No abstract

The GEAMEC research group of the Santo Tomás University designed a hydrokinetic turbine to study its viability in Colombia, considering its performance conditions. Next to this project arises the need to simulate this turbine by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using ANSYS Workbench, to analyze its operating characteristics. The purpose of this simulation is to reduce costs and times associated with experimentation, as the results are going to be validated by another experimental study of the scale hydrokinetic turbine. Additionally, it seeks to reduce the risk of error once you want to implement the results in a real system and, finally, use the research as a source of information that allows not only improving what we understand of the technology studied, but also expand its use and deepen in the investigative process. Before using computational tools, a different design of the blades based on the moment theory of the blade element is proposed. Stationary simulations are performed using the turbulence model k-ω SST. The domain has a truncated cone shape with a distance downstream of 6 times the radius of the rotor. The results indicate that a power coefficient of 0.36 is generated at the most efficient point, considering that the velocity of the fluid remains constant. The power generated by the turbine is 153.52 W, enough to supply the energy required for a day in remote regions with rivers as water supply.