On the impact of debris accumulation on power production of marine hydrokinetic turbines: Insights gained via LES

We present a series of large-eddy simulations to systematically investigate the impact of debris accumulation on the hydrodynamics and power production of a utility-scale marine hydrokinetic (MHK) turbine under various debris loads lodged on the upstream face of the turbine tower. The turbine blades are modeled using turbine resolving, actuator line, and actuator surface methods. Moreover, the influence of debris on the flow field is captured by directly resolving individual logs and employing a novel debris model. Analyzing the hydrodynamics effects of various debris accumulations, we show that an increase in the density of debris accumulation leads to more flow bypassing beneath the turbine blade. This, in turn, reduces the flow momentum that reaches the MHK blades at the lower depths, inducing significant fluctuation in power production. Further, it is shown that debris-induced turbulent fluctuations contribute to significant variability in the MHK turbine’s power production.