An Investigation of the Effects of Reynolds Number on the Performance of 0.6m Impulse Turbines for Different Hub to Tip Ratios

A. Thakker, P. Frawley, H. B. Khaleeq

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents the account of an investigation of the effects of Reynolds number on the performance of 0.6m Impulse turbines with fixed guide vanes for different hub to tip ratios of 0.6 and 0.7. This work is part of the research to establish an optimum value of hub to tip ratio for the said turbine for its application for an OWC based wave energy power conversion device. A wide range of flow rates was tested for both turbines. Depending on the operating range of the unidirectional steady flow test rig, a Reynolds number range of 0.46 × 10 5 - 1.19 × 10 5 for 0.6 H/T ratio rotor and 0.51 × 10 5 - 1.32 × 10 5 for 0.7 H/T ratio rotor was achieved respectively, at peak efficiency. The results show that both turbines reach a maximum efficiency point gradually, after which there is a slight drop in the peak efficiency and eventually it stabilizes for higher Reynolds numbers. It was also observed that the 0.6 H/T ratio turbine performance is better than the 0.7 H/T ratio turbine and gives a wide range of Reynolds number where efficiency is higher. The objective of this paper is to report the details of the experimental work carried out for this investigation and establish the effects of Reynolds number on the performance of Impulse turbines with different hub to tip ratios.

Original languageEnglish
Pages682-686
Number of pages5
Publication statusPublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes
EventProceedings of the Twelfth (2002) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference - Kitakyushu, Japan
Duration: 26 May 200231 May 2002

Conference

ConferenceProceedings of the Twelfth (2002) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityKitakyushu
Period26/05/0231/05/02

Keywords

  • Fixed Guide Vanes
  • Impulse Turbine
  • Reynolds Number
  • Wave Energy

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