Investigation of a cross-flow turbine under natural conditions

In this study, the computational and experimental examination of the hydraulic cross-flow turbine (CFT) is presented. The experimental studies are conducted at the turbine laboratory of Gebze Technical University. The commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, Star CCM+, is employed to calculate three-dimensional, incompressible, steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for the flow inside the CFT. In the numerical model, the rotational motion of the blades is modeled by means of the moving reference frame approach. The correlation between the turbulent viscosity and the velocities is acquired using the standard k-e turbulence model. The computational results are obtained in terms of the torque, power, and efficiency of the turbine. The outcome of this research reveals that the CFD software used in this study can reliably be used to predict experiments since the numerical model can accurately estimate the experimental values of the torque, power, and efficiency of the CFT.