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Andrei Dragomirescu
Department of Hydraulics, Hydraulic Machinery and Environmental Engineering
University Politehnica of Bucharest
Bucharest, Romania
andrei.dragomirescu@upb.ro
Abstract—This paper presents results of a study aimed at flow inside cross-flow turbines and on optimizing both nozzle
verifying whether the usage of a cascade of guide vanes inside the and runner geometry [2–6]. Bánki’s theory showed and
nozzle of a Bánki turbine could improve the turbine subsequent studies confirmed that most of the water energy –
performance. Bánki turbines are small cross-flow water turbines about 66% of it – is transferred to the turbine during the first
used to harvest renewable energy, usually in a range from a few pass of the water through the runner.
kilowatts to a few hundred kilowatts. First, an existing turbine
with classical nozzle was experimentally and numerically In the classical design, the nozzle of a Bánki turbine is
investigated to provide a basis for comparison. A mesh sensitivity foreseen only with a flap that allows to adjust the discharge.
analysis was performed to find the most appropriate mesh When the flap is partly closed, a wall jet forms at the end of the
parameters in terms of accuracy and computational resources. nozzle. Such a jet acquires the nature of a boundary layer near
After choosing the mesh, the numerical results were validated the wall while behaving like a free jet at a larger distance from
against experimental data. Second, the turbine with the nozzle it [7]. Hence, the velocity distribution inside the jet is highly
modified to accommodate a cascade of guide vanes was asymmetric with respect to jet axis. Moreover, when the flap is
numerically investigated. Comparisons of the results obtained on fully opened and the admission angle is large, it becomes
the two nozzle geometries show that the turbine with nozzle difficult to control the value of the tangential velocity when the
foreseen with guide vanes performs clearly better than the jet attacks the runner. Consequently, the absolute velocity
classical turbine. The guide vanes assure absolute velocity angles angle shows significant variations around the design value, that
that are closer to the design value. The moment delivered by the range between 2° and 35° according to De Andrade et al. [3].
modified turbine is significantly higher than that of the classical This strong deviation of the absolute velocity angle from the
turbine. Hence, the usage of a nozzle with guide vanes is expected design value can be considered a major cause of the relatively
to provide a higher turbine efficiency. low efficiency of the cross-flow turbines when compared with
other turbine types. To alleviate this problem, Dragomirescu
Keywords—cross-flow turbine; Bánki; modified nozzle; guide [8] proposed the usage of an array of stay vanes (or guide
vanes; efficiency; CFD; renewable energy vanes) inside the nozzles of Bánki turbines and presented a
method to properly design the stay vanes, so that the water jets
I. INTRODUCTION formed at nozzle exit attack the runner at roughly constant
angles of the absolute velocity.
A Bánki turbine is a partial admission cross-flow water
turbine, in which a nozzle produces a water jet that passes In this paper, the usage of a cascade of guide vanes inside
through the runner twice, following a roughly transverse path. the nozzle of a Bánki turbine is investigated by numerical
Cross-flow turbines are small turbines used to harvest simulations. First, the flow through an existing turbine with
renewable energy. They produce low powers, that span from a classical design is simulated. A mesh sensitivity analysis is
few kilowatts to a few hundred kilowatts. Such turbines are performed and the numerical algorithms and methods used are
very well suited, among others, for providing electricity in validated by comparing the numerical results with data
remote areas which are not connected to the grid. They possess obtained experimentally. Second, the flow through the turbine
some clear advantages, such as simple construction and modified so that the nozzle is foreseen with guide vanes is
maintenance, low price, flat efficiency curve, and good studied. Results obtained on the two geometries are compared
behavior with partial loads, but have lower efficiency than in order to verify to what extent the new nozzle design could
other turbine types – Pelton, Francis or Kaplan. improve the turbine performance.
Donát Bánki’s theory regarding the design of cross-flow
turbines and results of laboratory tests on such a turbine are II. TURBINE PARAMETERS AND EXPERIMENTAL INSTALLATION
extensively presented by Mockmore and Merryfield [1]. A A sketch of the Bánki turbine investigated in this study is
design value of 16° is recommended for the absolute velocity presented in Fig. 1. The runner has 19 blades, a breadth of
angle at runner entry, 1. More recently, various studies, 300 mm, and the outer and inner diameters of 250 mm and
carried out using mostly CFD, were focused on studying the 165 mm respectively. The nozzle is horizontal and, in the case
Parameter Value on mesh 03 Value on mesh 04 Value on mesh 05 Extrapolated value Approximate error Extrapolated error GCI
pti 6,878 Pa 6960 Pa 6,559 Pa 6,865 Pa 1.19% 0.19% 0.24%
cm 1.2 1.207 1.189 1.196 0.64% 0.33% 0.415
Fig. 4. Heads of the turbine with classical nozzle. Fig. 6. Moment variations depending on runner speed.
The moments M that act on the runner blades, representing average value up to an angle of about 75°. As the blade
basically the shaft moments, were also extracted from the approaches the nozzle tongue, located at = 98°, the moment
results of the numerical simulations. The moments were shows a second rapid increase and reaches a local maximum.
estimated based on the moment coefficients calculated by The blade moves then away from the nozzle and the moment
Fluent. The runner peripheral velocity, the total area of the starts to decrease as the blade exits the water jet. The
longitudinal cross-section of the runner, and the runner radius interaction between the water jet and the blade stops
were used as reference velocity, reference area, and reference completely when the blade reaches an angle of about 117°
length respectively. The moment variations depending on (marked by the first vertical line on the diagram), which is
runner speed, obtained numerically for both turbine designs, given by the runner and nozzle geometry. This can be easily
are plotted in Fig. 6 together with the moment variation explained by the fact that, at this angle, the blade behind the
obtained experimentally on the classical turbine. As Fig. 6 current one reaches the nozzle tongue position and the water
shows, there is a good agreement between the moment values jet cannot reach anymore the current blade. Hence, it can be
obtained experimentally and numerically for the turbine with considered that the first pass of the water takes place at angles
classical nozzle. This represents an additional validation of the comprised between 0° and 117°. After leaving the nozzle
numerical simulations. The numerical results suggest that the tongue behind, the blade enters shortly into an idle state,
usage of guide vanes could lead to a clear increase in shaft suggested by the local minimum of the blade moment. A new
moment and that this increase could be of about 1.5 times with rapid increase in blade moment marks the beginning of the
respect to the shaft moment of the classical turbine. The second pass. As it can be seen, the peak blade moment is
maximum runner speed is also expected to increase. reached not in the first pass, but in the second one, most
probably due to the fact that the turbine operates far away
A very interesting behavior shows the moment on a runner from the rated point. Finally, a last decrease in blade moment
blade during a full runner revolution. Fig. 7 depicts the blade indicates that the blade approaches the end of the second pass,
moment variations depending on angular position measured which takes place at = 240° (marked by the second vertical
clockwise starting at nozzle lip, obtained for both turbine line on the diagram). Beyond this angle, the blade goes into an
variants operating at 175 rpm. For the turbine with classical idle state, where the blade moment becomes practically zero,
nozzle, the blade moment is negative at = 0°, but starts to since the blade interacts no more with water but only with the
increase rapidly as the blade enters the water jet created at surrounding air. Very close to nozzle lip, the blade interacts
nozzle exit. Afterwards, the moment oscillates around an again with the water jet. However, the interaction starts on the
Fig. 5. Distributions of the absolute velocity angle at runner entry obtained Fig. 7. Blade moment variations depending on angle with respect to flap lip
for the classical nozzle and for the nozzle with guide vanes at n = 175 rpm. at n = 175 rpm.
TAB LE III. A V E R A G E M O M E N T S O N A R U N N E R B L A D E A N D
ENERGIES ABSORBED DURING THE FIRST AND SECOND PASS AT
A R U N N E R S P E E D O F 175 R P M
suction side, as it will be seen in Fig. 8. Consequently, the Fig. 8. Volume fractions of water (black) and air (white) inside the turbine
blade moment shortly drops below zero. For the turbine with at n = 175 rpm: a) classical nozzle, b) nozzle with guide vanes.
guide vanes, the blade moment variation shows similarities to
that discussed previously for the classical turbine. However, expected to lead to a drop in tangential velocity at nozzle exit.
the blade moment attains higher values in the modified turbine The decrease in tangential velocity coupled with the increase in
during the first pass. In the same time, the moment variation is peripheral velocity as the runner speed increases is
more irregular, due to the fact that five narrower jets instead of accompanied by an increase in absolute velocity angle. This is
a single one successively attack the blade. During the second more or less confirmed by the diagram in Fig. 5. Therefore, the
pass, the moments shows a stronger decrease, most probably water attacks the blades closer to radial directions. Practically,
due to the fact that the guide vanes have a stronger effect on the water just falls between the blades. During the second pass,
the hydrodynamic interaction between nozzle tongue and however, the blade channels are better filled with water. Hence,
runner blades. Afterwards, the blade moment increases up to most of the energy is transferred to the classical turbine during
values close to those obtained for the classical design. The idle the second pass. Inside the turbine with guide vanes, the
state spans over the same angular range as in the case of the formation of air pockets is less significant and the blade
classical design. channels are better filled with water, since the absolute velocity
angle is kept closer to the design value. Hence, the energy
It should be noted here that, since the runner has 19 blades fraction transferred during the first pass remains closer to the
and the first and second pass span from 0° to 240°, the number usual value.
of active blades (the blades that interact with the water jet) is at
any time moment of roughly 12. The other 7 blades are idle.
V. CONCLUSIONS
Integration of the blade moment over the angular ranges of
each pass yields the energies E1 and E2 absorbed by the blade This paper presented a combined experimental and
during the first and the second pass, respectively. The results numerical study aimed at verifying whether the performance of
obtained when the turbine operates at 175 rpm are summarized a Bánki turbine could be improved by installing a cascade of
in Table III, where E is the sum of E1 and E2, while E1/E and guide vanes inside the nozzle. The interest for Bánki turbines
E2/E are the energy fractions transferred to the runner during comes from the fact that nowadays, due to their clear
the first and the second pass, respectively. The values obtained advantages, these turbines become more and more appealing
for the turbine with classical nozzle indicate that, when the for harvesting renewable energy. However, such turbines have
turbine operates far away from design point, as in the case of lower efficiencies when compared with other turbine types and
this study, the energy transfer inside the runner suffers a efforts are being made to increase their performance.
significant change: the energy is no more absorbed by the The results of the numerical study suggest that the usage of
runner predominantly during the first pass, but during the guide vanes inside the nozzle of a Bánki turbine brings several
second pass. It seems that the runner starts to behave more like advantages from a hydrodynamic point of view and could
an undershot wheel. The usage of guide vanes inside the nozzle improve the performance of the turbine. The guide vanes flatten
alleviates this behavior. In case of the modified turbine, more to a certain extent the large variation of the absolute velocity
than 50% of the energy is still transferred to the runner during angle at runner entry when the admission angle is large.
the first pass of the water. Consequently, the moment on a runner blade increases during
The average blade moments, Mavg, were also calculated and the first pass of the water. Overall, the shaft moment increases as
are presented in Table III. It can be seen that the products well, being of up to 1.5 times larger than in the case of a classical
between the values of Mavg and the number of 12 active blades turbine. Based on the obtained results, it is expected for the
are consistent with the results presented in Fig. 6. turbine efficiency to increase as well, as long as the guide vanes
are properly designed, so that they do not cause significant head
An explanation for the change in energy transfer inside the losses. Moreover, the guide vanes improve the energy exchange
runner can be found in Fig. 8, which shows plots of volume inside the runner when the turbine operates far away from design
fractions of water and air inside the turbines operating at point. In a classical turbine operating at heads much smaller than
175 rpm. In case of the classical turbine (Fig. 8a) air pockets the rated one, the energy fraction transferred to the runner during
form inside the blade channels during the first pass. This the first pass could decrease down to about 30%. With guide
phenomenon can be explained based on the fundamental vanes, the energy fraction transferred in the first pass could be
equation of turbomachinery. A dramatic drop in turbine head is restored to more than 50%.
The main concern related to the design solution [3] J. De Andrade, C. Curiel, F. Kenyery, O. Aguillón, A. Vásquez and M.
investigated in this paper is due to the fact that the variation of Asuaje, “Numerical investigation of the internal flow in a Banki turbine,”
International Journal of Rotating Machinery, vol. 2011, pp. 1-12, 2011.
the blade moment becomes more irregular. From a structural
[4] K. Kokubu, S. Son, T. Kanemoto and Y. Choi, “Internal flow analysis on a
point of view, this variation is expected to lead to a shorter micro cross-flow type hydro turbine at very low specific speed range,” in The
fatigue life when the runner blades are not properly designed 11th Asian International Conference on Fluid Machinery, Chennai, 2011.
and when their material is not carefully chosen. Nevertheless, [5] N.H.C. Pereira and J.E. Borges, “Study of the nozzle flow in a cross-
the aforementioned advantages remain good arguments for flow turbine,” International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 38, pp.
using guide vanes inside nozzles of Bánki turbines. 283-302, 1996.
[6] V. Sammartano, C. Aricò, A. Carravetta, O. Fecarotta and T. Tucciarelli,
“Banki-Michell optimal design by computational fluid dynamics testing
ACKNOWLEDGMENT and hydrodynamic analysis,” Energies, vol. 6, pp. 2362-85, 2013.
This work was supported by the Romanian National [7] H. Schlichting, Boundary-Layer Theory, 7th ed., New York: McGraw-
Authority for Scientific Research, MEN-UEFISCDI, in the Hill, 1979, pp. 750-752.
frame of the research program Partnerships in Priority Domains [8] A. Dragomirescu, “Method to design stay vanes for increased efficiency
– PN II, project code PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1901. of Bánki turbines,” J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., in press.
[9] V. Sammartano, C. Arico, M. Sinagra, T. Tuciarelli, “Cross-Flow
Turbine Design for Energy Production and Discharge Regulation”, J.
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