VIDEO: FORCE Measuring Turbulence Throughout Water Column

FORCE, in partnership with Nortek Scientific, a Canadian centre of excellence in acoustic Doppler processing, is developing the world’s first instrument to accurately measure turbulence throughout the water column – called a Vectron.

A leap forward in site characterization, the Vectron generates high fidelity measurements of turbulence through turbine hub height. These measurements include turbulence intensity, time and length scale distributions – all identified as key contributors to turbine performance and loading.

Traditional acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) use diverging beams to approximate the velocity, but averaging across the beams filters out much of the turbulence information. Acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADVs) use converging beams to measure turbulence accurately, but have very limited range. The Vectron will combine the range of the ADCP with the accuracy of the ADV.