francis water turbine pressure streamtraces 1
cfd support logo

Water Turbine CFD

NOTE: WATER TURBINE CFD WAS MERGED WITH TURBOMACHINERY CFD AND FROM SEPTEMBER 2015 CFD SUPPORT DELIVERS ONE COMPREHENSIVE PACKAGE : TURBOMACHINERY CFD

OpenFOAM® based CFD workflow for rotating machinery design

Water Turbine CFD, version 15.02, Water Turbine CFD Manual

Water Turbine CFD is an open-source CFD software package and methodology based on the OpenFOAM® software. It was especially created to enable a quick and efficient design optimization of rotating machinery components.

francis water turbine geometry front
francis turbine cfd openfoam blade 2 blade unwrapped view 3 1
francis turbine cfd openfoam blade 2 blade unwrapped view 9 1
francis turbine cfd openfoam blade 2 blade unwrapped view 10 1

The workflow covers complete process from basic (usually CAD) data over the CFD analysis to significant engineering results. It can be easily automated to save reasonable amount of time and resources.

The package was designed for turbines (Kaplan, Francis) and pumps (axial, radial). Nevertheless, it can be used for wide range of incompressible fluid flows:

  • Turbines (Kaplan, Francis, ...)
  • Pumps (Axial, Radial, ...)
  • Propellers, Impellers, ...
  • Incompressible flows

Water Turbine CFD also includes the Turbo Blade Post – Postprocessing ParaView Plugins. Water Turbine CFD is not dependent on other software but it is fully compatible with standard OpenFOAM® and other software packages. Water Turbine CFD is provided both for Linux (by default) and also for Microsoft Windows OS, see OpenFOAM® for Windows. The package contains detailed nearly two hundred pages long manual including real representative tutorials. Water Turbine CFD manual is available on-line: Water Turbine CFD Manual. The tutorials are guiding the user through the whole process from the basic model data to final results. Once the tutorial is completed, the user can easily repeat the whole process with his own data.

pump cfd openfoam centrifugal radial 0 1
pump cfd openfoam centrifugal radial 30 1
pump cfd openfoam blade to blade paraview pressure 2 1
pump cfd openfoam blade to blade paraview pressure 1 1

Our company is providing full technical support for the package, see General OpenFOAM® Support . Water Turbine CFD is maintained and regularly updated. Our engineers are currently working on additional software modules and extensions covering even more physical problems. To ensure the smooth start of using the methodology at customer’s site we are able to provide extensive training during which our experienced lecturer shows the functionality and answers all the possible questions.

 

                                                     Water Turbine CFD              Standard OpenFOAM®
Open-source Code
Yep
Yep
Unlimited Users, Jobs & Cores
Yep
Yep
Robust Solver for Water Machines
Yep
Nope
Boundary Conditions for Water Machines
Yep
Nope
Real Tutorials for Water Machines
Yep
Nope
Detailed Manual
Yep
Nope
Pre/Postprocessing for Water Machines
Yep
Nope
Automated Process (Workflow)
Yep
Nope
Both Linux & Windows
Yep
Nope
Free of Charge
Nope
Yep

 

Due to the open-source platform the package is highly customizable. Having our technical support any additional functions can be added all over the methodology. Some basic form of support is included in the package. The permanent technical support can be ordered.

francis water turbine pressure distribution 1
francis water turbine pressure streamtraces 1

In Water Turbine CFD our engineers made good use of many years experience with using and developing OpenFOAM®. Especially for this methodology we have developed special OpenFOAM® boundary conditions e.g. to handle the rotor – stator interface or boundary conditions for the inlet and the outlet of the computational domain. The solver for Water Turbine CFD was heavily tested on real machine cases and showed perfect agreement with available measurements.

pump cfd openfoam static pressure distribution cull frontface 17 1
pump cfd openfoam centrifugal radial 19
pump cfd openfoam centrifugal radial 23

The package also contains a number of scripts, OpenFOAM® utilities and OpenFOAM® function objects for preprocessing and postprocessing. To keep complete independence of this methodology the computational mesh is created using OpenFOAM® utility snappyHexMesh. Of course using snappyHexMesh mesh is not necessary, any CFD mesh can be imported and used instead.

Water Turbine CFD includes:

  • Methodology - full, independent, open-source, no licenses, highly customizable
  • Tutorials - working examples, just modify and go
  • Detailed Manual - step-by-step description, from preprocessing to advanced postprocessing
  • Applications - improved & robust solvers and utilities
  • Libraries - special boundary conditions, function objects, flow models
  • Scripts - preprocessing, postprocessing
  • Source Code - all the source code allowing further developing
  • Turbo Blade Post - Postprocessing ParaView Plugins
  • Short-term Support Package - to enable smooth start, certain support package is included
  • Long-term Support Available - highly recommended, also includes regular software updates and maintenance
  • Training Available - both on-site and off-site trainings
Francis water turbine cfd rotor pressure mesh streamtraces top
Kaplan water turbine cfd rotor pressure mesh streamtraces

Technical Specifications & Software Features

  • Incompressible
  • Turbulent Flow
  • Mixing Plane Interface Averaging
  • Fully Parallel Computing
  • Robust OpenFOAM® Solvers
  • Special Boundary Conditions & Function Objects
  • Convergence Monitoring
  • Advanced Postprocessing

Please contact us for further information.