Investigation of an axial hydrokinetic turbine with the CFD program Flow Simulation

Abstract

In the work, the characteristics of a hydrokinetic axial turbine are obtained by numerical CFD modelling. Using the new research tool, Fluid Computational Dynamics, arises the question as to the accuracy of the solution. That’s why for solving the problem, has been used new numerical method “Sliding mesh”, which is included in the “Flow Simulation” soon. Besides, the numerical results for frequency characteristics are compared with the characteristics obtained by modified analytical model. It was found that for both solutions - for the output powersof the turbine, the differ is (5 … 15) % and for the torques of the working shaft the differ is (4…18) %. Because it’s accepted that the analytical solution is more accurate as it is done by a modified classical method, the compliance of the shape and energy performance characteristics is considered to be a numerical model verification obtained by simulation with the Flow Simulation CFD.