Developing a site-specific, hydrodynamic-based selection of hydrokinetic microturbines for field deployment.

Hydrokinetic microturbines constitute a viable alternative for temporary and resilient scenarios in Army deployments, being relatively simple to carry, install, and operate. Site selection for turbine deployment was proven important in recent publications because incoming turbulence intensity negatively impacts energy production and increases stresses on the body. A correct turbine selection considering site conditions (e.g., log jams, boulders, and piles) that alter the incoming flow will maximize energy output for either a single unit or an array of microturbines. Full-scale hydrokinetic microturbines were studied on a racetrack flume at the Ecohydraulics and Ecomorphodynamics Laboratory (EEL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), using Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADV) to collect velocity data upstream, around, and downstream of each turbine for different incoming velocity gradients, according to previous experimental studies on coherent structures and wake dynamics. Flow and turbulence properties such as velocity gradients, spatial distribution, turbulence intensities, Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, vorticity, and turbulent length scales for each microturbine and incoming flow conditions were compared between cases, allowing a microturbine selection based on flow physical process. Our findings provide the basis for a site-specific, hydrodynamic-based, microturbine selection according to deployment site environmental conditions to maximize energy production and minimize turbine fatigue.