IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v325y2025ics0360544225017414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mechanism analysis and suppression strategy of reverse flow phenomenon in variable speed pumped storage units under pump mode

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Chunyang
  • Wu, Haikun
  • Li, JiQing
  • Yu, Xiangyang
  • Nan, Haipeng
  • Guo, Pengcheng
  • Meng, Zhijie
  • Liu, Weixing
  • Shen, Shikang

Abstract

The pump mode of variable-speed pumped storage units (VSPSUs) is significantly influenced by speed regulation. Inadequate speed regulation during transients may induce reverse flow phenomenon (RFP), inducing flow disorder, intensifying local pressure fluctuations and water hammer effects, thereby compromising system stability. However, existing studies lack detailed analysis of RFP mechanisms. Therefore, this paper analyzes the mechanisms of RFP and proposes a suppression strategy. First, RFP is preliminarily analyzed using the pump-turbine's full characteristic curve. A VSPSU model is developed to identify RFP-triggering conditions: low-opening operation or reduced input power. Following this, a detailed examination is performed on how the input power change amplitude, input power change rate, and guide vane closure rate influence the phenomenon. The mismatch between the rates of change in speed and opening leads to a significant disparity between the mechanical and electromagnetic torques of the unit, resulting in increased amplitude of speed fluctuations and, ultimately, RFP. Finally, enhancements are made to the optimal speed generator based on the insights gained from the mechanistic analysis, and a suppression strategy is proposed. This strategy enhances the match between the rates of change in speed and opening, effectively suppressing RFP.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Chunyang & Wu, Haikun & Li, JiQing & Yu, Xiangyang & Nan, Haipeng & Guo, Pengcheng & Meng, Zhijie & Liu, Weixing & Shen, Shikang, 2025. "Mechanism analysis and suppression strategy of reverse flow phenomenon in variable speed pumped storage units under pump mode," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:325:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225017414
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136099
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225017414
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.136099?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Li, Deyou & Zuo, Zhigang & Wang, Hongjie & Liu, Shuhong & Wei, Xianzhu & Qin, Daqing, 2019. "Review of positive slopes on pump performance characteristics of pump-turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 901-916.
    2. Wesseh, Presley K. & Benjamin, Nelson I. & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "The coordination of pumped hydro storage, electric vehicles, and climate policy in imperfect electricity markets: Insights from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Huang, Yifan & Yang, Weijia & Zhao, Zhigao & Han, Wenfu & Li, Yulan & Yang, Jiandong, 2023. "Dynamic modeling and favorable speed command of variable-speed pumped-storage unit during power regulation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 769-783.
    4. Gao, Chunyang & Yu, Xiangyang & Nan, Haipeng & Guo, Pengcheng & Fan, Guoliang & Meng, Zhijie & Ge, Ye & Cai, Qingsen, 2024. "Rotating speed pulling-back control and adaptive strategy of doubly-fed variable speed pumped storage unit," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    5. Lin, Mengke & Shen, Jianjian & Guo, Xihai & Ge, Linsong & Lü, Quan, 2025. "Comparison of pumping station and electrochemical energy storage enhancement mode for hydro-wind-photovoltaic hybrid systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    6. Li, Zhenggui & Xu, Lixin & Wang, Dong & Li, Deyou & Li, Wangxu, 2023. "Simulation analysis of energy characteristics of flow field in the transition process of pump condition outage of pump-turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    7. Bazdar, Elaheh & Sameti, Mohammad & Nasiri, Fuzhan & Haghighat, Fariborz, 2022. "Compressed air energy storage in integrated energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. Prasasti, E.B. & Aouad, M. & Joseph, M. & Zangeneh, M. & Terheiden, K., 2024. "Optimization of pumped hydro energy storage design and operation for offshore low-head application and grid stabilization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Schmidt, J. & Kemmetmüller, W. & Kugi, A., 2017. "Modeling and static optimization of a variable speed pumped storage power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 38-51.
    10. Ren, Yan & Sun, Ketao & Zhang, Kai & Han, Yuping & Zhang, Haonan & Wang, Meijing & Jing, Xiang & Mo, Juhua & Zou, Wenhang & Xing, Xinyang, 2024. "Optimization of the capacity configuration of an abandoned mine pumped storage/wind/photovoltaic integrated system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 374(C).
    11. He, YongXiu & Liu, Yang & Li, MoXing & Zhang, Yan, 2022. "Benefit evaluation and mechanism design of pumped storage plants under the background of power market reform - A case study of China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 796-806.
    12. Gao, Chunyang & Yu, Xiangyang & Nan, Haipeng & Men, Chuangshe & Zhao, Peiyu & Cai, Qingsen & Fu, Jianing, 2021. "Stability and dynamic analysis of doubly-fed variable speed pump turbine governing system based on Hopf bifurcation theory," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 568-579.
    13. Wang, Ran & Yang, Weijia & Huang, Yifan & Li, Xudong & Liu, Yuanhong & Chen, Jingdan & Cheng, Qian & Mei, Yadong & Cheng, Yongguang & Liu, Pan, 2024. "Coordinating regulation reliability and quality of pumped storage units for renewables by a novel scheduling-control synergic model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    14. Li, Deyou & Fu, Xiaolong & Zuo, Zhigang & Wang, Hongjie & Li, Zhenggui & Liu, Shuhong & Wei, Xianzhu, 2019. "Investigation methods for analysis of transient phenomena concerning design and operation of hydraulic-machine systems—A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 26-46.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tan, Xiaoqiang & Li, Chaoshun & Liu, Dong & Wang, He & Xu, Rongli & Lu, Xueding & Zhu, Zhiwei, 2023. "Multi-time scale model reduction strategy of variable-speed pumped storage unit grid-connected system for small-signal oscillation stability analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 985-1009.
    2. Wang, Ran & Yang, Weijia & Huang, Yifan & Li, Xudong & Liu, Yuanhong & Chen, Jingdan & Cheng, Qian & Mei, Yadong & Cheng, Yongguang & Liu, Pan, 2024. "Coordinating regulation reliability and quality of pumped storage units for renewables by a novel scheduling-control synergic model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 376(PA).
    3. Fang, Mingkun & Liang, Quanwei & Xiao, Ruofu & Tao, Ran, 2025. "Mechanistic insights into fatigue behavior of pump-turbine at different guide vanes opening: A study of dynamic stress response and chaos phenomena," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    4. Wang, Wen-Quan & Yu, Zhi-Feng & Yan, Yan & Wei, Xin-Yu, 2024. "Numerical investigation on vortex characteristics in a low-head Francis turbine operating of adjustable-speed at part load conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    5. Zhou, Yanlai & Ning, Zhihao & Huang, Kangkang & Guo, Shenglian & Xu, Chong-Yu & Chang, Fi-John, 2025. "Sustainable energy integration: Enhancing the complementary operation of pumped-storage power and hydropower systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    6. Lu, Guocheng & Li, Deyou & Zuo, Zhigang & Liu, Shuhong & Wang, Hongjie, 2020. "A boundary vorticity diagnosis of the flows in a model pump-turbine in turbine mode," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 1465-1478.
    7. Weidong Chen & Jianyuan Xu, 2025. "Cooperative Optimization Analysis of Variable-Speed and Fixed-Speed Pumped-Storage Units Under Large Disturbances in the Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Yuzhe Chen & Feng Wu & Linjun Shi & Yang Li & Xu Guo & Peng Qi, 2024. "Analysis and Suppression of Oscillations in Doubly Fed Variable Speed Pumped Storage Hydropower Plants Considering the Water Conveyance System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Wang, He & Tan, Xiaoqiang & Lu, Xueding & Zhu, Zhiwei & Xu, Rongli & Liu, Xiaobing & Wang, Zhengwei & Li, Chaoshun, 2024. "Quantitative evaluation and optimization of synergistic regulation performance considering wear in short-term response of hybrid pumped storage systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PA).
    10. Liu, Muyang & Wang, Pengliang & Ge, Chenchen & Mao, Shanxiang & Liang, Shaohui & Chen, Junru, 2025. "An additional guide vane opening control for doubly-fed variable-speed pumped hydro storage to improve frequency response," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    11. Zhang, Xiaowen & Tang, Fangping & Pavesi, Giorgio & Hu, Chongyang & Song, Xijie, 2024. "Influence of gate cutoff effect on flow mode conversion and energy dissipation during power-off of prototype tubular pump system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    12. Prasasti, E.B. & Joseph, M. & Miao, X. & Zangeneh, M. & Terheiden, K., 2024. "Design of shaft- and rim-driven contra-rotating reversible pump-turbine to optimize novel low-head pumped hydro energy storages," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    13. Ameen, Muhammad Tahir & Ma, Zhiwei & Smallbone, Andrew & Norman, Rose & Roskilly, Anthony Paul, 2023. "Demonstration system of pumped heat energy storage (PHES) and its round-trip efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    14. Fan, Xiaoyu & Xu, Hao & Li, Yihong & Li, Junxian & Wang, Zhikang & Gao, Zhaozhao & Ji, Wei & Chen, Liubiao & Wang, Junjie, 2024. "A novel liquid air energy storage system with efficient thermal storage: Comprehensive evaluation of optimal configuration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    15. Yunfei Hu & Kefei Zhang & Sheng Liu & Zhong Wang, 2025. "Research on Day-Ahead Optimal Scheduling of Wind–PV–Thermal–Pumped Storage Based on the Improved Multi-Objective Jellyfish Search Algorithm," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-38, April.
    16. Wei Wang & Yanbin Li & Jinzhong Li & Yun Li, 2024. "Can pumped-storage power stations stimulate rural revitalization? Evidence from the four-party evolutionary game," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 595-645, July.
    17. Zhao, Ziwen & Yuan, Yichen & He, Mengjiao & Jurasz, Jakub & Wang, Jianan & Egusquiza, Mònica & Egusquiza, Eduard & Xu, Beibei & Chen, Diyi, 2022. "Stability and efficiency performance of pumped hydro energy storage system for higher flexibility," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1482-1494.
    18. Lin, Tong & Zhu, Zuchao & Li, Xiaojun & Li, Jian & Lin, Yanpi, 2021. "Theoretical, experimental, and numerical methods to predict the best efficiency point of centrifugal pump as turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 31-44.
    19. Yang, Weijia & Yang, Jiandong, 2019. "Advantage of variable-speed pumped storage plants for mitigating wind power variations: Integrated modelling and performance assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 720-732.
    20. Xiangyang Yu & Yujie Cui & Hao Qi & Chunyang Gao & Ziming He & Haipeng Nan, 2025. "Small-Disturbance Stability Analysis of Doubly Fed Variable-Speed Pumped Storage Units," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-28, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:325:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225017414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.