Optimal blade design of a spherical water turbine

Abstract

The use of in-pipe water turbines for small-scale energy harvesting from pipe networks is starting to gain popularity. However, limited research have looked into whether adding helical blade turbines would be feasible with a spherical lift base in a water supply network. Three Naca airfoil (0012, 2412, 4412) were used to study the ratio of lift to drag force for each wing, Benefit from Qblade and ANSYS CFX software, and choosing the wing that has the highest ratio. The study investigates the feasibility of improving the design of spherical turbine blades by increasing the ratio of lift to drag. The results show that the Naca airfoil 4412 had the highest lift-to-drag force ratio, which was equal to 19.95. Through the improvement process for the Naca 4412 airfoil, the increase was made by 13.34 %, and the lift-to-drag ratio became 22.61. The study also dealt with the design of a turbine through the improved airfoil. 230 mm. It has the engineering characteristics of the number of helical blades, 5, The measurement of the blade's length chord 15 % of the turbine diameter, and the Angle of Attack, 9.5°

Keywords

• Airfoil
• ANSYS CFX
• Qblade
• Spherical turbine