1

Design & performance of a hydraulic

micro-turbine with counter-rotating runners
D. Biner*, V. Hasmatuchi*, F. Avellan#, C. Mnch-Allign*

U Peripheral flow velocity ms

Abstract-- The largely unexploited potential of small scale w Width of turbine stage m
energy hydropower remains crucial the development of new W Relative flow velocity ms
technologies to harvest the hydraulic energy on existing facilities. zS Number of stages
In this framework, several projects have been set up by the HES- Z Altitude m
SO Valais//Wallis and the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Ratio between rotational speed of runners
Machines. One of the developed technologies is a new hydraulic Relative flow angle
micro- turbine, for recovering the energy lost in release valves of Hydraulic efficiency
water supply networks. One stage of the micro-turbine consists of
Blade wrap angle
two axial counter-rotating runners. This paper deals with the
Water density kg m
hydraulic design process of the runners for a given site, including Angular speed rad s
numerical flow simulations, fabrication and performance
measurements of the micro-turbine. An overview of theoretical High pressure reference section
basics, simulation settings and assumptions, simulation results Low pressure reference section
and test results is given. In the last part, the design optimization First runner
process is discussed. Second runner

Index Terms-- Hydraulic design, 5 axis machining, numerical II. INTRODUCTION

flow simulation, performance measurements, optimization
process
H YDROPOWER, small and large, remains the most
important source of renewable energy for electrical
power production providing more than 15% of the worlds
I. NOMENCLATURE
A Area m
electricity mix. Small scale energy hydropower is distinct
C Absolute flow velocity ms
from traditional hydropower by generating less than 10 MW
Cm Meridional absolute flow velocity component ms per site: the term mini-hydro is generally used below 2MW,
Cu Peripheral absolute flow velocity component ms micro-hydro below 500kW and pico-hydro below 10kW. In
d Local blade thickness m Switzerland, 56.6% of the electricity is provided by
D Outer runner diameter m Hydropower, 5.7% coming from small hydro. Indeed, there
E Specific energy J kg are more than 1300 small-scale hydropower plants in
g Gravity ms operation, with an installed capacity of approximately 860MW
H Head bar and an output of 3770 GWh per year. In the post-Fukushima
I Momentum flow kg m s era, Switzerland has decided to renounce to its nuclear energy
M Torque Nm power stations and to accelerate the transition to a sustainable
nED Speed factor energy future based on carbon-free renewable electricity
N Runner rotational speed min sources.
p Static pressure Pa
In this framework, a research project to develop new
P Hydraulic power W
technologies to harvest hydraulic energy on existing facilities
P Mechanical power W
has been set up by the HES-SO Valais//Wallis and the EPFL
Q Discharge m s
Q ED Discharge factor
Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines. One of the developed
r Radial position m technologies is a new axial micro-turbine with counter-
t Maximal blade thickness m rotating runners for drinking water networks, which will cover
a part of the hydraulic energy potential that must be exploited
till 2050, see Fig.1. Indeed, the micro-turbine will recover the
This initial research work was supported by The Ark Foundation in the
framework of the HydroVS project. The project is now included in the SCCER energy lost in release valves of water supply networks. One
Supply of Electricity and supported by the Swiss Commission for Technology and stage of this new micro-turbine consists of two axial counter-
Innovation as part of the DuoTurbo project number 17197.1 PFEN IW.
*
University of Applied Sciences HES-SO Valais//Wallis, Route du Rawyl 47, rotating runners, [1] & [2], whereby each runner drives an
1950 Sion, Switzerland. (Email: daniel.biner@hevs.ch). electrical generator, [3]. The compact axial design enables an
#
cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Laboratory for Hydraulic in-line installation on existing facilities for low investment
Machines, avenue de cour 33bis, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
978-1-4673-7172-8/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE costs.
 2

TABLE I
NOMINAL OPERATING CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
In this paper, the process to develop the runners of the
micro-turbine for a given site is presented. The theoretical Variable Symbol Value
aspects of the hydraulic design are first introduced, as well as Discharge Q 8.7 l s
the design software to generate the runner geometry. Then the Pressure drop p 3 bar
numerical flow simulations used to evaluate the performance Runner rotational speed N 3000 min
Runner outer radius r 0.050 m
of the hydraulic design of the micro-turbine are exposed. In Runner inner radius r 0.040 m
the third part, the manufacturing process of the runners is Hydraulic power Ph 2.61 kW
described. Then the performance measurements of the runners Mechanical power Pm 2.09 kW
Hydraulic efficiency 80 %
on the hydraulic test rig of the HES-SO Valais//Wallis are
introduced. In the last part, first insights of the optimization
process based on the CFD results are discussed. B. Design method
The micro-turbine is a multi-stage axial machine with two
counter-rotating runners per stage placed in series.
Outflow
First Considering the available hydraulic energy of a site, the
runner maximal mechanical energy transferred by each runner can be
determined. Assuming that the flow passing through the
micro-turbine remains on a constant radius cylindrical surface,
Second the Euler equation applied to a given streamline yields the
Inflow runner relation between the hydraulic specific energy transferred to
the runners and the balance of angular momentum which
depends on the flow direction and velocity (Fig. 2). Moreover,
assuming that the operating medium behaves like a perfect
fluid, Euler equation can be considered as a one dimensional
model of the fluid dynamics within the turbine to describe the
Drinking water runner geometry at the initial design phase.
reservoir

Consumption area

Altitude Release valve

difference

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the counter-rotating micro-turbine

III. THE HYDRAULIC DESIGN

A. Technical specifications
The counter-rotating micro-turbine belongs to the type of
reaction turbines such as Kaplan or Francis turbines.
Considering the possibility of stacking several stages of
counter-rotating pairs of runners in series, the micro-turbine
can match quite wide range of pressure drop values in
drinking water systems. For a given rated pressure drop, the
number of stages of counter-rotating runner pairs can be
selected to define the turbine stage specific energy:
1 p
(1)
The degree of freedom to adapt the operating point to the
discharge fluctuations is the rotational speed of the runners,
regulated by the electrical generators. Nominal operating
conditions and most important requirements for the actual
design are given in Table I. The pressure drop
p refers to one stage of the micro-turbine.
Fig. 2. Model of the energy conversion in an axial turbine stage
C. Basic equations
The transformed hydraulic energy inside a hydraulic
machine can be expressed using the specific hydraulic energy
(2). Indeed, the specific energy results from the balance of
the static pressure, the kinetic energy and the potential energy
of the operating medium between the turbines inlet and
outlet. In this case, the potential and kinetic energies are the
same at the inlet and the outlet. Consequently, the specific
energy depends only on the difference of the static pressure
between the inlet and outlet of the micro-turbine (3).
I I I I
I I (2)
2
I I
(3)

By taking into account the discharge , the hydraulic power
can be expressed as:
(4)
As mentioned in part B, the transferred mechanical energy
is based on the conservation of the angular momentum of the
flow creating a torque around the runner axis. The Euler
equation (5) allows calculating the theoretically transferred
specific energy using the peripheral flow velocity and the
peripheral absolute flow velocity component at the inlet
and the outlet sections of the runner. This theory is actually
valid for a runner with an infinite number of turbine blades
with an infinitely small thickness and for a totally inviscid
fluid.
(5)
Finally, the efficiency of this energy conversion is
calculated as:
(6)
D. Velocity triangles
The vector of the absolute flow velocity is the sum of the
peripheral flow velocity vector and the relative velocity vector
(7). The geometrical representation of those vectors results in
a typical velocity triangle, which is defined both at the inlet
and at the outlet of each runner (see Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Velocity triangles at the inlet and the outlet of the runners
At the inlet and the outlet of the micro-turbine the absolute
flow velocity is parallel to the pipeline axis, the component
is equal to zero. The meridional flow velocity component
3
is constant at all locations, due to the discharge conservation
and the fact that the flow section between the hub and the
shroud is constant. The peripheral flow velocity is given by
the product between the radial position and the rotational
speed of the runner. Using the Eulers turbine equation, the
component can thus be calculated. Consequently, all
velocity triangles are defined and the relative flow angles
can be determined. The latest provides actually the orientation
of the blades.
(7)
E. Runner geometry
To define the runner geometry, the blade angle is assumed
to be the relative flow angle . In reality, the flow direction
slightly differs from the blade orientation, due to the limitation
of the blade number and the profile effects. The definition of
the blade geometry is done at an unwrapped cylindrical
surface for a given radial position, supposing that there is no
radial flow component. The skeleton-line is the basis of the
blade profile and is determined by the width of the turbine
stage w, the blade wrap angle , the radial position r and the
relative flow angle at the leading and trailing edges, as
shown in Fig. 4. The skeleton-line is defined by a polynomial
of third order (8), ensuring thus a smooth flow deflection.
(8)
The coefficients of the polynomial are determined
using the following boundary conditions:
0 0 (9)
(10)
0 cotan (11)
cotan (12)
/
y = f(x): circumferential position [m]
0/0
x: axial position [m]
Fig. 4. Definition of the skeleton-line
For a given stage width, the blade wrap angle is still a free
variable. The blade wrap angle has to be optimized to get the
smallest possible length of the skeleton-line:
1
1 1 (13)
3
The final blade contour is given by the thickness
distribution of a standard NACA 4digit hydrofoil. The local
 4

thickness of the blade is given by a specific equation, rows are interpolated to close the 3D spline contours and used
depending on the type of the NACA profile, the maximal to define the blade surface.
thickness , the blade width and the location on the
skeleton-line (14). For the current case, the maximal
thickness is fixed at 40% from the leading edge, with the value Define Turbine Additional
of the maximal thickness depending on the mechanical Parameters GUI Functions
strength.
, , (14) Save
Parameters
As shown in Fig. 5, the upper and the lower profile contours
can be finally described by a vertical /2 offset from the Draw 3D
Display
skeleton-line.
Performance
Calculations
/

/2
Skeleton- Profile
/ Save Runner
Line
/2 Calculations Geometry
Calculations

Fig. 5. Upper and lower profile contours. CAD

3D splines API
F. The design software
A Matlab Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been
implemented to design the runner geometry. Once the
parameters defined, the software calculates the blade shape for
each specified radial position between the hub and the shroud
of the runner. Table II shows all the imposed design
parameters and the resulting values for the actual design.

TABLE II
SETUP PARAMETERS OF THE DESIGN SOFTWARE
Shroud radius 50 mm
Hub radius 40 mm Fig. 6. Structure of the design software and the connection to the CAD
software.
Runner separation 10 mm
Blade clearance gap 0.2 mm
Blade thickness 4.5 mm
IV. FLUID SIMULATION
Minimal edge radius 0.5 mm A. Numerical setup
Wrap angle type Fixed
Numerical flow simulations are today an indispensable tool
Profile type NACA-XXX4
for the development of turbine design and the evaluation of
Pressure drop 3 bar
hydraulic performance. Development costs for expensive
Discharge 8.7 ls
experimental explorations can be saved and very detailed
Design efficiency 85 %
analysis results can be obtained.
Runner A
Runner width 15 mm TABLE III
Rotational speed 3000 min NUMERICAL SCHEME
Number of blades 5
Simulation type Steady
Runner B Spatial scheme 2nd order specified blend factor:1
Runner width 20 mm Turbulence Model SST
Rotational speed 3000 min Residual Target RMSmax < 10-12
Number of blades 7
The performance of the designed runners has been analyzed
The structure of the design software is given in Fig. 6. using 3D flow simulations of the full water passage of the
Accordingly, the upper and lower profile contours are micro-turbine. The numerical parameters of the simulation are
calculated and saved as 3D point rows for several radial summarized in Table III. The steady numerical simulations
positions. These data are then exported to the CAD have been performed with the commercial software ANSYS
(Computer-Aided Design) software using the API CFX 15.0, based on the finite volume method.
(Application Programming Interface). Finally, the 3D point
 5

B. Computational domains and spatial discreetization Interface (GGI) scheme. Finally, a smooth no-slip wall
The computational domains are illustrated in Fig. 7. Stator 1 condition is used for all the solid stattic or rotating surfaces.
domain consists of the inlet pipe with thee static hub that
TABLE V
houses the electrical generator of the first rrunner. Then, the BOUNDARY CONDIITIONS
Rotor 1 and 2 domains include respectivelyy the inlet and the
outlet runners of the micro-turbine. In both R
Rotor domains, the Surface Boundary con
ndition
hub and shroud are assumed to rotate with thee blades and there Inlet 85 / 8.7 / 9.57 [ls-1]
Q = 6.96 / 7.8
is no gap between the tip of the blades and thhe shroud. Finally, Outlet 0 [Pa] averag
ge static pressure
the Stator 2 domain consists of the outlet piipe with the static Interfaces Frozen-rotor
Solid walls Smooth no-sllip wall
hub region that houses this time the electricaal generator of the
second runner.

Stator 1

Rotorr 2
Fig. 8. Domains inteerfaces.
Rotor 1
D. Numerical simulation results
The following results are baased on four numerical
simulation setups with different values
v for the discharge.
Indeed, the values correspond resspectively to 80%, 90%,
100% and 110% of the nominaal discharge. The runner
rotational speeds (3000 rpm), corresp ponding to the one defined
in the design, has been kept consstant for all cases. Fig. 9
shows the field of the relative velociity streamlines through the
whole micro-turbine at the nominal operating point
Stato
or 2 (Q = 8.7 ls-1).

Fig. 7. Computational domains.

The global mesh information is provided in Table IV. The

adapted unstructured mesh has been generateed with the Ansys
ICEM commercial software for each domaain using mostly
tetrahedral cells. Fig. 9. Field of streamlines as an illustrativ
ve result of the flow simulation
TABLE IV
SUMMARY OF SPATIAL DISCRETIZATIION TABLE VI
SIMULATION RESULTS
Domain Type Nodes Elements

Rotor1 Rotating 546864 1458718
Rotor2 Rotating 571559 1491680 %

Stator 1 Stationary 475084 1193490
Stator 2 Stationary 557981 1415510 78.86 7.0 1'210 713 240
0 1.50 0.30 1.81
83.08 7.9 2'142 1'084 695
5 2.13 0.63 2.76
Full domain 2151488 5559398 83.14 8.7 3'311 1'516 1'23
37 2.84 0.96 3.80
81.29 9.6 4'762 2'013 1'85
58 3.63 1.33 4.96

C. Boundary conditions
Table VI gives an overview of the most important
The detailed boundary conditions of the whole numerical results. As expected, th he Best Efficiency Point
computational domain, for both the stationaryy and the rotating (BEP) is found at 8.7 dischaarge, which corresponds to
parts, are provided in Table V. At the inlet off the Stator 1, four the design parameters. One may statte here that the first runner
different constant discharge values, correesponding to the recovers more mechanical power thaan the second one. Indeed,
investigated operating conditions, are impossed. At the outlet the main part of the static pressure drop
d is created by the first
of the Stator 2 domain, 0 [Pa] relative averaage static pressure runner. A maximum efficiency of 83.14%8 is reached for the
condition is selected. The interfaces between the static and nominal discharge, the mechanical power
p being 2753 W.
rotating domains (see Fig. 8) are treated wiith a Frozen-rotor
condition, the connection being ensured by the General Grid
 6

V. MACHINING the tool path generation. A wrapped pocketing operation is

used for the roughing operation by an 4mm end mill tool, as
A. Machining process
shown in Fig. 11. The finishing is realized by a surface
To finalize the development of the turbine geometry, the parallel peripheral milling as well as a wrapped pocketing
validation of the hydraulic performance must be done by operation to complete the hub surface by an 3mm spherical
model testing. In this purpose, the machining of the runner cutter.
prototypes is mandatory. The designed runners have been
manufactured in the mechanical workshop of the HES-SO C. Machining results
Valais//Wallis. First, the basic axisymmetric body of the The machining takes approximately four hours per runner
runners is made by a turning operation. The relatively and a satisfying quality is obtained. The 5-axis milling process
complex blade geometry is then realized by a 5-axis milling as well as the final result is illustrated in Fig. 12.
operation [7], using the Deckel Maho DMU50 eVolution
5-axis machining center (see Fig. 10). The translational
movements on the X, Y and Z axes are executed by the
milling tool, whereby the rotational movements around the B
and C axes are executed by the machine table. Since the actual
configuration of the machine (adapted to mill molds for plastic
or powder injection moldings) does not allow machining the
whole runner in one single step. To cope with this, the turbine
runners are machined blade by blade, using a dividing head.
Anyway, if the method is reasonable for prototyping, a
different machine type would be recommended for production
of series.
Finally, the chosen material for the runners is brass, due to
its good corrosion resistance to water and its excellent
machinability. Moreover, its mechanical stress has been
validated by FEM simulations. Fig. 12. 5-axis milling (left) and final result of the machining (right).

VI. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS

A. The hydraulic test rig
To validate the simulation process of the hydraulic
turbomachines and to complete their development, model tests
+C are still essential. At the University of Applied Sciences HES-
SO Valais/Wallis, a hydraulic test rig was installed to perform
+Z

+Y

d c
+X +B

Fig. 10. Schematic representation of the DMU 50 eVolution

5-axis machining center.

B. Tool path generation

The tool paths for the 5-axis machining have been generated
with the AlphaCAM, a Computer Aided Manufacturing
commercial software. The CAD model serves as a basis for
a

Fig. 13. Hydraulic test rig of the HES-SO Valais//Wallis with the installed
micro-turbine prototype, a) Main reservoir b) Centrifugal pumps c)
Fig. 11. Generated tool path for the roughing operation (left) and solid Pressurized reservoir d) Testing model
simulation of the 5-axis milling (right).
 7

experimental tests of small scale turbines, pumps or other used to create the characteristic curves (16), (17). Those
hydraulic components, see [4]. The test rig is built on two values refer to the external runner diameter and the
floors and supplied with fresh water from a main reservoir, see rotational speed of the second runner.
Fig.13. Three recirculating multistage centrifugal pumps
connected in parallel supply the water circuit with hydraulic (16)
power. A pressurized reservoir allows simulating different
implantation levels of the model. The actual prototype of the
micro-turbine has been installed on the test rig and allows
testing the characteristic of different runner geometries. The (17)
electrical generators placed inside the hubs allow the
regulation of the rotational speed of each runner [3]. To
C. Test results
measure the mechanical power, each runner axis is equipped
with a torque sensor. The main experimental results are given in Table VIII. For
every constant head measurements, the resulting BEP is given.
B. Testing method Theoretically, the maximal hydraulic efficiency does not
An advantage of experimental tests is the possibility to depend on the head, indeed there is only small difference of
obtain a large number of measurement points over the whole the efficiency between the different heads. Due to the
operating range of a hydraulic machine in relatively short mechanical losses of the runner bearings, discharge losses and
time. To retrieve the characteristic curves of the micro-turbine turbulences in the blade clearance gap, the desired efficiency
by fluid simulation would require a substantial computing cannot be reached in the experimental tests with the actual
time: more than 16 hours per operating point if the whole configuration of the prototype.
water passage is considered.
To create the characteristic curves of the micro-turbine, the TABLE VIII
degree of freedom of the turbine regulation, (15), describing SUMMARY OF TEST RESULTS
the ratio between the absolute rotational speeds of the two H [bar] Q [ls-1] [-] NB [min-1] h [%]
counter-rotating runners, is introduced. The discharge, the 0.5 3.95 1 1010 50
head, the rotational speed and the torque of each runner are 1 5.63 1 1493 51.5
measured for each operating point. 1.3 6.77 1.18 1749 50.5
2 7.9 1 2003 52.8
2.5 9.22 1 2499 52.9
(15) 3 9.8 1.18 2257 53

Finally, the hydraulic performance of a large number of

operating points has been measured at different constant
operating heads. Indeed, different values of the rotational
speed ratio (see Table VII) have been systematically
considered over the whole possible range of the runner
rotational speed.

TABLE VII
RUNNERS ROTATIONAL SPEEDS OF THE MEASURED OPERATING POINTS
H = 0.5 / 1.3 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 [bar]

250 50 125 213 294 500 Fig. 14. Hydraulic efficiency as a function of the speed factor and the
500 175 325 500 769 1429 discharge factor for a testing head of 1.3 [bar].
750 150 375 638 882 1500
1000 350 650 1000 1538 2857
1250 250 625 1063 1471 2500
1500 525 975 1500 2308
1750 350 875 1488 2059
2000 700 1300 2000 3077
2250 450 1125 1913 2647
2500 875 1625 2500
2750 550 1375 2338 3235
3000 1050 1950 3000
3250 650 1625 2763

0.20 0.35 0.50 0.65 0.85 1.00 1.18 1.54 2.00 2.86

To characterize hydraulic machines, dimensionless values

are often used to enable the comparison between different Fig. 15. Relative hydraulic efficiency as a function of the discharge and the
operating points or different model scales. For the micro- head .
turbine, the discharge factor and the speed factor are
 8

In Fig. 14 the characteristic for a constant head of 1.3 [bar] B. Flow stability at the runner interface
is provided. The black lines indicate the ratio between the The particular turbine configuration of two counter-rotating
rotational speeds of the runners. As predicted, the best runners can create an effect of instability on the flow direction
efficiency point was found close to 1. The diagram is at the interface between runners. A small deviation of the
based on dimensionless values, normalized to the specific relative flow angle at the outlet of the first runner can affect
energy and implicitly to the testing head. It actually allows negatively the flow direction at the inlet of the second runner.
comparing characteristics between different heads. The absolute velocity vector at the outlet of the first
Another way to present the characteristic of the turbine is to
runner is equal to the absolute velocity vector at the inlet
express the efficiency in relation to the discharge and the
of the second runner. The relation between the relative flow
operating head. This representation is given in Fig. 15.
angle and can be formulated as:
VII. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
(18)
The nominal design parameters along with the obtained
results of the numerical simulation and of the experimental
tests at the BEP (in the investigated operating range) are given The mentioned relationship is represented in Fig. 16. At the
in Table IX. point of highest instability reaches a value of 90. To
TABLE IX guarantee a correct flow angle at the inlet of the second runner
SUMMARY OF DESIGN, CFD AND TEST RESULTS and to undesired flow separation, the operating point must be
Value Design CFD BEP Tests BEP outside the shaded region.
[%] 85 83 ~53
[bar] 3 3.8 3
[ls-1] 8.7 8.7 9.8

Inlet flow angle of the

[]
[-] 1 1 1.18
[min-1] 3000 3000 2257 second runner
/ [-] 1 1.22 1.5

The efficiency found by flow simulation is satisfying the

requirements. The measured efficiency is much lower due to
the mechanical losses and the flow effects in the blade
clearance gap, which are not considered at the simulation Outlet flow angle of the first runner
level. The assumption that theres no gap between the runners
Fig. 16. Dependence between the relative flow angles at the runner interface
and the shroud does not represent the physical behavior on the for 3.08 and 3000 . The shaded zone is
test rig. To obtain more comparable conditions between the characterized by flow instability.
simulation and the experimental tests, the gap of about 0.2mm
has to be eliminated using a fix attached external ring. Tests C. 2D blade cascade simulation
with the mentioned configuration are planned to be performed. As already mentioned, the design process is based on a one
Further the mechanical losses of the bearings are not precisely dimensional model: all blade profile effects are not taken into
known, which does not allow making a statement about the account. Due to this simplification, the real flow angle cannot
real hydraulic efficiency. be precisely predicted. For small relative flow angles at the
runner outlet, the absolute velocity component becomes
VIII. FIRST INSIGHTS OF THE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS highly sensitive to small deviations of , and consequently the
The optimization of a turbomachine is a complex procedure transmitted hydraulic power can significantly differ from the
whereby a large number of parameters are interacting. The desired value. A fast method to identify blade profile effects is
optimization is generally based on results of numerical to use two dimensional blade cascade simulation. The two
simulation as well as empirical formulae. dimensional model is used to optimize the flow conditions on
a defined radial position. Executing numerical analysis on
A. General optimization tendency
several 2D domains, this method may be considered as a
A challenging problematic in the hydraulic design of this quasi-three-dimensional (Q3D) method [5]. The main
type of axial turbines is the relatively low discharge in contrast advantage comes from the fact that this method allows
with a relatively high desired operating head. The higher the
operation head for a given discharge, the more inconvenient TABLE X
are the flow conditions within the runners. Moreover, for the MAIN PARAMETERS OF THE 2D FLOW SIMULATION
relatively low mechanical powers, the bearings friction losses Mesh Type Non structured, triangular
become more and more important and limit the maximal Number of Elements 46129
efficiency. In other words, the obtained hydraulic efficiency of Number of Nodes 25225
Viscosity Model k-epsilon (2eqn)
the micro-turbine sets the limitation of the maximal Computing time on standard PC ~70sec
mechanical power that can be transmitted by one pair of
runners.

executing a large number of simulations inn a short time to
obtain an iterative optimization process of thee blade geometry.
The main parameters of the employed 2D D flow simulations
are given in Table X. An example of the rresult is shown in
Fig. 17. The evolution of the static pressure wwithin the runners
is represented by a contour plot along with thhe direction of the
relative flow velocity indicated by a vector field. Finally, the
global performance can be approximatelyy determined by
interpolating the simulation results of seveeral 2D domains
between the inner and the outer radiuses.
Fig. 17. Pressure contour and vector field of relative veloocity as a result of the
2D blade cascade simulation.
...
...
Fig. 18. Quasi-three-dimensional analysis of the turbinne performance, used
for iterative optimization of the runner geometry. Contours of the static
pressure are presented for different radial ppositions.
9
IX. CONCLUSSION
Runners of a multi-stage miccro-turbine with counter-
rotating runners for drinking waater networks have been
designed based on a simplified onee dimensional flow model.
By using 3D numerical flow simulaations, the performance of
the designed runner geometry has beeen analyzed. The required
hydraulic efficiency (> 0.8) has been successfully verified.
Runner prototypes have been mach hined on a 5-axis milling
center and finally tested on a hyd draulic test rig, where the
turbine characteristics have been measured. Due to
unconsidered mechanical losses, the measured hydraulic
mulated one. To cope with
efficiency is found lower than the sim
this, improvement of the prototype bearings and
measurements of mechanical losses are going to be performed
in a future step. To conclude, firstt insights of the hydraulic
design optimization is presented d using blade cascade
simulations.
X. REFERENC
CES
[1] C. Mnch-Allign, S. Richard, B. Meiier, V. Hasmatuchi, F. Avellan,
Numerical simulations of a counter rotaating micro turbine, Advances in
Hydroinformatics, P. Gourbesville et al. (eds.), Springer Hydrogeology, p
363-373, 2014
[2] V. Hasmatuchi, C. Mnch, S. Gabathuleer, S. Chevailler, and F. Avellan,
New Counter-Rotating Micro-Hydro Turbine for Drinking Water
Systems, Hidroenergia 2014, Istanbul, Turkey,
T 2014.
[3] D. Melly, R. Horta, C. Mnch, H. Biner, S. Chevailler, Development of
a PM-Generator for a Counter-Rotatin ng Micro-hydro Turbine XXI
International Conference on Electrical Machines,
M Berlin, Germany, 2014.
[4] V.Hasmatuchi, F. Botero, S. Gabathuleer and C. Mnch, Design and
Control of a New Test Rig for Small Power Turbomachines, Hydro
2014, Cernobbio, Italy, 2014.
[5] G. Peng, S. Cao, M. Ishizuka, S. Hayam ma, Design optimization of axial
flow hydraulic turbine runner, Intern national Journal for Numerical
Methods in Fluids, pp. 517-531, June 20002.
[6] P. Drtina, M. Sallaberger, Hydraulic tuurbines-basic principles and stat-
of-the-art computational fluid dynamics applications, Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, PartP C: Journal of Mechanical
Engineering Science, vol. 213 no. 1 85-102, 1999
[7] H. B. Kief, H. A. Roschiwal, CNC Hand dbuch 2009/2010, Mnchen, Carl
Hanser Verlag, 2009.
 10

XI. BIOGRAPHIES
D. Biner graduated in 2014 the Bachelor of Science
in Systems Engineering, Design & Materials
specialization, at the University of Applied Sciences
Western Switzerland, HES-SO Valais//Wallis in
Sion. Since September 2014, he is scientific assistant
at a 50% basis in the hydraulic energy research team
of Prof. Mnch at the HES-SO Valais//Wallis,
besides hes going through the MSE masters degree
studies in industrial technologies at the HES-SO. He
is working on experimental projects in hydraulic
turbo machinery. His main research interests are the hydraulic design, the
performance measurements, flow simulations and the optimisation of small
scale hydro machinery.

Vlad Hasmatuchi graduated in 2007 at the Faculty

of Mechanical Engineering, Hydraulic Machinery
Branch from Politehnica University of Timisoara,
Romania. In the same year, Vlad Hasmatuchi joined
the Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines from the
cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL),
Switzerland, to achieve a doctoral work in the field
of hydraulic turbomachinery. In 2012 he got his
Doctoral Degree in Engineering from the EPFL.
Since 2012 he is Senior Research Assistant in the
hydraulic energy research team at the HES-SO Valais//Wallis, School of
Engineering in Sion, Switzerland. He is in charge mainly of experimental
investigations, as well as of numerical simulations. His main research interests
are the hydrodynamics of turbines, pumps and pump-turbines, including
design and evaluation of hydraulic performance.

Prof. Franois Avellan graduated in Hydraulic

Engineering at the INPG Ecole Nationale Suprieure
d'Hydraulique, Grenoble France in 1977, and, in
1980, got his Doctoral Degree in Engineering from
the University of Aix-Marseille II, France, at IMST,
the Institut de mcanique statistique de la
turbulence, CNRS Associate Laboratory. In 1980, he
is joining the EPFL Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics
as Research Associate and, in 1984; he is appointed
Senior Research Associate at the newly created
EPFL Institute of Hydraulic Machines and Fluid Mechanics for leading the
Research Group in Cavitation. Since 1994, he is Director of the EPFL
Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines and he was appointed Ordinary Professor
in 2003. His main research interests are the hydrodynamics of turbines, pumps
and pump-turbines, including cavitation, hydro-acoustics, design and
evaluation of the performance of hydraulic machines trough both
experimental investigations and numerical simulations. From 2002 to 2012,
Prof. F. Avellan was the Chairman of the IAHR Section on Hydraulic
Machinery and Systems. Honorary Doctorate of the Polytechnic University of
Bucharest, Romania, in October 2003, Prof. Franois Avellan has been
awarded "Grand Prix d'Hydrotechnique 2010" by the Socit Hydrotechnique
de France.

Ccile Mnch-Allign obtained an engineering

degree from INPG, cole Nationale Suprieure
d'Hydraulique, Grenoble France ENSHMG,
department of Numerical and Modelling of Fluids
and Solids in 2002. Then, she got a grant from the
CNRS and the CNES to start a Ph.D. thesis on
large eddy simulations of compressible turbulent
flows. She defended her doctoral degree in 2005 at
the INPG. From 2006 to 2010, she worked as a
research associate in the Laboratory of Hydraulics
Machines at EPFL on flow numerical simulations in hydraulic turbines. Since
2010, she is professor at the HES-SO Valais//Wallis, School of Engineering in
Sion, Switzerland. She is head of a new hydraulic research team specialized in
small hydro applications. Her main research interests are small hydro,
hydraulic turbomachinery, numerical simulations, performance measurements,
turbulence and fluid-structure interactions.