Free flow turbines and their efficiency

Research and Industry Workshop

(May 06, 2011, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK).

University Campus, Michael Atiyah Building, MAB119 from 09:30

Participation is Free, Everybody is Welcome

Most of hydraulic turbines that are presently used for hydropower generation have been developed for installation in water dams across streams. However, dams damage the environment and interfere with fish migration. They also cannot be used for power systems extracting energy from such huge potential sources as ocean currents or lowgrade rivers. Thus, new hydraulic turbines are needed that can operate efficiently in free flow without dams. The principal difference between exploiting high-head and free flow turbines is that the latter need large flow openings to capture as much water masses as possible with low velocities and pressure. It was demonstrated that the efficiency of a free flow turbine is maximal when the resistance is of a free flow turbine rather small and a large part of the flow (~61 percent) goes through.

During this workshop we plan to discuss recent development of free flow turbines theory and practice, to compare various constructions of turbines and to analyse possible efficiency of them. The talks about related topics from gas and fluid dynamics, energy systems engineering and mathematical modelling are also welcome