Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Aerodynamic design and numerical study for centrifugal turbine with

different shapes of volutes
Ying Wang, Xin Tan, Naian Wang, Diangui Huang ⇑
School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer of Power Engineering, Shanghai 200093, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Three-dimensional steady flow for the designed centrifugal turbine was studied.

CFD simulation was conducted both in design and off-design conditions.

Volutes with three types of cross section shapes were designed and applied.

Aerodynamic performances are almost the same with three types of volutes.

The pear shaped volute shows slightly higher total efficiency than other types.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Centrifugal turbine presents good aerodynamic and geometric compatibility. The straight blade can be
Received 19 June 2017 directly used without significant effect on three dimensional flow field, and therefore the optimum values
Revised 29 October 2017 of the speed ratio and reaction degree can keep constant along the spanwise direction with higher turbine
Accepted 20 November 2017
efficiency and simpler manufacturing. Furthermore, the closed impeller which is made by fixing the blade
Available online 21 November 2017
tip using cover band shows larger impeller strength and is suitable for high-speed rotation. In recent
years, the centrifugal turbine with many potential advantages is gradually becoming a research hotspot
Keywords:
in the field of turbine. In this paper, three kinds of volutes with different cross section shapes were
Centrifugal turbine
Numerical simulation
designed for a single-stage centrifugal turbine unit. Based on the CFD simulation in the whole flow
Aerodynamic design passage, the analysis of three-dimensional steady flow for the designed centrifugal turbine was carried
Volute out under both of design and off-design conditions, and the following results were obtained: the aerody-
namic performance of centrifugal turbines with three kinds of volutes are almost the same under both of
design and off-design conditions. Besides, the pear shaped volute shows slightly higher total efficiency,
and its overall efficiency, stage internal efficiency and power are 87.36%, 85.79% and 484.88 kW,
respectively.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Turbine is a type of power machine to convert heat of working
medium into mechanical energy and has been widely used in elec-
tric power, petrochemical, aerospace, ships, locomotives and other
fields. Normally, turbines can be divided into two types including
axial flow turbine and radial flow turbine. Axial flow turbine which
allows greater flow rate and higher energy efficiency is normally
designed into multistage type. In this way, the requirement of high
expansion ratio and power can be achieved. However, since the
⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of
Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
E-mail address: dghuang@usst.edu.cn (D. Huang).
rotational speeds at different radii show various values for axial
flow turbine blade, the twisted blade has to be adopted. For the
long blade, the reaction ratios and speed ratios show large varia-
tion from the blade root to blade tip. Thus, the long blade cannot
be designed or operated near the optimum reaction ratio and
speed ratio. Radial flow turbines can be divided into two types:
radial turbine and centrifugal turbine. The radial turbine is usually
used in automobile turbocharging, low temperature power
generation and micro gas turbine, etc. [1–4]. However, the existing
centrifugal turbine shows poor aerodynamic and geometric com-
patibility. That is, along the flow direction, the working substance
expands constantly and the specific volume increases, while the
perimeter of rotating surface in the runner decreases. Thus,
the height of the blade along the radial direction increases rapidly.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.11.097
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485 473

Nomenclature

a1 half of horizontal axis of shroud elliptical arcs [mm] P0⁄ total inlet pressure [kPa]
a2 half of horizontal axis of hub elliptical arcs [mm] P1 temperature in stator
b1 half of vertical axis of shroud elliptical arcs [mm] P2 outlet backpressure [kPa]
b2 half of vertical axis of hub elliptical arcs [mm] r radius of guiding cone at inlet [mm]
c0 flow speed when entering the stator blade r3 inlet diameter of volute [mm]
c1 flow speed in stator [m/s] R radius of the central streamline arc [mm]
c2 outlet absolute velocity of rotor blade [m/s] R1 arc radius of central streamline at outlet [mm]
D0 outlet diameter of inlet, is also the inlet diameter of the R2 shroud arc radius of simple annular outlet [mm]
first stage stator blade [mm] R3 hub arc radius of simple annular outlet [mm]
D3 outlet diameter of vaneless diffuser [mm] T0 temperature when entering the stator blade
Din inlet diameter of inlet [mm] T0⁄ total inlet temperature [K]
Dout outlet diameter of volute [mm] T1 pressure in stator [K]
D2/D1 diameter ratio [mm] T2 temperature of moving impeller [K]
G mass flow rate [kg s1] u1 inlet rotor speed [m/s]
Gu airflow at the outlet of front guide vane u2 outlet rotor speed of moving impeller [m/s]
H0 outlet width of inlet, is also the inlet blade height of the W turbine power [kW]
first stage stator blade [mm] w1 relative speed [m/s]
H2 blade height at outlet for the last stage rotor blade [mm] w2 relative velocity of moving impeller [m/s]
n design speed [r/min] Xa speed ratio [–]
O center of the central streamline arc [–]
P0 pressure when entering the stator blade Greek symbols
gu rotor efficiency [%] u velocity coefficient of stator blade [mm]
q2 outlet density of rotor blade [kg/m3] w velocity coefficient of rotor blade [mm]
q3 density at the outlet of front guide vane [kg/m3] X reaction degree [mm]
s restitution coefficient of residual velocity

The corresponding impeller shows complex structure and flow
field, high manufacturing cost, small flow rate and low efficiency.
In 1949, centrifugal steam turbine was first invented by
Ljungström [5], and had not been applied and studied for a long
time. Recently, with the development of organic Rankine cycle
(ORC) system based on waste heat utilization technology [6], cen-
trifugal turbine has been used again and gains good commercial
promotion [7–9]. Organic fluid shows large molecular weights,
low sound speed and low enthalpy drop. In the design of centrifu-
gal turbine, by properly allocating parameters such as enthalpy
drop in each stage, the centrifugal turbine can achieve stage effi-
ciency equivalent to an axial flow turbine.
Fig. 1 shows the structure schematic diagram of centrifugal tur-
bine. The main components of a centrifugal turbine include inlet,
stator cascade, rotor cascade, diffuser, volute and simple annular
outlet. The centrifugal turbine shows the following advantages:
(1) In the expansion process, the working substance shows good
aerodynamic and geometric compatibility. That is, along the flow
direction, the working substance expands constantly, the specific
volume increases, and the flow passage area also increases syn-
chronously with the increase of radius. Then the height of the blade
along the radial direction shows slow variation or even maintains
Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of structure for centrifugal turbine [9].
the same. (2) Straight blades are adopted in the centrifugal turbine.
The corresponding turbine can both design and operate at the opti-
mum reaction degree and velocity ratio. There shows higher tur-
bine efficiency and simpler blade manufacturing. Besides, by
using shroud, a closed impeller can be manufactured by fixing
the top of the straight blade. This impeller is suitable for high speed
rotation, as the strength of the impeller is increased. Meanwhile,
the flow field in cascade with straight blade shows relatively
strong two-dimensional (2D) characteristics, and lower three-
dimensional (3D) effect. (3) Compared with radial turbine, the cen-
trifugal turbine is easier to be designed into multi-stage type
which can achieve higher efficiency by utilizing reheating and
shows larger flow rate compared with radial turbine. Because of
the remarkable advantages of centrifugal turbine, it is necessary
to conduct a thorough and systematic study on its flow mechanism
and design method.
Due to the world energy crisis and the urgent demand of energy
saving and emission reduction, ORC low temperature waste heat
utilization system has gained more attention. As the expander of
ORC, the centrifugal turbine has attracted much attention in recent
years. Currently, the research of turbine mainly depends on theo-
retical model, engineering test and numerical simulation. In
1949, Ljungström [5] designed a twin inlet opposed centrifugal
steam turbine with power performed from hundreds of kilowatts
to tens of megawatts. Owing to the cantilevered disk structure,
the development of high power unit was limited due to the pro-
cesses and materials in the circumstances. In 1998, Sekavčnik
[10] designed a single stage centrifugal turbine with ideal gas as
working substance, where one dimensional (1D) analysis and 3D
numerical analysis of the aerodynamic characteristic for this tur-
bine were carried out by using software of ASCflow. In 2004, Brun
[11–13] from Southwestern Research Institute designed a new
type of centrifugal gas turbine by perfectly integrating centrifugal
compressor and centrifugal turbine on a turntable. In recent years,
an Italy energy company named Exergy [7–9] designed an ORC
centrifugal turbine which has been widely and commercially
474 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485
Fig. 2. Through-flow geometric parameters of centrifugal turbine.
applied on geothermal energy, biomass energy and industrial
waste heat. Pini, Persico and Casati [14–26] who cooperated with
Exergy investigated the flow principle and field of application for
organic Rankine centrifugal turbine. A set of aerodynamic design
and optimization method of centrifugal turbine was developed
and a series of studies on the aerodynamic performance of the cen-
trifugal turbine were carried out. Welch [27–29] from an American
company named Energent designed a type of ORC centrifugal tur-
bine by adopting straight blade with a mixture of ammonia and
water as working substance. The isentropic efficiency of commer-
cial operation was close to 80%. A prototype of 50 kW was exhib-
ited in Shanghai Industry Fair in 2010. Liu [30] conducted
aerodynamic analysis for prototype and aerodynamic design for a
modified single stage centrifugal turbine with low speed, high load
and large torque. Generally, although there were some foundations
for the study of centrifugal turbine characteristics, the research
was unclear, and the aerodynamic and geometric design of the
main flow passage components and the optimization of the flow
path need further to be studied.
In recent years, due to the rapid development of high-
performance computer technology, computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) technology has been widely applied [31] and has become
one of the main research methods in the field of aerodynamics,
fluid mechanics, heat transfer, combustion, etc. In industry, CFD
technology [32] with 3D and unsteady flow numerical simulation
capability has become an important analysis tool for industrial
design. There are specific problems that need to be addressed, such
as turbulence models and transition models [33]. However, this
will not completely prevent us from using CFD tools to understand
the flow mechanism of fluids. CFD helps to provide information for
designing fluid models with higher performance. Through numer-
ical optimization method, the information obtained from CFD sim-
ulation helps to conduct optimal design for fluid model.
The main focus of optimal design for turbomachinery blade
type is to seek for the profile parameters with best aerodynamic
performance, along with minimum flow loss and maximum work
capacity as design goals under certain constraint conditions. The
aerodynamic optimization design method of turbomachinery is
generally divided into direct and inverse ones. Although the
inverse method requires relatively small amount of calculation,
the flow field of design object as well as proper blade surface
pressure or velocity distribution should be provided by designers.
In order to obtain turbomachinery with higher aerodynamic
performance, the direct optimization method is usually adopted
by researchers. Through using proper optimization algorithm and
control strategy, the iteration of geometric variables of turboma-
chinery is conducted to optimize the aerodynamic shape of blade
profile. The direct method reduces the reliance on experience
and shortens the design periods. Combined with CFD analysis
method, the optimal design of direct problem can achieve the best
object function by constantly modifying the geometric profile
shape. Although this calculation method causes high computing
cost, with the rapid development of computer technology in recent
years, great development has been achieved in the field of turbo-
machinery aerodynamic optimization design, especially on the
aspect of multi-objective design and multiple work condition
design [33–35]. Currently, the optimization design of turboma-
chinery has been developed to the stage of automatic optimization
design using large-scale optimization platform, such as Isightand
Workbench which are multidisciplinary optimization software
platform. The software which shows good integration and
complete algorithm can link up with CAD/CAE/CFD and integrate
experimental design, approximate modeling and optimization
algorithm as a whole [36–38].
The study of turbulence is one of the most difficult problems in
computational fluid dynamics. There are three main methods to
conduct numerical study of turbulence: Reynolds Time-Average
Parameter Method (RANS), Large eddy simulation (LES) and Direct
numerical simulation (DNS) method. Among these, the DNS
method is limited to theoretical research due to the need of huge
computing resources; the LES method has a certain prospect of
engineering application, and it is still difficult to popularize; the
RANS method is widely used in Engineering due to less computa-
tional resources and certain reliability. The software of CFX pro-
vides both of RANS and LES methods [39].
Centrifugal turbine is a new type of turbine, and it will have a
wide range of applications in energy utilization. How to design a
centrifugal turbine with higher performance has become a hot
research topic in recent years. In this paper, the volute and front
guide vane of a single stage centrifugal turbine is investigated with
performance study under both of design and off-design conditions.
Besides, the performance is compared with the single stage cen-
trifugal turbine with simple annular outlet and the same aerody-
namic parameter, stage blade type and inlet.
2. Working principle of centrifugal turbine
Working substance enters the stator blade with flow speed c0,
pressure P0 and temperature T0, and it is expanded and accelerated
to c1 in stator. The heat energy of the working substance is con-
verted to kinetic energy, and the temperature and pressure drop
to T1 and P1, respectively. After that, the working substance enters
the moving impeller with relative speed of w1. For moving impel-
ler, the inlet rotor speed is u1 and the working substance continues
to expand and do work where temperature and pressure drops to
T2 and P2, and relative velocity increases to w2. The outlet rotor
speed of moving impeller is u2. The working substance leaves the
moving impeller with velocity of c2 and then enters the following
components. The through-flow geometric parameters are showed
in Fig. 2 and the enthalpy entropy diagram for centrifugal turbine
impeller is showed in Fig. 3.
3. 1D aerodynamic parameters and blade profile
One dimensional aerodynamic parameters of a single-stage
centrifugal turbine adopts the designing parameters in Refs.
 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485 475

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of velocity triangle.

Fig. 3. Enthalpy entropy diagram for centrifugal turbine impeller.
Table 1
Design parameters of centrifugal turbine.
Parameters
Total inlet temperature T0*
Total inlet pressure P0*
Outlet backpressure P2
Design speed n
Mass flow rate G
Turbine power W
Rotor efficiency gu
where the shapes of stator blade and rotor blade are showed in
Fig. 5. Besides, Fig. 7 shows the 3D flow diagram of whole turbine.
Similar to centrifugal compressor, the inlet introduces gas into
the turbine. This paper adopts the inlet structure as shown in
Fig. 8 which shows advantages including uniform and axial sym-
metry air input, low flow loss and simple and compact structure.
Moreover, this paper adopts the central streamline method recom-
mended by Ref. [43] to design inlet, as shown in Fig. 9. The central
streamline is the 1/4 arc which is tangent to the axial and radial
directions, and both of the hubline and shroud line adopt the 1/4
ellipse with the same center of the arc. Fig. 10 shows the 3D axial
cross-section of inlet. The structure and design of inlet are similar
to Figs. 8 and 9. According to Ref. [43], the definition of each size is
showed in Table 4.
The structure and design of vaneless diffuser is similar to
Fig. 11. The optimum outlet section diameter D3 of vaneless dif-
1D value [32] Optimal value [33] Unit
fuser is the result from the game between the speed reduction with
550 550 K diffuser and the frictional heating. According to the recommended
320 320 kPa
200 206.934 kPa
value from Ref. [43], the optimum diameter of vaneless diffuser is
6000 6000 r/min D3 = 1.03 ⁄ D2 = 734 mm. The structure and design of outlet is sim-
8 8 kg.s1 ilar to Fig. 12, and the corresponding values are showed in Table 5
480 470 kW based on Ref. [43].
86.59 88.73 %

5. Design for front guide vane of volute

[40,41], and the complete gas as working substance. The design
parameters are showed in Table 1 and the main aerodynamic
parameters and geometric parameters of a centrifugal turbine are
showed in Table 2. The velocity triangle of stage inlet and outlet
is showed in Fig. 4 and the parameter values for speed triangle
are showed in Table 3.
The stator blade and rotor blade adopt the optimized blade pro-
file based on Ref. [42] with 32 stator blades and 43 rotor blades as
shown in Fig. 5. The optimized values of stage aerodynamic perfor-
mance of optimal design are showed in Table 3.
4. Size of stationary accessory flow passage components
By taking centrifugal turbine with simple annular outlet as Ref.
[43], the aerodynamic performance of centrifugal turbine with
volute outlet is studied. Both of the turbines have the same 1D
aerodynamic parameters, stage blade profile and inlet. As shown
in Fig. 6, the main flow passage components of centrifugal turbine
with volute outlet include stationary accessory flow components
(inlet, vaneless diffuser and outlet), stator blade and rotor blade,
The design of volute and its front guide vane for a single stage
centrifugal turbine is conducted. Besides, the performance of this
single stage centrifugal turbine is investigated under both of the
design and off-design conditions. The results are compared with
performance of single stage centrifugal turbine with simple annu-
lar outlet and the same aerodynamic parameters and geometric
parameters.
In order to achieve higher stage efficiency, the absolute flow
angle at the outlet of rotor blades is usually close to 90°. If the
air flows directly into the volute with this angle, then the outline
size of the volute would be very large. Therefore, the front guide
vane plays a role to deflect the absolute flow angle which is close
to 90° to the designed volute inlet angle. The inlet angle in this
paper is set as 30°.
The modeling of front guide vane of volute is conducted with
Software BladeGen. The front guide vanes are designed as straight
and thin plates with the same thickness of 2 mm. The inlet diam-
eter is 714 mm, the inlet blade height is 40 mm, the outlet diame-
ter is 794 mm, and the outlet blade height is 50 mm. The tangent
angle of the camber line varies linearly from the inlet to the outlet.

Table 2
Main aerodynamic parameters and geometric parameters of a centrifugal turbine.

Parameters Values Unit Parameters Values Unit

Speed ratio Xa 0.52 [–] Outlet mach number of stator blade M 0.722 [–]
Reaction degree X 0.2 [–] Blade height H 40 mm
Diameter ratio D2/D1 1.15 [–] Inlet diameter of stator blade D0 528.9 mm
Outlet pressure of stationary blade P1 220 kPa Outlet diameter of stator blade D11 616.3 mm
Velocity coefficient of stator blade u 0.97 [–] Inlet diameter of rotor blade D12 621.3 mm
Velocity coefficient of rotor blade w 0.93 [–] Outlet diameter of rotor blade D2 708.8 mm
476 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485

Table 3
Parameter values for speed triangle.

Parameters Values Unit Parameters Values Unit

a1 12° [–] a2 94.69° [–]
b1 27.86° [–] b2 16.21° [–]
C1 323.05 m/s C2 63.43 m/s
W1 139.39 m/s W2 226.48 m/s
U1 193.62 m/s U2 222.66 m/s

Fig. 6. Meridional plane of flow passage component for centrifugal turbine.

Fig. 5. Stator blade and rotor blade in Ref. [33].
The parameters of tangent angle distribution of camber line and
blade thickness distribution are showed in Fig. 13(a) and (b). The
meridional plane shape of blade is showed in Fig. 13(c). The blade
shape is showed in Fig. 13(d). The inlet tangent angle of the camber
curve is 80° and the outlet tangent angle of the camber curve is 30°,
and the number of blades are 65.
6. Design of volute
vortex [44]. The air flow insides of volute will certainly result in
secondary flow and non-uniform distribution of pressure differ-
ence on cross-section area of volute bend, and then cause relatively
large energy loss. Meanwhile, this non-uniformity will also cause
deviation from design condition for the final stage of turbine and
even the whole impeller, and will reduce the turbine efficiency.
Therefore, improving the performance of volute and the compati-
bility between volute, impeller and guide vane are effective ways
to improve the performance of centrifugal turbine.
The structure and aerodynamic performance of volute are main
components for research on centrifugal turbine technology. During
the designing process, on the one hand, the overall performance
requirement of the whole turbine unit should be satisfied. When
the air flows out of the volute, the flow field should be uniform
with low flow loss; on the other hand, the constraint of overall lay-
out should also be considered. The coordination and matching
between size and aerodynamic performance should be fully con-
sidered to eliminate the effects of negative factors.

Similar to centrifugal compressor, volute locates at the outlet of

centrifugal turbine cascade and its effect is to concentrate and 6.1. Volute design theory
guide the flow of cascade outlet and to convert the kinetic energy
to pressure energy. Although volute is a static component in cen- Fig. 14 shows the volute with single outlet. Normally, the cross-
trifugal turbine, the internal flow is 3D with complex and viscous sections of volutes show circular, rectangular, trapezoidal and pear

Fig. 7. 3D flow diagram of whole turbine.

 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485 477

Fig. 10. 3D axial cross-section of inlet.

cu r ¼ const ð1Þ
(2) The airflow at the outlet of front guide vane is uniform in cir-
Fig. 8. Sketch of inlet structure. cumferential direction and there is:
G
Gu ¼ u ð2Þ
2p
(3) The density of air in the volute maintains the same and
equals to the density q3 at the outlet of front guide vane.
According to these assumptions and based on Fig. 14, it can be
obtained that:
Z Z ra ðuÞ Z r a ðuÞ
dr
Gu ¼ qcu dA ¼ q3 cu bðrÞdr ¼ q3 cu rbðrÞ
r3 r3 r
Z ra ðuÞ
dr
¼ q 3 c u3 r 3 bðrÞ ð3Þ
r3 r
By applying Eq. (3) into Eq. (2), the liner formula of volute is
showed:
Z Z ra ðuÞ
2pq3 cu3 r3 ra ðuÞ dr cu dr
u¼ bðrÞ ¼ 3 bðrÞ
G r3 r c r3 r3 r
Z ra ðuÞ
1 dr
Fig. 9. Central streamline method design drawing for meridional plane of inlet. ¼ bðrÞ ð4Þ
tan a3 r3 r
Based on Eq. (4), the outer contour of volute can be determined
shapes. In order to design the outer contour of volute, in addition after choosing the cross-section shape of volute.
to defining the cross-section shape of the volute, the following
assumptions are also needed to be conducted: 6.2. Design scheme of volute

(1) The air flows freely in the volute without friction, and the There are six main factors that influence the structure and per-
moment of momentum maintains the same: formance of volute: (1) width of volute inlet; (2) inlet diameter r3
of volute; (3) inlet angle of volute; (4) structure and position of

Table 4
Size of inlet.

Symbols Formula Description Values Unit

D0 [–] Outlet diameter of inlet, is also the inlet diameter of the first stage stator blade 526 mm
H0 [–] Outlet width of inlet, is also the inlet blade height of the first stage stator blade 40 mm
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Din Din ¼ 2 D0 H0 Inlet diameter of inlet 290 mm
O [–] Center of the central streamline arc Depending on a2 and b2
R R ¼ D20  D4in Radius of the central streamline arc 192 mm
a1 a1 ¼ R  H20 Half of horizontal axis of shroud elliptical arcs 172 mm
b1 b1 ¼ R  D4in Half of vertical axis of shroud elliptical arcs 118 mm
a2 a2 ¼ R þ H20 Half of horizontal axis of hub elliptical Arcs 212 mm
b2 [–] Half of vertical axis of hub elliptical Arcs 263 mm
r [–] Radius of guiding cone at inlet 2.5 mm
478 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485

Fig. 11. Meridional plane of simple annular outlet.

Fig. 12. Sketch of vaneless diffuser.

volute tongue; (5) cross-section shape of volute; (6) outlet diame- diameter of the front guide vane outlet; the inlet angle of volute
ter Dout of volute. is set as 30°; based on the experience, the position and structure
Where the width of volute inlet equals to the blade height of the of volute tongue is designed as the elliptic arc at 30°; the diameter
front guide vane outlet; the diameter of volute inlet equals to the of volute outlet is determined by Eq. (5).

Table 5
Size of outlet.

Symbol Formula Description Value Unit

D3 Outlet diameter of vaneless diffuser 734 mm
H2 Blade height at outlet for the last stage rotor blade 40 mm
R1 Arc radius of central streamline at outlet 122 mm
R2 R2 = R1 + H2/2 Shroud arc radius of simple annular outlet 142 mm
R3 R3 = R1  H2/2 Hub arc radius of simple annular outlet 102 mm

(a) Tangent angle distribution for camber (b) Thickness distribution for camber
curve curve

(c) Diagrammatic sketch of meridional (c) Blade shape of front guide vane
plane
Fig. 13. Front guide vane of volute.
 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485 479

Fig. 14. Sketch of volute with single outlet [45].

(a) Symmetrical circle (b) Asymmetrical circle (c) Symmetrical pear-shape

Fig. 15. Sketch of cross section shapes of volutes.

(a) Symmetrical circular (b) Asymmetrical circular (c) Symmetrical pear-shaped

Fig. 16. drawing of vloutes.

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4G 48 let absolute velocity of rotor blade, m/s; s is the restitution coef-
Dout ¼ ¼ ¼ 416 mm ð5Þ ficient of residual velocity which is about 0.6–0.8. It is 0.7 in this
pq2 sc2 p  1:4  0:7  60
paper.
Dout is rounded to 450 mm, where G is the turbine flow rate, This paper mainly investigates three types of volutes with
kg/s; q2 is the outlet density of rotor blade, kg/m3; c2 is the out- different cross-section shapes and its influence on aerodynamic
480 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485

Fig. 17. Mesh for the whole centrifugal turbine.

Table 6
Mesh independence study.

No. Total Inlet Volute Stator cascade Moving cascade Front guide cascade Overall efficiency g (%) Shaft power W (kW)
1 3.347E+7 2.19E+6 2.36E+6 7.57E+6 7.30E+6 1.405E+7 87.41 424.8
2 2.032E+7 1.31E+6 1.35E+6 4.87E+6 4.49E+6 8.30E+6 87.46 416.3
3 1.001E+7 6.9E+5 7.9E+5 2.86E+6 2.62E+6 3.05E+6 87.41 418.2
4 5.29E+6 3.4E+5 3.8E+5 1.47E+6 1.35E+6 1.75E+6 86.86 427.7
5 2.92E+6 1.6E+5 2.0E+5 6.7E+5 1.03E+6 8.6E+5 86.01 441.2

Table 7
Performance comparison of centrifugal turbines with different forms of outlet.

Outlet formation Internal stage Overall efficiency Shaft power Flow rate G Stage pressure Reaction Speed
efficiency gu (%) g (%) W (kW) (kg s1) ratio e* degree X ratio xa
Simple annular outlet 86.96 88.84 504.53 8.148 0.6171 0.232 0.527
Symmetrical circular volute 85.79 86.93 481.92 8.2084 0.6285 0.172 0.526
Asymmetrical circular volute 85.78 87.10 483.12 8.2121 0.6278 0.172 0.525
Symmetrical pear shaped volute 85.79 87.36 484.88 8.2167 0.6269 0.172 0.525

performance of centrifugal turbine. Fig. 15 shows the different
sketches of cross section shapes of volutes, and Fig. 16 shows the
corresponding 3D drawing.
6.3. Mesh independence study of centrifugal turbine
In order to study the influence of mesh numbers on perfor-
mance of turbine system, five sets of mesh are adopted, as shown
in Table 6. When the mesh number is higher than 1E+7, there
shows small variation in efficiency and power. Finally, the third
set of mesh was adopted for the following numerical study, and
the total mesh number is about 1E+7.

For whole passage of whole turbine, the influence of different
cross-section area shapes of volutes on performance of centrifugal
turbine is studied. A two-equation k-e turbulent model combined
with standard wall function was chosen as the turbulence model,
and the mesh is showed in Fig. 17. The unstructured mesh is
adopted for the inlet and volute by using ICEM, while the struc-
tured mesh is applied on stator blade, rotor blade and front guide
vane by using TurboGrid. Besides, total temperature and total pres-
sure are applied on inlet, and flow rate is applied on outlet. The
corresponding parameter values are showed in Table 1.
6.4. Research on performance of whole turbine design
Numerical simulation was conducted for centrifugal turbine
with three types of cross section shapes of volutes, as shown
in Fig. 15. The calculation results are compared with turbine
with simple annular outlet, and the performance comparison is
showed in Table 7. Based on Table 7, under the design condition,
the aerodynamic performance shows not much difference
between turbines with three types of cross section shapes,
where turbine with pear-shaped volute shows slightly higher
 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485 481

(b) Streamlined diagram of

(a) Plane streamlined diagram of whole turbine
cascade
Fig. 18. Streamline diagram of planes for whole turbine and cascade with symmetrical circular volute at 50% span.

(a) Cross section 1 (b) Cross section 2 (c) Cross section 3 (d) Cross section 4
Fig. 19. Streamline diagrams of four axial cross sections for symmetrical circular volute.

(b) Streamlined diagram of

(a) Plane streamlined diagram of whole turbine
cascade
Fig. 20. Streamline diagram of planes for whole turbine and cascade with asymmetrical circular volute at 50% span.

performance, and the turbine efficiency and shaft power are
87.36% and 484.88 kW with 85.79% of stage internal efficiency.
While for turbine with simple annular outlet, the turbine effi-
ciency, stage internal efficiency and shaft power are 88.84%,
86.96% and 504.53 kW, respectively, which are all higher than
the turbine with volute.
Fig. 18, Fig. 20 and Fig. 22 show the streamlined diagram of
planes for whole turbine and cascade with three types of cross sec-
tion shapes at 50% span. It can be found that all the flows are
smooth and without flow separation in the centrifugal turbine by
using three types of cross section shapes. Figs. 19, 21 and 23 show
the streamline diagrams of four axial cross sections for volute with
three types of cross section shapes. It can be observed that stream-
lines of four axial cross sections for symmetrical circular volute and
symmetrical pear-shaped volute show a pair of symmetrical
reversed vortices. While for the streamlines of four axial cross sec-
tions for symmetrical circular volute, there shows vortex with uni-
directional rotation.
482 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485

(a) Cross section 1 (b) Cross section 2 (c) Cross section 3 (d) Cross section 4
Fig. 21. Streamline diagrams of four axial cross sections for asymmetrical circular volute.

(b) Streamlined diagram of

(a) Plane streamlined diagram of whole turbine
cascade
Fig. 22. Streamline diagram of planes for whole turbine and cascade with symmetrical pear-shaped volute at 50% span.

(a) Cross section 1 (b) Cross section 2 (c) Cross section 3 (d) Cross section 4
Fig. 23. Streamline diagrams of four axial cross sections for symmetrical pear-shaped volute.

6.5. Performance comparison under off-design condition for whole
turbine
Investigation on off-design performance of turbines with simple
annular outlet and with three types of volute shapes is also con-
ducted in this paper. The total pressure ratio can be adjusted by
changing the outlet back pressure of turbine.
Fig. 24 presents the effects of total pressure ratio on turbine effi-
ciency. It can be found that the turbine efficiency shows the high-
est value when the design total pressure ratio is 0.625; when it is
lower than the design total pressure ratio, with the decrease of
total pressure ratio, the efficiency gradually decreases and then
drops rapidly; when it is higher than the design total pressure
ratio, with the increase of total pressure ratio, the efficiency grad-
ually decreases and then drops quickly; the curves of turbine effi-
ciency varying with total pressure ratio present almost the same
tendency by adopting three cross section shapes of volutes and
all show lower values than turbines with simple annular outlet.
Fig. 25 shows the curves of stage internal efficiency varying
with total pressure ratio. At the design total pressure ratio, there
always shows the highest stage internal efficiency; when it is
lower than the design total pressure ratio, all the stage internal
efficiencies decrease with the decrease of total pressure ratio;
when it is higher than the design total pressure ratio, the stage
 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485
Fig. 24. Turbine efficiency varying with total pressure ratio.
Fig. 25. Stage internal efficiency varying with total pressure ratio.
Fig. 26. Power varying with total pressure ratio.
internal efficiency decreases gradually at first and then drops
rapidly with the increase of total pressure ratio; the variation
curves of stage internal efficiency varying with total pressure ratio
by adopting three types of cross section shapes of volutes show
almost the same tendency; when it is lower than the design pres-
sure ratio, the stage internal efficiency is lower for centrifugal tur-
bine with simple annular outlet compared with turbine with
volute; when it is higher than the design pressure ratio, the stage
483
Fig. 27. Flow rate varying with total pressure ratio.
Fig. 28. Stage pressure ratio varying with total pressure ratio.
Fig. 29. Reaction degree varying with total pressure ratio.
internal efficiency is higher for centrifugal turbine with simple
annular outlet compared with turbine with volute. This phe-
nomenon can be explained based on Fig. 28 with curves of stage
pressure ratio varying with total pressure ratio. With the decrease
of total pressure ratio, the reduction of pressure ratio of centrifugal
turbine with simple annular outlet is much smaller than using
volute.
484 Y. Wang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 131 (2018) 472–485
Fig. 30. Speed ratio varying with total pressure ratio.
Fig. 26 shows the variation of power with total pressure ratio. It
can be found that the power first rises rapidly and then slowly
increases with the drop of total pressure ratio; the variation curves
of power varying with total pressure ratio by adopting three types
of cross section shapes of volutes show almost the same tendency.
When it is lower than the design total pressure ratio, turbines with
different shapes of volutes all show lower power than using simple
annular outlet; when it is higher than the design total pressure
ratio, turbines with simple annular outlet and volute show almost
the same power.
Fig. 27 shows the value of flow rate varying with total pressure
ratio. With the decrease of total pressure ratio, it can be observed
that the flow rate increases rapidly at first and then rises gradually
until reaches the critical flow rate, and maintains the same after
that. The variation curves of flow rate varying with total pressure
ratio by adopting simple annular outlet and volute show almost
the same tendency.
Fig. 28 shows the variation of stage pressure ratio varies with
total pressure ratio. With the decrease of total pressure ratio, it
can be found that the stage pressure ratio decreases rapidly at first
and then drops gradually; the variation curves of stage pressure
ratio varying with total pressure ratio by adopting three types of
volutes with different cross section shapes show almost the same
tendency; when it is lower than the design total pressure ratio,
the stage pressure ratios of centrifugal turbine are all higher than
those turbines with simple annular outlet; when it is higher than
the design total pressure ratio, the stage pressure ratios of centrifu-
gal turbine with volute are the same as those turbines with simple
annular outlet.
Fig. 29 shows the variation of stage reaction degree varies with
total pressure ratio. It can been seen that when it is lower than the
design total pressure ratio, with the decrease of total pressure
ratio, the reaction degree increases quickly at first and then rises
slowly; when it is higher than design total pressure ratio, with
the increase of total pressure ratio, the reaction degree drops grad-
ually at first and then decreases rapidly; by adopting volutes with
three types of cross section shapes, curves of stage reaction degree
of centrifugal turbine varying with total pressure ratio show
almost the same tendency, and are all smaller than those turbines
with simple annular outlet.
Fig. 30 shows the variation of speed ratio varies with total pres-
sure ratio. It can be concluded that speed ratio decreases quickly at
first and then drops down gradually with the decrease of total
pressure ratio; by adopting volutes with three types of cross sec-
tion shapes, curves of speed ratio varying with total pressure ratio
show almost the same tendency; when it is lower than the design
total pressure ratio, the speed ratio shows higher value than those
turbines with simple annular outlet; when it is higher than the
design total pressure ratio, the speed ratios with simple annular
outlet and volute show the same value for turbines.
7. Conclusion
This paper conducted design of volute and front guide vane for
single stage centrifugal turbine, and the investigation on perfor-
mance of single stage turbine was also carried out. The simulation
results were compared with the turbine with the same aerody-
namic parameters, geometrical parameters and simple annular
outlet. The results showed that:
(1) Under both of the design and off-design conditions, there
shows small difference of performances between single
stage turbines with three types of cross section shapes of
volutes. Volute with pear-shaped cross section presents
slightly higher performance and the corresponding turbine
efficiency, stage internal efficiency and power are 87.36%,
85.79% and 484.88 kW, respectively.
(2) Whether under design or off-design conditions, compared
with single stage turbine with simple annular outlet, the
aerodynamic performances of single stage centrifugal tur-
bines by adopting volute are all lower than centrifugal tur-
bines with simple annular outlet.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Grant Nos. 51536006, 51406117) and Scientific Research
Plan Project of Shanghai Committee (Grant No. 17060502300).
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