Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 10, 2025

A Rapid Method for Modeling a Variable Cycle Engine
Published on: August 13, 2019
Design and Analysis of In-Pipe Hydro-Turbine for an Optimized Nearly Zero Energy Building
Muhammad Shahbaz Aziz1, Muhammad Adil Khan1,2, Harun Jamil3
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air University Islamabad, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
Abstract:
Pakistan receives Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) exceeding 2000 kWh/m²/annum on approximately 83% of its land, which is very suitable for photovoltaic production. This energy can be easily utilized in conjunction with other renewable energy resources to meet the energy demands and reduce the carbon footprint of the country. In this research, a hybrid renewable energy solution based on a nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) model is proposed for a university facility. The building in consideration has a continuous flow of water through its water delivery vertical pipelines. A horizontal-axis spherical helical turbine is designed in SolidWorks and is analyzed through a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis in ANSYS Fluent 18.1 based on the K-epsilon turbulent model. Results obtained from ANSYS Fluent have shown that a 24 feet vertical channel with a water flow of 0.2309 m3/s and velocity of 12.66 m/s can run the designed hydroelectric turbine, delivering 168 W of mechanical power at 250 r.p.m. Based on the turbine, a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) comprising photovoltaic and hydroelectric power is modelled and analyzed in HOMER Pro software. Among different architectures, it was found that architecture with hydroelectric and photovoltaic energy provided the best COE of $0.09418.
Related Concept Videos
Conservation of Energy in Control Volume
For steady flow systems, the time derivative of the stored energy becomes zero since there is no energy accumulation within the control volume. This simplifies the energy equation to:
Single Pipe Systems
In a Type I problem, fluid properties (density and viscosity), pipe characteristics (including diameter, length, and surface roughness), and the flow rate or average velocity are...
Design Example: Designing a Residential Plumbing System
Energy Considerations in Open Channel Flow
Energy Conservation and Bernoulli's Equation
All the terms in the equation have the dimension of energy per unit volume. The kinetic energy per unit volume is called the kinetic energy density, and the potential energy per unit volume is...
Design Example: Creating a Hydraulic Model of a Dam Spillway

