• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.328-336
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• 2020

In the Francis turbine, the leakage flow through the runner gaps which are between the runner and the stator structure influences the internal flow and hydraulic performance. Thus, the investigation for the flow characteristics induced by the runner gaps is important. However, the runner gaps are often disregarded by considering the time and cost of the numerical analysis. Therefore, in this study, the flow characteristics according to runner gaps of the Francis turbine model were investigated including the leakage flow of the runner cone. The three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analyses were conducted using a scale-adaptive simulation shear stress transport as a turbulence model for observing the influence of the leakage flow on the internal flow and hydraulic performance. The efficiencies were decreased slightly with runner gaps; and the complicated flows were captured in the gaps.