Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98

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Energy Conversion and Management

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Experimental and computational evaluation of Savonius hydrokinetic

turbine for low velocity condition with comparison to Savonius wind
turbine at the same input power
N.K. Sarma, A. Biswas ⇑, R.D. Misra 1
Deptt. of Mechanical Engg, NIT Silchar, Silchar, Assam 788 010, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The extensive depletion of the conventional sources of energy has forced the mankind to explore every
Received 25 November 2013 possibilities lying beneath the nature. The evolution and modification of the old ideas from the field of
Accepted 24 March 2014 wind turbine led the mankind to explore the same technology in water. Hydrokinetic turbine, one of
the most emerging technologies for power generation, has gained keen interest of the researchers
because of some of the unique properties of water like higher specific weight, higher momentum than
Keywords: air for same velocity etc. The objective of the study is to evaluate how the conventional Savonius wind
Savonius hydrokinetic turbine
turbine performs when it rotates by the momentum of water current at low velocity from 0.3 m/s to
Savonius wind turbine
CFD
0.9 m/s in an open water channel. An experimental investigation along with computational fluid dynam-
Low velocity ics (CFD) study using Ansys 14.0 has been carried out to accomplish the objective of the work. To under-
Design information stand the significance of Savonius design in water application, the performance of the hydrokinetic
Flow characteristics turbine is experimentally compared to the identically designed wind turbine for the same input power
values, showing enhanced performance of the former turbine. The purpose of using CFD is to enable a
more detailed study on the velocity and torque distribution across the hydrokinetic turbine and hence
to develop more insight of design information about its performance under low velocity condition. Finally
the reason for enhanced performance of the hydrokinetic turbine is investigated from the computational
study of flow characteristics of both the hydrokinetic and wind turbines. Smooth, stable operation and a
good service life of the hydrokinetic turbine could be expected unlike the wind turbine.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Despite of a great success in the extraction of the power
through wind turbines the same has also been accompanied by
few limitations. The wind turbines have to be placed in the wind
farms with minimum allowable spacing where there is no effect
of eddies generated at the downstream of the preceding wind tur-
bines [1]. Wind turbines are installed in wind farms that consume
a lot of usable land for agricultural and other important activities.
Hydrokinetic turbine is a class of power generating technology that
utilizes the hydrokinetic energy of the incident water flow with a
low head and velocity. It is defined by US Department of Energy re-
port in 1981 as ‘‘Low pressure run-off-the-river ultra-low-head
turbine that will operate on the equivalent or less than 0.2 m head’’
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 3842 224879; fax: +91 3842 224797.
E-mail addresses: neelamkumar1988@gmail.com (N.K. Sarma), agnibis@yahoo.
co.in (A. Biswas), rdmisra@gmail.com (R.D. Misra).
1
Tel.: +91 3842 224879; fax: +91 3842 224797.
[2]. These turbines have come into existence in 2003 when Marine
Current Turbines (MCT) Ltd. and IT-Power successfully installed
the world’s first water current turbine in an offshore location with
a rated power of 300 kW [3]. These turbines are classified into four
categories based on the axis of their rotation and direction of the
incident water flow, like vertical axis turbines, horizontal axis tur-
bines, cross flow turbines and inclined axis turbines. The inclined
axis turbines are utilized as small river energy converters [2]. Ver-
maak et al. [4] reviewed the state of the art of small scale micro
hydrokinetic river technologies like horizontal axis and vertical
axis water turbines and found that the key barrier in the use of
such technology in especially rural areas is the lack of research in
the technical, economic and environmental benefits of such tech-
nologies. Though the subject is still considered in the preliminary
stage of research, but some of the experimental and research ori-
ented units are installed in few countries of the world. Some of
the companies like Throptom Energy Services (UK), Alternative
Hydro Solutions Ltd. (Canada), Lucid Energy Technologies (USA),
Seabell Int. Co., Ltd. (Japan) have built up different prototypes of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.03.070
0196-8904/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98
Nomenclature
A frontal area of the turbine = H  D (m2)
C chord length of the blade (m)
Cp coefficient of power
d diameter of the shaft (m)
D diameter of the turbine (m)
H height of the turbine blades (m)
Hc height of the channel (m)
I turbulence intensity
k turbulent kinetic energy (J/kg)
Pmax maximum power available in the fluid stream (W)
Prot power extracted by the turbine (W)
r radius of the blades (m)
R radius of the turbine (m)
Re Reynolds number
T torque generated by turbine (N m)
U free stream velocity (m/s)
u0 fluctuation of velocity in x-direction (m/s)
v1 velocity at upstream of the turbine (m/s)
v2 velocity at downstream of the turbine (m/s)
v0 fluctuation of velocity in y direction (m/s)
W width of the channel (m)
w0 fluctuation of velocity in z direction (m/s)
Z number of blades
hydrokinetic turbines that are either in the commercial or in the
research stage [5]. Hydrokinetic turbine technology has not been
much utilized commercially because of the limitations such as high
initial installation cost but it has got enormous potential to provide
power in low velocity condition. Due to the high cost of turbines
for harnessing water currents, it is very important to select a tur-
bine having an optimum performance at the selected site. In this
direction, Ramos and Iglesius [6] presented a parametric approach
to assess the performance of various water turbines like Gorlov
helicoidal and Evapod turbines in their case study applied to a
coastal bay of NW Spain. Carballo and Iglesius [7] investigated
the power performance of hydro energy converter by integrating
the task of characterization of wave resources at a given site with
the computation of power performance, which were previously
considered disconnected. The power produced is generally lower
for which the turbines have to be installed in arrays but can be in-
stalled where the free stream velocity is 0.5 m/s or above [5]. Mal-
ipeddi and Chatterjee [8] have carried out a computational study of
the influence of duct geometry on the performance of a Darrieus
hydrokinetic turbine. They found that the duct geometry with
straight external shape is superior when compared to a duct with
convex external shape in respect of coefficient of power (Cp). Ponta
and Dutt [9] have made a study on the performance of a Darrieus
hydrokinetic turbine through augmentation of the fluid flow inci-
dent on the turbine by incorporating a channeling device. The mar-
ine current turbines are basically meant for small scale power
production. One of the prominent turbines of its kind is the Savo-
nius hydrokinetic turbine that has the capacity to self-start at a
very low fluid velocity [10]. Golecha et al. [11] have carried out
an experimental study to optimize the position of the deflector
plate at the upstream of a Savonius hydrokinetic turbine to maxi-
mize the power generated by the turbine. The type of flow also has
a great impact on the performance of a turbine. Kailash et al. [12]
investigated the performance for a modified two-bladed Savonius
turbine having an aspect ratio of 0.69. They reported a maximum
Cp of only 0.15 at tip speed ratio of 0.7. Faizal et al. [13] conducted
89
Abbreviation
ADV Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter
rpm rotational speed of turbine
TSR tip speed ratio
Greek symbols
b blockage ratio
e rate of dissipation (J/kg s)
q density of water (kg/m3)
l dynamic viscosity of water (kg/m s)
x angular velocity of the turbine (rad/s)
w error percentage
r turbine solidity
c non-dimensional factor
Subscript
avg average
AM anemometer
c channel
o overall value
Tm tachometer
max maximum
min minimum
a study based on the utilization of the orbital motion to drive a
Savonius hydrokinetic turbine. They found that the height and
the frequency of the upcoming waves amplify the rotational speed
of the turbine. So it is not only the design of turbine on which the
performance is dependent but also the surrounding fluid behavior
that influence the output of the turbine in low velocity condition. A
study on the flow characteristics shall provide more insight of such
hydro systems. Yaakob et al. [14] investigated using CFD the per-
formance of a conventional two-bladed Savonius water turbine
having an aspect ratio of 1.1, and reported a maximum Cp of
0.275 at tip speed ratio of 0.7, which matched quite well with
the experimental results.
The above literature review highlights the potentiality of Savo-
nius type vertical axis turbine for generating power in the form of
small-scale micro hydrokinetic turbine. However, there are few
works on the performance evaluation of its basic design for differ-
ent low speed conditions although water has got some of the un-
ique properties like higher specific weight, higher momentum
than air for same velocity etc. The prime objective of the study is
to evaluate experimentally and computationally (using Ansys
14.0) the performance of a conventional Savonius hydrokinetic tur-
bine. First the performance of the turbine is evaluated in water cur-
rent of low velocity from 0.3 m/s to 0.9 m/s in an open water
channel. Moreover to understand the significance of Savonius de-
sign in water application, the performance of the hydrokinetic tur-
bine is experimentally compared to the identically designed wind
turbine for the same input power values. In the computational
study of Savonius hydrokinetic turbine, once the CFD model is val-
idated by comparing computational and experimental results of
power coefficients, much concentration is focused on the study
of velocity and torque distributions across the turbine so as to ob-
tain more insights of design information about its performance in
low velocity condition. Moreover, the reason for enhanced perfor-
mance of the hydrokinetic turbine is investigated from the compu-
tational study of flow characteristics of both the hydrokinetic and
the wind turbines.
90 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98
Fig. 1. (a) Savonius turbine, (b) schematic diagram of the turbine.
2. Experimental procedure
A simple three bladed Savonius turbine is considered for the
experimentation process and is represented in Fig. 1. The turbine
blades are built with aluminum sheets of thickness 1.5 mm and
are constructed in the form of cylindrical halves with semi-circular
cross sections with chord length of 0.14 m. The blades are built
with a height of 0.17 m that is mounted over a shaft of 14 mm in
diameter so that diameter of the turbine is 0.26 m such that the as-
pect ratio of the turbine is 0.65. It is seen from the literature [15]
that, for an aspect ratio of around 0.7 of Savonius blades, highest
power coefficient of the turbine is obtained. The shaft of the tur-
bine is integrated with a ball bearing fitted to a heavy base so as
to incur rigidity during the operation of the turbine in water
current.
The experiments are performed in an open channel with an ex-
posed top of make Zephyr Enterprise (India). The open channel is
12 m long with an effective width and height of 0.9 m and
0.505 m respectively. The maximum discharge that can be ob-
tained is 90 l/s and the optimum attainable depth of water in the
channel is 0.2 m. However the depth of water can be increased
or decreases according to the need by changing the discharge with
the help of the discharge changing gate in the outlet. Fig. 2 shows
the schematic diagram of the experimental setup. Water is circu-
lated through the channel with the help of two centrifugal pumps,
one of which has the rated power of 15 hp (make Kirloskar Broth-
ers Ltd.) and the other has 20 hp (make Crompton Greaves Ltd.). An
additional pump of 15 hp is incorporated with the system, which
may be operated in order to increase the velocity of water by
changing the discharge.
The velocity of the water current is measured with the help of
an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) of make SonTek/YSi Inc.,
USA. It is a single-point current meter capable of measuring a wide
range of velocity. A 16 MHz micro ADV (Field) is deployed which is
incorporated with a transmitter head and three receiver arms inte-
grated with acoustic sensors that are capable of measuring the
three components of a fluid sample located at certain distance
from the transmitter head. The operating range of the micro ADV
is 0.03–2.5 m/s of velocity and the sampling rate of which lies in
the range of 0.1–50 Hz. The required data are collected with an
accuracy of ±1% through computer interface with the assistance
of the installed software SonTek Horizon ADV. The rotational speed
of the turbine is measured with the help of a digital contact type
tachometer of make Systems with an accuracy of ±1%.
In the present study the performance of a small scale Savonius
hydrokinetic turbine with an aspect-ratio of 0.64 is analyzed. The
incident flow with a free stream velocity (U) carries the energy of
the flow that can be expressed as [16]:
1 fied and fixed with the help of the computer interface. The free-
Pmax ¼ qAU3
2 surface of water in the channel is 0.03 m above the top edge of
The torque generated can be expressed in terms of the velocities
at the upstream and the downstream of the turbine as [17]:
1
T¼ qARðv 21  v 22 Þ ð2Þ
2
The power extracted by the Savonius turbine from the incident
flow can be evaluated as:
Prot ¼ T x ð3Þ
One of the prime factors, which relate the velocity of the free
stream and the velocity of the tip of the blades, is the tip speed ra-
tio (TSR) given by [18,19]:
0:5xD
TSR ¼ ð4Þ
U
The coefficient of power determines the fraction of power that
is extracted by the turbine, and is represented by [18,19]:
Prot
Cp ¼ ð5Þ
Pmax
The turbulent intensity is an important parameter and is vital in
the computational simulation of the design. The turbulent inten-
sity of the flow at a specific position can be determined as [20–22]:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
1 1 02
I¼  ðu þ v 0 2 þ w0 2 Þ ð6Þ
U 3
The placement of the turbine in the correct position within the
open channel is vital from the point of view of stability of free
stream water current. A large volume of water is continuously re-
leased with the aid of two pumps at the inlet of the channel. The
turbine is placed 5 m away from the inlet of the channel such that
the flow stabilizes itself ahead of reaching the turbine blades. At
this position the turbulence of the water is within a considerable
limit. The placement of the turbine with the considered size and
aspect ratio of 0.64 has a blockage ratio of 20.93%. The blockage ra-
tio is defined as the ratio of the frontal swept area of the turbine to
the frontal swept area of the computational domain and is repre-
sented as [11]:
HD
b¼ ð7Þ
Hc  W
According to the research work carried out by Alexander and
Holownia [23], the blockage ratio above 30% essentially needs cor-
rection. As the free stream velocity essentially varies with respect to
different water depth, the velocity of the water current is measured
at different layers from the bed level. The three different water
depths of 0.08 m, 0.10 m and 0.14 m are considered the velocity
of which are measured with the three dimensional ADV probes.
The exact depth up to the micro ADV has to be immersed is identi-
ð1Þ
 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98 91

Fig. 2. (a) Open water channel, (b) schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Fig. 3. Measurement of velocity at (a) upstream of the turbine and (b) downstream of the turbine.

the blades. The average free stream velocity of the three different
layers is set to be 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s. The velocity sam-
ples are collected by setting the probe at a distance of 0.2 m and
0.22 m away from the turbine axis for the three different water
depths, the average of which is taken under consideration. The
process is repeated for the downstream side as well. Fig. 3(a) and
(b) shows the measurement of the velocity at the upstream and
the downstream sides of the turbine respectively.
Data reductions and smoothing operations are carried out to
eliminate the measurement errors from voltage fluctuations
92 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98

thereby ensuring the correctness and precision of the collected Savonius in water Savonius in wind

Power extracted by turbine (W)

data. The repeatability of the observed results is checked by carry-
ing out five repetitive tests.
3. Experimental results
Every pair of upstream and downstream velocity values yield
the value of the torque generated by the turbine. However for a
considered free stream condition, the torque generated by the tur-
bine is obtained through the averaged values of the upstream and
the downstream sections. The torque generated by the hydroki-
netic turbine is evaluated to be 0.131 N m, 0.655 N m and
1.4 N m for the free stream velocities of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and
0.9 m/s respectively. The power output of the turbine is evaluated
for every set of upstream and downstream velocities, the averages
of which are 0.288 W, 2.45 W and 6.164 W respectively for the cor-
responding free stream velocity conditions. Fig. 4 shows the varia-
tion of torque and power extracted by the turbine represents an
increasing trend with increase in free stream velocity.
For comparison of performances of similar design of Savonius
hydrokinetic turbine and Savonius wind turbine, the input water
power values of 0.61 W, 6.2 W and 16.45 W are kept constant.
The free stream wind velocities corresponding to these are
2.822 m/s, 6.133 m/s and 8.464 m/s respectively. Open air experi-
ments are carried out for which the wind required to drive the
three bladed turbine is supplied with the help of a conventional
fan. Savonius turbine is kept at a distance of 0.8 m (three times
the diameter of the turbine) from the fan to operate in uniform
flow. The free stream velocity of wind along with the velocities
at upstream and downstream of the turbine is measured with a
digital anemometer. The upstream and the downstream velocities
are collected manually at different positions at the vicinity of the
turbine thereby considering a single averaged value. The repeat-
ability of the experiments is maintained by repeating the processes
six times for each free stream wind velocity. Fig. 5 shows a com-
parative analysis of power extracted by the Savonius water and
wind turbines from the flow with respect to the maximum wind
power. The maximum power extracted by the Savonius hydroki-
netic turbine (for the same input wind power) is increased by
61.32%. A high drag force offered by water, due to its higher den-
sity, renders the turbine to generate more torque and hence power
in water. The weight which could be the only disadvantage of the
three bladed Savonius hydrokinetic turbine is nullified by the
buoyancy force offered by water.
3.1. Error analysis
The human errors are minimized to a satisfactory level through
repeated and averaged data accusation. However the errors
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 5 10 15
Maximum power (W)
Fig. 5. Variation of power extracted by turbines with respect to the maximum
power.
associated with the measuring instrumentations are consistent
regardless of the high calibration performed at the manufacturer’s
end of the same. The experimental setup is an integration of vari-
ous instruments that has their own degree of deviation from the
true value. Therefore the error analysis demands a standardized
definition to scrutinize the overall degree of uncertainty with re-
spect to which, the following relationship is utilized [24]. The over-
all uncertainty of the measuring instruments (Eq. (8)) is evaluated
to be ±1.414%. The overall uncertainty of the measuring instru-
ments (Eq. (9)) in wind turbine experimentation is found to be
±5.09%.
h i1=2
2 2
wo ¼ ðwADV Þ þ ðwTm Þ ð8Þ
h i1=2
wo ¼ ðwAM Þ2 þ ðwTm Þ2 ð9Þ
4. Computational modeling
A small three bladed Savonius turbine (Semi-circular cup shape)
is considered that has a blade chord length of 0.14 m, height of
0.17 m connected with a shaft of diameter 0.014 m. The blade
material is aluminum with thickness 0.0015 m. The entire geome-
try of the Savonius turbine is designed computationally in Ansys
Design Modeller (v 14.0) in such a way that the turbine lies within
a computational domain resembling an open channel. The compu-
tational domain is segmented into two parts separating outer fluid
zone and the inner fluid zone as shown in Fig. 6. The three different
horizontal planes considered for this study are depicted in Fig. 6(a)
where y-axis represents the height of the rotor in water. The inner
fluid zone surrounding the turbine is formed so as to allow the tur-
bine to rotate during the simulation process and also to have a

2 7
1.75 6
1.5
Torque (N-m)

5
Power (W)

1.25
4
1
3
0.75
0.5 2
0.25 1
0 0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Velocity (m/s) Velocity (m/s)
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Variation of (a) torque and (b) power extracted with velocity.
 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98 93

first slice operation by the surface of the inner fluid zone has en-
sured a surface to surface connection between the inner fluid
and the outer fluid zones. Since this is a CFD analysis and the con-
tact regions are not automatically resolved here, so two interface-
zones are formed by creating two more named selections for the
outer surface of the inner fluid zone (interface-inner) and for the
in-contact surface of the outer fluid zones (interface-outer).
The generated mesh on the geometry is exported to the compu-
tational solver Ansys Fluent (v 14.0) wherein the case is defined
and solved with necessary conditions. The standard k – e turbu-
lence model is adopted that solves two separate transport equa-
tions and allows the independent determination of the turbulent
kinetic energy (k) and its dissipation rate (e) [25–27]. The standard
k – e turbulence model has the significance over the other models
for the fact that it is suitable to determine the problems involving
the fluid flow through the vicinity of the complex geometries. The
sharp corners, straight and curved edges like that of the turbine
blades can be easily determined and covered for the computational
process as the model uses wall functions based on the law of the
wall [26]. The simulation is carried out adopting the second order
upwind interpolation scheme for both momentum and turbulence
to obtain results with more accuracy. The left side of the computa-
tional domain in x-direction of Fig. 6(b) is assigned velocity inlet
boundary condition, and outflow condition is assigned on the ex-
treme right boundary in same direction. The side walls (in z-direc-
tion) and the bed of the channel are set to wall by default and the
open top (in y-direction) is set as symmetry. The Savonius turbine
placed inside the domain (Fig. 6b) is assigned with rotating wall
condition. The inbuilt Semi Implicit Pressure Linked Equations
(SIMPLE) for the flow with the above computational settings is
solved for different free stream velocities of flow.

Fig. 6. (a) Design of the computational domain, (b) Savonius hydrokinetic turbine
4.1. Grid sensitivity study
inside inner fluid zone.

The process of simulation is repeated with different refinement

levels of the mesh. The refinement is carried on undertaking differ-
detailed study of the flow characteristics around the turbine. The
ent mesh size and is extended up to a limit after which there is no
computational domain has a length of 1.82 m and width of
significant quantitative change in the result. This limit of the
0.9 m. The inlet and exit faces are more than three times turbine
refinement is called the grid independent limit (GIL) and the mesh
diameter (0.266 m) away on both sides. The entire domain is de-
is said to have attained the limit of grid independence [27]. Various
signed with a height of 0.24 m, with an inner fluid zone of radius
levels of refinement of the mesh that are adopted are listed in
and height 0.165 m and 0.21 m respectively.
Table 1 upon which the level 5 with 89,655 number of nodes are
After the creation of the geometry, it is exported to Ansys Mesh
selected for the final simulation process. The pressure coefficient
(v 14.0) so that it can be meshed with a suitable grid. The geometry
of the Savonius turbine is selected to be varied for the refinement
that is created in the Design Modeller is quite complex, the tetra-
process so as to determine the grid independence limit. For the
hedron mesh is chosen since it is capable of meshing complex
analysis, the pressure coefficient values are obtained at the mid-
geometries. However there is another method to mesh the cylin-
height of the rotor and at the mid-chord of the blade.
drical bodies with better quality and accuracy, which is termed
The selected level 5 has 196,629 numbers of cells with average
as the sweep mesh. But in order to get the benefit of both tetrahe-
orthogonal quality, aspect ratio and skewness of 0.81, 7.67 and
dron and sweep mesh the design is modified in Ansys Design Mod-
0.263 respectively which lie in the acceptable and very good qual-
eller. The geometry is decomposed forming different parts with the
ity level [28]. Fig. 8 shows the result of sensitivity analysis in the
help of two slicing operations on the computational domains. The
variation of the pressure coefficient [29] with number of elements
first slice operation is done taking the surface of the inner fluid
of the selected mesh.
zone and the second is done by the XY plane thereby decomposing
the entire geometry into five parts. The method of meshing the
geometry thus chosen thereafter is the Automatic mesh that has 5. Computational results
the ability to identify the sweepable geometry parts and applies
where ever needed. Fig. 7 shows the mesh of the created geometry The computational study of the performance of the turbine with
and the inner mesh as well with the help of section plane. the same considerations as that of the experimental tests is carried
Furthermore the mesh is refined with the insertion of edge siz- out. For this the computational model as narrated in the last sec-
ing along the length of the computational domain. Biased sizing is tion is considered. As measured experimentally, the upstream
opted for the edge sizing of the upper halves of the inner fluid zone, and the downstream velocities are considered at 0.2 m and
so as to ensure that the cell size decreases at proximity to the cen- 0.22 m away from the turbine, and at each distance the velocity
ter leading to a finer sweep mesh. Inflations are applied on the has again been computed for three different water layers. Fig. 9
Savonius turbine inside the inner fluid zone so as to achieve a bet- shows the variation of Cp with tip speed ratio and the variation
ter mesh resolution and the boundary layer could be captured. The of power extracted by the turbine with the rotational speed of
94
Fig. 7. (a) Mesh of the computational domain, (b) sweep and tetrahedron mesh.
Table 1
Details of the refinement levels.
Refinement level No. of nodes
1 63,837
2 67,823
3 72,645
4 80,919
5 89,655
6 97,765
7 113,655
8 164,610
0.012
Pressure Coefficients
0.008
0.004
0 that the torque is fluctuating for the free-stream water velocity of
-0.004
0 1 2 3 4 5
Refinement Level
Fig. 8. Variation of pressure coefficient with different refinement levels.
turbine when operated in different velocity conditions. The maxi-
mum experimental Cp is 0.39 and computational Cp is 0.402, both
obtained at free stream velocity of 0.65 m/s and tip speed ratio of
0.77. The percentage deviation of no-load power and Cp with
respect to experimental results is 1.03% and 5.74% respectively.
In order to evaluate the performance of the present Savonius
hydrokinetic turbine with some existing literature works, power
coefficient of the present rotor is compared (Fig. 9c) with those
of Kailash et al. [12] and Yaakob et al. [14] works in which they
investigated the performance for a modified two-bladed Savonius
turbine having an aspect ratio of 0.69 and conventional two-bladed
Savonius turbine having an aspect ratio of 1.1 respectively. Fig. 9(c)
clearly shows maximum Cp of Kailash et al. is only 0.15 at tip speed
ratio of 0.7 and maximum Cp of Yaakob et al. is 0.275 at tip speed
ratio of 0.7 whereas in the present study it is higher i.e. 0.39 at a tip
speed ratio 0.77.
The velocity of the water current does not remain the same
throughout the entire process, the velocity gradients are initiated
at different locations. The present analysis endeavors toward the
study of the velocity gradients across the width of the turbine on
the upstream and the downstream sections of the turbine. The
N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98
relative velocity of the incident flow is obtained in different layers
underneath the water surface at H, 0.5 H and 0.001 H of the turbine
No. of elements which corresponds to 100%, 50% and 0.1% of the turbine height
173,547
respectively, and these are obtained for all the three water veloci-
177,488 ties. Fig. 10 shows the variation of the velocity at distances 0.2 m
181,360 from the turbine axis on the upstream side. Velocity points are ob-
188,887 tained at different positions along the width of the turbine wherein
196,629
the positions are non-dimensionalized with respect to the chord
204,072
218,705 length (C) of the turbine blade.
265,880 At every horizontal plane, the plots indicate that the velocity
relative to the rotor decreases from the outer periphery towards
its axis, the magnitude of decrement is more for velocity of
0.9 m/s at any water depth. However, the variation of relative
velocity across the width of turbine becomes marginal for velocity
conditions of 0.3 m/s and 0.65 m/s and also the end to end veloci-
ties are the same, meaning more uniform flow would be obtained
at any water depths of the channel for these two velocities. The
torque distribution across turbine width is evaluated at three dif-
ferent water layers, namely bottom layer (0.001 H), middle layer
(0.5 H) and top layer (1 H) as shown in Fig. 11. It can be observed
0.9 m/s as the flow with respect to the width of the turbine is non-
uniform at this velocity condition. Although highest turbine power
6 7 8 9 is obtained for this velocity as seen from the turbine performance
results, but it would create more variable loading on the turbine
blades because of non-uniform torque distribution across it. This
will reduce the longevity of the turbine. For the other two veloci-
ties, i.e. 0.3 m/s and 0.65 m/s, the torque is much uniform on the
middle and top layers except the bottom layer which is influenced
by the shear layer that separates from the bed. Therefore the effect
of bottom layer on torque or power is not to be considered in
extracting design information about performance of the turbine.
Further, a uniform torque distribution for these two velocities will
ensure a more uniform loading on the blades and a smoother oper-
ation of the turbine. The torque generated is also plotted at differ-
ent angles of rotation of the turbine as shown in Fig. 12. It suggests
that the torque generated by the turbine increases as the incident
flow velocity increases. It is observed that for every 120° rotation of
the turbine it exhibits a highest and a lowest value of torque at 90°
and 60° respectively. Fig. 12 further shows that the variation of tor-
que of the turbine with respect to angular positions is less fluctu-
ating for free stream velocities of 0.65 m/s and 0.3 m/s, and the
average torque at these velocities are 0.7 N m and 0.19 N m
respectively.
The maximum and the minimum value of the torque generated
during the whole process have a great influence on the turbine. The
fact is better explained numerically by the non-dimensional factor,
c [30] that is defined as the ratio of the difference in the maximum
and the minimum torque value to the average of the generated
torque.
 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98 95

Computational Experimental Computational Experimental

0.5 7
0.45 6
5

Power (W)
0.4
4
Cp 0.35
3
0.3
2
0.25 1
0.2 0
0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 20 25 30 35 40 45
TSR RPM
(a) (b)
Experiment Yaakob et. al Kailash et. al
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
Cp

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1
TSR
(c)
Fig. 9. Variation of: (a) Cp with tip speed ratio, (b) power with rpm for the hydrokinetic turbine, (c) comparison of Cp with other literatures.

1
0.9 m/s (1 H)
0.9
0.9 m/s(0.5 H)
Relative velocity (m/s)

0.8 0.9 m/s (0.001 H)

0.7 0.65 m/s (1 H)
0.6 0.65 m/s(0.5 H)

0.5 0.65 m/s (0.001 H)

0.4 0.3 m/s (1 H)

0.3 m/s (0. 5H)
0.3
0.3 m/s (0.001 H)
0.2
-0.95 -0.634 -0.318 -0.002 0.314 0.63 0.946
y/C

Fig. 10. Variation of relative velocity across the width of the hydrokinetic turbine.

2.5
0.9 m/s (1 H)
2
0.9 m/s (0.5 H)
Torque distribution (N-m)

1.5 0.9 m/s (0.001 H)

1 0.65 m/s (1 H)

0.65 m/s (0.5 H)

0.5
0.65 m/s (0.001 H)
0 0.3 m/s (1 H)

-0.5 0.3 m/s (0.5 H)

0.3 m/s (0.001 H)

-1
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
y/C

Fig. 11. Torque distributions along the width of the hydrokinetic turbine.
96 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98

0.3 m/s 0.65 m/s 0.9 m/s

1.6

1.4

1.2

Torque (N-m)
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Angle (degree)

Fig. 12. Variation of torque at different free stream velocities of hydrokinetic turbine.

T max  T min
c¼ ð10Þ 1H 0.5 H 0.001 H
T av g
10

Power extracted by
The factor determines the stability, smoothness and ease of the 8
performance of the turbine. The factor c should not be large as this

turbine (W)
6
means more loading on the blades and the turbine owes towards
mechanical wear and for which longevity of turbine is likely to 4
be drastically reduced. The values of the factor are found out to 2
be 13.07%, 13.60% and 14.05% of average torque for the Reynolds
number (Re) 79418.11, 172072.6 and 238254.3 respectively 0
0.3 m/s 0.65 m/s 0.9 m/s
(Fig. 13), which are significantly low [30]. These Reynolds number
correspond to the free stream velocities of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and Free stream velocity (m/s)
0.9 m/s respectively. Thus, velocity of the water current is vital Fig. 14. Power extracted by hydrokinetic turbine at different layers of water.
from the point of view of the performance and longevity of the
hydrokinetic turbine.
The power extracted by the turbine from water is plotted with
6. Flow characteristics of hydrokinetic turbine and wind
respect to the three different free stream velocity conditions at
turbine
different water layers as shown in Fig. 14. It is noticeable that
for each of the free stream conditions the top layer of water at
Study of flow characteristics elucidates blade-fluid interactions
100% of height of the turbine indicates the maximum power
in detail for getting insight of the turbine performance. Fig. 15(a)
extraction. This is because of the fact that the velocity gradient
shows the nomenclature of blades of the hydrokinetic turbine as
is the maximum at the top most layers of the water which
the flow approaches the turbine. Fig. 15(b)–(d) shows the flow
imparts more power to the turbine. However, higher velocity gra-
characteristics of the hydrokinetic turbine at water velocity of
dient creates more instability across the turbine as evident from
0.65 m/s for 0°, 60° and 90° angles of rotation respectively. For
the velocity and torque distributions. Also it is evident from the
advancing blade at 0° position, circulations are created on concave
Fig. 14 that the power extracted by the turbine is lower in case
face of the blade meaning loss of power. For advancing blade at 30°
of the middle layer than that of the lowermost water depth. This
and 60° positions (Fig. 15c and d), large concentration of velocity
is the effect of viscous shear layer that separates from the bed of
vectors are formed on the convex side of the blade and their direc-
the channel, whose effect on the turbine is not to be considered
tion is heading away from the blade for which power extracted by
in extracting the design information about the performance of
the turbine and also torque will decrease. The situation reverses
the turbine.
when the advancing blade is at 90° position (Fig. 15e) for which
there forms a viscous layer of velocity vectors on its concave face,
and their interactions with the blade will enhance the torque and
power of the turbine. Moreover on the concave faces of the return-
0.142
Non-dimensional factor (γ)

ing blades, the flow is fully developed and continuous viscous lay-
0.14 ers also adhere to the faces.
0.138 For same input power, the flow characteristics of the Savo-
nius wind turbine is also studied to compare its performance
0.136
with the Savonius hydrokinetic turbine. The computational mesh
0.134 for flow characteristics analysis of wind turbine is kept same as
0.132 that used for hydrokinetic turbine. Fig. 15(f) and (g) shows the
0.13
velocity vector plots across the wind turbine for advancing blade
7.5E+4 1.3E+5 1.8E+5 2.3E+5 at 60° and 90° positions respectively. For 60° blade position, flow
vectors depart from the tip of the advancing blade and from the
Reynolds Number (Re)
first returning blade. Velocity vectors separate from the concave
Fig. 13. Variation of non-dimensional factor (c) with Reynolds number (Re) of face of the second returning blade thereby lowering the perfor-
hydrokinetic turbine. mance. Though concentration of vectors has increased for 900
 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98 97

(a) (b) 00

(c) 300 (d) 600

(e) 900 (f) Wind turbine at 600

(g) Wind turbine at 900

Fig. 15. (a) Schematic diagram of the turbine; (b–e) velocity vector plots of Savonius hydrokinetic turbine at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° of positions; (f) velocity vector plots of
Savonius wind turbine at 60° position; (g) velocity vector plots of Savonius wind turbine at 90° position.

position (Fig. 15g), but there occurs many adverse blade-fluid
interactions. In this case also sharp stream of velocity vectors
depart from the tip of the advancing blade and also from the
first returning blade thereby deteriorating performance of the
turbine. Coanda like steep velocity vectors are separated from
the concave face of the second returning blade lowering the tor-
que produced by that blade. In addition, circulations can also be
seen at the tip of the first returning blade. Further large part of
flow impinges on the convex side of the second returning blade
for which thrust on that blade acts in opposite direction of
rotation of turbine thereby reducing the net torque of the tur-
bine. All these contribute to the inferior performance of the
Savonius wind turbine compared to its counterpart hydrokinetic
turbine.
7. Conclusions
In the present study, the performance of a conventional Savo-
nius hydrokinetic turbine was evaluated experimentally and com-
putationally in low water velocities of 0.3–0.9 m/s inside an open
water channel. The performance of the hydrokinetic turbine was
also experimentally compared to the similar design of wind tur-
bine for the same input power values. From the study, the follow-
ing conclusions are summarized:
 The torque and power of the hydrokinetic turbine increases with
increase in free stream water velocity, which are maximum for
velocity of 0.9 m/s. However this increases loading on the tur-
bine blades, which will reduce the longevity of the turbine.
98 N.K. Sarma et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 83 (2014) 88–98
 There is an optimum value of tip speed ratio (TSR) of 0.77 at
which the maximum coefficient of power (Cp) of 0.39 is
attained, which is much higher than conventional Savonius
wind turbine at corresponding input values.
 The performance of the hydrokinetic turbine is superior to that
of the wind turbine. The maximum power extracted by it has
been found to be increased by 61.32% elucidating the potential-
ity of the Savonius turbine operated in water.
 Water velocity of 0.65 m/s would be suitable for the present
hydrokinetic turbine in terms of uniformity of flow, uniformity
of torque generation, higher power coefficient and minimal and
uniform loading on the blades.
 The power extracted by the turbine is not consistent in all water
layers. The higher velocity gradient on the top most layer
results into highest extraction of power than the other layers.
Higher power of turbine at the bottom layer than the middle
layer is attributed to the shear layer that separate from the
bed of the channel. Therefore its effect on power is not to be
considered in extracting design information about performance
of the turbine.
 The flow characteristics across the hydrokinetic turbine reveal
its better performance when angle of rotation is 90°. When
compared to the wind turbine for the same input power, infe-
rior performance of the latter is revealed from the occurrence
of circulations and separations at tip of the blades, separations
from the concave face of returning blade and thrusts that act
in opposite direction of rotation of the turbine.
 The study has provided ample evidence of the tremendous
potential of the hydrokinetic turbine. Moreover smooth and sta-
ble operation and a good service life of the turbine may be
expected unlike wind turbines. The hydrokinetic turbine is
one of the most emerging technologies, and with few modifica-
tions by proper mathematical modeling, its performance can be
elevated to a superior level.
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