A tidal lagoon turbine began losing efficiency weeks after installation, a phenomenon engineers did not anticipate. Initial analysis pointed to cavitation wear, but inspections revealed a more complex truth: abrasion caused by sediments with a hardness far exceeding that estimated in feasibility studies. This case demonstrates that material fatigue in marine environments depends not only on cyclic loads but also on the erosive impact of solid particles.
Multiphase Flow and Surface Deformation in SolidWorks and Ansys Fluent 🌊
To replicate the phenomenon, the simulation team modeled the rotor geometry in SolidWorks, importing the mesh into Ansys Fluent. An Eulerian-Lagrangian multiphase model was configured to track the trajectories of silica and quartz particles at high impact velocities. The results showed sediment accumulation zones on the leading edge of the blades, areas that coincided with the material loss zones detected later. Using GOM Inspect, a 3D scan of the damaged turbine was performed, and the point cloud was superimposed onto the original CAD model. The average geometric deviation of 2.3 mm on the blade surface confirmed that the erosion rate was critical, reducing the lift coefficient by 12% according to subsequent fatigue simulations.
Lessons for the Design of Anti-Erosion Coatings ⚙️
Material fatigue simulation is not only useful for predicting failures but also for redesigning protection strategies. In this case, the kinetic energy analysis of particles in Ansys Fluent allowed the identification that 500-micron tungsten carbide coatings in the highest impact areas could extend the turbine's service life by 300%. Ignoring sediment abrasion during the design phase is a mistake that costs millions in unplanned maintenance. The integration of tools such as SolidWorks, Fluent, and GOM Inspect turns fatigue into a measurable and, therefore, controllable data point.
Which finite element simulation methodology allows predicting the interaction between cyclic fatigue and sediment abrasion on the blades of a tidal lagoon turbine to anticipate efficiency losses in the first weeks of operation.
(PS: Material fatigue is like yours after 10 hours of simulation.)