TY - JOUR
TI - Tidal Resource Extraction in the Pentland Firth, UK: Potential Impacts on Flow Regime and Sediment Transport in the Inner Sound of Stroma
AU - Martin-Short, R
AU - Hill, J
AU - Kramer, S
AU - Avdis, A
AU - Allison, P
AU - Piggott, M
T2 - Renewable Energy
AB - Large-scale extraction of power from tidal streams within the Pentland Firth is expected to be underway in the near future. The Inner Sound of Stroma in particular has attracted significant commercial interest. To understand potential environmental impacts of the installation of a tidal turbine array a case study based upon the Inner Sound is considered. A numerical computational fluid dynamics model, Fluidity, is used to conduct a series of depth-averaged simulations to investigate velocity and bed shear stress changes due to the presence of idealised tidal turbine arrays. The number of turbines is increased from zero to 400. It is found that arrays in excess of 85 turbines have the potential to affect bed shear stress distributions in such a way that the most favourable sites for sediment accumulation migrate from the edges of the Inner Sound towards its centre. Deposits of fine gravel and coarse sand are indicated to occur within arrays of greater than 240 turbines with removal of existing deposits in the shallower channel margins also possible. The effects of the turbine array may be seen several kilometres from the site which has implications not only on sediment accumulation, but also on the benthic fauna.
DA - 2015/04//
PY - 2015
VL - 76
SP - 596
EP - 607
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148114008106
DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2014.11.079
LA - English
KW - Marine Energy
KW - Tidal
KW - Changes in Flow
KW - Physical Environment
KW - Sediment Transport
ER -