Investigation of flow behaviour in the nozzle of a Pelton wheel: Effects and analysis of influencing parameters
Satish Geeri,
Aditya Kolakoti,
Olusegun David Samuel,
Mohamed Abbas,
Peter Alenoghena Aigba,
Habeeb A. Ajimotokan,
Christopher C. Enweremadu,
Noureddine Elboughdiri,
M.A. Mujtaba
Affiliations
Satish Geeri
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pragati Engineering College, Surampalem, 533437, India
Aditya Kolakoti
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Raghu Engineering College, Visakhapatnam, 531162, India; Faculty of Engineering and Quantity Surveying, INTI International University, Persiaran Perdana BBN, Putra Nilai, 71800, Nilai, Negeri Sembila, Malaysia
Olusegun David Samuel
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, P.M.B 1221, Delta State, Nigeria; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Africa, Science Campus, Florida, South Africa; Corresponding author. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, P.M.B 1221, Delta State, Nigeria.
Mohamed Abbas
Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha, 61421, Saudi Arabia
Peter Alenoghena Aigba
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, P.M.B 1221, Delta State, Nigeria
Habeeb A. Ajimotokan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Christopher C. Enweremadu
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Africa, Science Campus, Florida, South Africa
Noureddine Elboughdiri
Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Ha'il, P.O. Box 2440, Ha'il, 81441, Saudi Arabia; Chemical Engineering Process Department, National School of Engineers Gabes, University of Gabes, Gabes, 6029, Tunisia
M.A. Mujtaba
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, New Campus Lahore, Lahore, 54890, Pakistan
The performance of a Pelton wheel is influenced by the jet created by the nozzle. Therefore, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation was proposed. In this study, the significant output parameters (outlet velocity, outlet pressure, and tangential force component) and input parameters (different pressure and spear locations) were examined. In addition, the influencing parameters and their contributing percentages to the performance of the Pelton wheel were calculated using different optimisation techniques such as Taguchi Design of Experiments (DoE), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) and Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC). The effect of input factors on the output response was examined with DoE, and the results show that the inlet pressure had the most significant impact (97.38%, 99.18%, and 97.38%, respectively, for all different spear sites with a 99% confidence level). In terms of preference values, the TOPSIS and GRA results are comparable (best ranks for simulation runs #24 and #25 and least ranks for simulations #2 and #3, respectively). The CRITIC results for the pressure parameter are in good agreement with the Taguchi ANOVA analysis. The last spear location (5 mm after the nozzle outlet), with an inlet pressure of 413685 Pa generated the best result when employing the TOPSIS and GRA techniques. The outlet pressure of the nozzle was found to have a significant impact on the flow pattern of the Pelton Wheel based on the analysis of the CRITIC, Taguchi, and CFD results.
