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POWER2014
July 28-31, 2014, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
POWER2014-32232
Neelam K Sarma
M.Tech Scholar,
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Silchar, Assam, India-788010
Email: neelamkumar1988@gmail.com Tel: +91-9707066372
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
Water is a prime source to all living beings, but for humans Air and water are the two most prominent gifts of nature
it is even more because of its usage to extract power. The idea that hold the intimate significance to every creatures belonging
behind the water turbine is derived from the parental species of to the earth. For human, those are even more than being a
wind turbine. The operating fluid properties like density, simple fluid important for life, because now air and water are
specific weight of water draw out differences between the two exploited as sources of energy. Wind turbines have been
turbine kinds. The objective of the present work is to extensively used for commercial extraction of power since 19th
experimentally investigate the performance of a two bladed century. Based on the technology behind the development of
Savonius water turbine with an aspect ratio of 1.21 at low water the various wind turbine configurations, a new emerging
velocity conditions viz. 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s. The technology has come up in light that is the “Water Turbine”.
variation of torque and power with the considered water Wind turbines consume a lot of usable land which may even
velocities has been studied. Also a performance study has been includes the agricultural fields. The average efficiency of wind
conducted with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics turbines is very low and works at their maximum efficiency
(CFD) using Ansys 14.0. A detailed study on the flow level only at certain wind velocity range.
characteristics has been done that elaborates the factors like “Water Turbine”, defined by US Department of Energy
torque variation at different angles of rotation of the turbine, report in 1981 as “Low pressure run-of-the-river ultra-low-head
revealing high torque generation at 2700 position. Also the turbine that will operate on the equivalent or less than 0.2 m
effect of tip speed ratio (TSR) on performance (Cp) has been head” [1]. Savonius water turbine is a class of vertical axis
studied and found that maximum Cp of 0.343 is obtained for turbine which is operable in very low head and velocity
water velocity of 0.65 m/s with a TSR of 0.643. The results conditions with excellent self start capacity. This is the class of
obtained through CFD are in agreement with the experimental turbine that could not gain much interest of the researchers in
results. the field of wind [1]. But the same idea has been found to excel
with water as an operating fluid with turbines especially
Keywords: Savonius water turbine, Computational Fluid Savonius and Gorlov water turbine. The Savonius water
Dynamics (CFD), Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) turbines work at a minimum water velocity of 0.5 m/s or above
[2], and are installed in clusters so as to achieve significant
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The experiments have been conducted with a two bladed
Savonius water turbine, with semi-circular shaped blades with
chord length (C) of 0.14 m. The aluminium made blades of the
turbine are mounted over a shaft of 0.014 m. Therefore the
entire diameter of the turbine (D) becomes 0.266 m. The turbine
blades are designed with a height (H) of 0.17 m, which imparts
the turbines with an aspect ratio of 1.21. The overall height of
the turbine is 0.2 m. The experiments have been performed
with the water turbine in an open channel with an exposed top
which is made by Zephyr Enterprise (India). The open channel
is 12 m long with an effective width and height of 0.9 m and (b)
0.505 m respectively. The maximum discharge that can be
FIGURE 1. (a) TWO BLADED SAVONIUS WATER TURBINE
obtained is 90 litres/s and the optimum attainable depth of (b) WATER CHANNEL
water in the channel is 0.2 m. However, the depth of water can
be increased or decreased according to the need by changing The overall experimental test setup comprising of all the
the discharge with the help of the discharge changing gate at the components associated with the experimental processes have
outlet. Water is circulated through the channel with the help of been presented in the schematic diagram in Fig. 2.
two centrifugal pumps one of which has the rated power of 15
(vi)
(vii)
FIGURE 2. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The turbulence intensity is proportional to the deviation in
the velocities in three directions and is inversely proportional to
Performance Parameters
that of the free stream velocity of the incident flow.
The present study deals with the performance evaluation of
a two bladed Savonius water turbine, with an aspect ratio of
1.2. A few parameters that have been employed to rate the Operating Principle
performance are the maximum power available in the water Water is continuously supplied at the inlet of the channel
stream , power extracted by the rotor (Prot), torque wherein a high turbulence is generated. Thus it is of utmost
generated by the rotor (T) and finally the coefficient of power importance that the Savonius water turbine has to be placed at
( ). The water current with a free stream velocity (U) carries enough distance from the inlet such that the flow stabilizes
energy which can be expressed by Eq. (i) [7]. itself ahead of reaching the turbine blades. For the experiments
to be carried out, the position selected for the placement of the
rotor is 5 m away from the inlet of the channel. At this location,
(i) the turbulence of the water is within a considerable limit and
the flow is stabilized enough to deliver its energy to the turbine.
The available energy of the fluid current has to be converted The turbine placed within the water channel has a blockage
to useable power that depends upon the torque generated by the ratio of 21%. The blockage ratio is the ratio of the frontal swept
rotor at a specific condition and the angular velocity of the area of the rotor to the frontal area of the computational domain
rotor. The torque generated by the turbine, expressed in terms which is represented by the Eq. (viii) [13].
of the velocities at the upstream and the downstream of the
rotor and is represented by the Eqs. (ii) and (iii) [8]. (viii)
(ii)
The blockage ratio has great physical significance on the
performance of the turbine, the value of which must be
(iii) confined to a certain limit. A large value of the ratio shall
indicate increased velocity of water near the channel walls
The relation between velocity of the free stream and the along with excessive turbulence. Alexander and Holownia [14],
velocity of the tip of the blades is drawn out by the parameter in their research work found that the blockage ratio above 30%
called tip speed ratio (TSR) given by Eq. (iv) [9-10]. It provides essentially needs correction. Also the work elucidated that a
a good medium to estimate the utility of the available energy in blockage ratio of 30% to 35% necessitates the velocity
the water stream. The maximum power available in the water correction factor with an order of 40% to 50%. In the present
current is not possible to be converted to the shaft power as the work, this ratio has a small value and thus the correction
power extraction is always accompanied with various losses. required is extremely less and thus can be neglected. The
The coefficient of power determines the fraction of power that velocity of the water current is different at different water depth
is extracted by the turbine, and is given by the Eq. (v) [9-10]. due to which the velocity of the water current has been
measured at different layers from the bed level. Velocity of
(iv) water has been measured at levels of 0.08 m, 0.10 m and
0.14 m from the bed level with the three dimensional ADV
probes. The average free stream velocity of the three different
(v) layers has been set to be 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s.
2
1.75
1.5
Torque (N-m)
1.25
1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Velocity (m/s)
FIGURE 3. MEASUREMENT OF WATER CURRENT
VELOCITY AT UPSTREAM OF THE TURBINE (a)
TABLE 1
Refinement Level Mesh Size No. of Nodes
1 0.045 64283
2 0.04 68578
3 0.03 73485
4 0.025 82200
5 0.02 88983
Sweep mesh 6 0.018 96389
7 0.015 114445
Power (W)
computational simulation has been done for various degrees of
rotation of the turbine which is as depicted in Fig. 8. 10
1.5 0
Torque (N-m)
(a)
0.5
0.35
0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 0.34
0.32
FIGURE 8. VARIATION OF TORQUE AT DIFFERENT WATER
Cp
VELOCITIES 0.31
0.3
The variation of torque generated can be explained
mathematically with the help of Eq. (ii) which states that the 0.29
torque generated by the turbine is directly proportional to the
0.28
frontal area of the turbine exposed to the incident flow of water. 0.55 0.65 0.75 0.85
Figure 8 also suggests that the torque generated by the turbine
increases as the incident flow velocity increases. The increasing TSR
trend of the plot can be explained by the fact that the torque (b)
generated by the turbine is directly proportional to the square of
the velocity. The averaged values of torque generated at the FIGURE 9. (a) VARIATION OF POWER WITH WATER
three free stream velocities are 0.154 N-m, 0.677 N-m and VELOCITY, (b) VARIATION OF WITH TSR
1.361 N-m respectively. At 00, 1800 and 3600 rotation of the
turbine, the exposed area of the turbine is minimum because of Figure 9(b) suggests that the coefficient of power first
which the flowing water provides a minimum thrust to the increases to the maximum followed by a drop in the value. The
turbine by offering the least drag to the blades. This is the coefficient of power has been found to be maximum (0.343) for
reason because of which the torque generation is minimal at the water velocity of 0.65 m/s with a TSR of 0.643. Although a
these positions. The turbine generates the highest torque when very low water velocity of 0.3 m/s yields a high value of TSR,
it is at 900 and 2700 positions because of the high exposure of the power extracted by the rotor is extremely low at this water
the frontal area. The average power obtained by the two bladed velocity and ultimately results in the least .
Savonius water turbine has been evaluated to be 0.307 W,
2.128 W and 5.27 W respectively at the three different water Computational Analysis of the Fluidic Behaviour
velocities. The CFD analysis of the system will be incomplete without
Tip speed ratio is an important factor that influences the exploring the behaviour of the fluid around the subject of
power output and the efficiency of the turbine. If the speed of interest. The fluid interactions have been studied for the
the blade is low as compared to that of the water, a considerable Savonius water turbine, but to incur a better understanding of
quantity of water passes by the turbine being unproductive. The the flow physics influencing the performance, the fluidic
TSR obtained for different water velocities are 0.756, 0.643 and behaviour at the inner fluid zone has to be analyzed. The
0.56 for 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s respectively Figure 9 properties of the fluid at the neighbourhood of the turbine have
shows the variation of power with respect to water velocity and a great influence on performance of the rotor. The torque
the variation of coefficient of power ( ) with TSR. generated at lower water current is approximately constant but
the fluctuation has been observed to be more as the velocity of
the incident flow increases up to 0.9 m/s. To investigate this, the
FIGURE 10. VELOCITY VECTOR PLOTS OF TWO BLADED SAVONIUS WATER TURBINE AT 00 AND 2700
OF ROTATION
0.32 suggests that the turbine has enough potential to be used for
0.31 significant power generation. It is evident that water turbine is
0.3 one of the most emerging technologies in the prospective area
0.29 of renewable energy. The technology must evolve and rise in
0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 respect to the need of the mankind. The study carries immense
TSR scope to be researched in future. Varying the number of blades,
overlap ratio, aspect ratio, water stream velocities and many
more are the important parameters that shall be considered for
FIGURE 11. VARIATION OF WITH TSR the studies on this area in future.
CONCLUSIONS NOMENCLATURE
The two bladed Savonius water turbine has been A frontal area of the turbine = H × D(m2)
experimentally and computationally analyzed under low C chord length of the blade (m)
velocity conditions. The performance of the Savonius water Cp coefficient of power
turbine with an aspect ratio of 1.21 has been evaluated in terms d diameter of the shaft (m)
of generation of torque and power with corresponding D diameter of the turbine (m)
coefficient of power (Cp) values. The flow characteristics in the H height of the turbine blades (m)
surrounding environment of the turbine have been studied as Hc height of the channel (m)
this too has a great significance on the performance. The study I turbulence intensity
infers the following conclusions enlisted below: k turbulent kinetic energy(J/kg)
The torque generated and the power extracted by the Pmax maximum power available in the fluid stream (W)
turbine increases with increase in water velocity. The Prot power extracted by the turbine (W)
power extracted by the turbine also depends on angular r radius of the blades (m)
velocity of the turbine which increases as the energy R radius of the turbine (m)
content in the free stream increases. The highest power