Abstract
The use of traction kites as auxiliary propulsion systems for ships appears to be a high-potential alternative for fuel saving. To study such a system a tether model based on the catenary curve has been developed. This model allows calculating static flight positions of the kite on the edge of the wind window. The effect of the wind velocity gradient is taken into account for the evaluation of the aerodynamic forces acting on kite and tether. A closed-form expression is derived for the minimum wind velocity required for static flight of the kite. Results are presented for a kite with a surface area of 320 m2 and a mass of 300 kg attached to a tether with a diameter of 55 mm and a mass per unit length of 1:20 kgm−1. The minimum wind speed measured at 10 m altitude to launch the kite is found to be around 4:5 m/s. After the launching phase, we show that the optimal tether length for static flight is 128:4 m with a minimum wind speed of 4:06 m/s. The presented approach shows an error up to 9% for a zero-mass kite model with a straight massless tether regarding the maximal propulsion force estimation.
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Bigi, N. et al. (2018). Analytical Tether Model for Static Kite Flight. In: Schmehl, R. (eds) Airborne Wind Energy. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1947-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1947-0_3
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