Work

Wingsail performance in unsteady atmospheric surface layer winds

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: The performance of wind propulsion systems is evaluated in unsteady inhomogeneous winds with tools that are routinely used to predict the performance of wind turbines and which give access to the unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on the wingsail. A rigid wingsail exposed to a realistic atmospheric surface layer wind is used as a testbed. For this case, we show that standard deviations of the aerodynamic driving force are larger than 15%–20% of the mean values when the true wind velocity is larger than the ship speed. We also show that the mean aerodynamic driving forces computed by averaging the unsteady driving forces are only slightly smaller than the ones computed on the mean wind despite the strongly nonlinear dependence of the unsteady forces on the wind velocity and direction. • Unsteady aerodynamic forces are computed on a wingsail exposed to realistic winds. • Computations performed with wind-energy community open source codes. • Large thrust fluctuations (rms/mean > 15–20%) if wind speed larger than ship speed. • Mean thrust surprisingly similar to the one computed on the mean wind.

Source: Ocean Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2024.119653

Authors: Clément Bouhourd, Laurent Perret, Carlo Cossu

Institutions: École Centrale de Nantes, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Recherche Hydrodynamique, Energétique et Environnement Atmosphérique, Université de Nantes, Nantes Université

Language: English

Topic: Maritime Transport Emissions and Efficiency

Subfield: Environmental Engineering

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Affordable and clean energy, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,030