Study on the blade preset pitch of a fixed pitch vertical axis tidal turbine

Preset blade pitch is one of the key parameters which influences the performance of a fixed pitch vertical axis tidal turbine. In order to improve turbine performance, model experiments and numerical simulation methods were carried out to study the effects of preset blade pitch on the blade load and the overall performance of the turbine. The results of numerical simulation were reliable, proved by comparing coefficients of power from a numerical simulation with one from the experiment. The results show that a toe-out preset pitch resulted in an improved coefficient of power of the turbine and decreased blade load, which is helpful for the long-term operation of turbine. On the other hand, toe-in preset pitch proved to be a disadvantage for both the energy utilization rate in the turbine and the blade load.