TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept

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Pterofin's Skimmer concept relies on a flapping and pitching hydrofoil to extract hydrokinetic energy from water flows. The concept aims to utilize unsteady fluid dynamics phenomena (added mass, shed vorticity, and unsteady boundary layer development) to achieve higher lift coefficients, enabling increased power density of the hydrokinetic device and a fundamental shift in the rpm/torque scaling of the power take off compared with turbines.

The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State, in collaboration with Pterofin, designed and built a proof-of-concept flapping/pitching mechanism which was subsequently tested in ARL's 12-inch water tunnel facility. The mechanical power supplied to or extracted from the mechanism was measured for a range of hydrofoils provided by Pterofin over operating conditions including reduced frequency, Reynolds number, and the ratio between pitching and flapping amplitudes. The power lost to friction in the mechanism was removed from the net power measurement by means of a bare hub tare, with the resultant hydrodynamic power being used to calculate a mechanism-independent and non-dimensional power coefficient.

The product of this effort is a dataset describing the power coefficient of a hydrofoil having simultaneous pitching and flapping motions, both of which are approximately sinusoidal. Power coefficients were collected for a range of primary design variables including:
- Reduced frequency: 0.01 to 0.95
- Pitching/flapping peak angle ratio: 1.5 to 3.0
- Chord-based Reynolds number: 60,000 to 560,000

Secondary design variables relating to the hydrofoil geometry were explored including:
- Aspect ratio
- Planform shape
- Section thickness distribution
- Hydrofoil position relative to the pitching axis
- Hydrofoil sweep angle relative to the pitching axis

Measured data are provided in mean and time series formats. MATLAB scripts are provided which can be used to generate figures of time-averaged and phase-averaged hydrodynamic power coefficients calculated from the measured data. A complete description of the experiment and data reduction can be found in the Post Access Report for the Pterofin Skimmer test effort which will be available on the TEAMER website.

This work was supported by the Pacific Energy Ocean Trust via a TEAMER award.

Citation Formats

TY - DATA AB - Pterofin's Skimmer concept relies on a flapping and pitching hydrofoil to extract hydrokinetic energy from water flows. The concept aims to utilize unsteady fluid dynamics phenomena (added mass, shed vorticity, and unsteady boundary layer development) to achieve higher lift coefficients, enabling increased power density of the hydrokinetic device and a fundamental shift in the rpm/torque scaling of the power take off compared with turbines. The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State, in collaboration with Pterofin, designed and built a proof-of-concept flapping/pitching mechanism which was subsequently tested in ARL's 12-inch water tunnel facility. The mechanical power supplied to or extracted from the mechanism was measured for a range of hydrofoils provided by Pterofin over operating conditions including reduced frequency, Reynolds number, and the ratio between pitching and flapping amplitudes. The power lost to friction in the mechanism was removed from the net power measurement by means of a bare hub tare, with the resultant hydrodynamic power being used to calculate a mechanism-independent and non-dimensional power coefficient. The product of this effort is a dataset describing the power coefficient of a hydrofoil having simultaneous pitching and flapping motions, both of which are approximately sinusoidal. Power coefficients were collected for a range of primary design variables including: - Reduced frequency: 0.01 to 0.95 - Pitching/flapping peak angle ratio: 1.5 to 3.0 - Chord-based Reynolds number: 60,000 to 560,000 Secondary design variables relating to the hydrofoil geometry were explored including: - Aspect ratio - Planform shape - Section thickness distribution - Hydrofoil position relative to the pitching axis - Hydrofoil sweep angle relative to the pitching axis Measured data are provided in mean and time series formats. MATLAB scripts are provided which can be used to generate figures of time-averaged and phase-averaged hydrodynamic power coefficients calculated from the measured data. A complete description of the experiment and data reduction can be found in the Post Access Report for the Pterofin Skimmer test effort which will be available on the TEAMER website. This work was supported by the Pacific Energy Ocean Trust via a TEAMER award. AU - Jaffa, Nicholas A2 - Walsh, Justin A3 - Pique, Alexander A4 - Bechtel, Jonathan A5 - Durachko, Timothy DB - Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository DP - Open EI | National Renewable Energy Laboratory DO - 10.15473/2282051 KW - marine KW - energy KW - TEAMER KW - flapping KW - pitching KW - reduced frequency KW - hydrofoil KW - pterofin KW - skimmer KW - unsteady KW - water tunnel KW - turbine KW - hydrokinetic KW - MATLAB KW - CFD KW - oscillating hydrofoil KW - CEC KW - current enery converter KW - technology KW - proof of concept KW - code KW - software package KW - unsteady fluid dynamics KW - RFTS3 LA - English DA - 2023/07/13 PY - 2023 PB - Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory T1 - TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept UR - https://doi.org/10.15473/2282051 ER -
Export Citation to RIS
Jaffa, Nicholas, et al. TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept. Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory, 13 July, 2023, Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.15473/2282051.
Jaffa, N., Walsh, J., Pique, A., Bechtel, J., & Durachko, T. (2023). TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept. [Data set]. Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository. Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.15473/2282051
Jaffa, Nicholas, Justin Walsh, Alexander Pique, Jonathan Bechtel, and Timothy Durachko. TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept. Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory, July, 13, 2023. Distributed by Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.15473/2282051
@misc{MHKDR_Dataset_517, title = {TEAMER: Water Tunnel Data from Testing the Pterofin Skimmer Concept}, author = {Jaffa, Nicholas and Walsh, Justin and Pique, Alexander and Bechtel, Jonathan and Durachko, Timothy}, abstractNote = {Pterofin's Skimmer concept relies on a flapping and pitching hydrofoil to extract hydrokinetic energy from water flows. The concept aims to utilize unsteady fluid dynamics phenomena (added mass, shed vorticity, and unsteady boundary layer development) to achieve higher lift coefficients, enabling increased power density of the hydrokinetic device and a fundamental shift in the rpm/torque scaling of the power take off compared with turbines.

The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State, in collaboration with Pterofin, designed and built a proof-of-concept flapping/pitching mechanism which was subsequently tested in ARL's 12-inch water tunnel facility. The mechanical power supplied to or extracted from the mechanism was measured for a range of hydrofoils provided by Pterofin over operating conditions including reduced frequency, Reynolds number, and the ratio between pitching and flapping amplitudes. The power lost to friction in the mechanism was removed from the net power measurement by means of a bare hub tare, with the resultant hydrodynamic power being used to calculate a mechanism-independent and non-dimensional power coefficient.

The product of this effort is a dataset describing the power coefficient of a hydrofoil having simultaneous pitching and flapping motions, both of which are approximately sinusoidal. Power coefficients were collected for a range of primary design variables including:
- Reduced frequency: 0.01 to 0.95
- Pitching/flapping peak angle ratio: 1.5 to 3.0
- Chord-based Reynolds number: 60,000 to 560,000

Secondary design variables relating to the hydrofoil geometry were explored including:
- Aspect ratio
- Planform shape
- Section thickness distribution
- Hydrofoil position relative to the pitching axis
- Hydrofoil sweep angle relative to the pitching axis

Measured data are provided in mean and time series formats. MATLAB scripts are provided which can be used to generate figures of time-averaged and phase-averaged hydrodynamic power coefficients calculated from the measured data. A complete description of the experiment and data reduction can be found in the Post Access Report for the Pterofin Skimmer test effort which will be available on the TEAMER website.

This work was supported by the Pacific Energy Ocean Trust via a TEAMER award.}, url = {https://mhkdr.openei.org/submissions/517}, year = {2023}, howpublished = {Marine and Hydrokinetic Data Repository, Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory, https://doi.org/10.15473/2282051}, note = {Accessed: 2025-04-24}, doi = {10.15473/2282051} }
https://dx.doi.org/10.15473/2282051

Details

Data from Jul 13, 2023

Last updated Feb 14, 2024

Submitted Dec 20, 2023

Organization

Pennsylvania State University, Applied Research Laboratory

Contact

Justin Walsh

814.865.3032

Authors

Nicholas Jaffa

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Justin Walsh

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Alexander Pique

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Jonathan Bechtel

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Timothy Durachko

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

DOE Project Details

Project Name Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research

Project Lead Lauren Ruedy

Project Number EE0008895

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