Theoretical and experimental transverse vibration analysis of a non-uniform composite helical tidal turbine foil

Recently, tidal energy has gained attention as an attractive renewable source of power generation. In this context, tidal turbine foils must operate in harsh conditions and extremely variable dynamic loads. Considering the expensive dynamic tests required for these large structures, developing validated dynamic models could be valuable for failure prediction and design purposes. In this paper, the free and forced vibration behaviour of the cantilevered part of a non-uniform helical tidal turbine foil made from the composite material is investigated theoretically and experimentally. In this regard, governing vibration equations of the foil with related boundary conditions are presented. The free vibration analysis of the foil is performed by solving a boundary-value problem, where a closed-form solution, based on the mode summation method, for the forced vibration of the foil is employed. Finally, the obtained numerical results (natural frequency and dynamic displacements) are compared with the corresponding results from experiments to validate the vibration equations and the employed solution. Acceptable agreement between numerical and experimental data confirms that the vibration model presented in this study can be employed to predict the dynamic response, parametric study, optimization, and design of the tidal foil without performing costly experiments.