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THERMAL SCIENCE
International Scientific Journal
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HYDRODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE STUDY OF A VERTICAL-AXIS BIOINSPIRED TIDAL CURRENT TURBINE
ABSTRACT
Blades critically influence the energy capture efficiency of tidal flow turbines. In an endeavor to substantially boost the energy performance of tidal current turbines, a vertical-axis bioinspired blade with a nodular leading edge was designed, based on the humpback whale’s pectoral fin, to enhance tidal current turbine performance. The leading edge nodules follow a sine wave pattern. A three-bladed vertical-axis tidal current turbine model incorporating this design was developed. Its hydrodynamic performance was compared to that of a standard three-blade vertical-axis turbine using numerical simulations, with the aim of further and quantifiably improving energy efficiency. The bioinspired turbine achieved high energy coefficient values. For example, at a tip speed ratio of 2.094, the bioinspired turbine delivers a 7.12% increase in energy coefficient compared to the standard turbine. Moreover, the bioinspired turbine demonstrated markedly and consistently higher torque output under low speed conditions and showcased significantly notable enhanced startup performance.
KEYWORDS
tidal current turbine, bionic blade, humpback whale pectoral fin, hydrodynamic performance, CFD numerical simulation
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-07-12
PAPER REVISED: 2025-09-05
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-09-16
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-11-08
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250712192L
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
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© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence