MSC Software Corporation, a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services, has announced that Scotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd, based in the Orkney Islands, has used MSC Nastran and Patran with Laminate Modeler to design and analyze the rotor blade of the largest tidal turbine in the world today.

Founded in 2002, Scotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd is committed to delivering cost-effective renewable power to satisfy current and future energy requirements worldwide with the design and production of floating tidal stream and run-of-river-turbines. With their latest innovation, the SR250 converter, the company created an award-winning patented hydrokinetic energy converter designed to convert energy from tidal streams and river currents where they are strongest but also closest to the surface.

The next step into the future is the design and development of a larger turbine more suited for tidal array deployment. The next-generation turbine - the SR2000 - will reach a rated power of 2MW at 3m/s, making it one of the most powerful tidal turbines in the world. MSC Software will support the design and analysis of the tidal turbine rotor blades structure which will be one of the largest to date, and will be built to survive a 20-year design life. MSC Nastran/Patran and Laminate Modeler are already helping SRTP to model the blade structure and optimize the blade design.

“Patran with Laminate Modeler provides a very easy-to-use and powerful tool enabling us to produce a more optimum blade design,” said Jonny Meason, Chief Technical Officer & Finlay Wallace R&D Engineer. “In addition, the solution allows us to model the blade structure quickly and to analyze more load cases. This enables more design optimization iterations to be considered, which is resulting in a more efficient rotor design in terms of strength, weight and cost.”