Hydrokinetic turbine array performance and geomorphic effects under different siting strategies and sediment transport conditions: topography, flow velocity and array performance measurements

Abstract

Hydrokinetic energy can be extracted efficiently from naturally occurring water flows. Although representing a continuous and ubiquitous source of kinetic energy, rivers in particular are delicate environments, sensitive to external disturbances. Asymmetric installation of in-stream hydrokinetic energy converters have proven to actively interact with sediment transport and bedforms characteristics, triggering non-local geomorphic effects that resemble river instabilities known as forced-bars. This data-set comprises a series of measurements of channel topography evolution, flow velocity around the turbines and array performance under different configurations.