Array Configuration Effects on the Performance of Two-Hydrofoil Systems

• Grant number: 25/17350-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Aerospace Engineering - Aerodynamics
• Principal Investigator: Bernardo Luiz Rocha Ribeiro
• Grantee: Yasmin Franco dos Anjos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The analysis of fluid-turbine interactions is a comprehensive topic of study being frequently investigated in the literature in terms of flow control applications. A growing research topic in this field is the analysis of such interactions within renewable energy systems, like the hydraulic and wind energy. Furthermore, in the context of energy transition and the participation increase of renewable energy resources in the electric grid, it is essential to search for alternative systems that enables efficiency gain or increase the installed capacity of such resources. In the case of Brazil, according to the last National Energy Balance, the hydraulic energy resource more than half of the national installed capacity, demonstrating that alternatives can be achieved to further increase this participation share.Within these alternatives, the use of hydrokinetic turbines, which convert hydrokinetic energy of tides and rivers to electrical energy, may be utilized. The main challenge of this research in regards to the renewable energy extraction is due to the complex interactions between the wake and upstream turbines. Although the efficiency of a single hydrokinetic turbine is already investigated in the literature, the flow analysis within turbine arrays remains to be addressed. The array configuration enables an efficiency increase of the system depending of the kinematics and positioning of the turbines. Therefore, this scientific initiation project will numerically analyze the influence of different array configurations on the system efficiency, with the goal of finding the parameters that contribute the most to the increase of energy extraction.