OPTIMIZATION OF GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS OF MICROTURBINE BLADE PROFILE

The article presents a computational evaluation of the hydrodynamic behavior of a Kaplan-type hydraulic microturbine. The study is conducted using three-dimensional geometry performed in SolidWorks software. The aim is a comparatively analysis of aerodynamic characteristics of rotors with airfoil profile and flat profile in terms of their impact on the microturbine’s operating efficiency under various rotational modes. Two rotor types are evaluated: a rotor with a flat blade profile and a rotor with airfoil blade profile. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method with the standard k-ε turbulence model is used to solve the fluid flow equations. The algorithm is stationary and is implemented using ANSYS Fluent software. Rotor’s rotation is modeled using the moving reference frame (MRF) method. Quantitative results demonstrate that at a maximum flow rate of 0.15 m³/s and a rotation speed of 1750 min-¹, the airfoil profile rotor produces 4.4 kW and achieves 75% efficiency, while the flat rotor under the same conditions produces only 3.12 kW and 53.1% efficiency. The results indicate that the airfoil rotor outperforms the flat rotor in all operating modes. At minimum flow rates, the turbine rotation speed is expected to be below 1500 min-1 and close to 1000 min-1. At maximum flow rates, the flat rotor speed is likely to be close to 1750 min-1, and may even be higher for the airfoil rotor. Energy dissipation analysis showed that the flat airfoil has higher turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent eddy dissipation values, indicating greater energy dissipation compared to the wing-shaped airfoil. These results suggest the feasibility of using airfoil blade profiles in hydraulic microturbines to improve their efficiency and reliability.