Experimental and numerical investigation of an innovative technology for marine current exploitation: the Kobold turbine

In this paper we present a joint experimental and theoretical research on an innovative technology for marine current exploitation based on the Kobold turbine concept. A prototype of this vertical-axis turbine has been realized and it is currently successfully operating in the Messina Strait in Italy since 2001. Different scale model configurations of Kobold turbine has been tested at the INSEAN towing tank at different sea current conditions. Those data will be used as benchmark for comparison with the numerical model predictions and as a source of information for the design of improved and optimized real prototypes. From a theoretical and computational perspective, a fully three-dimensional unsteady hydrodynamic model has been developed based on a Boundary Element Method.