Turbotec - Small Scale Hydroturbine

TURBOTEC was asked to validate a special open-rotor design to be used in a tidal river. The CFD simulations proved this initial design to be very promising. The virtual prototyping by the use of CFD showed several less than optimal flow characteristics in the rotor which would have been nearly impossible to evaluate by field testing. Using these results, TURBOTEC was commissioned to improve the power output of the turbine. Our final design resulted in a scale model, that was then tested in a research centre in the Netherlands. There, it proved that power output predicted in the CFD simulations was off by less than 2%.