Effect of the Converging Pipe on the Performance of a Lucid Spherical Rotor

Abstract

Lucid spherical rotor is a cross-flow rotor developed to be installed within a pipeline. The purpose of installing this type of rotor is to collect excess energy available in gravity-fed water pipelines. In order to enhance the efficiency of the rotor which is installed in a channel, this paper aims to study the performance of Lucid spherical rotor with converging pipe. Numerical investigations were carried out to analyze the effect of the converging pipe on the performance of the rotor. Numerical simulations have been carried out using the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations in conjunction with the realizable k −ε turbulence model. The validation of the numerical method with anterior published studies has been carried out. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the flow around therotor with and without converging pipe have been analyzed and discussed. Numerical results indicated that the converging pipe increases the performance of the Lucid spherical rotor.