Proceedings of the ASME 2014 Power Conference

POWER2014
July 28-31, 2014, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

POWER2014-32232

EXPERIMENTAL AND CFD ANALYSES OF TWO BLADED SAVONIUS WATER

TURBINE UNDER LOW VELOCITY CONDITIONS

Neelam K Sarma
M.Tech Scholar,
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Silchar, Assam, India-788010
Email: neelamkumar1988@gmail.com Tel: +91-9707066372

Agnimitra Biswas Rahul D Misra

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Silchar, Assam, India-788010
Email: agnibis@yahoo.co.in, Tel: +91-9435500659
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Silchar, Assam, India-788010
Email: rdmisra@gmail.com, Tel: +91-9435072301

ABSTRACT
Water is a prime source to all living beings, but for humans
it is even more because of its usage to extract power. The idea
behind the water turbine is derived from the parental species of
wind turbine. The operating fluid properties like density,
specific weight of water draw out differences between the two
turbine kinds. The objective of the present work is to
experimentally investigate the performance of a two bladed
Savonius water turbine with an aspect ratio of 1.21 at low water
velocity conditions viz. 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s. The
variation of torque and power with the considered water
velocities has been studied. Also a performance study has been
conducted with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) using Ansys 14.0. A detailed study on the flow
characteristics has been done that elaborates the factors like
torque variation at different angles of rotation of the turbine,
revealing high torque generation at 2700 position. Also the
effect of tip speed ratio (TSR) on performance (Cp) has been
studied and found that maximum Cp of 0.343 is obtained for
water velocity of 0.65 m/s with a TSR of 0.643. The results
obtained through CFD are in agreement with the experimental
results.
Keywords: Savonius water turbine, Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD), Tip Speed Ratio (TSR)
INTRODUCTION
Air and water are the two most prominent gifts of nature
that hold the intimate significance to every creatures belonging
to the earth. For human, those are even more than being a
simple fluid important for life, because now air and water are
exploited as sources of energy. Wind turbines have been
extensively used for commercial extraction of power since 19th
century. Based on the technology behind the development of
the various wind turbine configurations, a new emerging
technology has come up in light that is the “Water Turbine”.
Wind turbines consume a lot of usable land which may even
includes the agricultural fields. The average efficiency of wind
turbines is very low and works at their maximum efficiency
level only at certain wind velocity range.
“Water Turbine”, defined by US Department of Energy
report in 1981 as “Low pressure run-of-the-river ultra-low-head
turbine that will operate on the equivalent or less than 0.2 m
head” [1]. Savonius water turbine is a class of vertical axis
turbine which is operable in very low head and velocity
conditions with excellent self start capacity. This is the class of
turbine that could not gain much interest of the researchers in
the field of wind [1]. But the same idea has been found to excel
with water as an operating fluid with turbines especially
Savonius and Gorlov water turbine. The Savonius water
turbines work at a minimum water velocity of 0.5 m/s or above
[2], and are installed in clusters so as to achieve significant

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 power. The power that can be extracted from the turbines hp (made by Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.) and the other has 20 hp
depends upon a number of aspects such as the free stream (made by Crompton Greaves Ltd.). The water required to
velocity, the type of the turbine used, placement of the turbine, circulate through the open water channel is stored in an
smoothness of the turbine blades, size and aspect ratio of the underground water tank. The maximum velocity of water that
blades and also the type of the water body or channel where the can be attained in the channel is 1.2 m/s. The velocity of the
turbine has been installed. water flow has been measured with the help of an Acoustic
Certain research works have been carried out to evaluate the Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) developed by SonTek/YSi Inc. It
performance of various types of water turbines. Yang and Lawn is a single-point current meter capable of measuring water
[3] analyzed a Hunter water turbine, consisting of several velocity in the range of 0.03-2.5 m/s. A micro ADV(Field) of
flapping blades hinged on a revolving drum through two 16 MHz is installed which is equipped with acoustic sensors in
dimensional steady CFD analyses. They studied the movement a transmitter head and three receiver arms, and is capable of
of the flapping blades through visualization experimental measuring the three components of a fluid sample located at a
techniques, pressure distribution and velocity contours. Yang certain distance from the transmitter head. The device operates
and Shu [4] optimized a hydrofoil and conducted turbine with an accuracy of ±1% and delivers data samples through a
performance tests and flow visualization experiments through connected computer interface via its software called SonTek
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in order to draw a Horizon ADV. The two bladed Savonius water turbine model
comparision curve between their optimized and two other and the water channel have been presented in Figs. 1(a) and (b).
competitive hydrofoils NACA0012 and Gottingen623. Faizal et
al. [5] studied the orbital motion in the water waves to extract
its energy by a five bladed Savonius turbine placed parallel to
the incoming orbital waves and concluded that the shape of the
orbit has a great impact on the performance of the turbine.
Golecha et al. [6] studied the influence of a deflector plate on
the performance of a modified Savonius water turbine that is
void of any shaft and is configured at single, two and three
stages.
The present work has been aimed to evaluate the
performance of a two bladed Savonius water turbine placed
inside an open water channel through experimental tests at low
velocity conditions of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s. The
computational modelling of the same has also been carried out
in order to evaluate the performance and to explore the effect of
the flow characteristics across the rotor that influences the
performance. The variation of torque and power with respect to (a)
the water velocity has been examined and the effect of the TSR
on the performance of the turbine has been analyzed.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The experiments have been conducted with a two bladed
Savonius water turbine, with semi-circular shaped blades with
chord length (C) of 0.14 m. The aluminium made blades of the
turbine are mounted over a shaft of 0.014 m. Therefore the
entire diameter of the turbine (D) becomes 0.266 m. The turbine
blades are designed with a height (H) of 0.17 m, which imparts
the turbines with an aspect ratio of 1.21. The overall height of
the turbine is 0.2 m. The experiments have been performed
with the water turbine in an open channel with an exposed top
which is made by Zephyr Enterprise (India). The open channel
is 12 m long with an effective width and height of 0.9 m and (b)
0.505 m respectively. The maximum discharge that can be
FIGURE 1. (a) TWO BLADED SAVONIUS WATER TURBINE
obtained is 90 litres/s and the optimum attainable depth of (b) WATER CHANNEL
water in the channel is 0.2 m. However, the depth of water can
be increased or decreased according to the need by changing The overall experimental test setup comprising of all the
the discharge with the help of the discharge changing gate at the components associated with the experimental processes have
outlet. Water is circulated through the channel with the help of been presented in the schematic diagram in Fig. 2.
two centrifugal pumps one of which has the rated power of 15

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FIGURE 2. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Performance Parameters
The present study deals with the performance evaluation of
a two bladed Savonius water turbine, with an aspect ratio of
1.2. A few parameters that have been employed to rate the
performance are the maximum power available in the water
stream , power extracted by the rotor (Prot), torque
generated by the rotor (T) and finally the coefficient of power
( ). The water current with a free stream velocity (U) carries
energy which can be expressed by Eq. (i) [7].
(i)
The available energy of the fluid current has to be converted
to useable power that depends upon the torque generated by the
rotor at a specific condition and the angular velocity of the
rotor. The torque generated by the turbine, expressed in terms
of the velocities at the upstream and the downstream of the
rotor and is represented by the Eqs. (ii) and (iii) [8].
(ii)
(iii)
The relation between velocity of the free stream and the
velocity of the tip of the blades is drawn out by the parameter
called tip speed ratio (TSR) given by Eq. (iv) [9-10]. It provides
a good medium to estimate the utility of the available energy in
the water stream. The maximum power available in the water
current is not possible to be converted to the shaft power as the
power extraction is always accompanied with various losses.
The coefficient of power determines the fraction of power that
is extracted by the turbine, and is given by the Eq. (v) [9-10].
(iv)
(v)
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The performance of the turbine is vastly affected by the type
of flow which is determined by the Reynolds number (Re)
which is expressed by Eq. (vi). A high density (998.2 kg/m3)
and a very low viscosity (0.001003kg/m-s) of water leads to a
very high Reynolds number that makes the flow turbulent. The
turbulent intensity is one of the prominent parameters in any
CFD analysis. The turbulent intensity of the flow at certain
position can be defined as in Eq. (vii) [11-12].
(vi)
(vii)
The turbulence intensity is proportional to the deviation in
the velocities in three directions and is inversely proportional to
that of the free stream velocity of the incident flow.
Operating Principle
Water is continuously supplied at the inlet of the channel
wherein a high turbulence is generated. Thus it is of utmost
importance that the Savonius water turbine has to be placed at
enough distance from the inlet such that the flow stabilizes
itself ahead of reaching the turbine blades. For the experiments
to be carried out, the position selected for the placement of the
rotor is 5 m away from the inlet of the channel. At this location,
the turbulence of the water is within a considerable limit and
the flow is stabilized enough to deliver its energy to the turbine.
The turbine placed within the water channel has a blockage
ratio of 21%. The blockage ratio is the ratio of the frontal swept
area of the rotor to the frontal area of the computational domain
which is represented by the Eq. (viii) [13].
(viii)
The blockage ratio has great physical significance on the
performance of the turbine, the value of which must be
confined to a certain limit. A large value of the ratio shall
indicate increased velocity of water near the channel walls
along with excessive turbulence. Alexander and Holownia [14],
in their research work found that the blockage ratio above 30%
essentially needs correction. Also the work elucidated that a
blockage ratio of 30% to 35% necessitates the velocity
correction factor with an order of 40% to 50%. In the present
work, this ratio has a small value and thus the correction
required is extremely less and thus can be neglected. The
velocity of the water current is different at different water depth
due to which the velocity of the water current has been
measured at different layers from the bed level. Velocity of
water has been measured at levels of 0.08 m, 0.10 m and
0.14 m from the bed level with the three dimensional ADV
probes. The average free stream velocity of the three different
layers has been set to be 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s.
3 Copyright © 2014 by ASME
 Furthermore, one of the most unavoidable parameters that
had to be undertaken and studied is the turbulence intensity of
the fluid flow conditions. The velocity samples are collected on
both the sides keeping the ADV at a distance of 0.55 m away
from the rotor axis for the three different mentioned water
depths. Unlike the position of the micro ADV probe to evaluate
turbulence, the velocity samples have been collected by setting
the probe at a distance of 0.2 m and 0.22 m away from the rotor
axis for the three different water depths. The process has been
repeated for the downstream side as well. Figure 3 shows the
measurement of water current velocity at upstream of the
turbine.
has been evaluated to be 0.19 N-m, 0.66 N-m and 1.43 N-m for
the corresponding free stream velocities of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s
and 0.9 m/s respectively. The torque generated increases as the
free stream velocity is augmented because torque generated is
proportional to the square of the velocity. The angular velocity
of the turbine has been obtained to be 1.98 rad/s, 3.14 rad/s and
3.87 rad/s for the corresponding free stream velocities. The
power output of the turbine has been evaluated for every set of
upstream and downstream velocities, the averages of which are
0.378 W, 2.086 W and 5.56 W respectively for the
corresponding water velocities. Figure 4 shows the variation of
torque and power with considered water velocity conditions.

2
1.75
1.5

Torque (N-m)
1.25
1
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Velocity (m/s)
FIGURE 3. MEASUREMENT OF WATER CURRENT
VELOCITY AT UPSTREAM OF THE TURBINE (a)

The repeatability of the experiments has been checked 7

through six repetitive tests. The errors encountered during the 6
experiments because of the voltage fluctuations and manual
uncertainties have been reduced through data reduction and 5
Power (W)

smoothing operations thereby maintaining the precision of the 4

collected data.
3
EXPERIMENTAL TEST RESULTS 2
The different free stream conditions of the water current
yields different results as the maximum energy content in the 1
flow varies with respect to the velocity of the water. As the free
0
stream velocity increases the maximum energy available with 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
the water current increases as the power is proportional to cube Velocity (m/s)
of the free stream velocity according to the Eq. (i). The
upcoming flow faces the turbine placed in its path and delivers (b)
its energy thereby converting the energy of the same into
rotational energy of the shaft. FIGURE 4. VARIATION OF (a) TORQUE (b) POWER
The upstream velocity of the turbine as mentioned earlier EXTRACTED WITH VELOCITY
has been obtained at different locations and the same has been
repeated for every counter points lying at the downstream The power extracted by the turbine increases with increase
section of the flow. The torque generated at no load condition in water velocity. The power output of the turbine is also
of the turbine has been obtained from the collected values of proportional to the angular velocity of the turbine while
upstream and downstream velocities. However for a considered operated in a considered water velocity. The performance of the
free stream condition, the torque generated by the turbine has turbine cannot be rated solely by the generation of torque and
been obtained through the averaged values of the upstream and power. It is indeed the efficiency with which the turbine has
the downstream sections. The torque generated by the turbine been capable of extracting the power from the maximum power

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 content in the water current. The coefficient of power ( )
represents the proportion of power extracted from the water
current. The for the water velocities of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and
0.9 m/s correspond to 0.30, 0.33 and 0.31. Although the power
output of the turbine is maximum in the case of 0.9 m/s but it
does not reveal the peak value of . The coefficient of power
also depends upon the tip speed ratios of the turbine at different
velocity cases. Figure 5 shows the variation of with TSR.
0.35
0.34
0.33
0.32
Cp
0.31
0.3
0.29
0.28
0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
TSR
FIGURE 5. VARIATION OF WITH TSR
The tip speed ratios for different free stream velocity
conditions are 0.756, 0.643 and 0.56 which signify the lowest
in case of the highest adopted free stream velocity. The highest
value of has been found to be maximum for water velocity
of 0.65 m/s marking the maximum extraction of the power .
ERROR ANALYSIS
Despite the experiments been carried out with extreme care
and repetitions, the test results are subjected to a certain range
of errors. The major errors either result from human errors or
due to uncertainty of the instruments employed. In addition to
those, experimental results are accompanied by random errors
from undetermined reasons. The human errors may be
minimized upto a certain limit through repeated and averaged
data accusation processes. However the errors associated with
the measuring instrumentations are consistent. The
experimental setup is an integration of various instruments. The
individual instrument has its own degree of deviation from the
true value. Therefore the error analysis demands a standardized
definition to scrutinize the overall degree of uncertainty with
respect to which, the following relationship has been utilized
[15].
(ix)
The uncertainties of the measuring instruments have been
opted from the manufacturer’s catalogue. The overall
uncertainty of the experimentation process has been evaluated
to be ±1.414%.
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COMPUTATIONAL MODELLING OF SAVONIUS
WATER TURBINE
The two bladed Savonius water turbine with semi-circular
cup shaped blades which has a blade chord length of 0.14 m,
height of 0.17 m and is connected with a shaft of diameter
0.014 m, was also modeled. The blade material for modeling
purposes was selected to be aluminium with thickness 0.0015
m.
Pre-processing of the model
The Savonius water turbine, in practice, can be operated in a
flow condition where the water velocity is significantly less
along with a very low head. Such kind of situations exists in
shallow river or other small running water bodies. The
geometry of the Savonius water turbine has been designed
computationally in Ansys Design Modeller (v 14.0) in which
the rotor lies within a computational domain forming an open
channel with side walls and open top. The computational
domain has been fabricated in such a manner that the entire
domain is segmented into two parts separating outer and the
inner fluid zone. The inner fluid zone surrounding the rotor has
been designed so that it allows the rotor to rotate during the
simulation process and also the zone facilitates a detail study of
the fluid behaviour around the subject of interest. The
computational domain has been designed with a length of 1.8 m
and width of 0.9 m. The inlet and exit faces are kept away on
both sides by a distance which is more than three times rotor
diameter. The entire domain has been designed with a height of
0.24 m, with the inner fluid zone having a radius and height
0.165 m and 0.21 m respectively such that it completely
encloses the rotor.
The created geometry has been meshed with a suitable grid
in Ansys Mesh (v 14.0). The modelled geometry is quite
complex for which the tetrahedron mesh is chosen because of
its capability to mesh complex geometries. The cylindrical
bodies are meshed with more quality and accuracy by adopting
sweep mesh. However the application of both tetrahedron and
sweep mesh demands modification of the design in Ansys
Design Modeller. Two slicing operations have been performed
on the computational domains the first of which is done taking
the surface of the inner fluid zone and the other is done by the
XY plane thereby dividing the geometry into five parts. The
geometry is thereafter meshed with Automatic mesh that
identifies the sweepable parts and generates the mesh. Further,
mesh refinement with the insertion of edge sizing along the
length of the computational domain has been done. Biased
sizing has been applied to the upper halves of the inner fluid
zone to increase the grid concentration at proximity to generate
finer sweep mesh. Figure 6 shows the mesh of the created
geometry and the inner mesh as well with the help of section
plane so as to study the inner mesh. Various named selections
have been created to define the incident flow (inlet), outlet,
Savonius water turbine and the open top.
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(a)
Sweep mesh
Tetrahedron mesh
(b)
FIGURE 6. (a) MESH OF THE COMPUTATIONAL DOMAIN,
(b) SWEEP AND TETRAHEDRON MESH
For a CFD formulation the contacts must be defined. The
slicing operation which is done with the surface of the inner
fluid zone makes a surface to surface connection between the
inner fluid and the outer fluid zone. Two interface-zones have
been formed by creating two more named selections for the
outer surface of the inner fluid zone (interface-inner) and for
the in-contact surface of the outer fluid zones (interface-outer).
CFD Formulation of the Model
The present study involves fluid flow through vicinity of
the complex geometries. Therefore standard k   turbulence
model has been adopted that solves two separate transport
equations and allows the independent determination of the
turbulent kinetic energy (k) and its dissipation rate (  ) [16-18].
Second order upwind interpolation schemes have been chosen
for both momentum and turbulence to obtain results with more
accuracy.
The left side of the computational domain from where the
water flow is projected onto the model, has been assigned with
the boundary condition of ‘velocity inlet’ with pressure lying in
the atmospheric level. The side walls and the bed layer of the
domain are set to ‘wall’ by default and the open top is set as
‘symmetry’. The Savonius water turbine placed inside the
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domain is assigned with ‘moving wall’ with rotational motion.
As the turbine rotates inside the computational zone, a single
frame of rotation has been used for the computational analysis.
For the computational study, the same water velocities of
0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s have been considered.
Grid Sensitivity Test: The simulation process has been
repeated with different refinement levels of the varied mesh
size. The process is repeated considering different mesh size
and is carried on up to a limit after which there is no significant
quantitative change in the result. This limit of the refinement is
called the grid independent limit (GIL) and the mesh is said to
have reached the limit of grid independence [18]. The levels of
refinement that have been considered for the mesh is tabulated
below in Table 1, upon which the level 4 with 82200 numbers
of nodes have been selected for the final simulation process.
TABLE 1
Refinement Level Mesh Size No. of Nodes
1 0.045 64283
2 0.04 68578
3 0.03 73485
4 0.025 82200
5 0.02 88983
6 0.018 96389
7 0.015 114445
The parameter of pressure coefficient [19] of the Savonius
water turbine at its mid-height position has been selected to be
varied for the refinement process so as to determine the grid
independence limit. The selected level 4 has 19267 numbers of
cells with average orthogonal quality, aspect ratio and skewness
of 0.78, 7.82 and 0.268 respectively which lie in the acceptable
and very good quality level [20]. Figure 7 shows the result of
sensitivity analysis with the variation of the pressure coefficient
with different levels.
0.012
Pressure Coefficients
0.008
0.004
0
-0.004
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Refinement Level
FIGURE 7. VARIATION OF PRESSURE COEFFICIENT WITH
DIFFERENT REFINEMENT LEVELS
Computational Results
The post-processing of the models enables the
accumulation of required parametric values so as to determine
6 Copyright © 2014 by ASME
 the performance of the turbine. During the experimental Maximum power
analysis, the torque generated by the turbine has been assumed Power extracted by rotor
to be constant throughout the operation. But the computational 20
analysis provides an opportunity to have an insight to the
variation of torque during the operation of the turbine. The 15

Power (W)
computational simulation has been done for various degrees of
rotation of the turbine which is as depicted in Fig. 8. 10

0.3 m/s 0.65 m/s 0.9 m/s 5

2

1.5 0
Torque (N-m)

0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9

1 Water Velocity (m/s)

(a)
0.5
0.35
0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 0.34

Angle (degree) 0.33

0.32
FIGURE 8. VARIATION OF TORQUE AT DIFFERENT WATER

Cp
VELOCITIES 0.31

The variation of torque generated can be explained
mathematically with the help of Eq. (ii) which states that the
torque generated by the turbine is directly proportional to the
frontal area of the turbine exposed to the incident flow of water.
Figure 8 also suggests that the torque generated by the turbine
increases as the incident flow velocity increases. The increasing
trend of the plot can be explained by the fact that the torque
generated by the turbine is directly proportional to the square of
the velocity. The averaged values of torque generated at the
three free stream velocities are 0.154 N-m, 0.677 N-m and
1.361 N-m respectively. At 00, 1800 and 3600 rotation of the
turbine, the exposed area of the turbine is minimum because of
which the flowing water provides a minimum thrust to the
turbine by offering the least drag to the blades. This is the
reason because of which the torque generation is minimal at
these positions. The turbine generates the highest torque when
it is at 900 and 2700 positions because of the high exposure of
the frontal area. The average power obtained by the two bladed
Savonius water turbine has been evaluated to be 0.307 W,
2.128 W and 5.27 W respectively at the three different water
velocities.
Tip speed ratio is an important factor that influences the
power output and the efficiency of the turbine. If the speed of
the blade is low as compared to that of the water, a considerable
quantity of water passes by the turbine being unproductive. The
TSR obtained for different water velocities are 0.756, 0.643 and
0.56 for 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s respectively Figure 9
shows the variation of power with respect to water velocity and
the variation of coefficient of power ( ) with TSR.
0.3
0.29
0.28
0.55 0.65 0.75 0.85
TSR
(b)
FIGURE 9. (a) VARIATION OF POWER WITH WATER
VELOCITY, (b) VARIATION OF WITH TSR
Figure 9(b) suggests that the coefficient of power first
increases to the maximum followed by a drop in the value. The
coefficient of power has been found to be maximum (0.343) for
the water velocity of 0.65 m/s with a TSR of 0.643. Although a
very low water velocity of 0.3 m/s yields a high value of TSR,
the power extracted by the rotor is extremely low at this water
velocity and ultimately results in the least .
Computational Analysis of the Fluidic Behaviour
The CFD analysis of the system will be incomplete without
exploring the behaviour of the fluid around the subject of
interest. The fluid interactions have been studied for the
Savonius water turbine, but to incur a better understanding of
the flow physics influencing the performance, the fluidic
behaviour at the inner fluid zone has to be analyzed. The
properties of the fluid at the neighbourhood of the turbine have
a great influence on performance of the rotor. The torque
generated at lower water current is approximately constant but
the fluctuation has been observed to be more as the velocity of
the incident flow increases up to 0.9 m/s. To investigate this, the

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 detailed blade-fluid interactions have been carried out for the
three water velocities of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s.
The two bladed Savonius water turbine generates non-
uniform torque throughout its operation wherein the minimum
and the maximum values of torque are obtained for 00 and 2700
of rotations. A study at the two positions has been carried out to
acquire the detailed information of the fluidic interactions on
the blades. At 00 position of the turbine, for all the considered
velocities, the turbine is in-line with the incident flow thereby
exposing the minimum frontal area. At 2700 position, the
frontal area of the turbine is highly exposed which results into
the generation of the maximum torque. The 2700 position is
same as that of 900 position but the former shows higher value
of torque generation because of the added advantage of inertia.
(a) 0.3 m/s (00)
(c) 0.65 m/s (00)
(e) 0.9 m/s (00)
FIGURE 10. VELOCITY VECTOR PLOTS OF TWO BLADED SAVONIUS WATER TURBINE AT 00 AND 2700
OF ROTATION
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The 00 position of the turbine is subjected to formation of
the vortices in the concave faces of both advancing as well as
the returning blades. Therefore the water is filled up in the
concave faces of the blades in the form of positive vortices that
ultimately provides the required thrust to the blades. At this
position of the rotors, it can be observed from the plots that the
most intensified vectors pass by the turbine being unproductive.
The 2700 position of the turbine is more or less same for all the
considered velocities but vary slightly in terms of formation of
vortices and flow separations. These factors lead to small
deviations in the values for the considered free stream
velocities. Figure 10 shows the velocity vector plots of the two
bladed Savonius water turbine at 00 and 2700 for the three
different velocity conditions of 0.3 m/s, 0.65 m/s and 0.9 m/s.
(b) 0.3 m/s (2700)
(d) 0.65 m/s (2700)
(f) 0.9 m/s (2700)
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 Validation of Computational Results
The study is concerned with the performance analysis of
Savonius water turbine, the validation of which is of utmost
importance. The computational study of the turbine with the
same considerations as that of the experimental tests has been
carried out. The experiments have been carried out with
extreme care and repeated so as to generate the true data values.
The velocity at different sections of the fluid flow has been of
prime interest. The upstream and the downstream velocities are
measured at 0.2 m and 0.22 m away from the turbine and at
each distance the velocity has again been computed for three
different water layers. Therefore the velocities at six different
positions have been obtained to determine a single average
velocity of the upstream as well as the downstream section. The
results obtained through the experimental and the
computational analyses are within the expected level of
precision for all the parameters especially torque generated by
the turbine, power extracted and the coefficient of power ( ).
The values obtained through both the methods show a
deviation of 3.7%, 1.9% and 5.1% for the two bladed Savonius
water turbine. The deviating values signify good matching
between the two approaches. Figure 11 shows the variation of
with tip speed ratio for the Savonius water turbine through
both the methods.
COMPUTATIONAL EXPERIMENTAL
0.35
0.34
0.33
Cp
0.32
0.31
0.3
0.29
0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
TSR
FIGURE 11. VARIATION OF WITH TSR
CONCLUSIONS
The two bladed Savonius water turbine has been
experimentally and computationally analyzed under low
velocity conditions. The performance of the Savonius water
turbine with an aspect ratio of 1.21 has been evaluated in terms
of generation of torque and power with corresponding
coefficient of power (Cp) values. The flow characteristics in the
surrounding environment of the turbine have been studied as
this too has a great significance on the performance. The study
infers the following conclusions enlisted below:
 The torque generated and the power extracted by the
turbine increases with increase in water velocity. The
power extracted by the turbine also depends on angular
velocity of the turbine which increases as the energy
content in the free stream increases. The highest power
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extracted by the turbine has been exhibited with a value of
5.56 W.
 The coefficient of power ( ) depends not only on the
maximum power available in the water current, but also on
the tip speed ratio. There is an optimum value of TSR at
which the maximum value of is attained. The highest
value of (0.33 and 0.343 for experimental and
computational approaches respectively) has been obtained
for the Savonius water turbine at free stream velocity of
0.65 m/s and tip speed ratio of 0.643.
 The torque generation is inconsistent during the operation
of the turbine. The turbine generates a minimum torque
when the turbine is at 00 position. The inline position of the
turbine results in minimal exposure of the surface area
thereby producing less thrust. The turbine generates
maximum torque when the turbine is at 2700 position. At
this position, the frontal area of the turbine is highly
exposed to the incident flow thereby resulting in high
torque generation.
 The 00 position of the turbine is subjected to formation of
the vortices in the concave faces of both advancing as well
as the returning blades. Also many intensified vectors have
been observed to pass by the turbine without delivering
their energy to the turbine. The 2700 position of the turbine
is more or less same for all the considered velocities in
terms of formation of vortices and flow separations. The
positive vortices formed at the concave faces of the
advancing blade also aid in rotation.
The overall study of the two bladed Savonius water turbine
suggests that the turbine has enough potential to be used for
significant power generation. It is evident that water turbine is
one of the most emerging technologies in the prospective area
of renewable energy. The technology must evolve and rise in
respect to the need of the mankind. The study carries immense
scope to be researched in future. Varying the number of blades,
overlap ratio, aspect ratio, water stream velocities and many
more are the important parameters that shall be considered for
the studies on this area in future.
NOMENCLATURE
A frontal area of the turbine = H × D(m2)
C chord length of the blade (m)
Cp coefficient of power
d diameter of the shaft (m)
D diameter of the turbine (m)
H height of the turbine blades (m)
Hc height of the channel (m)
I turbulence intensity
k turbulent kinetic energy(J/kg)
Pmax maximum power available in the fluid stream (W)
Prot power extracted by the turbine (W)
r radius of the blades (m)
R radius of the turbine (m)
9 Copyright © 2014 by ASME
 Re Reynolds Number [9] F. Ponta, G.S. Dutt, An improved vertical-axis water-
T torque generated by turbine (N-m) current turbine incorporating a channelling device,
U free stream velocity (m/s) Renewable Energy.20(2) (2000)223-241.
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v1 Jamil, Z. Hussain, Vertical axis wind turbine – A
velocity at upstream of the turbine (m/s) review of various configurations and design
v2 techniques, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
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Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics. 6th Ed. Wiley
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ε rate of dissipation(J/kg-s)
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