Investigation of the Four Runner Blade Arrangement Against the Power of Kaplan Turbine

Abstract

AbstractA Kaplan turbine is a turbine that utilizes low head and high discharge. Kaplan turbine power and efficiency can be increased by varying the arrangement of the runner blades. This study aims to investigate the arrangement of four runner blades on a Kaplan turbine with variations in the height of the inner blade profile of −5 mm, parallel, +5 mm, +10 mm, and +15 mm from the height of the standard blade profile on power and efficiency when the turbine is in a momentary stop and rotating condition approach. The parameters used are the gross head of 5.25 m and the water discharge of 0.125 m3/s, with theoretical power of 6.131 kW. The runner blade profile was made using Airfoil NACA 2412, and the material used was JIS G3221—SFCM60S. The strength test of the blade profile material used FEA stress analysis software, and the flow test used CFD flow simulation software. The simulation results show that the RB-3 runner blade variant, which is +5 mm, produces the best power and efficiency for the turbine in a momentary stop condition was 5.9899 kW and 97.69%, and rotating condition was 6.0505 kW and 98.68%.KeywordsEfficiencyInner bladeKaplan turbine