loads exerted on the turbine, the blade cavitation,
and the wear caused by the high turbidity of the coastal waters,
etc. This has been confirmed by the blade faults that occurred in
some prototype tests such as Verdant Power Company (Fig. 1),
Marine Current Turbine company SeaGen system and Openhydro's
turbine, the 75 kW TCT by Zhejiang University (ZJU) of China
(Fig. 2). So the special design and analysis of the blade of TCT need
to be carried out and some works have been done [3]. The ability
to design efficient TCT blades and to accurately predict their per-
formance is critical for the commercialization of the TCT industry.
2.1. Hydrodynamics design of the blade and its performance
prediction
The aim of the hydrodynamics design is to obtain a favored
external shape of the blade which satisfies the desired performances,
Fig. 1. Failed blade of a TCT.
415
such as high efficiency, low mechanical load, delayed stall, cavitation-
free, etc. In [4], based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory,
the procedure of the tidal blade design was outlined, and a 550 kW
blade design was carried out through a developed code used for wind
turbine, but the cavitation was not introduced in detail. Bahaj and his
colleagues designed a TCT rotor with a diameter of 800 mm based on
BEM theory, and both numerical simulation and towing tank test
were undertaken to analyze the performance of the rotor. Moreover,
the occurrence of cavitation was studied in a tunnel [5–7]. In above
literatures, the BEM theory was widely used. However, one of the
main limitations of the BEM method is that it cannot be used to
analyze the influence of a rotor on the surrounding flow, and for
where an analysis of wake dynamics is required, alternative modeling
approaches must be employed. Chapman, etc. proposed a modified
correction for the tip/hub losses and high induction conditions of the
TCT to predict the performance of the turbine [8]. In [9], the design
procedure based on the combined methods of BEM theory and CFD
was used to study the performance of the blade. Malki also resear-
ched on a coupled blade element momentum – computational fluid
dynamics model [10], in which some source terms were used to link
the BEM to the CFD flow domain based on the conservation of
momentum equations of a typical finite volume computational fluid
dynamics solver. Besides, some other design methods were adopted
and tested. In [11] a design method was presented which was based
on a lifting line model to produce the maximum output power and
then an analysis method based on a vortex-lattice scheme and a
nonlinear optimization method were used to optimize the blade
shape. Liu introduced the propeller based panel method for the
simulation and design optimization of the TCT [12].
Generally speaking, after the hydrofoils are chosen, the
hydrodynamics design procedure of the TCT blade design can be
divided into three stages: parameterization of the blade, predic-
tion of the hydrodynamic performance and design optimization
(Fig. 3). Such a methodology can also be applied to hydrofoil study.
2.1.1. Design and analysis of the hydrofoil
In the design of the TCT blade, the selected hydrofoil is important
for the performance of the blade, and generally, the largest lift-drag
ratio is expected, at the same time the delayed stall and free-cavitation
are also required. Some works has been done for the airfoil studies.
In [13] the authors presented a series of hydrofoils named as HF10XX,
HF might be the abbreviation of hydrofoil, 10 indicated the maximum
chamber was 10% and the XX was the percentage of maximum
thickness. These hydrofoils were amendments of airfoil S1210, new
hydrofoils with different thickness were used at different part of the
blade, and a maximum efficiency of 47.5% was achieved. And in [14]
Grasso used the multidisciplinary design optimization approach and
an advanced sequential quadratic programming gradient based algo-
rithm to design two new airfoil G-hydra –A, G-hydra-B, subsequently
their hydrodynamic performance were numerical simulated and
compared with the known data. Based on the existing foils, Patrick
Mark Singh and his colleagues studied a new hydrofoil MNU26 by
combining the suction side of DU91-W2-250 airfoil and the pressure
side of S814 airfoil [15], then the CFD simulation was used to study its
power coefficient, pressure and velocity distributions. In [16] the
authors optimized airfoil NACA63815 to obtain new hydrofoils, the
process was a multiple objective optimization based on NSGA-II, lift-
to-drag ratio and cavitation performance were used as objective
functions in this genetic algorithm. In [17] the author presented the
current status of the blade used in the wind turbine and TCT in detail
and characteristics of different airfoils were presented, such as Seri
AIRFOILS, DU AIRFOILS, RISϕ AIRFOILS, CAS-W1 AIRFOILS.
In order to understand the hydrodynamic performance well,
the flow field around the hydrofoil should be researched [18,19].
The research focus was the characteristics of the near and far wake
profiles, such as the tip vortex roll-up in the near field region of
416 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
Fig. 2. Wearing blades tested by ZJU.
Fig. 3. Flow chart of blade design.
three dimensional foils, the evolution of the tip vortex character-
istics, the pressure distribution correlative to the prediction of
cavitation, etc. For example, the value and the position of the
minimum pressure coefficient along the vortex path could be
obtained to estimate the cavitation or vibration.
In the above literatures, CFD is a frequently used tool for the
hydrodynamic analysis of a hydrofoil. Besides, Xfoil and Rfoil are the
often used tools for a 2D model which can provide pressure-coeffi-
cient, the lift-coefficient, and drag-coefficient of the hydrofoil. When
the needed parameters are properly set, like viscosity and Reynolds
number, Xfoil/Rfoil can also be used for design and analysis hydrofoil.
As an advantage, Xfoil is much more efficient than CFD software
because it’s free from mesh structure which usually leads to large
amount of calculation. When the attack angle is small, Xfoil can
predict the performance of the hydrofoil just like CFD software do,
but it failed after stall. To expend the usable range of Xfoil from pre-
stall to post-stall, Viterna method can be applied [20].
2.1.2. Parameterization of the blade
Parameterization is a bridge between blade entity and mathe-
matical model. The most commonly used method is to discretize the
blade by selecting a number of sections. Each section is characterized
by parameters like local radius, chord, twist angle, hydrofoil, pre-
bend, pitch axis, center of mass, linear density, flap-wise stiffness,
edge-wise stiffness, etc. Sections with any local radius can be
obtained employing interpolation. Discretization gains its popularity
because it’s easy to understand and apply, and most importantly it's
perfectly fit for the BEM theory, which would be introduced later.
Except for the discretization, Bezier Curves, which characterize the
blade in a continuous way, are also used as a parameterization
method [21,22]. The curve is defined by a control polygon, which
consists of some control points. For an N degree Bezier Curves, Nþ1
control points are required. And the curve can be easily expressed in
the form of polynomial. All design variables can be dealt in this way.
The BEM theory is based on the assumption that every blade
element is isolated, which means that the change of momentum of
the seawater flow by the blade element is caused only by the force
of this element. In this way, the sophisticated three-dimensional
flow in reality is simplified to two-dimensional flow. Thus the
equations of these two dimension can be established:
1

ρW 2 Nc C L cosφ þ C D sin φ dr ¼ 4πρV 2 að1 aÞrdr ð1Þ
2
1

ρW 2 Nc C L sin φ  C D cos φ rdr ¼ 4πρV ωra0 ð1 aÞr2 dr ð2Þ
2
in which, ρ is density of seawater, W is relative flow velocity, N is
number of blades, c is chord, C L and C D are lift and drag coefficients of
the chosen hydrofoil, ϕ is inflow angle, dr is thickness of blade element,
V is free flow velocity, a and a’ are axial and tangential flow induction
coefficients, r is radius of local blade element, ω is angular velocity of
rotor. These are the basic parameters to characterize a blade.
Such a simplification makes tremendous contribution to the
efficiency of programs based on BEM theory. Deservedly, it may
lead to an inaccurate result as the span-wise flow is ignored.
However it is worthwhile as long as the error is small enough.
2.1.3. Prediction of the hydrodynamic performance
Prediction of the blade hydrodynamic performance is the top
priority in blade design, and it is expected to be accurate and
 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422 417

Fig. 5. Force and motion analysis of a blade element.

8
>
> F ¼ F tip F hub
>
> 0 1
>
> N ðR  r Þ
>
> 
>
F ¼ 2 cos  1 @e 2R sin φ A
>
> B C
>
< tip π
ð8; 9; 10Þ
>
> 0 1
>
> N ðr  Rhub Þ
>
> 
>
¼ 2 cos  1 @e 2Rhub sin φ A
> B C
>
> F
> hub π
>
:

Fig. 4. 500 kW turbine sea test by ZJU. And the CFD methods has also been widely used for the perfor-
mance analysis and they make it much easier to predict the perfor-
efficient. The most reliable way to measure the hydrodynamic mance and the working condition of a hydrofoil or a blade. Several
performance of a hydrofoil or a blade is to carry out experiments kinds of effective commercial CFD software are available on the
in towing tank or water channel, or this can be done in the sea market, like CFX and FLUENT. For a 3D blade model, CFD software
(Fig. 4), however it can be expensive and time-consuming can be used to calculate a complete blade or a rotor with several
[5–7,23,24]. To save time and money, the BEM theory, which is a blades, in which the grid generation and boundary conditions are
combination of Blade Element theory and Momentum theory, is required to define precisely [9,26]. In [27], two computational pro-
widely used for performance prediction, just as mentioned above. cedures based on the BEM and CFD were developed to predict the
Do some algebra to Eqs. (1) and (2), they can be simplified as: horizontal axis tidal blade performance, mainly the efficiency, the
8 accuracy of the design and the cavitation inception performance.
> NcC x When the turbines operate in an array, the performance pre-
>
> a¼
< 8π r sin φ þ NcC x
2
diction will be different from stand-alone ones because of block-
ð3; 4Þ
>
> NcC y age effect. To take blockage effect into account, the RANS-BEM
> 0
: a ¼ 8π r sin φ cos φ NcC
y method, i.e., BEM method embedded in Reynolds-averaged
Navier–Stokes CFD solver, is used [28].
According to the motion analysis of a blade element (Fig. 5), the
relationship between inflow angle and two flow induction coeffi- 2.1.4. Design optimization
cients can be expressed as: Design optimization is to find an optimal/near optimal solution.
There are two kinds of optimization methods with high popularity
vð1  aÞ in TCT blade design domain, namely gradient-based optimization
tan φ ¼ ð5Þ
ωr ð1 þ a0 Þ methods (GOM) [14,22,29] and genetic algorithm (GA) [21,30,31].
The basic idea of GOM is to search the optimal solution in a specific
So an iterative process is required to calculate the values of a
direction and step size. Based on various criteria to calculate the
and a0 , subsequently a and a0 are substituted into the right parts of
search direction and step size, there are many different GOMs. A
Eqs. (1) and (2), which are thrust force and torque respectively. To
proper chosen criteria may accelerate the convergence process of
obtain a more accurate prediction of the hydrodynamic perfor-
the program. While GA is a large-scale search heuristic inspired by
mance, tip loss and hub loss are taken into BEM theory [25]. Eqs Darwin's theory of evolution. From the viewpoint of GA, every
(3) and (4) after correction can be expressed as: design parameter is a gene, and a candidate solution with a number
8 of parameters is a chromosome, or in other words an individual,
> NcC x
>
>a¼ and a group of a number of such individuals is called a population.
< 8π rF sin φ þ NcC x
2
ð6; 7Þ The first generation of population is randomly generated. The
>
> NcC y
> 0
: a ¼ 8π rF sin φ cos φ  NcC individuals with higher fitness have the higher possibility to
y
reproduce the next generation. And the fitness is evaluated by the
418 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
Fig. 6. Flow chart of multi-objective genetic algorithm.
prediction of the performance of the blade, which has been dis-
cussed in the preceding part of this article. The chosen individuals
as parents reproduce the next generation by the means of crossover
and mutation. When the reproduction is over, the GA decodes every
individual in the population into decimal parameters, so that the
fitness of the second generation can be evaluated. Such circulation
goes on until it is terminated by the maximum generation or an
acceptable individual. And it's convenient to optimize multi-
objective problem with GA, which means a blade can be efficient
and robust simultaneously after the optimization (Fig. 6).
2.2. Mechanical design of the blade
The mechanical design and fabrication are key elements for the
blade, which are relevant to the blade strength and stiffness. The
structure design should be based on the hydrodynamic design results
and the load distribution on the blade surface under all working
conditions. It was reported that the fracture or failure of the Open-
Hydro 16-m turbine in the Bay of Fundy and the two Verdant power
tidal turbines in the East River of New York City were caused by the
underestimated load or the large inflow speed [32].
What can be learned from the above cases is that the correct
load calculation is very crucial to the mechanical design of a blade.
Generally, all the design load conditions during the life cycle of the
turbine and the corresponding load results should be taken into
account. Then some statistic methods were used to generate the
fatigue load and extreme load, steady load and unsteady load [33].
And by far some software codes or other methods can be well used
to calculate the load of tidal current turbine such as the CFD
methods, GL Tidal Bladed software which is a design tool for TCT.
In [34], the development of GH Tidal Bladed was discussed, and the
set of typical loads used for the blade structure design can be
obtained through the code. Besides, the finite element analysis
methods can be used to analyze the strain, the stress and the defor-
mation of the blades [35]. Val researched on the design and analysis
of blade taking into account the uncertainties associated with current
speed, blade resistance and the used calculation models [36].
The structure design includes the material selection, the shear
web structure design, layer design and coating, etc. Referring to the
wind turbine technology and aiming at two typical extreme load
conditions, Bir, etc. gave the structural layup of the TCT, (Fig. 7)
which used the composite materials within a typical blade cross
section, and its mechanical performances was also theoretically
analyzed [4]. In [32] the authors set a global safety factor according
to the working conditions the turbine may experience, subse-
quently GA was used to optimize the layer thickness distribution, in
an example the authors observably reduced 37.6% material usage by
this method. The global safety factor can be replaced by a series of
local safety factors to get even finer solution.
The material is one of the key factors for the blade design [37].
Blades with low rigidity material will have a significantly reduction
in power generation [38]. Though the fiber reinforced plastic or
polymer such as GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer), CFRP (carbon
fiber reinforced polymer) were often used for its high specific
strength and stiffness, the performance of ageing or degradation and
corrosion resistant of them still needs to be tested over long periods
of time, and the failure criteria are more complicated than metal [39].
Fig. 8 gives the 75 kW GFRP blade by Zhejiang University (ZJU) in
China and a new 150 KW GFRP blade is under fabrication (Fig. 9),
besides that, metal like aluminum alloy (Fig. 10) and steel (Fig. 11) are
used in blade fabrication by ZJU. Based on the wind turbine tech-
nologies, the fabrication technology of the glass fiber blade is mature
and it is cost effective when compared with the carbon fiber material.
Besides, other material such as Nickel–aluminum bronze was also
proposed. There are both advantages and disadvantages for the
composite material and metal material. For the composite material,
the blade will be lighter which is favorable for the shaft design,
transportation and field fix or maintenance, but its performance in
the seawater had not been testified. By contrast, the bronze material
had been used underwater as ship propeller for many years.
After the finish of the fabrication of the blades, the load tests for
the blade should be carried out, including the fatigue load and the
extreme load. Figs. 12 and 13 give the load test of 75 kW GFRP blade
by ZJU.
3. Key technologies in the blade research
After the last decade of development of the tidal current turbine
technology, the rapid progress have been made. However, as an
emerging field in power production with great potential for environ-
mental safety, the TCT technology is still in its infancy and more works
should be carried out for the blade design and performance analysis.
3.1. Passive adaptive design of the blades
A passive adaptive TCT blade can adjust its hydrodynamic
performance along with the change of the velocity of tidal current.
This kind of characteristic comes from the utilization of anisotropic
composite materials. Using different lay-up method, two kinds of
passive adaptive blades can be obtained, namely stretch-twist
coupled blade and bend-twist coupled blade. When a centrifugal
force exerts on a stretch-twist coupled blade, deformation occurs
not only in the direction of stretch, but also in the form of twist.
 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422 419

Fig. 7. Structural layup of composite laminates of the TCT.

Fig. 8. 75 kW fiberglass reinforced tidal blade by ZJU.

Such a phenomenon occurs because of the asymmetry of the

stiffness, when a tension force exerts on the structure, it leads to
an additional shear which cause the twist deformation (Fig. 14).
Similarly, an axial load exerting on a bend-twist coupled blade will
cause deformation in both bend and twist directions. The passive
twist deformation has the same effect on the TCT just as active
pitch motion do.
In [40], a bend-twist coupled blade is applied and compared to
a normal fixed blade and an increase of 2% in annual power gen-
eration and a decrease of 10% in axial load are achieved. In [41],
these numbers are 5% and 12% respectively. In the same author's
previous work [42], a marvelous growth of 12.5% in annual power Fig. 9. Lay-up of 150 kW fiberglass reinforced TCT blade by ZJU.
generation is recorded.
In order to take advantage of the passive adaptive blades, the 3.2. Hydrodynamics and structure co-design
induced twist deformation should be predicted in the design stage.
Obviously it’s a fluid-structure interaction problem. Generally A TCT blade is designed to be effective and robust. The classic
speaking, to solve such a problem, CFD and FEA (Fig. 15) are uti- method to design a blade takes the hydrodynamics and structure
lized for surrounding flow regime and blade structure respectively, processes separately. The hydrofoil of each section is chosen
and the calculation results are transited between CFD and FEA generally according to the criterion that relatively thick hydrofoils
(Fig. 16). Such a solution is computational resource consuming, are used in root sections and relatively thin hydrofoils are used in
attention should be paid to find a more effective and accurate outer sections. Such a criterion is based on the load distribution
method to predict the induced twist deformation. along the blade and hydrodynamic performance of hydrofoils. It is
420 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
Fig. 10. 50 W aluminum alloy blade by ZJU.
Fig. 11. 500 W steel blade by ZJU.
Fig. 12. Strength tests for a 75 kW TCT by ZJU.
an empirical design method to choose a specific hydrofoil for each
section. After that, the process of hydrodynamics design based on
BEM theory is taken out, in which the chord and twist angle dis-
tribution is output.
The classic method is tried-and-true in wind energy for
decades, nevertheless there is still room for improvement.
Fig. 13. Strength tests for a 75 kW TCT by ZJU.
Fig. 14. The structure of stretch-twist coupled blade.
Fig. 15. Mesh of 150 KW blade to analysis passive adaptive phenomenon by ZJU.
One practical way is to combine the hydrodynamics design and
structure design together, namely hydrodynamics and structure
co-design. Such a combination can be done in different levels.
Instead of choosing the hydrofoil previously in experience of
designers, this work can be done by the computer optimization
program [22]. In such a program, the hydrofoil plays a role as
design variable just as chord and twist angle do, which means in
each loop the hydrofoil is recalculated by the program. When the
 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
Fig. 16. Flow chart using Ansys Workbench to combine CFD and FEA.
iteration process converges, the value of the design variables in the
last loop is the optimization result. To go further, the ply angles of
composite plys, the number of composite plys, and the thickness
of the shear web, etc. can also be dealt with as design variables,
and they are calculated simultaneously with design variables
mentioned earlier.
The advantage of hydrodynamics and structure co-design is
obvious, that it can decrease the redundancy in structure design
on the premise of enough structure strength, while for the classic
design method it’s a blind spot.
3.3. Performance study of scruffy blades
A TCT runs in a harsh environment and the blades may suffer
from cavitation erosion, chemical corrosion, fouling organism and
physical abrasion. Cavitation erosion occurs when the local pres-
sure of some place, usually the suction side of leading edge, drops
below the saturated vapor pressure, hence small bubbles separate
out from seawater, in the next moment the local pressure rises
again and the bubbles crumble, this process is like thousands of
little bombs explode near the blade surface and cause damage on
it. Chemical corrosion is caused by the corrosivity of seawater.
Fouling organism occurs in the form of some shellfish attaching on
the blade surface. And physical abrasion is caused by the high sand
content of seawater. To some degrees, these phenomena may
affect the performance of blades, especially when the turbine is
under long-time running. Performance study of scruffy blades is of
great importance in TCT operation for the commercial devices.
Towing tank test are taken on blades with varying roughness and
fouling [43]. For better cavitation inception performance, a rake tip
turbine design was proposed and analyzed in [24]. The occurrence of
cavitation is studied by the means of numerical simulation and
towing tank test [7]. For the TCTs erected near an estuary, physical
abrasion is the major threat. Fig. 2 presents the wearing tip part of a
TCT blade erected by Zhejiang University. This TCT is located near the
estuaries of Yangtze River and Qiantang River in Zhoushan city,
Zhejiang province, China. These two rivers bring enormous sand
from upstream, which make the physical abrasion extremely severe.
The photo was taken around 6 months after deployment and
operation. The black anticorrosive coating is wear out and the
internal composite material is uncoated. During long period of
operation, physical abrasion may even influence the hydrodynamic
shape of the blade and the intensity of blade structure. The laws of
occurrence of physical abrasion and its effect on the performance are
unresearched yet. More attention should be paid to this area.
3.4. Multi-objective optimization
In a sense, blade design is a process of optimization. The goal of
design optimization is to find one or several extremums, and
421
according to different opinions of different designers, the extremum
can be the maximum of power coefficient, or the maximum of annual
power generation, or minimum of cost of energy (COE), or something
else. As mentioned above, a TCT blade designer should progress in
hydrodynamics and structure co-design, which means at least two
objectives are needed, one for each aspect. In [21], annual power
generation and COE are chosen as two objectives, which are widely
used in wind energy and may also work for TCT. The maximum of
annual power generation indicates high hydrodynamic efficiency in
whole flow velocity range. While the COE is a comprehensive index,
to achieve the minimum of COE, a relatively high annual power
generation is needed to share the cost. Besides, a simplification of
blade manufacturing should be made and redundant strength of
blade should be reduced to a proper level to reduce the cost, which
however may lead to a sacrifice of hydrodynamic efficiency.
For different applications of TCT, the objectives may be completely
different. For commercial power generation devices, experience from
wind energy can be referenced. While for those with special appli-
cations, say to supply energy to seafloor observation network, non-
failure operation time may be of more importance than COE. Only
properly chosen objectives may lead to a fine blade design.
4. Challenges and conclusions
The design of the TCT blade is a comprehensive work, which
consists of the hydrodynamic and mechanical structural design. In
the hydrodynamic design, the BEM was widely used. And the flow
field analysis around the blade, the cavitation and the stall, etc.
were also researched to optimize the hydrodynamic performance.
Based on the wind turbine blade design technology, the TCT
blade design methods develop rapidly. However, novel design
methods of blades with high efficiency and free cavitation and
taking the strain/deformation and hydrodynamics into accounts,
should be further researched. Sometime, the compromise between
the power efficiency and the strength of the blade should be dealt
with. Besides, further works should be done before the commercial
deployment of the TCT, such as the corrosion resistance, fouling
resistance, manufacturing methods and coating technology.
Acknowledgment
This paper is supported by the Science Fund for Creative
Research Groups of National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51521064), the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51575477), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang
Province (No. LY14E050019), and Youth Funds of the State Key
Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control
(SKLoFP_QN_1401).
422 W. Li et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 63 (2016) 414–422
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