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Book Modeling and Simulation of Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine System

Download or read book Modeling and Simulation of Hydrokinetic Composite Turbine System written by Haifeng Li and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The utilization of kinetic energy from the river is promising as an attractive alternative to other available renewable energy resources. Hydrokinetic turbine systems are advantageous over traditional dam based hydropower systems due to "zero-head" and mobility. The objective of this study is to design and analyze hydrokinetic composite turbine system in operation. Fatigue study and structural optimization of composite turbine blades were conducted. System level performance of the composite hydrokinetic turbine was evaluated. A fully-coupled blade element momentum-finite element method algorithm has been developed to compute the stress response of the turbine blade subjected to hydrodynamic and buoyancy loadings during operation. Loadings on the blade were validated with commercial software simulation results. Reliability-based fatigue life of the designed composite blade was investigated. A particle swarm based structural optimization model was developed to optimize the weight and structural performance of laminated composite hydrokinetic turbine blades. The online iterative optimization process couples the three-dimensional comprehensive finite element model of the blade with real-time particle swarm optimization (PSO). The composite blade after optimization possesses much less weight and better load-carrying capability. Finally, the model developed has been extended to design and evaluate the performance of a three-blade horizontal axis hydrokinetic composite turbine system. Flow behavior around the blade and power/power efficiency of the system was characterized by simulation. Laboratory water tunnel testing was performed and simulation results were validated by experimental findings. The work performed provides a valuable procedure for the design and analysis of hydrokinetic composite turbine systems"--Abstract, page iv.

Book Conceptual Design  Feasibility Analysis  Modeling  and Simulation  of the Dynamics and Control  of a Mobile Underwater Turbine System to Harvest Marine Hydrokinetic Energy from the Gulf Stream

Download or read book Conceptual Design Feasibility Analysis Modeling and Simulation of the Dynamics and Control of a Mobile Underwater Turbine System to Harvest Marine Hydrokinetic Energy from the Gulf Stream written by Sathvik Divi and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Development of a Control Co Design Modeling Tool for Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines  Preprint

Download or read book Development of a Control Co Design Modeling Tool for Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines Preprint written by and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report describes the ongoing and planned development of the software package CT-Opt (Current/Tidal Optimization), a control co-design modeling tool for marine hydrokinetic turbines. The commercialization of these turbines has faced significant challenges due to the complex, multidisciplinary nature of their design and the extreme environmental conditions of their operation. This project aims to create a modeling tool that will enable the efficient design of robust, cost-competitive hydrokinetic turbine systems. Rather than using traditional optimization methods, CT-Opt combines multiple models across a range of fidelities to enable coupled optimization of the system design and system controller via a control co-design approach. With this method, the parameters that affect system performance are considered more comprehensively at every stage of the design process. The lowest-fidelity, frequency-domain model called by CT-Opt is RAFT (Response Amplitudes of Floating Turbines), which was originally developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to model response amplitudes of floating offshore wind turbines. The highest-fidelity, time-domain model is OpenFAST, which was developed by NREL for land-based and offshore wind turbines. As part of the CT-Opt project, new functionalities will be added to RAFT and OpenFAST to enable the accurate simulation of fixed and floating marine hydrokinetic turbines. In addition to expanding the capabilities of RAFT and OpenFAST, new midfidelity models will be developed. These models will be based on RAFT and OpenFAST and will consist of linearized, state-space models derived from the fully coupled, nonlinear OpenFAST equations and derivative function surrogate models that approximate the nonlinear system behavior. Each model will be coupled with controllers to allow control co-design methods to be applied both within models and across fidelity levels, enabling efficient system optimization.

Book Development of Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic Turbine Using Experimental and Numerical Approaches

Download or read book Development of Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic Turbine Using Experimental and Numerical Approaches written by Abdulaziz Mohammed Abutunis and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hydrokinetic energy conversion systems (HECSs) are emerging as viable solutions for harnessing the kinetic energy in river streams and tidal currents due to their low operating head and flexible mobility. This study is focused on the experimental and numerical aspects of developing an axial HECS for applications with low head ranges and limited operational space. In Part I, blade element momentum (BEM) and neural network (NN) models were developed and coupled to overcome the BEM's inherent convergence issues which hinder the blade design process. The NNs were also used as a multivariate interpolation tool to estimate the blade hydrodynamic characteristics required by the BEM model. The BEM-NN model was able to operate without convergence problems and provide accurate results even at high tip speed ratios. In Part II, an experimental setup was developed and tested in a water tunnel. The effects of flow velocity, pitch angle, number of blades, number of rotors, and duct reducer were investigated. The performance was improved as rotors were added to the system. However, as rotors added, their contribution was less. Significant performance improvement was observed after incorporating a duct reducer. In Part III, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was conducted to derive the optimum design criteria for the multi-turbine system. Solidity, blockage, and their interactive effects were studied. The system configuration was altered, then its performance and flow characteristics were investigated. The experimental setup was upgraded to allow for blockage correction. Particle image velocimetry was used to investigate the wake velocity profiles and validate the CFD model. The flow characteristics and their effects on the turbines performance were analyzed"--Abstract, page iv.

Book Design  Modeling  and Prototyping of a Hydrokinetic Turbine Unit for River Application

Download or read book Design Modeling and Prototyping of a Hydrokinetic Turbine Unit for River Application written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on turbine-diffuser characterization, rapid-computational fluid dynamics simulations, and free surface, multiphase simulations, a prototype was designed and developed to produce 250 Watts of power. The final design utilized specific flow conditions corresponding to the greatest percentage of potential installation sites where the unit could be deployed. Numerical predictions were produced for the final hydrokinetic turbine system, with a peak power coefficient value of 0.51 at a tip speed ratio of 2.5.

Book Development and Assessment of a Modeling Method for Hydrokinetic Turbines Operating in Arrays

Download or read book Development and Assessment of a Modeling Method for Hydrokinetic Turbines Operating in Arrays written by Sébastien Bourget and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to contribute to the development of the hydrokinetic power industry, a new line of research has been initiated recently at the Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides Numérique (LMFN) de l'Université Laval. It is related to the optimization of turbine farm layouts. As the numerical modeling of turbine farms has been little investigated in the past at the LMFN, the objectives of this work are to develop a numerical methodology that will allow the study of turbine farm layouts at reasonable simulation cost and to verify its reliability. Inspired from numerical models found in the available literature, an original modeling approach is developed. This modeling approach is referred-to as the Effective Performance Turbine Model, or EPTM. The EPTM reliability is assessed in terms of its capacity to predict correctly the mean performances and the wake recovery of the turbines. The results of "high-fidelity" CFD simulations, which include at high cost the complete rotor geometry, are used as a reference. Results of the performance assessment show that the EPTM approach is appropriate for the modeling of both axial-flow (horizontal-axis) turbines and cross-flow (vertical-axis) turbines operating in clean flow conditions. Indeed, the EPTM provides very good predictions of the value of the optimal angular speed at which the rotor should be rotating to operate near maximum power extraction, the magnitude of the mean forces acting on the turbine and the mean power it extracts from the flow. The EPTM also succeeds to generate the adequate nearwake flow topology of each of the reference turbine investigated. However, the steady turbulence modeling approach used in the EPTM simulations appears inadequate in some cases. Possible model improvements are discussed as a conclusion.

Book Numerical Simulation for Moored Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines

Download or read book Numerical Simulation for Moored Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines written by Basil L. Hacker (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The research presented in this thesis utilizes Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory with a dynamic wake model to customize the OrcaFlex numeric simulation platform in order to allow modeling of moored Ocean Current Turbines (OCTs). This work merges the advanced cable modeling tools available within OrcaFlex with well documented BEM rotor modeling approach creating a combined tool that was not previously available for predicting the performance of moored ocean current turbines. This tool allows ocean current turbine developers to predict and optimize the performance of their devices and mooring systems before deploying these systems at sea. The BEM rotor model was written in C++ to create a back-end tool that is fed continuously updated data on the OCT's orientation and velocities as the simulation is running. The custom designed code was written specifically so that it could operate within the OrcaFlex environment. An approach for numerically modeling the entire OCT system is presented, which accounts for the additional degree of freedom (rotor rotational velocity) that is not accounted for in the OrcaFlex equations of motion. The properties of the numerically modeled OCT were then set to match those of a previously numerically modeled Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) OCT system and comparisons were made. Evaluated conditions include: uniform axial and off axis currents, as well as axial and off axis wave fields. For comparison purposes these conditions were applied to a geodetically fixed rotor, showing nearly identical results for the steady conditions but varied, in most cases still acceptable accuracy, for the wave environment. Finally, this entire moored OCT system was evaluated in a dynamic environment to help quantify the expected behavioral response of SNMREC's turbine under uniform current.

Book Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines  Numerical and Experimental Analyses

Download or read book Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines Numerical and Experimental Analyses written by Mabrouk Mosbahi and published by Bentham Science Publishers. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is a guide to numerical and experimental processes that are used to analyze and improve the efficiency of vertical axis rotors. Chapters present information that is required to optimize the geometrical parameters of rotors or understand how to augment upstream water velocity. The authors of this volume present a numerical model to characterize the water flow around the vertical axis rotors using commercial CFD code in Ansys Fluent®. The software has been used to select adequate parameters and perform computational simulations of spiral Darrieus turbines. The contents of the volume explain the experimental procedure carried out to evaluate the performance of the spiral Darrieus turbine, how to characterize the water flow in the vicinity of the tested turbine and the method to assess the spiral angle influence on the turbine performance parameters. Results for different spiral angles (ranging from 10° to 40°) are presented. This volume is a useful handbook for engineers involved in power plant design and renewable energy sectors who are studying the computational fluid dynamics of vertical axis turbines (such as Darrieus turbines) that are used in hydropower projects. Key features: - 4 chapters that cover the numerical and experimental analysis of vertical axis rotors and hydrokinetic turbines - Simple structured layout for easy reading (methodology, models and results) - Bibliographic study to introduce the reader to the subject - A wide range of parameters included in experiments - A comprehensive appendix of tables for mechanical parameters, statistical models, rotor parameters and geometric details.

Book Modeling and Optimizing Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays Using Numerical Simulations

Download or read book Modeling and Optimizing Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays Using Numerical Simulations written by Olivier Gauvin Tremblay and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to plan a river hydrokinetic turbine array deployment and to maximize its energy extraction, turbine array simulations are often carried out. However, in a context where tens of turbines are deployed, it is unthinkable to simulate the complete rotating geometry of every turbine. It is therefore necessary to use simplified models that reproduce accurately the turbines and that incorporate all the main interactions taking place in a turbine array, namely the turbine-wake interactions, the blockage effects and the interaction with the resource. The Effective Performance Turbine Model (EPTM) is a suitable tool in that sense, allowing to test and analyze a large amount of different array configurations at a low computational cost. Although the EPTM has been developed to serve as a tool for array analysis, it has only been tested up to now in a uniform flow with a low turbulence level. For this reason, the EPTM has been validated and adapted in this work to ensure a proper and reliable use in river array flow conditions. Herein, the efforts has been mainly put on a cross-flow turbine (CFT) technology. First, a numerical methodology has been developed to reproduce river flow conditions and array flow conditions, which include shear, large-scale temporal fluctuations and (modeled) turbulence. Following 3D blade-resolved turbine simulations, it is found that a turbine operating in those conditions sees a reduction of its performance, especially when the shear aspect is present. However, it turns out that the effective drag coefficient remains essentially unchanged, allowing to use the same local effective force coefficient distribution in every situation. Moreover, although the effective power coefficient appears to be lower than for a turbine in idealized flow conditions, it does not vary depending of the type of perturbation and its decrease is small under free-surface conditions. This is important for the use of the EPTM, since the simplified model is based on this assumption. Multiple comparisons between EPTM and blade-resolved turbine simulations in river/array flow conditions have confirmed that the EPTM-CFT is always able to predict accurately the performances of the turbines and to reproduce their mean wake with a high degree of reliability. Following this validation procedure, a series of turbine array simulations have been conducted using the EPTM-CFT. Assuming a turbulent flow environment, many vertical-axis turbine array configurations have been tested to study more precisely the effect of local blockage, lateral and longitudinal spacing, array staggering and direction of rotation on turbine performance. Results have shown that all aspects of blockage, local and global, must be considered simultaneously with the possibility of turbine-wake interaction, especially when the turbines generate a wake that deflects sideways down-stream. The latter aspect could play an important role in determining whether or not the array should be staggered. For a multiple-row array, this aspect also affects the relevance of the different array parameters used. Indeed, in this context, the lateral spacing becomes more meaningful than the local blockage value. To help decide on the optimal lateral and longitudinal spacing to set within an array, a new parameter has been proposed: the marginal power per turbine. As many economic variables can come into play, this parameter helps quantifying the benefit of adding rows or columns of turbines in comparison to the already installed power. Finally, it is possible, for an identified optimal turbine array, to assess its impact on the resource. Based on an actual river site, a realistic simulation of a turbine array in river has been performed using the methodology previously developed. The simulation results, compared with the results of more simplified simulations, have pointed out that an appropriate channel geometry and an accurate inflow velocity distribution are essential to obtain reliable array performances. Although it arises that taking into account the free surface has negligibly affected the array performances and the water level upstream for the case considered, it remains that the assessment of the impact on the resource is always relevant since the rise in the water level can be larger if the blockage ratio or the Froude number are higher.

Book Design  Modeling and Dynamic Analysis of a Mobile Underwater Turbine System for Harvesting Marine Hydro Kinetic Energy

Download or read book Design Modeling and Dynamic Analysis of a Mobile Underwater Turbine System for Harvesting Marine Hydro Kinetic Energy written by Shubham Tandon and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Comprehensive Energy Systems

Download or read book Comprehensive Energy Systems written by Ibrahim Dincer and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 5543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprehensive Energy Systems, Seven Volume Set provides a unified source of information covering the entire spectrum of energy, one of the most significant issues humanity has to face. This comprehensive book describes traditional and novel energy systems, from single generation to multi-generation, also covering theory and applications. In addition, it also presents high-level coverage on energy policies, strategies, environmental impacts and sustainable development. No other published work covers such breadth of topics in similar depth. High-level sections include Energy Fundamentals, Energy Materials, Energy Production, Energy Conversion, and Energy Management. Offers the most comprehensive resource available on the topic of energy systems Presents an authoritative resource authored and edited by leading experts in the field Consolidates information currently scattered in publications from different research fields (engineering as well as physics, chemistry, environmental sciences and economics), thus ensuring a common standard and language

Book Numerical Simulation of a Cross Flow Marine Hydrokinetic Turbine

Download or read book Numerical Simulation of a Cross Flow Marine Hydrokinetic Turbine written by Taylor Jessica Hall and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the search for clean, renewable energy, the kinetic energy of water currents in oceans, rivers, and estuaries is being studied as a predictable and environmentally benign source. We investigate the flow past a cross flow hydrokinetic turbine (CFHT) in which a helical blade turns around a shaft perpendicular to the free stream under the hydrodynamic forces exerted by the flow. This type of turbine, while very different from the classical horizontal axis turbine commonly used in the wind energy field, presents advantages in the context of hydrokinetic energy harvesting, such as independence from current direction, including reversibility, stacking, and self-starting without complex pitch mechanisms. This thesis develops a numerical simulation methodology that applies the Reynolds Average Navier Stokes equations and the three-dimensional sliding mesh technique to model CFHTs. The methodology is validated against small scale experiments, available within NNMREC at the University of Washington and is used to investigate the efficiency of the energy capture and the hydrodynamic forces acting on the blades. First, we study the stationary turbine and conclude that the developed methodology accurately models the starting torque of a turbine initially in static conditions; some limitations are found, however, in predicting separated flow. The dynamic performance of the rotating turbine is predicted with reasonable accuracy using the sliding mesh technique. Excellent qualitative agreement with experimental trends is found in the results, and the actual predicted values from the simulations show good agreement with measurements. Though limitations in accurately modeling dynamic stall for the rotating turbine are confirmed, the good qualitative agreement suggests this methodology can be used to support turbine design and performance over a wide range of parameters, minimizing the number of prototypes to build and experiments to run in the pursuit of an optimized turbine. This methodology can also provide a cost-effective way of evaluating detailed full scale effects, such as mooring lines or local bottom bathymetry features, on both turbine performance and environmental assessment.

Book Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines

Download or read book Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines written by Mabrouk Mosbahi; Ahmed and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook is a guide to numerical and experimental processes that are used to analyze and improve the efficiency of vertical axis rotors. Chapters present information that is required to optimize the geometrical parameters of rotors or understand how to augment upstream water velocity. The authors of this volume present a numerical model to characterize the water flow around the vertical axis rotors using commercial CFD code in Ansys Fluent®. The software has been used to select adequate parameters and perform computational simulations of spiral Darrieus turbines. The contents of the volume explain the experimental procedure carried out to evaluate the performance of the spiral Darrieus turbine, how to characterize the water flow in the vicinity of the tested turbine and the method to assess the spiral angle influence on the turbine performance parameters. Results for different spiral angles (ranging from 10° to 40°) are presented. This volume is a useful handbook for engineers involved in power plant design and renewable energy sectors who are studying the computational fluid dynamics of vertical axis turbines (such as Darrieus turbines) that are used in hydropower projects. Key features: - 4 chapters that cover the numerical and experimental analysis of vertical axis rotors and hydrokinetic turbines - Simple structured layout for easy reading (methodology, models and results) - Bibliographic study to introduce the reader to the subject - A wide range of parameters included in experiments - A comprehensive appendix of tables for mechanical parameters, statistical models, rotor parameters and geometric details.

Book Numerical Investigation of Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines

Download or read book Numerical Investigation of Marine Hydrokinetic Turbines written by Amir Teymour Javaherchi Mozafari and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hierarchy of numerical models, Single Rotating Reference Frame (SRF) and Blade Element Model (BEM), were used for numerical investigation of horizontal axis Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) Turbines. In the initial stage the SRF and BEM were used to simulate the performance and turbulent wake of a flume- and a full-scale MHK turbine reference model. A significant level of understanding and confidence was developed in the implementation of numerical models for simulation of a MHK turbine. This was achieved by simulation of the flume-scale turbine experiments and comparison between numerical and experimental results. Then the developed numerical methodology was applied to simulate the performance and wake of the full-scale MHK reference model (DOE Reference Model 1). In the second stage the BEM was used to simulate the experimental study of two different MHK turbine array configurations (i.e. two and three coaxial turbines). After developing a numerical methodology using the experimental comparison to simulate the flow field of a turbine array, this methodology was applied toward array optimization study of a full-scale model with the goal of proposing an optimized MHK turbine configuration with minimal computational cost and time. In the last stage the BEM was used to investigate one of the potential environmental effects of MHK turbine. A general methodological approach was developed and experimentally validated to investigate the effect of MHK turbine wake on the sedimentation process of suspended particles in a tidal channel.

Book Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines

Download or read book Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulation of Vertical Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines written by Edwin Lenin Chica Arrieta and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hydrokinetic turbines are one of the technological alternatives to generate and supply electricity for rural communities isolated from the national electrical grid with almost zero emission. These technologies may appear suitable to convert kinetic energy of canal, river, tidal, or ocean water currents into electricity. Nevertheless, they are in an early stage of development; therefore, studying the hydrokinetic system is an active topic of academic research. In order to improve their efficiencies and understand their performance, several works focusing on both experimental and numerical studies have been reported. For the particular case of flow behavior simulation of hydrokinetic turbines with complex geometries, the use of computational fluids dynamics (CFD) nowadays is still suffering from a high computational cost and time; thus, in the first instance, the analysis of the problem is required for defining the computational domain, the mesh characteristics, and the model of turbulence to be used. In this chapter, CFD analysis of a H-Darrieus vertical axis hydrokinetic turbines is carried out for a rated power output of 0.5 kW at a designed water speed of 1.5 m/s, a tip speed ratio of 1.75, a chord length of 0.33 m, a swept area of 0.636 m2, 3 blades, and NACA 0025 hydrofoil profile.

Book CFD Modelling and Simulation of Water Turbines

Download or read book CFD Modelling and Simulation of Water Turbines written by Santiago Lain and published by Mdpi AG. This book was released on 2022-12-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The design and development of water turbines requires accurate methods for performance prediction. Numerical methods and modelling are becoming increasingly important tools to achieve better designs and more efficient turbines, reducing the time required in physical model testing. This book is focused on applying numerical simulations and models for water turbines to predict tool their performance. In this Special Issue, the different contributions of this book are classified into three state-of-the-art Topics: discussing the modelling of pump-turbines, the simulation of horizontal and vertical axis turbines for hydrokinetic applications and the modelling of hydropower plants. All the contributions to this book demonstrate the importance of the modelling and simulation of water turbines for hydropower energy. This new generation of models and simulations will play a major role in the global energy transition and energy crisis, and, of course, in the mitigation of climate change.

Book Performance Evaluation of Coaxial Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines System

Download or read book Performance Evaluation of Coaxial Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic Turbines System written by Abdulaziz Mohammed Abutunis and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hydrokinetic energy technologies are emerging as a viable solution for renewable power generation. Unlike conventional hydropower turbines, hydrokinetic turbines are environmentally friendly; they operate at zero-head, and do not need dams to preserve the water. Unfortunately, they have a low efficiency which makes their design a challenging task. This work was focused on the hydrodynamic performance of horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbines (HAHkTs) under different turbine arrangements and flow conditions. It was undertaken in an effort to improve the efficiency of small HAHkTs that harness a river’s kinetic energy. Four sets of experiments were performed in a water tunnel to investigate small-scale constant cross-section HAHkT models with various configurations. The first set of experiments provided insight into the operating characteristics of a 3-blade single turbine by varying its pitch angle ([theta]) , tip speed ratio (TSR), flow speed (U[sub infinity]), and applied load. A multi-turbine system of both two and three 3- blade rotors (mounted coaxially to the same shaft) was tested in the second set of experiments. The purpose was to decrease the turbine system solidity while increasing the blade number. Here, the number of and the distance between rotors as well as the rotors relative installation angle were investigated. A long duct reducer was used to shroud single turbine and multi- turbine system in the third set of experiments. The particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was used in the final set of experiments to examine the flow patterns at different axial locations downstream from two different turbine configurations. The effect of the flow speed on the wake characteristics was also examined in this experiment"--Abstract, page iii.