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Design & CFD Analysis of Blade Geometry of Kaplan Turbine

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 International Conference on Mechanical, Industrial and Energy Engineering 2020
19-21 December, 2020, Khulna, BANGLADESH

ICMIEE20-065
Design & CFD Analysis of Blade Geometry of Kaplan Turbine
Tanjina Bintay Azad*, Shakib Ahmed, Baran Saha, Dr. Kazi Afzalur Rahman
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology, Chittagong, BANGLADESH

ABSTRACT
Nowadays the consumption of energy has been increasing continuously with the growing rate of population. As for
balancing the power consumption demand, renewable energy sources keep playing a vital role in covering the demand.
There is a vast variety of renewable energy sources including solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy, etc. Among these
energy sources, hydropower is the second most available one after solar energy. For hydropower generation, a hydro turbine
which is a rotating device is used. The rotating device is categorized depending on the available head and energy. The major
categories of this turbine mainly two types. One is reaction type which is mainly used for lower head and high speed, and
the other is the impulse type turbine which is mainly used for higher head and lower speed. This work aims at studying the
Kaplan turbine mainly the Kaplan runner wheel which is a reaction type turbine. The efficiency of the Kaplan turbine
mostly depends on the Kaplan runner wheel blade design including the variation of hub and wheel diameter. So, in this
study first, the theoretical design has been developed based on the simplified equation and assumption of constant of
experienced data. The theoretical design showed the maximum efficiency of the blade is about 93 percent. The angle that
has been found for the blade inlet and outlet portion is 155.71º and 158.54º respectively. Then the analysis has been further
compared with the CFD simulation varying the blade angle and the better output and efficiency have been optimized at an
optimum angle.

Keywords: Hydropower, Turbine, Blade angle, Modelling, CFD

1. Introduction with the hub. By varying the angles of the blades, the
Hydropower is one of the largest renewable energy efficiency of the turbines is checked mathematically.
sources for electricity generation. A good portion of Then a suitable simulation is done by designing the
the energy is normally produced a year from using this blade angle. From the simulation, the angle at which
hydropower as it is more economical than using the the optimum value is determined is implemented
other sources like coal burning or natural gas burning practically and the power has been measured and
and left the less injurious effect on the environment. compared.
Reaction turbines are mostly used turbines for power
production other than impulse turbines. Researchers 2. Theoretical Design
are working on the blade design and trying to find out The theoretical design process is discussed below.
the best efficiency. But there is also a dominating
problem that is leaving some negative effect on the 2.1 Flow parameters
turbine’s efficiency. The problem is the cavitation of For the study of Kaplan turbine’s blade geometry,
the blade. It also completely depends on the blade the height and flow rate is chosen as H = 7 m, Q = 1
design and blade angle. m3/s respectively.
Gordon, in 2001, proposed a method of predicting and Flow velocity,
simulating the performance curve for several types of
turbines. He developed a set of empirical equations for
the calculation of turbine runner efficiency [1]. His
equations have accuracy almost around 73% for a
small blade angle and a high head [2]. Ms. M. Ujwala
et al. conducted a study on the design and analysis of
low head, lightweight Kaplan turbine blades. They
mainly worked for enhancing the hydrodynamic Input power by water,
efficiency of the Kaplan turbine by reducing weight,
shape alterations, blade angle with a combination of
materials Aluminium alloy, Structural steel, Titanium
alloy Stainless steel [3]. Chamil Abeykoon and Tobi
Hantsch showed that the theoretical design is low in
accuracy particularly due to the numerous simplifying
assumptions attached with the calculation process [4]. 2.2 Kaplan turbine blade design
This study is mainly based on the development of the Theoretical designs of Kaplan turbine are
efficiency of the Kaplan turbine by designing the blade conducted in SolidWorks by varying three angles
number and blade angle. The blades are kept fixed here according to the calculated parameters. K. Menny

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +88-01861063801

E-mail addresses: tanjina1303034@gmail.com
stated that the highest efficiency can be achieved with
4 blades of this kind of turbine [6]. Each designed rotor
hub has 4 blades.

Fig. 3 Turbine rotor with 155° blade angle [dimensions

are in mm]

Fig. 1 Design diagram for Kaplan turbine [5]

From fig. 1, the value chosen for δ and σ is 1.27, 0.4

respectively.

12

D0 = 0.4 m
Di = D 0 σ
Di = 0.4 0.4 = 0.16 m

Where Di is the inner diameter of the turbine and Do is

the outer diameter of the turbine.
Fig. 4 Turbine rotor with 160° blade angle [dimensions
are in mm]

3. Theoretical Calculation
Efficiency calculation for 150˚ blade angle,

Output power at the runner,

Fig. 2 Turbine rotor with 150° blade angle [dimensions

are in mm]

= W

ICMIEE20-065- 2
The efficiency of the runner, 4.1 Mesh dependency test

Similarly, efficiency for 155˚ and 160° blade angle are

respectively 72.87%, 119.60%.

4. CFD analysis
The model of the Kaplan turbine was analyzed
with the help of ANSYS 16.0. At first, the Kaplan
turbine models were imported one by one to the
ANSYS Design Modeller. Then meshes were created
for CFD analysis

Fig. 8 Mesh dependency test

Figure 8 indicates the mesh dependency test. It has

been observed that the graph tends to converge towards
the mesh size 0.1. As a result, from this point, the final
result will be independent of mesh quality. This mesh
size has been used to solve the problem.
The mesh quality of these models is given below.

Table 1 Mesh quality analysis.

Mesh 150° 155° 160°
quality
Element Minimum 0.11 0.2007 0.19464
Fig. 5 Mesh analysis for 150° quality 357 4
Maximum 1 0.9999 1
7
Average 0.83 0.8368 0.83756
724 8
Aspect Minimum 1.15 1.16 1.158
ratio 78
Maximum 17.3 10.422 10.597
79
Average 1.84 1.8419 1.8414
23
Skewness Minimum 4.73 4.492e 1.4896e-
82e- -005 006
007
Maximum 0.93 0.8482 0.89542
Fig. 6 Mesh analysis for 155° 405 4
Average 0.22 0.2294 0.12051
873 1

We know that if skewness is kept in the range from 0-

0.25 the mesh quality is considered excellent quality.
Therefore, for a better outcome, the skewness is kept
between 0.12 - 0.23.

4.2 Boundary layer condition

For the CFD analysis, the k-ε RNG model has
been used. The partial differential equations that are
used for this study,

Fig. 7 Mesh analysis for 160˚

ICMIEE20-065- 3
The simulation has been solved using pressure-based,
absolute velocity, and steady-state solver. And the
boundary conditions are no-slip boundary condition as
the simulation is done for confined wall or zone

5. Result and discussion

In this section, pressure and tangential velocity
analysis of three-blade designs are discussed and
compared with the theoretical analysis.

5.1 Pressure analysis

Fig.12 Pressure contour for 150˚

Fig. 9 Total pressure vs position co-ordinate (150˚)

Fig. 13 Pressure contour for 155˚

Fig. 10 Total pressure vs position co-ordinate (155˚)

Fig. 14 Pressure contour for 160˚

From the pressure contour of the turbine blades, it is

Fig. 11 Total pressure vs position co-ordinate (160˚)
observed that pressure is maximum at the inlet edges of
the blades and minimum at the outlet edges of the
blades. It is also noticed that pressure is pretty high on
the rotor hub in blade angle 150º in fig. 9. which is
lower in blade angle 160º in fig. 11. But in fig. 13, the
pressure is moderate on the rotor hub. It can also be
said that the pressure on the inlet edge is also higher in
fig. 12 than the other two figures and lower in fig. 13
than others. Again, the pressure difference between the
top and bottom surfaces is higher in fig. 12, moderate
in fig. 13, and lower in fig. 14.

ICMIEE20-065- 4
5.2 Tangential velocity analysis
Fig. 15 Tangential velocity vs position co-ordinate
(150˚)
Fig. 16 Tangential velocity vs position co-ordinate
(155˚)
Fig. 17 Tangential velocity vs position co-ordinate
(160º)
Fig. 18 Velocity streamlines for 150˚
Fig. 19 Velocity streamlines for 155˚
Fig. 20 Velocity streamlines for 160˚
From the velocity streamline analysis, it is noticed that
the tangential velocity is moderate at the tip of the
blades. Differences are noticed among these three
figures. Tangential velocity is observed to be high in
fig.20 and lower in fig.18 at the leading edge of the
blades. Velocity is low at the rotor hub which indicates
that the rotation is created with the help of the blades.
5.3 Optimization of the blade angle
Fig. 21 Comparison between theoretical and CFD
result
As shown in figure 21, it has been observed that the
theoretical result and CFD result is almost similar for
the angle 150°. With the increasing angle, the CFD
result becomes get diverged from the theoretical result.
ICMIEE20-065- 5
 And both the efficiency and velocity have increased
with increasing angle.
Fig. 22 Avg. total pressure and tangential velocity vs.
blade angle
As shown in pressure analysis, the pressure at the inlet
edge of the blades is maximum which causes the
rotation of the rotor as well as the turbine. As the
exerted pressure is increased on the blade cross-
sectional area, the blades gain more potential energy
which converts into velocity and causes the turbine to
rotate faster. But excessive pressure causes
deformation of the blades and reduces the efficiency.
On the other hand, the lower pressure causes the
turbine to run slow which reduces efficiency. So, the
optimum pressure distribution should be chosen. By
analyzing the pressure contours of these figures, it is
clear that optimum pressure distribution is observed at
155° in fig.10 where the pressure difference between
the top and bottom surfaces is moderate. The pressure
is observed higher in fig.12 and lower in fig.14. Again,
negative pressure is much in fig.14 which causes the
cavitation problem. According to this discussion, it can
be said that the blade design for 155° in fig.13 is
optimum.
Figure 22 shows the changes in average velocity due to
the blade angle. From this figure, it can be experienced
that tangential velocity is higher in blade design with a
160˚ angle than others. So, the speed of this turbine is
maximum in comparison to the other two turbines. But
extreme tangential velocity can cause a bad impact on
blades. Again, average tangential velocity increases
with the increment of the blade angle. As it is observed
that negative pressure developed less in a 155° angle,
the possibility of cavity formation is less in this angle.
Also, the tangential velocity obtained at 155° is greater
than the other blade angle. So, efficiency must be
higher on blades with a 155˚ angle. Thus, it can be said
that blade design with a 155˚ angle is optimum.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, the Kaplan turbine was analyzed by
varying three blade angles to improve efficiency. From
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the CFD analysis, it can be said that the 155˚ angle has
better pressure distribution than others. On the other
hand, the velocity analysis shows that the tangential
velocity is higher in the rotor with a 160˚ blade angle.
But pressure is experienced maximum at the tip of the
blade and the connection of rotor and blade. This
massive pressure can cause a deformation of blades
which is not acceptable. So, the blade angle among
these three, the most optimum blade angle is 155˚. This
paper focuses on the blade angle optimization, further
studies on the selection of materials, weight, and other
parameters can improve the efficiency of the Kaplan
turbine at these angles.
NOMENCLATURE
H : Head, m
Q : Volumetric flow rate, /s
σ : “Schnellläufigkeit”
Di : Hub diameter of the rotor, mm
Do : Outer diameter of the rotor, mm
δ : Diameter number
Pwater : Power of water, kW
ρ : Fluid density, kg/
g : Acceleration due to gravity, m/
t : Blade partition
z : Blade number
θ : Blade angle, °
Vf : Flow velocity, m/s
S : Chord length, m
Vw : Whirl velocity, m/s
Prunner : Power of the runner, kW
η : Efficiency of the runner, %
REFERENCES
[1] J.L. Gordon, Hydraulic turbine efficiency, NRC
Research Press Web site, Can. J. Civ. Eng. 28: pp
238–253 (2001).
[2] Lingjiu Zhou, Zhengwei Wang, Ruofu Xiao and
Yongyao Luo, Analysis of dynamic stresses in
Kaplan turbine blades, International Journal for
Computer-Aided Engineering and Software, Vol.
24 No. 8, 2007, pp. 753-762 (2007).
[3] Ms. M. Ujwala, Mrs. P. Chaithanya Krishna
Chowdary and Mr. L. Srinivas Naik, Design and
Analysis of Low Head, Light weight Kaplan
Turbine Blade, International Refereed Journal of
Engineering and Science (IRJES), ISSN (Online)
2319-183X, (Print) 2319-1821,Volume 6, Issue 2
(February 2017), PP. 17-25 (2017).
[4] Chamil Abeykoon and Tobi Hantsch, Design and
Analysis of a Kaplan Turbine Runner Wheel,
Proceedings of the 3rd World Congress on
Mechanical, Chemical, and Material Engineering
(MCM'17), Paper No. HTFF 151 (2017).
[5] K. Menny, Strömungsmaschinen – Hydraulische
und thermische Kraft- und Arbeitsmaschinen,
Verlag, Ronnenberg, Germany (2006).
ICMIEE20-065- 6