Computational Fluid Dynamics of Savonius Water Turbine for Hydrokinetic Pico Hydro Systems

¹ Department of Automotive Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering, 55183 Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
² Student of Department of Automotive Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering, 55183 Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
³ Faculty of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Pahang, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Hydrokinetic pico hydro systems reflect an expectant route for exploiting renewable energy from lowly water flows. The Savonius water turbine, known for its self-starting power and modest construction which is particularly equal for such several applications in agricultural sectors for example irrigation pump, smart farming system, and post-harvest processing reduce operational costs and carbon emissions. This simulation study serves a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis on a four-bladed Savonius water turbine by utilizing Ansys Fluent 2024 RI Software. A three- dimensional turbine model was developed and divided into more than 2.7 million small parts to ensure accurate simulation results. Five types of inlet velocities—0.5 m/s, 0.75 m/s, 1.0 m/s, 1.25 m/s, and 1.5 m/s—were tested to see how they affect the flow shape, flow course, and turbulence level. The results show that the higher the inlet speed, the greater the speed change, the more complex the flow shape, and the higher the turbulence level, especially in the central area of the turbine. When the speed is low, the flow remains calm with a small flow separation, while high speed causes the flow to become unstable and a larger flow mixing occurs.