Caractérisation numérique et expérimentale des effets d'interaction entre une hydrolienne et le milieu marin

This work aims to characterise by the means of expérimental and numerical modeling, the behavior of marine current turbine and the characteristics of the wake generated under realistic inflow conditions. For that purpose, we used a tri-bladed horizontal axis turbine of 0.7 m of diameter. Particular attention is paid to the flow characteristic effects on the efficiency of the turbine, but also on the generated wake.
Tests are carried out in the Ifremer wave and current flume tank in Boulogne-sur-Mer and in the towing tank of Brest, taking into account current profils, upstream turbulence intensity level and disturbances generated by wave/current interaction.
The development of a three-dimensional software based on vortex methods, taking into account the non stationary evolution of the wake generated by a turbine is implemented. The obtained numerical results are compared to the experimental ones, making the validation of tools possible in terms of efficiency and of wake evolution.