CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF HYDRODYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF INNOVATIVE ARCHIMEDEAN SCREW TURBINES RECOVERING THE HYDROPOTENTIAL OF WATERCOURSES AND OF COASTAL CURRENTS

EXTENDED ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of research carried out within the program ARCHIMEDES III, entitled “Rebirth of Archimedes: contribution to hydraulic mechanics study and Archimedean cochlear waterwheels hydrodynamic behaviour, for recovering the hydraulic potential of natural and technical watercourses, maritime and tidal currents”, concerning series of innovative conventional and unconventional inclined and horizontal axis floating Archimedean screw turbines to be installed in a multitude of very promising sites throughout Greece. These cochlear devices could harness the unexploited Archimedean hydropower potential and kinetic tidal energy potential of Euripos Strait and Cephalonia’s coastal paradox flow. For such innovative Archimedean turbines, an ongoing Ph.D. research has developed a very promising inventory of Greek Archimedean small hydropower potential, series of innovative experimental small-scale models of new cochlear wheels and their hydrodynamic performance prediction methods. The developed Greek Archimedean small hydropower potential inventory estimates that more than 30 TWh could be harnessed and proves that, there are thousands of very promising cochlear potential sites at small waterfalls and many river weirs across the country. Preliminary research efforts proved the useful exploitation of new screw techniques, under the form of innovative Archimedean Inclined Axis Cochlear Turbines (AIACT’s) and innovative Archimedean Water Current Turbines (AWCT’s) with horizontal floating cochlear rotors, harnessing the unexploited flowing hydraulic potential of natural streams, open channels hydraulic works, and coastal and tidal currents as well. These inclined and horizontal axis Archimedean screw rotors have been analyzed from fluid dynamics point of view, by using modern Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques, simulating the behavior of flowing water through the rotating Archimedean blades and investigating the hydrodynamic performances of the AIACT’s and AWCT’s. It seems that, under the current Greek economic situation and in Era of Transition, the very promising results obtained could become the future leading green technology, a viable alternative solution for clean hydro electricity generation and sustainable development in Greece.