Blade number impact on pressure and performance of archimedes screw turbine using

CFD
Muhammad Ilham Maulana, Ahmad Syuhada, and Muhammad Nawawi

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1931, 030037 (2018); doi: 10.1063/1.5024096

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5024096
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1931/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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 Blade Number Impact On Pressure And Performance Of
Archimedes Screw Turbine Using CFD
Muhammad Ilham Maulana1,a), Ahmad Syuhada1,b), Muhammad Nawawi2,c)

1
Mechanical Engineering of Syiah Kuala University, Darussalam–Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia
2
Fluids Group Istambul Technical University, Turkey
a)
ilhammaulana@unsyiah.ac.id
b)
syuhada_mech@yahoo.com
c)
nawawi@itu.edu.tr

Abstract. Many rivers in Indonesia can be used as source of mini/micro hydro power plant using low head turbine. The
most suitable type of turbine used in fluid flow with low head is the Archimedes screw turbine. The Archimedes screw
hydro turbine is a relative newcomer to the small-scale hydropower that can work efficiently on heads as low as 10
meter. In this study, the performance of Archimedes water turbines that has different blade numbers that are thoroughly
evaluated to obtain proper blade configuration. For this purpose, numerical simulations are used to predict the pressure
changes that occur along the turbine. The simulation results show that turbines with an amount of two blades have more
sloping pressure distribution so that it has better stability.

INTRODUCTION
As the population grows and followed by regional development, the need for electrical energy is getting higher.
With the depletion of fossil energy reserves, alternative energy as a power plant becomes a major issue in the
provision of energy. Among all renewable resources, water energy is a relatively perfect choice and it has great
potential in commercialization and mass production. Now this major application of hydropower is as power
generation is becoming increasingly popular [1].
The utilization of hydropower with low head and flow rates as alternative power generation has attracted the
attention of researchers over the last few decades. This condition is very suitable with the characteristics of rivers in
Indonesia which generally have a low head. One of them is the use of Archimedes Screw turbine that is able to
generate electricity at a micro scale head less than 10 meters [2,3,4].
Various researches have been done in order to obtain the best design from this type of turbine. The majority of
research uses numerical approaches to save costs and time. One of the researches that has been done in Greece,
Europe, with an area of the river around 45.915 km2 review regarding the influence of the axial tilt of axis
Archimedes turbine using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) indicates a complex flow phenomena in
Archimedes turbine system and shows that the turbine has pivot axis tilts more effective compared to the turbine
shaft horizontally [4].
Many factors play a role in the design of Archimedes turbines. One is the knowledge of the pressure distribution
on the turbine blades that becomes very important to understand in determining the proper turbine design [5,6]. So
far, the studies analyze the pressure pattern in Archimedes Screw turbine system, especially appropriate to condition
the water flow in region of Aceh, is still very limited.

The 3rd International Conference on Industrial, Mechanical, Electrical, and Chemical Engineering
AIP Conf. Proc. 1931, 030037-1–030037-7; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5024096
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1623-9/$30.00

030037-1
 This research will be analyzed the influence of the number of blades on the flow pattern and pressure on the
turbine system, at a flow rate of 2 m/s and head of 1 meter, in accordance with the lowest river conditions in
Indonesia. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the number of blades on the pressure
patterns along the Archimedes turbine screw. The number of blades is a very important parameter in designing or
creating an appropriate Archimedes turbine. The effect of flow in turbine with one blade, two blades, three blades
and four blades were compared to determine the effect of blade amount on the pressure pattern that occurred.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that is less expensive than experimental tests and it also will save a lot of time
and work and therefore, it has become the main concerns of this study.

NUMERICAL MODEL

Navier-Stokes Equation
This equation can be used for weather modeling, ocean currents, water flow in pipes and airflow around the
aircraft wing. The Navier-Stokes equation in complex and simplified form can help in the design of power plants,
turbines and many other things.
In terms of the inertial reference, the general form of the fluid motility equation is [6]:

. (1)

T is a symmetrical tensor except when the fluid is composed of degrees of freedom that rotates like a vortex. In
general, (in three dimensions) T has the form of the equation:

Where σ: normal stress and τ: tangential stress (shear stress)

k-ε (k-epsilon) Turbulence Model

The k-epsilon turbulence model uses turbulent flow analysis characterized by the field of fluctuation velocity. This
turbulent flow occurs due to high velocity flow and irregular movement of fluid particles, thus causing turbulence or
unregulated effects. A number of mixed fluctuations on the move such as momentum, energy, and concentration
species have caused moving speed also to fluctuate. The K-Epsilon model adds two transport equations which are
based on k and ε variables [5] .
Equations with variable k ie,

(2)

And the equation with the variable ε:

(3)

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 METHODOLOGY

Turbine Archimedes Geometry

The turbine geometry in the modeling is designed using SolidWorks software with the following dimensions
(refer to reference [4]):
a. Turbine diameter = 150 mm
b. The outer diameter of the turbine = 550 mm
c. Pitch distance = 2Ro (550 mm)
d. Turbine length = 2500 mm

FIGURE 1. Dimensions of Archimedes Screw turbine design

After creating the geometry on Solidworks, meshing process is done that divides the volume of objects into small
parts by using Ansys software, before the simulation held. Figure 2 shows the meshing results on turbine geometry.
Solver preference used is a fluent and curvature normal angel of 12º.

FIGURE 2. Computational grid on turbine

Input Data Parameters

The input data used is taken based on design while the fluid physical data follows the fluid properties in the
existing literature. The data are presented as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1. Input data parameters
Properties Value
Fluid Viscosity,  0.001003 kg/m.s
Fluid Density, ρ 998.2 kg/m3
Solid (copper) Density, ρ 8978 kg/m3
Inlet velocity, Vin 2 m/s
Initial Gauge Pressure, Pin 9810 Pa

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 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Contour of Pressure on One Blade Turbine

The phenomenon of pressure changes that occur along the inlet and outlet of the one blade turbine shown in Fig.
4. The pressure difference occurs because the water flow has a impact when water enters the turbine. As can be seen
clearly in this figure, the peak pressure that occurs decreases against the distance of the blade from the inlet. The
huge pressure difference on the inlet and outlet blades due to the very large collisions occurs only in the inlet, when
water enters the turbine.

FIGURE 3. The contour of pressure on one blade turbine

The Contour of Pressure on Two Blade Turbine

The pressure distribution presented on two blades turbine shows slightly different from the turbine of one blade.
In the two-blade turbine the influence of the collision of fluid flow entering the turbine does not only occur in one
part of the blade but also occurs on the other part of the blade. The addition of the blade count causes the collision of
the fluid flow entering the turbine to occur not only in one part of the blade but also in the other blades. Decrease in
the pressure occurs more slowly

FIGURE 4. The contour of pressure on two blade turbine

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 The Contour of Pressure on Three Blade Turbine
A similar case is also presented on a turbine of three blades as shown in Fig. 5. However the pressure contours
that occur, are relatively close to the turbine of one and two blade. The pressure drops gradually faster, caused by the
fluid flow velocity that gradually decreases after collusion on the inlet part of the blade.

FIGURE 5. The contour of pressure on three blade turbine

The pressure contours in Fig. 5 above shows that the pressure is concentrated in half the turbine from the inlet
portion. This is caused by the fluid flow velocity slowly decreasing after having collided on the inlet blade.

The Contour of Pressure on Four Blade Turbine

In a turbine with four blades, it can be seen that the pressure on the turbine blades is decreasing after passing
through the center of the turbine
as shown in Fig. 6. This condition causes a low pressure to be distributed evenly over the entire blade.

FIGURE 6. The contour of pressure on four blade turbine

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 Changes in pressure distribution patterns that occur in turbines with four blades show fluid flow patterns in the
Archimedes turbine system do not experience increased pressure with the addition of more than 3 blades. The
pressure drops dramatically to only one-third of the turbine's length. The same phenomenon is expected to occur
with increasing number of blades

Effect of Blade Addition to The Pressure

The change in the number of blades on the turbine causes the distribution of the resulting force and the impingement
of the blade wall. The magnitude of the distribution of forces that occur depends on the number of blades used. The
peak pressure occurring for the four analyzed blade configurations is presented in Table 2.

TABLE 2. Distribution of Maximum Pressure in The Turbine

Plane Distance
1 Blade (kPa) 2 Blade (kPa) 3 Blade (kPa) 4 Blade (kPa)
(m)

0.15 4.229 2.90 2.058 2.249

0.40 160.2 43.43 42.91 39.55
0.62 116.2 45,00 18.32 11.58
2.12 67.21 27.54 13.29 8.297
2.50 84.82 24.61 14.04 8.857

Using the maximum pressure on the turbine of one blade as an initial reference, a 31% reduction in pressure
occurs in two bladed turbines compared to the turbines with one blade, while turbines of three and four blades show
11% and 13% decrease in peak of pressure.
The graph of the ratio of pressure to plane distance is shown in Fig. 7.

FIGURE 7. The ratio of pressure to plane distance

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 As can be seen from the figure, with the increase of blade number the pressure peak becomes lower. The lowest
decrease after peak pressure occurs on a four-blade turbine. However, the pressure remains lower overall in
comparison to a single blade turbine. Selection of the right number of blade is needed in order to obtain the
maximum pressure that can drive the turbine

CONCLUSION
From a series of simulation results obtained from CFD analysis on Archimedes Screw turbine that has been
done, it can be concluded that numerical analysis were performed in order to understand the effect of blade number
on the behavior of pressure in the turbine. Model k-epsilon turbulence standard applied in this simulation shows the
maximum pressure occurs in inlet turbine decrease with the increase of the blade number. Turbines with different
number of blades have obvious pressure drop at a quarter-length distance from the suction side of the blade inlet. A
two-bade turbine shows a more uniform distribution of pressure drop across all parts of the blade. This pressure
condition will produce better torque and turbine stability. To obtain a turbine with a smaller pressure change
condition, a turbine with two blades is more appropriate to use. Further analysis should be carry out experimental
study on two-blades turbine by varying the distance between the blade tip and turbine sheath to obtain optimum
pressure conditions

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors acknowledge the simulation data provided by Mr. Saqib Arsalan for this paper.

REFERENCES
1. Archimedean screws are relative newcomers to the small-scale hydro world having only arrived on the scene
over the last ten years, (http://www.renewablesfirst.co.uk/hydro-learning-centre/archimedean-screw/).
2. Y. K. Kim, Q. Lu, H.S. Ji, J.H. Beak, R. Mieremet, and K.Y. Kim, (Department if Engineering Research,
ESCO RTS, Doosanventuredigm, B112, Pyeongchon-Dong, Dongan-Gu, Anyang, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea,
2012), 126-1.
3. Stergiopoulou, A., Stergiopoulos, V., and Kalkani, E., Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on
Environmental Management, Engineering, Planning and Economics (CEMEPE) and SECOTOX Conference,
ISBN: 978-960-6865-68-8, Mykonos island, Greece, (2013).
4. Stergiopoulou, A., Kalkani E., Towards a First C.F.D. International Journal of Engineering Research &
Technology (IJERT), ISSN: 2278-0181, Vol. 2., (2013).
5. Stergiopoulou, A., Stergiopoulos, V., and Kalkani, E., Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on
Environmental Science and Technology, Athens, Greece, (2013).
6. Muhammad Ilham Maulana, Ashabul Yamin and Hamdani, Seminar Nasional Teknologi Rekayasa (SNTR)
Poltas Proceeding, ISSN 2407-8735 (2015).
7. Fluent Incorporated, Fluent 5 User's guide, (Centerra Resource Park 10 Cavendish Court Lebanon, NH 03766,
Vol. 2,1998) Chap. 9-16.

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