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Abstract

Tidal stream energy as a new type of marine renewable energy attracts more and more attention of coastal engineers due to its advantages of great power density, long-term predictability and low environment impact. The radial sand ridge (RSR) system is located in the southern Yellow Sea off the Jiangsu coast, China, and it is characterized by a radial current field. The exploitation of tidal stream energy in the RSR system means great significance to the local industry and ecosystem of this region. In this study, a two-dimensional depthaveraged hydrodynamic model was established to predict one-year tidal hydrodynamics in the RSR system. The numerical results including water elevation and tidal current (speed and direction) were validated by the measured data, showing a reasonable agreement between simulation and measurement. Then, the validated model was applied to evaluate the tidal stream energy resources of the whole region with a concept consisting of total operating time (TOT), dispersion of operating time (DOT) and mean operating time (MOT), aiming to reveal the periodic interrupted working condition of tidal stream turbine. The distributions of TOT, DOT and MOT around the RSR system in one-year period are investigated, providing useful guide maps for the exploitation of tidal stream energy in this coastal area.

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