Year

2020

Season

Summer

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Computing, Engineering & Construction

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)

Department

Engineering

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. School of Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Cigdem Akan

Second Advisor

Dr. Don Resio

Third Advisor

Dr. John P Nuszkowski

Department Chair

Dr. Osama Jadaan

College Dean

William F Klostermeyer

Abstract

The kinetic and potential components of tidal energy can be utilized to generate electricity.The system discussed in the paper utilizes a head difference in generating electricity.This thesis presents the research work on the optimization of the nozzle, which will be used in a Closed Tidal Energy Conversion System for generating electricity. For this purpose, the relatively small-scale numerical simulation of the flow through the nozzle with 10 inches inlet diameter was executed using a computational fluid dynamics software, ANSYS. The inlet diameter and the length of the nozzle were kept constant, and the outlet diameters used are 7.5 inches, 6 inches, 5.75 inches, 5 inches, 4 inches, and 3 inches. The results showed that the nozzle with 10 inches outlet diameter and 5.75 inches inlet diameter set forth the desired velocity of this system, i.e., approximately 10 m/s. Also, it is assumed that the system holds the static pressure. The simulation of varying outlet pressure for the nozzle with 10 inches inlet diameter and 5.75 inches outlet diameter shows that the static pressure difference remains constant to obtain the same velocity. Again, mesh sensitivity analysis performed for the nozzle with 5.75 inches outlet diameter showed that the results between the fine mesh and the coarse mesh varies by 3%.

Furthermore, it also includes the case study for Saint Augustine, where the size and number of bladders required for a closed system to meet energy demand for a small size population have been analyzed. The study suggests that ten bladders of size are required for generating 15 MW power to meet the demand of a small population size of approximately 14,000.

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