In this paper, the design method of a low-head propeller-type hydro turbine is studied for various numbers of blades on an axial propeller. We also investigate the relationship between geometrical parameters and internal performance parameters, such as angular velocities (100, 200, 300, 400 rpm) and 2.5~4m low heads through a three-dimensional numerical method with the SST turbulent model. The numerical results showed that the blade number had a more dominant influence than the change in heads and rotational speed on the flow characteristics of the turbine. The distributions of pressure and velocity in the streamwise direction of the propeller turbine were graphically depicted. Especially, the relationship among dimensionless parameters like specific speed (Ns), flow coefficient (φ) and power coefficient were investigated.

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Two-stage turbocharging is an important way to raise engine power density, to realize energy saving and emission reducing. At present, turbine matching of two- stage turbocharger is based on MAP of turbine. The matching method does not take the effect of turbines' interaction into consideration, assuming that flow at high pressure turbine outlet and low pressure turbine inlet is uniform. Actually, there is swirl flow at outlet of high pressure turbine, and the swirl flow will influence performance of low pressure turbine which influencing performance of engine further. Three-dimension models of turbines with two-stage turbocharger were built in this paper. Based on the turbine models, mechanism of swirl flow at high pressure turbine outlet influencing low pressure turbine performance was studied and a two-stage radial counter-rotation turbine system was raised. Mechanisms of the influence of counter-rotation turbine system acting on low-pressure turbine were studied using simulation method. The research result proved that in condition of small turbine flow rate corresponding to engine low-speed working condition, counter-rotation turbine system can effectively decrease the influence of swirl flow at high pressure turbine outlet imposing on low pressure turbine and increases efficiency of the low-pressure turbine, furthermore increases the low-speed performance of the engine.

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While performing numerical simulations, it is general industrial practice to neglect the clearance gap between the impeller and the inlet duct. In the present work, the effect of clearance gap on the performance of an industrial sized centrifugal blower is simulated for two volutes of width ratios and various flow coefficients. The results show that the clearance has a positive effect at low mass flow rates. This is observed in the pressure rise (1.3%) as well as in efficiency (0.7%). At higher mass flow rates, it has a negative effect with a drop in efficiency of 1% and pressure drop of about 1.4%. The effect of clearance gap on volute with higher width ratio is smaller when compared with the volute with smaller width ratio.

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This paper reports the 1-D fluid transient simulation results of the discharge flow conditions in a 6-cylinder reciprocating slurry pump. Two discharge manifold configurations are studied comparatively; a case with a hexagon shaped discharge manifold where each cylinder discharges at a single vertex, and a case where all the cylinders discharges are lumped together into a tank shaped manifold. In addition, the study examines the effect of two pulsation mitigation measures in the case of hexagonal manifold; a single inline orifice in one of the hexagon sides and a volumetric dampener at the manifold outlet. The study establishes the pressure and flow fluctuation characteristics of each configuration and decouples the pulsation characteristics of the pump and the discharge manifold.

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To improve annular jet pump (AJP) performance, new ways named constant rate of velocity/pressure change method (CRVC/CRPC) were adopted to design its diffuser. The design formulas were derived according to the assumption of linear velocity/pressure variation in the diffuser. Based on the two-dimensional numerical simulations, the effect of the diffuser profile and the included angle on the pump performance and the internal flow details has been analyzed. The predicted results of the RNG k-epsilon turbulence model show a better agreement with the experiment data than that of the standard and the realizable k-epsilon turbulence models. The AJP with the CRPC diffuser produces a linear pressure increase in the CRPC diffuser as expected. The AJP with CRPC/CRVC diffuser has better performance when the diffuser included angle is greater or the diffuser length is shorter. Therefore, the AJP with CRPC/CRVC diffuser is suitable for applications requiring space limitation and weight restriction.

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A two-dimensional Darrieus-type hydroturbine system, installed with a wear for flow streams such as small rivers and waterways, has been developed for hydropower utilization of extra-low head less than 2m. There are several problems such as flow rate change and flowing wastes to be solved for its practical use in natural flow streams. In the present study, at first, a design guideline in the case of overflow or bypass flow is shown by using simple flow model. Next, in order to avoid the unexpected obstacles flowing into the hydroturbine, an installation of waste screening system is examined. It is confirmed that the screen is effective with some amount of bypass flow rate, however the output power is remarkably deteriorated.

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