The Effect of Blade Curvature on the Pico Scale Undershot Water Wheel Performance

At COP 26 (Conference of the Parties 26th), held from October 31 to November 12, 2021, in Glasgow, an agreement was reached that Scotland is committed to reducing the rate of carbon emissions and addressing climate change. A similar meeting, COP 27th, occurred from November 6 to November 18, 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The main objective was to limit the projected global average temperature increase, estimated to reach 2.7 °C by the end of the twenty-first century. Indonesia is actively participating in addressing global climate change. To address this issue, pico hydro turbines are considered a viable option for implementation, especially in remote communities. The undershot water wheel is one type of pico hydro turbine technology deemed suitable due to its believed ease of design, installation, operation, maintenance, and cost-effectiveness compared to other types. Comprehensive studies on comparing curvature in undershot turbine blades have yet to be extensively discussed. This study focuses on determining the optimal blade curvature variations for undershot turbines to achieve maximum efficiency. The study includes variations of blade curvatures at 180°, 160°, and 140°. The numerical methodology employs the ANSYS application to simulate the flow around the designed turbine blades. Based on the study results, it can be concluded that the optimal blade curvature obtained numerically is 140°, with an efficiency of 37.15% for the numerical analysis.