Numerical study of the effect of distance from four Savonius turbine that arranged in-line square co-rotating against channel wall of cooling water

Abstract

Water is potential alternative energy to be developed to reduce carbon emissions that the harm of environment. The beneficiary equipment that can be used are a Savonius Hydrokinetic Turbine. It is simple design and construction and can be worked at low water flow speeds. The drag force becomes the main driving force in the Savonius turbines to generate rotating torque. The cultivation of energy in a long water canal by utilising several Savonius turbines is interesting to study, especially determining the minimum distance for placing several turbines with formation in-line square so that this turbines don’t affect each other. This research aims to study the interaction of four Savonius turbines arranged in tandem and co-rotating at a distance of T = 34680 with S = 3000 and 8000, where the turbine blade diameter as 578 mm. This research was carried out numerically with using Computational Fluid Dynamics software. The performance of the four Savonius turbines is shown based on the power coefficient and pressure coefficient supported by the velocity flow contour. The simulation results show that the four turbines have practically the same power and pressure coefficient values at S = 8000. This shows that the four turbines no longer affect each other.