See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/267594480

Evaluation of Paddle Wheels in Generating Hydroelectric Power

Conference Paper · November 2012

DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2012-85121

CITATIONS READS
8 2,734

2 authors:

Yucheng Liu Yoosef Peymani

Mississippi State University 6 PUBLICATIONS   19 CITATIONS   
207 PUBLICATIONS   1,046 CITATIONS   
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Alternative Energy View project

Mechanical Systems Design View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Yucheng Liu on 24 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Proceedings of the ASME 2012 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition
IMECE2012
November 9-15, 2012, Houston, Texas, USA

IMECE2012-85121

EVALUATION OF PADDLE WHEELS IN GENERATING HYDROELECTRIC POWER

Yucheng Liu Yoosef Peymani

University of Louisiana at Lafayette University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Petroleum Engineering
Lafayette, LA, 70503, USA Lafayette, LA, 70503, USA
(yucheng.liu@louisiana.edu) (yxp05411@louisiana.edu)

ABSTRACT ρ Density of water, 998 m/ft3

This paper presents an innovative analytical model to ω Angular velocity, rpm
correctly evaluate the performance of a paddle wheel in
generating hydroelectric power. The deficiencies of current INTRODUCTION
analytical model in evaluating such performance are pointed Hydroelectricity refers to electricity generated by
out and overcome by the developed analytical algorithm. hydropower, which is derived from the force and energy of
Important factors that affect the paddle wheel’s performance, moving water. It has been agreed that the hydroelectricity is the
such as the drag force, relative velocity, efficiency curve of most widely used form of renewable energy [1]. Compare to
generator, are considered in the developed method. The traditional energy source such as fossil fuel, the
presented method and analytical results are validated through hydroelectricity is environmentally friendly by producing much
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modeling and lower carbon emissions and creating less pollution. Because of
simulation. that merit, approximately 20% of the world’s electricity and
about 88% of electricity from renewable sources comes from
NOMENCLATURE the hydroelectricity, and more hydroelectric projects are
A Wetted area of vertical paddle, m2 planned. Therefore, it is important for designers and engineers
Ai Wetted Area of slanted paddle, m2 to roughly estimate the electric generation performance of a
CD Drag coefficient proposed hydroelectric complex before it is put into
CL Lift coefficient construction to avoid unnecessary investments and wastes. In
D Radius of each paddle, m modern hydroelectricity devices, paddle wheel is a crucial
d Wetted depth of vertical paddle, m mechanism used to generate the hydroelectricity, whose
E Efficiency factor capacity in generating electric power has to be properly
F Force, N modeled and calculated. Unfortunately, existing analytical
gc Conversion factor, N·sec2/kg·m methods have evident deficiencies and cannot correctly
L Length of paddles, m calculate that capacity. The objective of this paper is to provide
P Power, kW an improved analytical model to correctly calculate the electric
q Flow rate, m3/sec generation performance of one paddle wheel and validate it
r Torque handle (distance between centroid of through computer modeling and simulations. The analytical and
paddle to axis of rotation), m computational methods presented in this paper can be applied
T Torque, N·m to evaluate the performance of an entire hydroelectricity
Td Drive torque, N·m complex and other similar devices.
Tr Resistance torque, N·m
v Water velocity, m/sec LITERATURE REVIEW
vr Relative velocity, m/sec Because of its critical role in generating electric power, the
α Angle between each paddle and vertical paddle wheel has been extensively employed in a rich variety
plane, radian of power plants to provide renewable and sustainable power

1 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

generation. For example, paddle wheels will be used in a series (2) The power was calculated based on force and torque, and
of large concrete hydroelectric stations being constructed in the the force was calculated from momentum equation by
Belle Isle Strait, Canada [2]. Paddle wheel can also be found using absolute velocity of the water. Obviously, in this
from the Rance River tidal power plant to generate electricity situation, the relative velocity between the water and the
out of ocean energy [3]. In a microalgal biomass production paddle instead of the water’s absolute velocity should be
station, paddle wheel is even mixing of ponds to achieve a used. Also, in order to acquire a correct evaluation, the
required water velocity (20-25 cm/sec) [4]. force should be calculated as the drag force of the water
that applies on the paddle with drag coefficient of flat
Unfortunately, compare to the numerous applications of object instead of using the momentum equation.
paddle wheel in modern power plants, only a few analytical
(3) Friction of the moving parts and resistance of generator
and numerical methods were developed to predict the electric
were ignored in calculating the angular velocity of the
generation capacity of the paddle wheel. Jiang [5] presented a
paddle.
method to determine the optimal driving surface angle of the
paddle and derive theoretical calculation formula for design of
Due to above deficiencies, the current analytical model
the folding plane paddle. The theoretical results were then
cannot correctly predict the power generation capacity of the
verified through comparing to experimental data. Chen et al.
paddle wheel and an enhanced method has to be developed to
[6] presented an optimal design of paddle-wheel according to
overcome those deficiencies.
the situation that the efficiency was low and cost was high. A
mathematical model was built taking the efficiency as the
IMPROVED ANALYTICAL MODEL TO CALCULATE
optimal objective and the obtained optimal design increased the
GENERATED POWER BY A SINGLE PADDLE
efficiency by 20%. The optimal results obtained using
In this section, an improved analytical method is presented,
MATLAB were also verified through finite element analysis
which eliminates the aforementioned deficiencies of the current
and computer simulations.
method by computing the generated torque based on drag force.
In the new method, the paddle force and torque are calculated
Based on reviewing previous work in evaluating the
separately.
paddle wheel’s performance, it was affirmed that a novel
Paddle force
approach that combines analytical and computational
At first, equations are developed to calculate the paddle
techniques to correctly predict the paddle wheel’s power
force based on their angle to the vertical plane (α), drag
generation capacity has to be developed, which is the
coefficient (CD), and lift coefficient (CL). Important features of
motivation of this study.
the paddle are depicted in Fig. 1. From that figure, one can
have
CURRENT ANALYTICAL METHOD AND
DEFICIENCIES, ONE PADDLE x = Dcosα – (D – d) (3)
We start our work from calculating the power generation
y = x/cosα = [Dcosα – (D – d)]/cosα (4)
performance of a single paddle wheel. Based on the current
analytical method [7], when water impacts a paddle at a A = yL = L[Dcosα – (D – d)] /cosα (5)
velocity v, the generated power P (kWh) from the paddle and
where L is the length of paddle, d the wetted depth of vertical
its angular velocity ω (rpm) is calculated as:
paddle, and A the wetted area (or effective area) of the paddle.
60v (1)

2d The paddle force is then calculated as
qvr (2)
P  T    Fr  v 2 A v 2 (6)
g c (5250) F  (C D  C L )  (C D  C L ) L[ D cos   ( D  d )]
2g c 2g c
where gc is conversion factor, which is 1 N·sec2/kg·m for SI where ρ is density of the water and v is its speed. The angle α
units. of a paddle in the paddle wheel can be determined based on
the angle between two neighboring paddles, which is a
Eqns. (1) and (2) are simple and straightforward, constant.
however, a number of factors that critically affect the rotating
paddle were not considered. Such assumptions oversimplified
the problem and led to incorrect estimation. Important factors
missing in the current analytical method are listed as follows.
(1) It was assumed that the paddle rotates with the same
speed as the water passes through, which is not correct.
Even worse, slip condition was ignored.

2 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

 α

y x
d

Figure 1. Schematic of a single paddle

Paddle torque
Paddle torque can be calculated based on its definition T
= F × r, where the r is the arm of the paddle force F and can be
calculated based on the geometrical shape of the paddle as Figure 2. Efficiency curve for PMG 600
r = [Dcosα + (D – d)]/(2cosα) (7)
Substituting Eqns. (6) and (7) into the torque definition and on
can obtain
v 2
T C D cos   C L sin  LD 2 cos 2   ( D  d ) 2 
4 g c cos 
(8)

Eqns. (6) and (8) explains how to calculate the force and
torque caused by a single paddle. Obviously, the total force
torque generated from the paddle wheel and transferred to shaft
equals to the algebraic summation of each paddle torque. Even
better, if the shape of paddle is symmetric about the vertical
plane, the lift force can be neglected so that CL = 0. Also, for an
inclined paddle, its CD can be calculated from the drag force
coefficient of a vertical paddle (CDv) as CD = CDvcosα. In this
study we assume CDv = 1.2 [7].
Figure 3. Algorithm of calculating angular velocity
Angular velocity
Angular velocity of the paddle depends not only on the Finally, the power generated from a paddle can be
speed of the water and design of the paddle, but also on calculated based on the enhanced torque and angular velocity
resistance of generator and gear ratio. In the current analytical equations as P = T × ω.
model, the influences of generator and gear box were
neglected. Here, it is assumed that the gear ratio is 1:1 (no gear Computer validation
box) and a typical efficiency curve for PMG 600 (Fig. 2) is In order to validate the developed analytical model, a
used for calculating the angular velocity. Certainly, in order to computer model for the vertical paddle is created and used for
correctly predict the paddle wheel’s performance, the efficiency computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Different
curve of the particular generator that is being used in the device water velocities from 4 mph to 10 mph are used for that
is needed. Fig. 3 displays the flow chart of calculating the simulation and the simulation results are compared to the
angular velocity, where the relative velocity (vr) between the analytical results calculated from the developed analytical
water and the paddle is calculated as methods (Eqns. (3) to (9)) to demonstrate the accuracy of the
vr = v – ω × r (9) presented method. In this validation, a vertical stationary
paddle is assumed therefore its angle α = 0º and ω = 0; it is also
assumed that the paddle is a 40 ft × 20 ft rectangular and is
submerged 8 ft into the water. The power generated from a
single paddle is calculated separately using different methods.
The computational results and two sets of analytical results are

3 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

displayed and compared in Table 1 and Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the
distributions of velocity and pressure in the region around the
vertical paddle. Detailed information of computer modeling
and simulation techniques will be introduced latter.

From the displayed results, it can be found that the

computational results agreed very well with the results
calculated from the new analytical method. Therefore, the
accuracy of the developed analytical method in evaluating the
power generated from a single paddle is verified. From the
comparisons, it can also be seen that compare to the new
analytical method and computer simulation, the current method
overestimates the power generation capacity of the paddle
wheel. In coming sections, the developed method will be used
for calculating the generated hydroelectric power from an
entire, rotating paddle wheel.
(a) Contours of pressure (Pa)
Table 1. Comparisons of computational and analytical solutions
of the generated power
Water Analytical Analytical Computer
Difference
velocity results results results
(old) (new)
4 mph 113.8 68.4 kWh 61.5 kWh 11.24%
kWh
5 mph 222.3 133.6 120.1 11.24%
kWh kWh kWh
6 mph 384.2 230.9 207.6 11.23%
kWh kWh kWh
8 mph 910.6 547.3 492.0 11.22%
kWh kWh kWh
10 mph 1778.6 1068.8 961.0 11.21%
kWh kWh kWh
(b) Contour of velocity (mph)
Figure 5. Contour of pressure and velocity around a vertical
paddle (V = 4 mph)

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF A PADDLE WHEEL

In this section, the power generation capacity of an entire
paddle wheel is first calculated through the computer
simulation. To find the performance of a regular paddle wheel,
the computer simulation will always be the first choice because
the analytical calculation may be too complicated and time
consuming. Software package ANSYS FLUENT [8] is used for
modeling, analysis and simulation. The paddle wheel consists
of 16 paddles and only 7 paddles are submerged into water at
the same time.

Computer models
Figure 4. Comparison of computational and analytical results
3D Computer-aided design (CAD) models for the paddle
wheel and the moving water are first created, as shown in Fig.
6. In the generated computational environment, the physical
domain is considered to be only the fluid part and the

4 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

interaction (heat or mass transfer) between the paddle wheel velocity, the torque exerting on the paddles is zero. Following
and water is neglected. this manner, overall 30 simulations are performed. Table 2
illustrates important algorithms, approximations, theoretical
models and other settings.

Table 2. Important CFD analysis settings

Pressure based, double precision,
Solver Type
steady state, 3D
k-ε realizable with standard wall
Viscose Model
function
Fluid Water with density of 998 kg/m3
Rotation Multiple reference frame model
Pressure-Velocity
Coupled
coupling
Gradient discretization Least square cell based
Pressure discretization Standard
Figure 6. CAD model of a paddle wheel under water Momentum
Second order upwind
discretization
Meshes and cells are then generated in the entire domain to
Turbulent kinetic
create the CFD model. As shown in Fig. 7, in the meshed CFD Second order upwind
energy discretization
model, the essential fluid flows are described through these
Turbulent dissipation
cells, which will be solved numerically so that the discrete Second order upwind
energy discretization
values of the flow properties such as the velocity, pressure,
temperature, and other transport parameters of interest can be Convergence Criteria 1×10-4
determined [9]. Velocity inlet (4, 5, 6, 8, 10 mph)
Boundary condition
and ambient pressure outlet

Simulation results
Figs. 8 and 9 display the distribution of the pressure and
water velocity around a stationary paddle wheel at water speed
of 4 mph, respectively. From those figures it can be seen that
the left four paddles mainly contributed in generating the
power while other paddles were indispensible in making a
continuous rotation. It is also obvious that the left four paddles
created most power because of the high pressure and high
velocity around them.

Figure 7. CFD model with meshes and cells

CFD analysis
As shown in Table 1, five water velocities (4, 5, 6, 8, 10
mph) are defined in this CFD model separately and used for
CFD analysis to find the hydropower electricity generation
capacity of the paddle wheel. Under each water velocity, six
equally-increased angular velocities from 0 to maximum value
are applied on the paddle wheel and used for simulation. The
maximum angular velocity is calculated with respect to that the Figure 8. Pressure distribution at water velocity of 4 mph for
net generated torque on the wheel shaft becomes zero. In stationary paddles
another word, when the wheel is rotating by maximum angular

5 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

 0.9 144036 13.6
1.8 102754 19.4
2.7 47573 13.5
3.1 18703 6.1
3.34 0 0.0
Table 6. CFD results at water velocity 8 mph

ω (rpm) Torque (n-m) Power (kW)

0 306592 0.0
1 265981 27.9
Figure 9. Velocity distribution at water velocity of 4 mph for 2 210202 44.0
stationary paddles 3 137453 43.2
The output torque and generated power are calculated from 4 47915 20.1
the thirty simulations and listed in Tables 3 to 7. From those 4.47 0 0.0
results, the performance curves of the paddle wheel under
different water velocities can be obtained, which are plotted in Table 7. CFD results at water velocity 10 mph
Figs. 10 to 14. From those figures, it is obvious that the
ω (rpm) Torque (n-m) Power (kW)
relationship between the torque and the angular velocity can be
fitted with second order polynomials. Finally, the relationships 0 39292 0.0
of generated torque and power to the paddle wheel’s angular 1.25 34090 54.4
velocity are investigated, which are displayed in Figs. 15 and
16, respectively. 2.5 26980 86.1
3.75 17681 84.7
Table 3. CFD results at water velocity 4 mph 5 6262 40.0
ω (rpm) Torque (n-m) Power (kW) 5.61 0 0.0
0 76627 0.0
0.5 66544 3.5
1 52316 5.5
1.5 33943 5.3
2 11217 2.3
2.205 0 0.0
Table 4. CFD results at water velocity 5 mph

ω (rpm) Torque (n-m) Power (kW)

0 119750 0.0
0.75 100060 7.9
1.5 71213 11.2 Figure 10. Performance curve for water velocity of 4 mph
2.1 41343 9.1
2.5 17825 4.7
2.7799 0 0.0

Table 5. CFD results at water velocity 6 mph

ω (rpm) Torque (n-m) Power (kW)

0 172444 0.0

6 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

Figure 11. Performance curve for water velocity of 5 mph Figure 14. Performance curve for water velocity of 10 mph

Figure 15. Relationships between torque and angular velocity

Figure 12. Performance curve for water velocity of 6 mph

Figure 16. Relationships between power and angular velocity

Figure 13. Performance curve for water velocity of 8 mph Discussions

Based on the computational results, it can be found that the
left four paddles produced the majority of hydropower.
Therefore, the analytical model must be established based on
those paddles to correctly predict the power generation capacity
of the whole paddle wheel. It is also found that when the
angular velocity increases, the paddle force decreases. In
current analytical model, the generated power is calculated by
multiplying the maximum torque and the peak angular velocity,

7 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

which will unavoidably overestimate the performance of the vri = v – ωricosαi (12)
paddle wheel. This is because the maximum torque and angular
velocity cannot appear at the same time. A critical point at Finally, the resultant driving force and torque that are
which the product of the torque and angular velocity is applied on the front surface of the left three paddles can be
maximum should be located in order to find the maximum computed using Eqns. (13) to (15) (refer to Eqns. (6) to (8) by
output power. Actually, the performance curves displayed neglecting lift force).
through Figs. 10 to 14 can be used to determine the maximum
power generated from a paddle wheel. Furthermore, if those v ri 2 Aei v ri , (i = 1, 2, 3, 4)
Fi  C D cos  i
performance curves are employed with the performance curve 2g c | v ri |
of the electric power generator, the natural point (intersection (13)
of the paddle wheel’s performance curve and the generator’s
performance curve) and the generated hydroelectric power can Ti = riFicosαi (14)
be easily determined by drawing the paddle wheel’s and the 3

generator’s performance curves together. Td   Ti (15)

i 1

ANALYTICAL ANALYSIS OF A PADDLE WHEEL Resistance force

An analytical model of the paddle wheel is developed The resistance force is caused by the friction force of water
based on the previous analytical model for a single paddle. In on back of all paddles. The resistance force is divided in two
order to correctly estimate the paddle wheel’s capacity in parts: shear and normal forces. The shear force is caused by
generating power, the force exerting on a single paddle is tangential viscous forces between the water and the paddles
divided into two forces: driving force and resistance force. The while the normal force is generated by normal impact of the
driving force is caused by the force that water exerts on front of watter on the paddles. The shear force can be neglected in
the paddles and the resistance force is due to confrontation of comparison with the normal force because of its small
water which is against rotation of the paddles. Drag coefficients magnitude. In order to simplify the model, the resistance force
are considered for both types of forces. is approximated as the normal drag force exerting on back
surface of each paddle, and is uniformly distributed through
Driving force entire area. In determining the resistance force, the effective
As illustrated in simulation results (section “Computer area is considered to be entire wetted surface of paddles, as
Simulation of A Paddle Wheel), the left four paddles generated described in Eqn. (16). The existence of water behind all of the
most force to rotate the wheel and produced majority of submerged paddles leads to the resistance forces that affect on
hydropower. Therefore, the driving force is only calculated as all paddles that submerged into the water (7 paddles total).
the summation of the forces that exerted on the four paddles Thus, different from the driving force, all paddles have to be
(Fig. 17). The effective area for each paddle can be estimated considered in calculating the resistance force. By taking the
using Eqn. (5) as same assumption as calculating the driving force, the distance
L[ D cos  1  ( D  d )] of each paddle to its axis of rotation is determined using Eqn.
Ae1  (17). In calculating the resistance force, the velocity that water
cos  1
hits on the back of each paddle is only related to the angular
DL[cos  i  cos  i 1 ] , (i = 2, 3, 4) (10) velocity of the paddle wheel, which is vi = riω. Thus, the
Aei  resistance force and its corresponding torque which are applied
cos  i
on the back surface of each paddle is computed as
It is appropriate to assume that the driving force is exerted L[ D cos  i  ( D  d )] (16)
Ai 
on the midpoint of the effective area, then the torque handle cos  i
can be calculated as
D cos  i  ( D  d ) (17)
D cos  1  ( D  d ) ri 
r1  2 cos  i
2 cos  1
 v i 2 Aei , (i = 1, 2, …, 7) (18)
Fi  C D
D[cos  i  cos  i 1 ] , (i = 2, 3, 4) (11) 2g c
ri 
2 cos  i
Ti = -riFi (19)
3
Eqn. (9) can be modified to calculate the relative velocity
of paddles (vri) based on the angular velocity of the wheel and Tr   Ti (20)
i 1
the water velocity (v) as

8 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

 The total torque which is caused by the driving force and
the resistance force then can be determined as
T = Td + T r (21)

As mentioned in section 3, the drag coefficient CD is

assumed as 1.2, which will be verified through analytical
calculations and computational simulations. A free body
diagram of the analytical model is plotted in Fig. 17.

Water Velocity Figure 18. Comparison of performance curves at water velocity

V0 α1
Ae 1 4 mph
Fb7
A=
F1 α2
α3
Fb1

6
Fb
Fb
2
Fb5
e2

Fb3
A

F2
Fb4

F3
3
Ae

Ae4

F4

Figure 17. Schematic of the analytical model

Validation Figure 19. Comparison of performance curves at water velocity
After developing the analytical model, it is used to 5 mph
compute the power generated by a paddle wheel which has 16
paddles at different water velocities. The analytical results are
then validated by comparing to the computational results, as
shown in Figs. (18) to (22). From those figures it can be found
that the analytical model correctly predicted the generated
power when the paddle wheel rotated at low angular velocities
(< optimum angular velocity) while it slightly overestimated
the generated power under high angular velocities (> optimum
angular velocity). This is because that at high angular
velocities, the flow pattern changes from turbulent flow to
laminar flow and the drag coefficient dramatically drops, which
directly causes the decrease in driving force. It is evident that in
order to improve the accuracy of the present analytical model, a
precise drag coefficient for the laminar flow has to be
determined. Figure 20. Comparison of performance curves at water velocity
6 mph

9 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

 In summary, this paper provides two techniques, analytical
method and computational method, to correctly evaluate the
power generation capacity of a single paddle and an entire
paddle wheel in moving water. The presented methods can be
extensively used in early design stage to estimate the
performance of the planned power plant. With specified electric
power generators and appropriate gear ratios, the presented
methods can be used to evaluate the output electricity generated
by any hydroelectricity device. In the future, this work can be
extended along several directions. (1) New method needs to be
developed to correctly evaluate the drag coefficient under the
laminar flow. (2) For a certain hydroelectricity device which
may include an array of paddle wheels, optimum design needs
to be performed on each paddle to find its best generator and
gear ratio so as to maximize the output hydroelectric power of
Figure 21. Comparison of performance curves at water velocity
the entire device.
8 mph
REFERENCES
[1] S.K. Jain, “Hydroelectric power”, Water Encyclopedia,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.
[2] A. Derradji-Aouat, M. Lau, “Ice loads on electric power
generating stations to harness ocean energy in the Belle Isle
Strait”, Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Port
and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions, Potsdam,
New York, 2004.
[3] R.H. Charlier, “Forty candles for the Rance River TPP tides
provide renewable and sustainable power generation”,
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 11(9), 2007,
2032-3057.
Figure 22. Comparison of performance curves at water velocity [4] D.E. Brune, T.J. Lundquist and J.R. Benemann, “Microalgal
10 mph biomass for greenhouse gas reductions: potential for
replacement of fossil fuels and animal feeds”, Journal of
Environmental Engineering, 135(11), 2009, 1136-1144.
CONCLUSION
This paper presents an analytical model to correctly predict [5] C.-X. Jiang, “The research on type and driving surface
the hydropower generation capacity of a paddle wheel. angle of the driving-wheel paddle of boat-type tillage
Compare to current method, the developed analytical model machine”, Transactions of The Chinese Society of Agricultural
considers the effects of drag force and the resistance force Machinery, 3, 1984.
which is caused by the friction between the paddles and the [6] J.-W. Chen, L.-Z. Zhang and C.-X. Bai, “Optimal design of
moving water. Relative velocity between the water and the paddle-wheel of SCSGJ-2.6 small aquatic weed harvesters”,
paddles are used instead of the absolute velocity of water. Even Journal of Anhui Agricultural Sciences, 8, 2008.
better, the efficiency curve of generator is applied in the new
model to determine the angular velocity of the paddles. [7] J.J. Bloomer, Practical Fluid Mechanics for Engineering
Performance curves of the paddle wheel are plotted with Applications, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1999.
respect to different water velocities to display the output power [8] ANSYS Fluent Tutorial, ANSYS Inc., 2009.
calculated based on different torques and angular velocities.
The analytical model is then validated through computer [9] J.-Y. Tu, G.-H. Yeoh, C.-Q. Liu, Computational Fluid
simulations. It is found that the analytical results agreed with Dynamics: a Practical Approach, Butterworth-Heinemann,
the simulation results very well, especially when the paddle 2008.
wheel rotated at low angular velocities. However, the analytical
model overestimates the capacity of the paddle wheel when it
rotated at high angular velocities, which is because the flow
pattern changes to laminar flow at the high angular velocities
and the drag coefficient has to be re-determined.

10 Copyright © 2012 by ASME

View publication stats