Design analysis and optimization of a hydraulic gate turbine for power production from ultra-low head sites.

An axial hydraulic turbine mounted on an inclined gate structure aims to extract energy from ultra-low head sites that were previously considered unfeasible and uneconomical for electricity generation. These include canals, waterways, industrial channels, etc. having an untapped potential of 151 GW of clean energy globally. The objective of this study is to provide an efficient and economical ultra-low head turbine technology to contribute to renewable energy demands. An inclined Gate Turbine is designed to extract power by exploiting both the kinetic energy of the flowing water and the gravitational potential energy generated by the gate structure. The turbine design is tested using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations to predict the hydraulic performance and to study the internal flow characteristics. An unsteady multiphase free-surface open-channel CFD model, mimicking the physical-world scenario is employed to simulate the turbine. The hydraulic performance and areas of loss are identified. The turbine runner shape is then optimized to improve the turbine characteristics by diminishing the losses. The efficiency of the optimized turbine increased by 2.72% compared to the initial design. The economic analysis of the turbine showed promising outcomes from the low-head inclined gate turbine. • A novel hydro turbine technology to generate clean energy from ultra-low head sites with head less than 2m. • Areas of flow losses identified at the runner leading edge. • Multi-objective optimization employed to diminish the flow losses and to enhance the turbine hydraulic performance. • The optimized turbine improved the hydraulic efficiency by 2.72% by decreasing losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]