1.

ParametersofanArchimedeanscrewhydroturbine
The geometry of an Archimedean screw turbine depends on two types of
• parameters:Internalparameters.Theycanbeappropriatelychosenand/ormodifiedatdesignti
me.
• Externalparameters.Theydependontheinstallationlocation,hencetheycannotbechangedbythe
designingengineer.
Thedesigningoftheturbineaimsatassessingoptimalvaluesoftheinternalparametersbasedontheexternalones.
Figure1showstheschematicofanArchimedeanscrewoperatingasaturbine,togetherwithitsmaininternal
parametersthatcharacterizeitsgeometry.Theseparametersarethefollowing:
• outer(exterior)diameterandradius,DeandRe,respectively(m);
• inner(hub)diameterandradius,DiandRi,respectively(m);
• screwlength,L(m);
• installationangle,i.e.theanglebuildbytherunnerwiththehorizontal,θ(degrees);
• screwslope,K=tanθ;
• bladepitch,Λ(m);
• numberofblades,N.
TwodimensionlessparametersareparticularlyimportantforthedesignofanArchimedeanscrew:
• diameterratio, Ri
Di
; (1)
δ = =
De Re

• dimensionlesspitch,asproposedbyRorres[5]:
KΛ KΛ
λ= = . (2)
2πRe πDe

Fromthepointofviewoftheturbineoperation,theimportantparametersarethefollowing:
• turbinehead,H(m);
• turbinedischarge,Q(m);
• turbinespeed,n(rpm);
• hydraulicpower(poweravailableinthewaterstreamthatflowsthroughtheturbine),Ph(kW);
• shaft(ormechanical)power,Ps(kW);
• turbineefficiency,η.
Oftheaforementionedparameters,theheadH,thedischargeQ,andthehydraulicpowerPhareexternalparamet
ers,whiletheturbinespeedn,theshaftpowerPs,andtheturbineefficiencyηcanbeconsideredinternalparameter
s,sincetheylargelydependonthedesignoftheturbine.

2. Designconsiderations
3.1. Designparameters
The design parameters of an AST are usually the head H and the discharge Q that are available at
theinstallation site. Regarding the head, a few considerations are necessary. Due to the geometry of
theturbine, it can be considered that the areas of the inlet and outlet sections are roughly equal, hence
themeanvelocitiesofthewaterthroughthesesectionsarealsoroughlyequal.Theflowthroughtheentire

turbinehasafreesurface,whichallowsustoconsiderthatthestaticpressuresatturbineinletandoutletequaltheat
mosphericpressure.Then,theturbineheadcanbeestimatedasfollows:

H=z1−z2, (3)

wherez1 andz2
aretheheightsofthefreesurfaceatturbineinletandoutlet,respectively,measuredfromaconvenientlychosenre
ferenceplane.

3.2. Installationangle
Fromtheeconomicalpointofview,avalueoftheinstallationangleashighaspossibleispreferred,sincea larger
installation angle leads to a shorter screw, hence to lower manufacturing costs. However,
theincreaseoftheinstallationangleaboveacertainvaluerequiresthescrewtobeinstalledinsideatubetoavoidth
edrainingofthewaterbuckets.Asaresults,theturbinecangetcompletelyfilledwithwaterandthe Archimedean
screw becomes more or less an axial turbine, being probably more efficient to replace itwithapropeller-
typeturbine.
Fromthepointofviewoftheturbineefficiencyandpowerextracted,experimentalstudiescarriedoutby
Lyons [7] showed that there is no significant increase in peak efficiency when the installation
angleincreases roughly above 25◦, whilethe maximum power canbe obtained for installation anglesthat
are
roughlybetween30◦and35◦.
Forpracticalreasons,whichaimtolimitthelengthofthescrewandtoinstallitaseasilyaspossible,
while ensuring the highest possible efficiency and maintaining the advantages offered by ASTs,
aninstallation angle of 30◦or even of 35◦can be chosen. It is interesting to note that the latter value
isveryclosetothatofthescrewsbuiltbyVitruvius[8],thathaveslopesequalto3/4,correspondingtoaninstallati
onangleof36.87◦.

3.3. Screwlength
Thelengthofthescrew,L,dependsonturbineheightandinstallationangleaccordingtothefollowingrelationship
:

Inparticular,whentheinstallationangleisof30◦,thelengthofthescrewequalstwicetheturbinehead.

3.4. Numberofblades(flights)
The criterion that should be considered when choosing the number of blades of an AST is to
maximizethepowertransmittedtotheshaftwhilekeepingtherunneraslightaspossible.
The increase in the number of blades of an Achimedean screw leads to an increase in the number
ofwaterbucketsthatformbetweenthebladestogetherwithadecreaseinthevolumeofeachbucket.Also,thesho
cklossesatrunnerentryandtheviscouslossesinsidetherunnerareexpectedtoincrease[9].A larger number of
blades increases the screw weight and, consequently, the loads on the shaft andbearings, the friction
losses inside the bearings, and the costs of manufacturing, transporting, and installingthe turbine. Even the
useful volume of the runner (i.e. the volume that allows the water flow) could beadversely affected to
some extent by a too large number of blades, since the blades must have a
certainthicknessthatdiminishestheusefulvolume.
Lyons [7] observed experimentally that the increase in the number of blades over N = 3 leads to only
amarginal increase in efficiency, while the decrease in the number of blades to N = 2 causes a
significantreduction in turbine performance. The fact that an increase in the number of blades over N= 3
does
notleadtoasignificantincreaseintheperformanceofascrewturbinehasbeenobservedexperimentallybySongi
n[9]aswell.ItcanbeconcludedthattheoptimalnumberofbladesofanASTisN=3.

3.5. Diameterratio
Based on experimental results obtained for ASPs, Nagel [4] recommends diameter ratios between
0.45and 0.55. After an optimization study, Rorres [5] concluded that the diameter ratio of an ASP should be
ofabout0.54whenthenumberofbladesrangesfrom1to4.
The decrease in diameter ratio, δ , leads to an increase in blade surface, accompanied by an
increaseinthehydrostaticforcesthatactontheblades.Ontheonehand,theaxialcomponentofthehydrostaticfor
ce increases, causing a higher axial thrust that loads the bearings. On the other hand, the
tangentialcomponentofthehydrostaticforceincreasesaswell,butitgetsappliedatasmallerradius,whichmean
sthat the torque it produces is not expected to increase significantly. The last remark is supported by
theexperimentalresultspresentedbyLyons[7]forASTs,accordingtowhichthepeaktorqueincreasesasδdecre
ases,buttheincreaseinpeaktorqueatdiameterratiosbelow0.5isonlymarginal.

3.6. Bladepitch
A first remark concerning the blade pitch is that it has an upper bound, that results from the
conditionthat,duringthenormaloperationoftheturbine,thewaterdoesnotflowovertheouteredgeoftheblade
fromonewaterbucketintothenextonelocateddownstream.FromFigure1itresultsthatthisconditionisfulfilledwhen
θ≤α. (8)
Consideringtheexpressionsofθandα,thefollowingconditioncanbederivedforthebladepitch:

Λ≤2πRe/K. (9)

For obtaining optimal performances of ASPs, Nagel [4] showed that, depending on θ , the blade
pitchshould be from 1.6 to 2.4 times higher than the outer radius Reand recommended a standard value Λ =
2Rethatshouldbeadoptedforavoidingtoomanydesignvariantsandincreasedmanufacturingcosts.Rorrespro
posedthedimensionlesspitchλgivenbyEquation(2)andestimatedtheoptimalvaluesofthispitch
depending on the number of blades, so that the volume of a water bucket is maximal. Table 1
summarizestheresultsofNagelandRorresintermsofthedimensionlesspitch.

3.8 Outerdiameter
ThechoiceoftheouterdiameterofanArchimedeanscrew,De,isstronglyrelatedtotheturbinespeed.
Nagel[4]recommendsthatthevalueofthespeedinrpmdoesnotexceedtheupperthreshold
50
n= .2/3 (13)
De
Forexample,ascrewwithanouterdiameterof1mshouldoperateataspeednohigherthan50rpm[2].The speed
limitation comes from the condition of avoiding the splashing of water outside the turbineduring
normal operation, which could cause an undesired and uncontrolled emptying of the water
buckets.Toreduceasmuchaspossiblethegearratioand,consequently,thesizeofthespeedincreasinggearbox,thetur
binespeedshouldbechosenascloseaspossibletothemaximumvaluegivenbyEquation(13).
On the other hand, the turbine speed should be chosen so that the flow rate absorbed by the
runnerduring a full rotation equals the discharge. Assuming that N buckets get filled with water during
a fullrotation,thefollowingrelationshipcanbederived:
60Q
n= , (14)
NVb
whereVbis the volume of a bucket.
AseriousproblemthatariseswhendesigninganASTisthecalculationofthevolumeVb.Normally,thisvolu
mestronglydependsontheturbinedischargeandonhowthebladepitchandtheturbinespeedarechosen.