Comprehensive experimental and numerical assessment of a drag turbine for river hydrokinetic energy conversion

Nile River is considered as an auspicious area; in particular along with Upper Egypt, to produce electrical energy from the water current which called hydrokinetic energy. This sort of renewable energy is admitted deeply as a unique and uncommon solution for the electric power demand in the remote areas on the rivers’ sides. The hydrokinetic energy of the river stream can be extracted by a submerged vertical axis turbine due to its specific advantages. The main objective of this work is to investigate experimentally the performance of two different Savonius rotor profiles inside an irrigation canal in Toshka, Aswan, Egypt. Furthermore, the rotor with the optimum performance is investigated numerically by adding two shielding plates to further enhancements. The results indicate that the rotor with better fullness has better operating characteristics with a power coefficient 0.1285 at a tip speed ratio of 0.61 that is higher than the other rotor profile by 12%. Moreover, the two shielding plates increased the net average power coefficient at a tip speed ratio at 0.7 for the optimum rotor profile by 84% compared with the conventional design.