At the present state of the technology, accounting for the dynamic effects of waves and turbulence on tidal energy converters is an important challenge for the tidal industry. A particular point is that corresponding measurement instrumentation has not been clearly identified yet. Indeed, the typical devices used for tidal flow measurement are bottom-mounted current profilers and, though some methods have been established to use them for assessing turbulence parameters, they are not designed for capturing dynamic phenomena. On the other hand, sensors dedicated to turbulence measurement only resolve one point of the flow, while larger domains such as swept areas are of interest.
The work presented in this paper aims to quantify the limitations of different types of sensors due to Doppler noise and to local homogeneity assumption. In parallel with theoretical considerations, two sensors are modelled. Their response in a 3D turbulent flow field is simulated and benchmarked respect to field experiments, particularly regarding noise levels.
