Experimental Investigations of Hydrokinetic Turbine Providing Fillet at the Leading Edge Corner of the Runner Blades

Abstract

Water streams with low heads can be found in India, both naturally as well as through irrigation canals. These natural resources can be used to generate electricity by utilising Hydrokinetic water turbines. The current investigation includes an experimental investigation of the axial flow turbine in order to make use of these naturally available resources. For Axial Flow Turbines (AFT), the influence of the fillet radius at the leading edge corner of the runner blade is studied. The experiments are carried out under various turbine loads and corresponding head conditions. The 3D printed runners with six different fillet radius (Rtu), i.e. 0 mm, 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm are examined experimentally. The results are presented in the form of obtained efficiency (η ) with a diverse Fillet Radius Ratio (FRR) for different Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) and equivalent head (H). The results indicate that, at the head, 0.012 m, with a sharp edge, i.e., FRR = 0 (Rtu = 0 mm), the minimum efficiency of 34.90% is recorded. However, at the same water head, the maximum efficiency of 84.82% is achieved with FRR = 0.046 (Rtu = 2 mm).