A 3D computational fluid dynamics analysis of the wells turbine

This paper deals with the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to the turbulent analysis of the Wells Turbine. The objectives of this work were twofold; firstly to develop and benchmark the 3D CFD model and then to uae this modal to analyse the airflow through the turbine. The model was analysed as fully turbulent compressible flow using the Fluent™ CFD code. The computational model was first benchmarked against previously published experimented and CFD data for two similar turbines. The computational model accurately predicted the non-dimensional torque and nondimensional pressure drop, while the efficiency predictions were lower than the experimental results. Predicted location of turbine stall also corresponded well with experimental results. Potential causes for differences between the computational and experimental results are suggested. The computational model was then analysed at both high and low tip Mach number settings and also with and without the tip gap, and these results were discussed.