Comparison of 4- and 5-beam acoustic Doppler current profiler configurations for measurement of turbulent kinetic energy. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Togneri, Michael; Jones, Dale; Neill, Simon; Lewis, Matt; Ward, Sophie; Piano, Marco; Masters, Ian
• Is Part Of: Energy procedia. Volume 125(2017)
• Page Start: 260
• Page End: 267
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: ADCP -- Turbulence -- Tidal energy -- Ocean current; Power resources -- Congresses; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power resources; Conference proceedings; Periodicals; 333.7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.170
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1876-6102

Abstract

Abstract: Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) are commonly used to assess mean currents and turbulence at energetic sites. Since 2014, five-beam ADCP configurations have become more common, but conventional analysis of turbulence properties is still based on the four-beam Janus configuration. We use measurements from a single site to investigate improved estimates of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) that are made possible by the addition of a fifth vertical beam. We conclude that four-beam estimates of TKE are suitable in most cases, and exhibit lower variance than five-beam estimates, but are more prone to contamination by wave activity.