Improvement of performance of S1210 hydrofoil with vortex generators and modified trailing edge

Designing a high-performance hydrofoil is a fundamental challenge for the current turbine blade designers. In this paper, the performance of 51210 hydrofoil, commonly used in the tidal current turbine blades, in presence of (i) Vortex Generators (VGs), and (ii) modified trailing edge is numerically studied. The results show that attaching counter-rotating VGs near the trailing edge of the foil can increase the lift coefficient by 17% and delay the stall angle from 10 degrees to 12 degrees. Constructing a rounded and thicker trailing edge can help to improve the hydrodynamic performance by increasing the lift coefficient by 13.5%. The combination of VGs (located near the trailing edge) and rounded trailing edge can increase the glide ratio significantly. These observations have been explained by plotting the pressure coefficients and velocity profiles at different locations on the foil surface. The findings will be useful to manufacture a stronger blade profile and extract more power from the current turbines that operate at wide current speed variation. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.