Publications related to Flow restoration in Alpine streams affected by hydropower operations—a case study for a compensation basin

Organ-specific biotransformation in salmonids: Insight into intrinsic enzyme activity and biotransformation of three micropollutants

Aquatic ecosystems continue to be threatened by chemical pollution. To what extent organisms are able to cope with chemical exposure depends on their ability to display mechanisms of defense across different organs. Among these mechanisms, biotransformatio ...

Elsevier2024

Study of flexible operating conditions in variable-speed hydraulic turbines : advanced models and experimental validation

Martin Seydoux

The global imperative to transition from fossil fuel-based energy sources to renewable alternatives has become increasingly urgent in the pursuit of sustainable and renewable power generation. This paradigm shift necessitates innovative approaches to manag ...

EPFL2024

Towards an improved understanding of wind turbine wakes in complex terrain

Arslan Salim Dar

In this thesis, we explored the effect of certain terrain-induced flow phenomena on the development of wind turbines sited in complex terrain. A combined experimental and analytical approach is used to study wind turbine wakes in different types of complex ...

EPFL2024

Enhancing Wind Farm Performance through Axial Induction and Tilt Control: Insights from Wind Tunnel Experiments

Fernando Porté Agel, Guillem Armengol Barcos

Static axial induction control and tilt control are two strategies that have the potential to increase power production in wind farms, mitigating wake effects and increasing the available power for downstream turbines. In this study, wind tunnel experiment ...

MDPI2024

On the prediction of the induced damage by the start-up sequence of Francis turbines: On operational resilience framework

Christophe Nicolet, Mario Paolone, Martin Seydoux, Elena Vagnoni

The number of transient operations in hydraulic machinery connected to power grid, notably start-ups and shut-downs, has observed a substantial increase in recent decades, primarily driven by the global shift toward intermittent renewable energy sources. S ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2024

The effect of nacelle-to-rotor size on the wake of a miniature wind turbine

Fernando Porté Agel, Arslan Salim Dar, Rim Majzoub

Wind tunnel experiments are performed to investigate the effect of nacelle-to-rotor size on the wake of a wind turbine under different Reynolds numbers. Four different turbine configurations are tested, which vary in the rotor diameter and nacelle length a ...

IOP Science2024

Power performance of a model floating wind turbine subjected to cyclic pitch motion: A wind tunnel study

Fernando Porté Agel, Guiyue Duan, Daniele Gattari

Wind tunnel experiments were performed with a miniature floating wind turbine model to study the effects of cyclic pitch motion on its power performance. The cyclic pitch motion was prescribed by two key parameters: pitch frequency and amplitude. The power ...

IOPscience2024

Optimal blade pitch control for enhanced vertical-axis wind turbine performance

Sébastien Le Fouest, Karen Ann J Mulleners

Vertical-axis wind turbines are great candidates to enable wind power extraction in urban and off-shore applications. Currently, concerns around turbine efficiency and structural integrity limit their industrial deployment. Flow control can mitigate these ...

Nature Research2024

Wind turbine wake superposition under pressure gradient

Fernando Porté Agel, Arslan Salim Dar

We investigate the effect of pressure gradient on the cumulative wake of multiple turbines in wind tunnel experiments spanning across a range of adverse pressure gradient (APG), zero pressure gradient (ZPG), and favorable pressure gradient (FPG). Compared ...

2024

Non-contact sensing for anomaly detection in wind turbine blades: A focus-SVDD with complex-valued auto-encoder approach

Olga Fink, Gaëtan Michel Frusque

The occurrence of manufacturing defects in wind turbine blade (WTB) production can result in significant increases in operation and maintenance costs of WTBs, reduce capacity factors of wind farms, and occasionally lead to severe and disastrous consequence ...

2024

Advanced control strategies to exploit the hydropower potential enhancing ancillary services provision to the power system

Francesco Gerini

The European Union's Green Deal aims for a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To reach this goal, a massive integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the power grid is necessary. As RES become a large part of the electricity genera ...

EPFL2024

Effects of water releases and sediment supply on a residual flow reach

Giovanni De Cesare, Camille Blanck, Robin Schroff

An artificial floods program has been implemented on the Sarine residual flow reach, downstream of the Rossens dam. Two artificial floods were released in 2016 (coupled with sediment augmentation) and in 2020. A natural flood occurred in 2021. The indicato ...

CRC Press/Balkema2023

Dynamic stall characterisation and control for vertical-axis wind turbines

Sébastien Le Fouest

According to the International Energy Agency, the global net-zero emissions objective requires the installed wind power capacity to increase 11-fold between 2020 and 2050. The scientific community has recently voiced concerns about the logistic feasibility ...

EPFL2023

Evaluation of tire tread particle toxicity to fish using rainbow trout cell lines

Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Kristin Schirmer, Benoît Jean Dominique Ferrari, Gabrielle Léger, Thibault Béranger Masset

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) resulting from tire abrasion while driving raise concerns due to their potential contribution to aquatic toxicity. Our study aimed to assess cryogenically milled tire tread (CMTT) particle toxicity, used as a proxy for T ...

2023

Cross-code verification of non-neutral ABL and single wind turbine wake modelling in LES

Fernando Porté Agel, Marwa Souaiby

Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow with the actuator disc (AD) for turbine modelling is a widely used method of simulating wind farm flows. Hence, it is important to understand the requirements for achieving a good compar ...

IOP PUBLISHING LTD2023

Wind Turbine Wakes in Active Yaw Control: Numerical and Theoretical Studies

Mou Lin

In this thesis, we explore the best practice of simulating the wakes of the turbines under active yaw control (AYC) using large-eddy simulation (LES). In the first study, we validate the blade-element actuator disk model (ADM-BE) for a yawed wind turbine. ...

EPFL2023

A wind tunnel study on cyclic yaw control: Power performance and wake characteristics

Fernando Porté Agel, Arslan Salim Dar, Guiyue Duan

In this study, wind-tunnel experiments are used to investigate cyclic yaw control as a wake mitigation strategy aiming to improve wind farm power production. The control strategy is applied to a single wind turbine and a wind farm comprising of a column of ...

Elsevier2023

Wind farm power density optimization according to the area size using a novel self-adaptive genetic algorithm

Fernando Porté Agel, Nicolas Otto Kirchner Bossi

This work studies the power density (PD) optimization in wind farms, and its sensitivity to the available area size. A novel genetic algorithm (PDGA) is introduced, which optimizes PD and the turbine layout, by self-adapting to the PD and to the solutions ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Structural impact of the start-up sequence on Pelton turbines lifetime: Analytical prediction and polynomial optimization

Mario Paolone, Elena Vagnoni, Aldo Leonardo Alerci

Hydropower plants play a crucial role in the power system facing ambitious renewable energy targets. Due to their inherent controllability, they are well suited to provide flexibility to the grid. However, an increased flexibility provision leads to a prol ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2023

Time scales of dynamic stall development on a vertical-axis wind turbine blade

Sébastien Le Fouest, Karen Ann J Mulleners, Daniel Marie Fernex

Vertical-axis wind turbines are excellent candidates to diversify wind energy technology, but their aerodynamic complexity limits industrial deployment. To improve the efficiency and lifespan of vertical-axis wind turbines, we desire data-driven models and ...

2023