Coupled CFD-Experimental study of Fish-Turbine interaction

CFD simulation of Fish-Turbine interaction in marine hydrokinetic energy systems

Background

• Marine renewable energy research collaboration between Stony Brook university, and Cardiff University.
• The growing deployment of marine hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines requires understanding their environmental impact, particularly on aquatic ecosystems and fish behavior.
• Key physics concepts: turbulent flows, wake dynamics, Large eddy simulation, fish turbine interaction, fish behavior, biological fluid dynamics.

Issues

• Determination of flow field around rotating turbines and their impact on fish swimming patterns.
• Modeling of complex fish-turbine interactions including avoidance behaviors and collision risks.
• Investigation of turbine wake effects on downstream aquatic habitats.
• Validation of CFD results against experimental fish tracking data.
• Development of guidelines for environmentally-conscious turbine deployment.

Contributions to the project

• Development of high-fidelity large-eddy simulation (LES) models for MHK turbine operation.
• Coupled CFD-experimental analysis using synchronized LES and fish behavior tracking.
• Parametric studies investigating different turbine configurations and operating conditions.
• Analysis of flow structures, vorticity fields, and spectral analysis affecting fish navigation.

Technical environment

• Computing: Linux HPC cluster, MPI, PETSc
• Programming: MATLAB, C++, Python for data analysis
• CFD Software: VFS Geophysics, turbine geometry resolving module
• Meshing: Pointwise
• Visualization: ParaView, Blender, Tecplot
• Data Processing: MATLAB, Python scientific libraries

This research contributes to sustainable marine energy development by ensuring minimal environmental impact while maximizing energy extraction efficiency.