Faculty Publications
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Item CFD investigation of unsteady three-dimensional savonius hydrokinetic turbine in irrigation channel with varying positions for hydro power application(American Institute of Physics Inc., 2021) Shashikumar, S.; Hindasageri, V.; Madav, M.Savonius turbines are a drag driven device, and it has high starting torque. It is a vertical axis turbine and installed in small irrigation channels to utilize the hydrokinetic energy available. Since the density of water is more and the flow of water in the channel is constrained to one direction is the advantage for a vertical axis turbine as it reduces the yaw control mechanism. In the present work, a three-dimensional conventional Savonius turbine modeled and meshed in ANSYS Fluent and unsteady transient simulations are carried out using a sliding mesh technique. The computational simulations were carried out at three different positions to analyze the effect of placing a turbine blade in the high depth of water using a conventional Savonius turbine blade with an aspect ratio of 0.7 and 0.0 overlap ratio. The turbulence model used for CFD simulation is the k-ω SST model, and the results found that the maximum coefficient of torque and coefficient of power of 0.22 and 0.17 at a tip speed ratio of 0.7 and 0.9 respectively. © 2021 Author(s).Item Numerical and experimental investigation of modified V-shaped turbine blades for hydrokinetic energy generation(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Shashikumar, S.; Madav, V.The Savonius rotor is one of the simple and cost-effective vertical axis drag type devices for hydropower generation. The main drawback of the Savonius hydrokinetic turbine is its low performance due to negative torque developed by returning blade profile. In this paper, the performance of modified V-shaped rotor blades with different V-angles ranging from 90° to 40°, by maintaining fixed edge length, arc radius and aspect ratio of 0.7 is investigated. The numerical analysis is carried out to estimate the optimum V-angle by maintaining 70 mm depth of water with an inlet velocity of 0.3090 m/s. The numerical study revealed that, for 80° V-angle rotor blade profile, the maximum coefficient of power was found to be 0.2279 at a tip speed ratio of 0.9. This optimum V-angle model was used for experimental analysis to study the effect of aspect ratio ranging from 0.7 to 1.75 using top, middle and bottom plates by maintaining 140 mm depth of water and inlet velocity of 0.513 m/s. The rotor blade with two endplates and one middle plate with an aspect ratio of 1.75 has shown a significant increase of performance by 86.13% at a tip speed ratio of 0.86 as compared to turbine blade with two endplates. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem Numerical analysis of Savonius hydrokinetic turbine performance in straight and curved channel configurations(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) T G, S.; Shashikumar, S.; Gumtapure, V.; Madav, V.The global shift towards renewable energy has driven research into efficient hydrokinetic energy harvesting, particularly using Savonius turbines for their simplicity and adaptability to low-flow environments. While previous studies have focused primarily on straight channels, the impact of channel bends, commonly found in agricultural canals, rivers, and irrigation channels, remains underexplored. The present 3D transient numerical study addresses this gap by investigating the performance of Savonius hydrokinetic turbines in channels with 30°, 60°, and 90° bends, evaluating their efficiency under varying flow conditions. The research aims to evaluate the impact of these channel bends on key performance parameters such as the tip speed ratio (TSR), torque coefficient (CT) and power coefficient (CP), supported by detailed pressure and velocity contour analyses. The turbine positioned in the 30° bend emerged as the most efficient configuration, achieving a CTmax of 0.29 at 0.7 TSR and CPmax of 0.24 at 1.0 TSR. The 60° and 90° bends exhibited efficiency reductions of 15 % and 30 %, respectively, due to adverse pressure gradients and increased turbulence. Velocity contour plots demonstrated reduced wake regions and optimized flow reattachment for the 30° bend, while pressure contour analysis indicated lower drag forces on the advancing blades. This study highlights the potential of using Savonius turbines in agricultural channels, recommending the 30° bend as the optimal channel configuration to maximize turbine efficiency, providing a sustainable solution for energy generation in rural and low-flow environments. © 2025
