CFD simulations to optimize the blade design of water wheels

Quaranta, Emanuele; Revelli, Roberto

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-27-2017

Articles | Volume 10, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-27-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Computing and Control for the Water Industry, CCWI 2016

https://doi.org/10.5194/dwes-10-27-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 1

Research article

|

16 May 2017

Research article |

| 16 May 2017

CFD simulations to optimize the blade design of water wheels

Emanuele Quaranta and Roberto Revelli

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Final revised paper (published on 16 May 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 30 Jan 2017)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'review comments', Anonymous Referee #1, 15 Mar 2017
- AC1: 'Reply to Reviewer #1', Emanuele Quaranta, 16 Mar 2017
SC1: 'Review comments', Yucheng Liu, 29 Mar 2017
- AC2: 'Answer to Reviewer 2', Emanuele Quaranta, 02 Apr 2017
  - RC2: 'Review Comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 04 Apr 2017

Short summary

Breastshot water wheels are hydropower converters that efficiently work at low head sites (lower than 4 m) and at low discharges (1.2 cubic meters per meter width maximum). Water wheels represent an attractive solution for decentralized energy production. The aim of this work is to improve the performance of an existing water wheel by changing the blade shape using numerical simulations. An optimal profile was determined, and general recommendations for the blade design are reported.