Comparative Study on Starting Characteristics of Turbines for Wave Energy Conversion

Abstract Wells and impulse turbines for bi-directional airflow have been proposed as typical turbines for wave energy conversion. Each of them has some advantages and disadvantages. In recent years, the authors have proposed Wells turbine with booster and a counter-rotating impulse turbine for bi-directional airflow in order to overcome their drawbacks. In this study, the starting characteristics of four types of turbines for bi-directional airflow were compared by conducting a CFD analysis under a steady flow condition.