IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v151y2020icp238-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigation of Rotating Vortex Rope formation during load variation in a Francis turbine draft tube

Author

Listed:
  • Sotoudeh, Nahale
  • Maddahian, Reza
  • Cervantes, Michel J.

Abstract

Rotating Vortex Rope (RVR) has been a matter of focus for years due to the major effects on hydraulic turbine’s efficiency. The exact procedure of RVR formation is still vague. The present research focuses on the dynamics of the RVR formation during the load variation employing transient numerical simulations. Two different geometries including the full geometry and the reduced one, which consists of one stay vane, two guide vanes, one runner blade, one splitter blade and full draft tube, are considered. In order to capture the transient swirling flow features inside the draft tube, the Shear Stress Transport-Scale Adaptive Simulation (SST-SAS) model is utilized to approximate the turbulent stresses. The pressure results inside the draft tube agree well with the experimental measurements. Moreover, the velocity results show the central low-axial-velocity and high-tangential-velocity region in the draft tube properly. The flow structure is visualized using λ2 criterion. The dynamic of RVR and the physics behind the RVR formation are investigated during the load variation. The results indicate four flow regimes with different characteristics during RVR formation. The first flow regime is a stable swirling structure occurring at Best Efficiency Point (BEP). The second flow regime occurs at the beginning of the load variation where signs of flow instabilities appear. These instabilities are temporary and washed down by the upstream flow. Expanding the instabilities and creating the vortical structures in the draft tube are the important flow features in the third flow regime. The fourth flow regime is the presence of a developed rotating rope occurring at the Part Load (PL) condition. The flow regimes differ according to the size and shape of the stalled region during load rejection inside the draft tube cone. They also reveal that despite some shortcomings, the reduced model is reliable to simulate the RVR transient formation. The full geometry simulations could be also applicable for practical problems provided that the modified time step is slightly greater than the main blade rotational angle is used.

Suggested Citation

  • Sotoudeh, Nahale & Maddahian, Reza & Cervantes, Michel J., 2020. "Investigation of Rotating Vortex Rope formation during load variation in a Francis turbine draft tube," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 238-254.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:151:y:2020:i:c:p:238-254
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.11.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148119316891
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2019.11.014?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chirag Trivedi & Michel J. Cervantes & B. K. Gandhi, 2016. "Investigation of a High Head Francis Turbine at Runaway Operating Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Goyal, Rahul & Gandhi, Bhupendra K., 2018. "Review of hydrodynamics instabilities in Francis turbine during off-design and transient operations," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 697-709.
    3. KC, Anup & Lee, Young Ho & Thapa, Bhola, 2016. "CFD study on prediction of vortex shedding in draft tube of Francis turbine and vortex control techniques," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1406-1421.
    4. Trivedi, Chirag & Agnalt, Einar & Dahlhaug, Ole Gunnar, 2018. "Experimental study of a Francis turbine under variable-speed and discharge conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 447-458.
    5. Goyal, Rahul & Gandhi, B.K. & Cervantes, Michel J., 2018. "PIV measurements in Francis turbine – A review and application to transient operations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2976-2991.
    6. Laouari, Ahmed & Ghenaiet, Adel, 2019. "Predicting unsteady behavior of a small francis turbine at several operating points," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 712-724.
    7. Trivedi, Chirag & Agnalt, Einar & Dahlhaug, Ole Gunnar, 2017. "Investigations of unsteady pressure loading in a Francis turbine during variable-speed operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 397-410.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhumei Luo & Cong Nie & Shunli Lv & Tao Guo & Suoming Gao, 2022. "The Effect of J-Groove on Vortex Suppression and Energy Dissipation in a Draft Tube of Francis Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Binama, Maxime & Kan, Kan & Chen, Hui-Xiang & Zheng, Yuan & Zhou, Daqing & Su, Wen-Tao & Muhirwa, Alexis & Ntayomba, James, 2021. "Flow instability transferability characteristics within a reversible pump turbine (RPT) under large guide vane opening (GVO)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 285-307.
    3. Kumar, Sandeep & Cervantes, Michel J. & Gandhi, Bhupendra K., 2021. "Rotating vortex rope formation and mitigation in draft tube of hydro turbines – A review from experimental perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    4. Rafel Roig & Xavier Sánchez-Botello & Xavier Escaler & Berhanu Mulu & Carl-Maikel Högström, 2022. "On the Rotating Vortex Rope and Its Induced Structural Response in a Kaplan Turbine Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Lei, Liuwei & Li, Feng & Xu, Beibei & Egusquiza, Mònica & Luo, Xingqi & Zhang, Junzhi & Egusquiza, Eduard & Chen, Diyi & Jiang, Wei & Patelli, Edoardo, 2022. "Time-frequency domain characteristics analysis of a hydro-turbine governor system considering vortex rope excitation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 172-187.
    6. Kim, Seung-Jun & Yang, Hyeon-Mo & Park, Jungwan & Kim, Jin-Hyuk, 2022. "Investigation of internal flow characteristics by a Thoma number in the turbine mode of a Pump–Turbine model under high flow rate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 445-461.
    7. Ivan Litvinov & Daniil Suslov & Evgeny Gorelikov & Sergey Shtork, 2021. "Experimental Study of Transient Flow Regimes in a Model Hydroturbine Draft Tube," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, February.
    8. Raluca Gabriela Iovănel & Arash Soltani Dehkharqani & Diana Maria Bucur & Michel Jose Cervantes, 2022. "Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of a Kaplan Prototype Turbine Operating on a Cam Curve," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-24, June.
    9. Salehi, Saeed & Nilsson, Håkan, 2022. "Flow-induced pulsations in Francis turbines during startup - A consequence of an intermittent energy system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1166-1183.
    10. Salehi, Saeed & Nilsson, Håkan, 2022. "Effects of uncertainties in positioning of PIV plane on validation of CFD results of a high-head Francis turbine model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 57-75.
    11. Salehi, Saeed & Nilsson, Håkan & Lillberg, Eric & Edh, Nicolas, 2021. "An in-depth numerical analysis of transient flow field in a Francis turbine during shutdown," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 2322-2347.
    12. Su, Wen-Tao & Binama, Maxime & Li, Yang & Zhao, Yue, 2020. "Study on the method of reducing the pressure fluctuation of hydraulic turbine by optimizing the draft tube pressure distribution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 550-560.

    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. Cavazzini, Giovanna & Houdeline, Jean-Bernard & Pavesi, Giorgio & Teller, Olivier & Ardizzon, Guido, 2018. "Unstable behaviour of pump-turbines and its effects on power regulation capacity of pumped-hydro energy storage plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 399-409.
    2. Bosioc, Alin Ilie & Tănasă, Constantin, 2020. "Experimental study of swirling flow from conical diffusers using the water jet control method," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 385-398.
    3. Su, Wen-Tao & Binama, Maxime & Li, Yang & Zhao, Yue, 2020. "Study on the method of reducing the pressure fluctuation of hydraulic turbine by optimizing the draft tube pressure distribution," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 550-560.
    4. Muhirwa, Alexis & Li, Biao & Su, Wen-Tao & Liu, Quan-Zhong & Binama, Maxime & Wu, Jian & Cai, Wei-Hua, 2020. "Investigation on mutual traveling influences between the draft tube and upstream components of a Francis turbine unit," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 973-992.
    5. Yang, Zhiyan & Cheng, Yongguang & Xia, Linsheng & Meng, Wanwan & Liu, Ke & Zhang, Xiaoxi, 2020. "Evolutions of flow patterns and pressure fluctuations in a prototype pump-turbine during the runaway transient process after pump-trip," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1149-1159.
    6. Salehi, Saeed & Nilsson, Håkan & Lillberg, Eric & Edh, Nicolas, 2021. "An in-depth numerical analysis of transient flow field in a Francis turbine during shutdown," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 2322-2347.
    7. K., Subramanya & Chelliah, Thanga Raj, 2023. "Capability of synchronous and asynchronous hydropower generating systems: A comprehensive study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    8. Nirmal Acharya & Saroj Gautam & Sailesh Chitrakar & Chirag Trivedi & Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug, 2021. "Leakage Vortex Progression through a Guide Vane’s Clearance Gap and the Resulting Pressure Fluctuation in a Francis Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Trivedi, Chirag & Iliev, Igor & Dahlhaug, Ole Gunnar & Markov, Zoran & Engstrom, Fredrik & Lysaker, Henning, 2020. "Investigation of a Francis turbine during speed variation: Inception of cavitation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 147-162.
    10. Borkowski, Dariusz & Węgiel, Michał & Ocłoń, Paweł & Węgiel, Tomasz, 2019. "CFD model and experimental verification of water turbine integrated with electrical generator," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 875-883.
    11. He, Xianghui & Yang, Jiandong & Yang, Jiebin & Zhao, Zhigao & Hu, Jinhong & Peng, Tao, 2023. "Evolution mechanism of water column separation in pump turbine: Model experiment and occurrence criterion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    12. Daqing Zhou & Huixiang Chen & Jie Zhang & Shengwen Jiang & Jia Gui & Chunxia Yang & An Yu, 2019. "Numerical Study on Flow Characteristics in a Francis Turbine during Load Rejection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
    13. Chongfei Sun & Zirong Luo & Jianzhong Shang & Zhongyue Lu & Yiming Zhu & Guoheng Wu, 2018. "Design and Numerical Analysis of a Novel Counter-Rotating Self-Adaptable Wave Energy Converter Based on CFD Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, March.
    14. Li, Huanhuan & Chen, Diyi & Arzaghi, Ehsan & Abbassi, Rouzbeh & Xu, Beibei & Patelli, Edoardo & Tolo, Silvia, 2018. "Safety assessment of hydro-generating units using experiments and grey-entropy correlation analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 222-234.
    15. Seung-Jun Kim & Young-Seok Choi & Yong Cho & Jong-Woong Choi & Jung-Jae Hyun & Won-Gu Joo & Jin-Hyuk Kim, 2020. "Effect of Fins on the Internal Flow Characteristics in the Draft Tube of a Francis Turbine Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, June.
    16. Donglin Yan & Weiyu Wang & Qijuan Chen, 2018. "Nonlinear Modeling and Dynamic Analyses of the Hydro–Turbine Governing System in the Load Shedding Transient Regime," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    17. Sun, Longgang & Guo, Pengcheng & Yan, Jianguo, 2021. "Transient analysis of load rejection for a high-head Francis turbine based on structured overset mesh," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 658-671.
    18. Zhiyan Yang & Zirui Liu & Yongguang Cheng & Xiaoxi Zhang & Ke Liu & Linsheng Xia, 2020. "Differences of Flow Patterns and Pressure Pulsations in Four Prototype Pump-Turbines during Runaway Transient Processes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    19. Kan, Kan & Xu, Zhe & Chen, Huixiang & Xu, Hui & Zheng, Yuan & Zhou, Daqing & Muhirwa, Alexis & Maxime, Binama, 2022. "Energy loss mechanisms of transition from pump mode to turbine mode of an axial-flow pump under bidirectional conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    20. Xiaoxia Hou & Yongguang Cheng & Zhiyan Yang & Ke Liu & Xiaoxi Zhang & Demin Liu, 2021. "Influence of Clearance Flow on Dynamic Hydraulic Forces of Pump-Turbine during Runaway Transient Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, May.

    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:renene:v:151:y:2020:i:c:p:238-254. 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/renewable-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.