The use of CFD as the design tool for designing a gravitational water vortex turbine

Abstract

Finite Element Analysis is commonly used for product designer to visualize the structural analysis of a product. Not much works done by these designers using Computational Fluid Dynamic, CFD due to the complexity of the application. In this study, the dynamic of the water flow within the turbine had been predicted as the preliminary design steps. Several significant parameters had been reviewed and tested using CFD tool to give better insight of the important components of the turbine on its performance, in terms of the velocity, the pressure and the vorticity of the water. Three different velocities were used which was 5 m/s, 9.9 m/s and 13 m/s. The maximum outlet velocity that can be produced at various inlet velocity were predicted to be 17.09 m/s, 33.79 m/s, and 44.37 m/s. The pressure gradients were 159 kPa, 618 kPa, and 107 kPa. Meanwhile, the vorticities were 48.28 m/s, 91.66 m/s, and 120.5 m/s. Furthermore, the vorticity distribution was observed through the simulated work.