Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Influence of Blade Number in a Small Water Turbine

Grzegorz Peczkis, Piotr Wiśniewski and Andriy Zahorulko
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Grzegorz Peczkis: Department of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, The Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Piotr Wiśniewski: Department of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, The Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Andriy Zahorulko: Volodymyr Martsynkovskyy Computational Mechanics Department, Sumy State University, 40007 Sumy, Ukraine

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the procedure of blade adjustment in a Kaplan-type water turbine, based on calculations of the flow system. The geometrical adjustment of a twisted blade with varying chord length is described in the study. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was used to characterise aerofoil and turbine performance. Furthermore, two turbines, with a different number of blades, were designed, manufactured, and tested experimentally. The numerical model results were then compared with the experimental data. The studies were carried out with different rotational velocities and different stator blade incidence angles. The paper shows a comparison of the turbine efficiencies that were assessed, using numerical and experimental methods, of a flow system with four- and five-bladed rotors. The numerical model results matched up well with those of the experimental study. The efficiency of the proposed turbines reached up to 72% and 84% for four-bladed and five-bladed designs, respectively. These efficiencies, when considered with the turbine’s simplicity, low production and maintenance costs, as well as their potential for harvesting energy from low energy flows, mean that Kaplan turbines provide a promising technology for processing renewable energy.

Keywords: small water turbines; renewable energy; Kaplan turbine; CFD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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