Experimental investigation of CA9 blades on a 0.3m wells turbine rig

Since the fossil oil crisis in 1970s, much focus has been laid on alternative renewable sources of energy such as ocean waves. One of the most successful principles for wave power extraction was the Wells turbine coupled to an oscillating water column to generate electrical power. An experimental study of CA9 rotor Wells turbine was presented. The experimental rig was 0.3 m dia and tests were conducted at Re = 1 × 10⁵ and Ma = 0.1. The aerodynamic characteristics of the newly developed CA9 profile were compared to other commonly used NACA series profiles. It was expected that the new profile would be more resistant to stalling and exhibited a wide range of high efficiency operation. Enhanced resistant to stall was not detected. Low solidity was recommended, as it will reduce the financial investment required. It would also be recommended to test the CA9 profile on a bigger size rig (at least 0.6 m dia) and at Re of at least 5 × 10⁵ to be able to deduce more conclusive results on the new profile. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 10th (2000) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference (Seattle, USA 5/28/2000-6/2/2000).