Abstract
Pump-turbine system is widely used by the hydropower industry for stabilizing the electrical grid in the vast growing economy of most developed countries. This study only investigates the Fluid-structure Interaction (FSI) analysis of the pump-turbine system at various operating conditions. The FSI analysis can show how reliable each component of the system is by providing the engineer with a better understanding of high stress and deformation points, which could reduce the lifespan of the pump-turbine. Pump-turbine components are categorized in two parts, pressurized static parts and movable stressed parts. The fixed parts include the spiral casing, top and bottom cover, stay vane and draft tube. The movable parts include guide vanes and impeller blades. Fine hexahedral numerical grids were used for CFD calculation and fine tetrahedral grids were used for structural analysis with imported load solution mapping greater than 90 %. The maximum equivalent stress are much smaller than the material yield stress, and the maximum equivalent stress showed an increasing tendency with the varying of operating conditions from partial to excessive at both modes. In addition, the total deformation of all the operating conditions showed a small magnitude, which have quite small influence on the structural stability. It can be conjectured that this system can be safely implemented.
