International Journal of Offshore and Coastal Engineering
Vol.6 | No. 2 | pp. 59 – 66 | November 2022
DOI:10.19026/ijoce.9.1369
ISSN: 2040-7459; e-ISSN: 2040-7467
© 2022 Department of Ocean Engineering – ITS
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
59
Submitted: July 7, 2022 | Revised: September 10, 2022 | Accepted: October 21, 2022
Hydrodynamic Performance Analysis of Vertical Axis Water Turbine
(VAWT) Gorlov Type with Hydrofoil Thickness and Inclination Angle
Variables using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Approaches
Wisnu Wardhana
a,*
, Shade Rahmawati
a
, Dendy Satrio
a
, and Annisa A. Nurliana
a
a)
Department of Ocean Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Kampus ITS – Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia
*Corresponding author: wisnu@oe.its.ac.id
ABSTRACT
The issue of renewable and eco-friendly energy has become the
focus of research in several countries to encourage eco-friendly
alternative energy. One of them is by using turbines to produce
electrical energy. Vertical Axis Water Turbine (VAWT) can be an
exciting research object because it has various advantages. VAWT
has a simpler structure, can move at relatively slow currents and
is famous for its tendency to move regardless of the water flow
directions. In this study, the experimental turbine from secondary
data numerically simulates using the Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) method with the help of ANSYS V18.1 software.
The Gorlov turbine model is manufactured in 3 dimensions under
steady-state flow conditions. Validation is carried out after
obtaining numerical results with the mean error rate being less
than 10%. The variables in this research are the thickness of
hydrofoil using NACA 0010, NACA 0016, NACA 0020, and
variations in inclination angle of the blade for 25
0
and 60
0
. After
comparing the simulation results in the form of torque values is
done, it is shown that the best turbine performance is given by
water turbine using NACA 0016 with 60
0
of inclination angle.
Keywords: gorlov turbine, hydrofoil thickness, inclination
angle, CFD, torque.
1. INTRODUCTION
The increasing use of energy derived from fossil fuels and
its increasingly limited availability in nature forces them to
look for alternative energy sources. In Indonesia, there are
still many areas that are lacking, and even electricity
facilities are unavailable. Based on the data from the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) of
August 2019, the national electrification ratio reached
98.86% [1]. The verification results of PT PLN (Persero), in
2019, around 1,103,859 households must be electrified. It is
also stated that based on Bappenas data in 2014, 96% of
electricity demand in Indonesia is still dominated by fossil
fuels, namely oil, gas, and coal [2]. Meanwhile, the use of
fossil fuels causes pollution, which has a destructive impact
and is also difficult to renew. Alternative renewable energy
solutions are options that are deemed appropriate and can be
applied to solve the problem of cheap and equally
distributed electricity.
Indonesia has considerable renewable energy potential,
especially as a maritime country, where the total area of the
oceans reaches nearly 8 million km
2
but is still not optimally
utilized. Indonesia can take advantage of the potential for
energy that comes from the sea, namely ocean currents. One
of them is by using turbines to produce electrical energy.
Currently, the horizontal axis water turbine (HAWT) type
water turbine has been widely made, used and developed,
compared to the vertical axis water turbine (VAWT) type,
because HAWT has a better efficiency value than VAWT in
utilizing wind to become electricity. However, the VAWT
type has several advantages over the HAWT type, including
because of the characteristics of the VAWT, which has a
simpler structure, can move at relatively slow currents, can
receive current from all directions and can be combined with
other architectural, structural concepts, it is also easy to
install a gearbox, generator and bearing [3].
The advantages mentioned make VAWT a technology
that does not require too much cost and is easy to implement,
making it suitable to be developed for hydroelectric
powerplant in remote and underdeveloped areas. The
development of VAWT itself can also be applied as another
alternative to reduce dependence on the supply of electrical
energy originating from fossil resources. Research on
VAWT itself actually started in the 1920s and began to be
developed again in the 1970s when there was an oil
embargo. One type of VAWT that is widely researched and
developed is the Gorlov type which basically has a working
principle which is more or less the same as the Darrieus type,
utilizing lift force to rotate the rotor [4]. The foil of the
Gorlov Helical Turbine (GHT) type is symmetrical and can
rotate in both directions equally good enough.
Several methods can be applied to obtain water turbine
efficiency values. Computational Fluid Dynamics,
commonly known as CFD, simulates the fluid phenomenon
and its interaction with a water turbine. The CFD method
became known around the 1970s with a working principle