Numerical Analysis of Blockage Ratio Effect on a Portable Hydrokinetic Turbine

Author(s):  
Cosan Daskiran ◽  
Jacob Riglin ◽  
Alparslan Oztekin

Three-dimensional steady state Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses were performed for a pre-designed micro-hydrokinetic turbine to investigate the blockage ratio effect on turbine performance. Simulations were conducted using a physical turbine rotor geometry rather than low fidelity, simplified actuator disk or actuator lines. The two-equation k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model was employed to predict turbulence in the flow field. The turbine performance at the best efficiency point was studied for blockage ratios of 0.49, 0.70 and 0.98 for three different free stream velocities of 2.0 m/s, 2.25 m/s and 2.5 m/s. Distinct blockage ratio results at a free stream velocity of 2.25 were compared to a previous numerical study incorporating the same rotor geometry within an infinite flowing medium. The pressure gradient between turbine upstream and turbine downstream for blocked channel flows elevated the turbine performance. The increment in blockage ratio from 0.03 to 0.98 enhanced power coefficient from 0.437 to 2.254 and increased power generation from 0.56 kW to 2.86 kW for the present study.

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 6036-6058
Author(s):  
Ramirez D. ◽  
Rubio-Clemente A. ◽  
E. Chica

Hydrokinetic turbines are one of the technological alternatives to generate and supply electricity for rural communities isolated from the national electrical grid with almost zero emission. The Darrieus turbine is one of the options that can be used as a hydrokinetic turbine due to its high power coefficient (Cp) and easy manufacture. In the present work, the design and hydrodynamic analysis of a Darrieus vertical-axis hydrokinetic turbine of 500 W was carried out. A free stream velocity of 1.5 m/s was used for the design of the blades. The diameter (D) and blade length (H) of the turbine were 1.5 m and 1.13 m, respectively. The blade profile used was NACA0025 with a chord length of 0.33 m and solidity () of 0.66. Two (2D) and three dimensional (3D) numerical analyses of the unsteady flow through the blades of the turbine were performed using ANSYS Fluent version 18.0, which is based on a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model. A transient 2D simulation was conducted for several tip speed ratios (TSR) using a k-ω Shear Stress Transport turbulence (SST) scheme. The optimal TSR was found to be around 1.75. Main hydrodynamic parameters, such as torque (T) and CP, were investigated. Additionally, 3 geometrical configurations of the turbine rotor were studied using a 3D numerical model in order to identify the best configuration with less Cp and T fluctuation. The maximum Cp average was 0.24 and the amplitude of Cp variation, near 0.24 for the turbine model with 3 blades of H equal to 1.13 m. On the other hand, for the turbine models with 6 and 9 blades of H equal to 0.565 m and 0.377 m, respectively, the maximum Cp averages were 0.51 and 0.55, respectively, and the amplitude of Cp variation, near 0.07 for the model with 6 blades and 0.17 for the model with 9 blades. This revealed that the hydrokinetic turbine with a geometrical configuration of 6 blades greatly improves the performance of the turbine due to this model has advantages compared to models with 3 and 9 blades, in terms of the reduction of their T curve fluctuation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Mabrouk Mosbahi ◽  
Mouna Derbel ◽  
Mariem Lajnef ◽  
Bouzid Mosbahi ◽  
Zied Driss ◽  
...  

Abstract Twisted Darrieus water turbine is receiving growing attentiveness for small-scale hydropower generation. Accordingly, the need for raised water energy conversion incentivizes researchers to focalise on the blade shape optimization of twisted Darrieus turbine. In view of this, an experimental analysis has been performed to appraise the efficiency of a spiral Darrieus water rotor in the present work. To better the performance parameters of the studied water rotor with twisted blades, three novel blade shapes, namely U-shaped blade, V-shaped blade and W-shaped blade, have been numerically tested using a computational fluid dynamics three-dimensional numerical model. Maximum power coefficient of Darrieus rotor reaches 0.17 at 0.63 tip-speed ratio using twisted blades. Using V-shaped blades, maximum power coefficient has been risen up to 0.185. The current study could be practically applied to provide more effective employment of twisted Darrieus turbines and to improve the generated power from flowing water such as river streams, tidal currents, or other man made water canals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Md. Abdus Salam ◽  
Vikram Deshpande ◽  
Nafiz Ahmed Khan ◽  
M. A. Taher Ali

The moving surface boundary control (MSBC) has been a Centre stage study for last 2-3 decades. The preliminary aim of the study was to ascertain whether the concept can improve the airfoil characteristics. Number of experimental and numerical studies pointed out that the MSBC can superiorly enhance the airfoil performance albeit for higher velocity ratios (i.e. cylinder tangential velocity to free stream velocity). Although abundant research has been undertaken in this area on different airfoil performances but no attempt was seen to study effect of MSBC on NACA0021 airfoil for and also effects of lower velocity ratios. Thus, present paper focusses on numerical study of modified NACA 0021 airfoil with leading edge rotating cylinder for velocity ratios (i.e.) between 1 to 1.78 at different angles of attack. The numerical study indicates that the modified airfoil possess better aerodynamic performance than the base airfoil even at lower velocity ratios (i.e. for velocity ratios 0.356 and beyond). The study also focusses on reason for improvement in aerodynamic performance by close look at various parameters.


2011 ◽  
Vol 669 ◽  
pp. 64-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN G. WISSINK ◽  
WOLFGANG RODI

The effect of an incoming wake on the flow around and heat transfer from the stagnation region of a circular cylinder was studied using direct numerical simulations (DNSs). Four simulations were carried out at a Reynolds number (based on free-stream velocity and cylinder diameterD) ofReD= 13200: one two-dimensional (baseline) simulation and three three-dimensional simulations. The three-dimensional simulations comprised a baseline simulation with a uniform incoming velocity field, a simulation in which realistic wake data – generated in a separate precursor DNS – were introduced at the inflow plane and, finally, a simulation in which the turbulent fluctuations were removed from the incoming wake in order to study the effect of the mean velocity deficit on the heat transfer in the stagnation region. In the simulation with realistic wake data, the incoming wake still exhibited the characteristic meandering behaviour of a near-wake. When approaching the regions immediately above and below the stagnation line of the cylinder, the vortical structures from the wake were found to be significantly stretched by the strongly accelerating wall-parallel (circumferential) flow into elongated vortex tubes that became increasingly aligned with the direction of flow. As the elongated streamwise vortical structures impinge on the stagnation region, on one side they transport cool fluid towards the heated cylinder, while on the other side hot fluid is transported away from the cylinder towards the free stream, thereby increasing the heat transfer. The DNS results are compared with various semi-empirical correlations for predicting the augmentation of heat transfer due to free-stream turbulence.


Author(s):  
B. Song ◽  
R. S. Amano ◽  
S. Sitarama ◽  
B. Lin

Numerical study on a three-dimensional turbulent flow in a turbine-rotor passage is presented in this paper. The standard k-ε model was used for the first phase of the turbulence computations. The computations were further extended by employing the full Reynolds-stress closure model (RSM). The computational results obtained using these models were compared in order to investigate the turbulence effect in the near-wall region. The governing equations in a generalized curvilinear coordinate system are discretized by using the SIMPLEC method with non-staggered grids. The oscillations in pressure and velocity due to non-staggered grids are eliminated by using a special interpolation method. The predicted midspan pressure coefficients using the k-ε model and the RSM are compared with the experimental data. It was shown that the present results obtained by using either model are fairly reasonable. Computations were then extended to cover the entire blade-to-blade flow passage, and the three-dimensional effects on pressure and turbulence kinetic energy were evaluated. It was observed that the two turbulence models predict different results for the turbulence kinetic energy. This variation was identified as being related to some non-isotropic turbulence occurring near the blade surface due to the severe acceleration of the flow. It was thus proven that the models based on the RSM give more realistic predictions for highly turbulent cascade flow computations than a Boussinesq viscosity model.


Author(s):  
N. Cristobal Uzarraga-Rodriguez ◽  
A. Gallegos-Mun˜oz ◽  
J. Manuel Riesco A´vila

A numerical analysis of a rooftop vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) for applications in urban area is presented. The numerical simulations were developed to study the flow field through the turbine rotor to analyze the aerodynamic performance characteristics of the device. Three different blade numbers of wind turbine are studied, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Each one of the models was built in a 3D computational model. The effects generated in the performance of turbines by the numbers of blades are considered. A Sliding Mesh Model (SMM) capability was used to present the dimensionless form of coefficient power and coefficient moment of the wind turbine as a function of the wind velocity and the rotor rotational speed. The numerical study was developed in CFD using FLUENT®. The results show the aerodynamic performance for each configuration of wind turbine rotor. In the cases of Rooftop rotor the power coefficient increases as the blade number increases, while in the case of Savonius rotor the power coefficient decrease as the blades number increases.


Author(s):  
Nitin Kolekar ◽  
Suchi Subhra Mukherji ◽  
Arindam Banerjee

Hydrokinetic turbines, unlike conventional hydraulic turbines are zero head energy conversion devices which utilize the kinetic energy of flowing water for power generation. The basic operational principle of the horizontal axis hydrokinetic turbine (HAHkT) is same as the wind turbine, the only difference being change in working media: water instead of air. This paper discusses the hydrodynamic design of HAHkT via numerical modeling. Presently these turbines suffer from low coefficient of performance (Cp) which is governed by several design variables such as tip-speed ratio, chord distribution, solidity and number of blades. The numerical modeling is performed for both constant and varying chord geometries using commercially available computational fluid dynamics software (CFX/FLUENT) to understand the effect of each of the design variable on turbine performance. Since the flow Reynolds number is large (≥ 105), both one- and two-equation turbulence models are applied to solve Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations. In addition, a three dimensional analysis of HAHkT is performed to give a better insight into the effect of tip vortices and flow separation phenomenon on turbine performance; the results are then compared with Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory analysis. In addition, a procedure for a multivariate optimization scheme is discussed that aims at maximizing Cp for a constant flow velocity while maintaining optimum values of critical design variables listed above. Finally, the effect of variation of angle of attack on the flow around a hydrofoil is investigate using both static and transient analysis, the transient analysis being performed by subjecting the airfoil to periodic oscillations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (03) ◽  
pp. 352-368
Author(s):  
Hazem Ali Abdel Karim ◽  
Ahmed Reda El-Baz ◽  
Nabil Abdel Aziz Mahmoud ◽  
Ashraf Mostafa Hamed

This study investigates the aerodynamic performance of wind turbines aiming to maximize the power extracted from the wind. The study is focusing on the effect of introducing a second rotor to the main rotor of the wind turbine in what is called a dual rotor wind turbine (DRWT).  The numerical study took place on the performance of small-scale model of wind turbine of 0.9 m diameter using S826 airfoil. Both the Co-rotating and Counter rotating configurations were investigated at different tip speed ratios (TSR) and compared with the performance of the single rotor wind turbine (SRWT). Many parameters were studied for dual rotor turbines. These include the spacing between the two rotors, the pitch angle of the rear rotor and the rotational speed of ratio rear to front rotor. Three-dimensional simulations performed and employed using CFD simulations with Multi Reference Frame (MRF) technique. The Co Rotating Wind Turbine (CWT) and Counter Rotating Wind Turbine (CRWT) found to have better performance compared to that of the SRWT with an increase ranging from 12 to 14% in peak power coefficient. Moreover, the effect of changing the pitch angle of the rear rotor on the overall performance found to be of a negligible effect between angles 0⁰ until 2⁰ degrees tilting toward the front rotor. On the other hand, the ratio of rotational speed of the rear rotor to the front rotor found to cause a further increase in the peak performance of the CWT and CRWT ranging from 3 to 5%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1 (Aug)) ◽  
pp. 41-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Modali ◽  
N. S. Kolekar ◽  
A. Banerjee

In tidal streams and rivers, the flow of water can be at yaw to the turbine rotor plane causing performance degradation and a skewed downstream wake. The current study aims to quantify the performance variation and associated wake behavior caused by a tidal turbine operating in a yawed inflow environment. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics study was carried out using multiple reference frame approach using κ-ω SST turbulence model with curvature correction. The computations were validated by comparison with experimental results on a 1:20 scale prototype for a 0° yaw case performed in a laboratory flume. The simulations were performed using a three-bladed, constant chord, untwisted tidal turbine operating at uniform inflow. Yaw effects were observed for angles ranging from 5° to 15°. An increase in yaw over this range caused a power coefficient deficit of 26% and a thrust coefficient deficit of about 8% at a tip speed ratio of 5 that corresponds to the maximum power coefficient for the tested turbine. In addition, wake propagation was studied up to a downstream distance of ten rotor radius, and skewness in the wake, proportional to yaw angle was observed. At higher yaw angles, the flow around the turbine rotor was found to cushion the tip vortices, accelerating the interaction between the tip vortices and the skewed wake, thereby facilitating a faster wake recovery. The center of the wake was tracked using a center of mass technique. The center of wake analysis was used to better quantify the deviation of the wake with increasing yaw angle. It was observed that with an increase in yaw angle, the recovery distance moved closer to the rotor plane. The wake was noticed to meander around the turbine centerline with increasing downstream distance and slightly deviate towards the free surface above the turbine centerline, magnitude of which varied depending on yaw.


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