Computational Analysis of Water Wheel for Hydro-Electric Power

Abstract

The flow of water in the river is one of shallow water flow that has many benefits. One of them is as a power plant that uses a water wheel. Where the water wheel is used utilizing the flow of water in the river. The flow of water in the river in this study has a speed of 1.2 m/s. In the completion of this research, the finite element method in numerical approach is used to analyse the velocity of fluid motion in the river. Where speed inflow can affect electricity production. In the process, this research uses simulation with a software that works based on finite element method that is COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 in two-dimensional form. The simulations are performed in two-dimensional flow, all the particles are thought to flow in the plane along the flow so that no flow is perpendicular to the plane. The simulation is carried out for 10 seconds and based on three variations of the water wheel height based on the center point of the water wheel is 1 m, 1.25 m and 1.5 m. Of the three variations, the fastest speed is at 1 m with maximum discharge is 34.6 m/s.