An in-depth numerical analysis of transient flow field in a Francis turbine during shutdown

Power production from intermittent renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, has increased in the past few decades, leading researchers and engineers to establish techniques to preserve a stable electrical grid. Consequently, hydraulic turbines are being used more frequently in transient operating modes to regulate the grid. The present work provides a comprehensive numerical study on the transient flow field of a high-head Francis turbine model throughout the shutdown sequence. The computations were performed using OpenFOAM, utilizing the SST-SAS turbulence model. A Laplacian smoothing scheme is employed to conduct the mesh deformation of the guide vane domain. The time-averaged draft tube velocity field at the steady Best Efficiency Point (BEP) is validated against experimental data. Then different aspects of the transient flow field in the shutdown sequence are carefully assessed and explained for the first time. Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) analysis is carried out on the fluctuating part of the static pressure and force signals. High-amplitude low-frequency oscillations, due to the formation of a Rotating Vortex Rope (RVR) were observed during a specific period of the shutdown sequence. Thereafter, at deep part load conditions, the RVR vanishes and, a wide range of stochastic frequencies are identified at minimum load. A signal coherence analysis was accomplished to distinguish the deterministic and stochastic frequencies. The variation of the velocity field in the draft tube is described in detail with the help of velocity triangles. An in-depth explanation of the formation and variation of vortical structures during the whole sequence is presented. The physical mechanism of formation and destruction of the RVR is thoroughly explained

Numerical Simulation of Hydraulic Turbine During Transient Operation Using OpenFOAM

Power generation from intermittent renewable energy resources (e.g. wind, solar) requires regulation of the electric grid. Although most hydraulic turbines are designed to work in their best efficiency points, nowadays they are being used more often under varying operating conditions to stabilize the electric grid. Unstable and varying conditions of fluid flow in hydraulic turbines during transient operation cause significant pressure fluctuations and load variations that could negatively affect the turbine lifetime. Therefore, the development of high-fidelity numerical tools for hydraulic turbine flow during transient operation, i.e. changing from one condition to another or during start-up and shut-down, is of great importance for the lifetime prediction of the machines. In the present work, we are investigating the capabilities of the OpenFOAM open-source CFD tool to predict such phenomena. The transient operation of hydraulic turbines most of the time involves changing the guide vane angles while the runner is rotating, which must thus also be allowed by the employed numerical techniques. The high-head Francis-99 turbine is used as a test case, due to the availability of the geometry and rich experimental data. The turbulence resolving computations are performed using the SAS turbulence model. The numerical results are validated against the experimental data and compared with each other in terms of accuracy and usability. The results are also used for describing the flow behaviors during the shutdown

Development of a novel numerical framework in OpenFOAM to simulate Kaplan turbine transients

A novel numerical framework in OpenFOAM is proposed in this work, to simulate transient operation of Kaplan hydraulic turbines. Such transient operations involve a variation of both runner blade and guide vane angles, which also gives rise to a flow rate variation. A numerical simulation of such a process is very challenging, since it requires a deformation of both guide vane and runner meshes, with mesh slip conditions at arbitrarily shaped surfaces, at the same time that the runner mesh is rotating around the turbine axis. The currently available mesh morphing methodologies in OpenFOAM are not able to properly accomplish this. Thus a novel framework for OpenFOAM, including dynamic mesh solvers and boundary conditions, is developed to tackle this problem.The new framework is utilized to simulate the flow during transient operation of the U9-400 Kaplan turbine model. The guide vanes and runner blades are rotated individually around their own axes with a constant rotational speed, while the runner is rotating, and the flow rate is linearly changed with the guide vane angle. It is shown that the novel numerical framework can successfully be utilized to simulate the load change of Kaplan turbines

Energy efficient fish attraction

Fish migration past a hydro power plant (HPP) requires not only flow in the actual fish passage (e.g. fish ladder) but also sufficient water to attract the fish to the entrance. Such attraction water is typically created by spilling water of the order of 10 m3/s, and there are potential savings if the amount of water can be reduced without loss of functionality. The possibility to use ejectors (jet pumps) to pump water from the area downstream of the HPP into the fish passage has been investigated with physical model tests and numerical modelling (CFD). The ambition has been to make use of fairly simple geometries without changing the layout of the suggested fish ladder, and a solution in which the ejectors are located in a separate channel parallel to the fish ladder has been evaluated. The results show that the required spill can be reduced to 1/3 despite the low head (7 m) of the considered HPP, and the savings will be even larger in HPPs with higher head. More energy efficient ways to attract fish can be obtained if the jets are positioned within the actual fish way, but a prerequisite for such solution is that the fish is not intimidated by the jets. Another interesting option to evaluate is the possibility to guide the fish to the fish ladder entrance by an array of individual jets positioned in the river. To investigate these ideas tests with live fish are scheduled during second half of 2018

LES OF TRANSIENTS IN THE FRANCIS-99 WATER TURBINE MODEL

Paper is extended abstract itself

GENERIC CFD FOR VORTEX INDUCED ACOUSTIC RESONANCE IN DEEP CAVITIES

ABSTRACT Extended power uprates (EPUs) of nuclear power plants result in changes in INTRODUCTION Extended power uprates (EPUs) of nuclear power plants result in changes in steam velocity and temperature. These changes increase the risk of flow induced vibrations due to shear layer instabilities and vortex shedding amplified by acoustic resonance. Failure of internal parts in boiling water reactors such as steam dryers and other incidents resulting from flow induced vibrations have been reporte

LES WITH ACOUSTICS AND FSI FOR DEFORMING PLATES IN GAS FLOW

This concerns Flow Induced Vibrations (FIV) in nuclear reactors and numerical analysis of such. Special attention is paid to structural excitation by sound generated remotely and turbulent flow around the structure. One hypothesis was that these phenomena can interact, so that the structure accumulates more energy from the flow if it also excited by sound from another source. In the studies, Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) is simulated with Large Eddy Simulations (LES). It is shown possible to simulate excitation due to both acoustic and turbulence loads using the reported methods, at least qualitatively. The excitation levels are even of the right order of magnitude in some parts. However, there are some shortcomings in the modeling. The most important is perhaps the lack of non-reflecting boundary conditions. Another problem is the strong numerical damping in combination with demanding numerics for the selected solid solution methodology. Three cases are simulated, two for validation and one applied about steam dryers. For the applied case, it is concluded unlikely that excitation by the acoustic and turbulence loads can interact. The main reason is that the flow is controlled more by static geometrical factors, such as solid rotation sharp edges, than small deformations due to vibrations.