Flexible rubber blades for tidal turbines.

Chordwise trailing-edge flexible rubber blades match the total energy yield of rigid tidal turbine blades using active pitch control over simulated tidal cycles, while reducing fatigue-inducing load fluctuations by up to one-third.

• Why it matters: Unsteady sea conditions create severe hydrodynamic loads that raise capital and maintenance costs, and current large turbines depend on complex active pitch systems to manage fluctuations.
• What they did: The study experimentally compares passive flexible rubber blades with chordwise trailing-edge deformation against rigid blades with active pitch control under simulated tidal cycles, measuring energy yield and load fluctuations.
• The result: Passive aeroelastic deformation flattens blade camber under load, mitigating high-frequency fatigue-inducing fluctuations by up to one-third and supporting more durable, cost-effective tidal energy generation.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.