Tidal current is considered to be one of the promising alternative green energy resources. Tidal current turbines are devices used for harnessing tidal current energy. The development of a standard for tidal current turbine design is a very important step in the commercialization of tidal current energy as the tidal current industry is growing rapidly, but no standard for tidal current turbines has been developed yet. In this paper, we present our recent efforts in the numerical simulation of the characteristics (e.g., power output, torque fluctuation, induced velocity, and acoustic emission) of tidal current turbines related to the development of the standard. The relationship between the characteristics and the parameters of an example turbine are extensively discussed and quantified. The findings of this paper are expected to be helpful in developing the standards for tidal current turbines in the near future. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.