R&D of the drivetrain & blade of Tocardo T4 Tidal Turbine

Within industrial practice, various tools exist to analyse tidal turbine performance, however, there is yet to be developed a well-defined design process ranging from low to high fidelity tools with the end result of obtaining a concise analysis of the turbine design. Additionally, there is limited amount of research that has been conducted on FSI of tidal turbines; how the structure impacts the performance of the turbine dynamic loading; and on DEL analysis that is crucial in the design of the turbine.
The research proposes a three-stage plan compromising of the use of low fidelity, mid-fidelity, and high-fidelity numerical solution solvers, to tackle the industrial gap of having a well-defined design process, and utilizing the mid-fidelity and high-fidelity tools to study on FSI of tidal turbines. The project will also contribute to the addition of knowledge on the standards and guidelines currently being used for the tidal energy sector.