Depth average tidal resource assessment considering an open channel flow

The far-field assessment of tidal energy requires a realistic estimation of the thrust produced by the turbines on the tidal-stream. The thrust computation was improved by applying the parameterization of the changes produced in the tidal-stream by the power extraction based on the Linear Momentum Actuator Disk in an Open—Channel flow. The approach was implemented in two depth-average models to evaluate the performance of the shock-capturing scheme. The blockage ratio 0 < B < 0.7 test in an ideal scenario, where the turbines are placed as a fence in a channel, shows a satisfactory tidal-stream parameterization. In addition, the calculation of the power extraction and flow rate shows results consistent with the literature. In the case of smaller blockage ratios, the water drops across the fence, the power and thrust coefficient are presented. The model’s computational performance indicates that the shock-capturing capability simulation, imply a larger computational cost and present no substantial improvement over the no-shock-capturing scheme.