Configuration blade shape for enhancement crossflow turbine performance by the CFD method

Abstract

The pico scale crossflow turbine (CFT) is a prospect as an independent power plant for remote and rural areas because it has a stable efficiency range of 64 % to 79.5 % in high discharge fluctuation. An alternative to CFT performance enhancement is determining the upper blade configuration to increase lift force. Hence, this study investigates four configurations of the upper CFT blade: convex blade at the centre edge, convex at the trailing edge, convex at the leading edge and ordinary curvature. This research employs a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to visualise the flow field. The upper CFT blade configuration significantly affects its performance, and convex at the leading edge has higher performance than others. The performance related to each blade shape's specific speed is parabolic and expressed using empirical law. The empirical law recommends 4.88 as specific speed for designing a pico scale CFT.

Keywords

• Crossflow turbine
• Pico hydro
• Blade
• Specific speed