Hydro-Kinetic Turbine, Cavitation study CFD Simulation, Ansys Fluent

Description

Description

The project at hand involves the simulation of a Hydro-Kinetic turbine utilizing the powerful capabilities of ANSYS Fluent software. The water, flowing at a velocity of 5 m.s-1, passes through the water turbine, driving it to produce energy. The Hydro-Kinetic turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of water into electrical energy, making it an excellent source of renewable energy.

To design the present model, a three-dimensional approach is employed. The blades are meticulously drawn in SOLIDWORKS software at a specific angle and distance from the central axis, after which they are imported into the Design Modeler software to create an integrated blade design. In the space surrounding the turbine blades, a special cylinder is created to make the water flow in a continuous circular motion. In contrast, a rectangular cube space is designed to allow for free water flow.

The meshing of the model was done through ANSYS Meshing software using an unstructured mesh type to ensure maximum flexibility and accuracy. The method used to increase the meshing accuracy is Tetrahedrons, and the element number is 7,758,370.

Methodology

The Mesh Motion (Sliding Mesh) technique is used to simulate the rotation of the turbine blades. Therefore, for the cylindrical region, the mesh mode is defined by defining a rotational speed of 60 rpm around the central horizontal axis of the turbine. The VOF method is used In this simulation.

On top of the mentioned activated models, the standard k-epsilon model is used to solve the turbulent fluid equations. The present study is performed in transient format and 3D. Moreover, the simulation takes into account the effects of gravity in the Y direction, with a magnitude of -9.81 meters per second squared.

Conclusion

At the conclusion of the solution process, contours in both two and three dimensions are obtained that relate to pressure, velocity, path lines, and velocity vectors. The highest velocity occurs in close proximity to the blades in rotation. Additionally, all potential outcomes can be extracted, such as the pressure drop equaling 2.9811e+4.

Cavitation is a phenomenon in which the static pressure of a liquid drops below the vapor pressure of the liquid, leading to the formation of small voids filled with vapor in the liquid. Vapor volume fraction Contours show where the cavitation happened.