• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.179-190
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• 2011

The swirling flow developing in Francis turbine draft tube under part load operation leads to pressure fluctuations usually in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 times the runner rotational frequency resulting from the so-called vortex breakdown. For low cavitation number, the flow features a cavitation vortex rope animated with precession motion. Under given conditions, these pressure fluctuations may lead to undesirable pressure fluctuations in the entire hydraulic system and also produce active power oscillations. For the upper part load range, between 0.7 and 0.85 times the best efficiency discharge, pressure fluctuations may appear in a higher frequency range of 2 to 4 times the runner rotational speed and feature modulations with vortex rope precession. It has been pointed out that for this particular operating point, the vortex rope features elliptical cross section and is animated of a self-rotation. This paper presents an experimental investigation focusing on this peculiar phenomenon, defined as the upper part load vortex rope. The experimental investigation is carried out on a high specific speed Francis turbine scale model installed on a test rig of the EPFL Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines. The selected operating point corresponds to a discharge of 0.83 times the best efficiency discharge. Observations of the cavitation vortex carried out with high speed camera have been recorded and synchronized with pressure fluctuations measurements at the draft tube cone. First, the vortex rope self rotation frequency is evidenced and the related frequency is deduced. Then, the influence of the sigma cavitation number on vortex rope shape and pressure fluctuations is presented. The waterfall diagram of the pressure fluctuations evidences resonance effects with the hydraulic circuit. The influence of outlet bubble cavitation and air injection is also investigated for low cavitation number. The time evolution of the vortex rope volume is compared with pressure fluctuations time evolution using image processing. Finally, the influence of the Froude number on the vortex rope shape and the associated pressure fluctuations is analyzed by varying the rotational speed.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.164-175
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• 2017

Francis turbines are often operated over a wide load range due to high flexibility in electricity demand and penetration of other renewable energies. This has raised significant concerns about the existing designing criteria. Hydraulic turbines are not designed to withstand large dynamic pressure loadings on the stationary and rotating parts during such conditions. Previous investigations on transient operating conditions of turbine were mainly focused on the pressure fluctuations due to the rotor-stator interaction. This study characterizes the synchronous and asynchronous pressure and velocity fluctuations due to rotor-stator interaction and rotating vortex rope during load variation, i.e. best efficiency point to part load and vice versa. The measurements were performed on the Francis-99 test case. The repeatability of the measurements was estimated by providing similar movement to guide vanes twenty times for both load rejection and load acceptance operations. Synchronized two dimensional particle image velocimetry and pressure measurements were performed to investigate the dominant frequencies of fluctuations, vortex rope formation, and modes (rotating and plunging) of the rotating vortex rope. The time of appearance and disappearance of rotating and plunging modes of vortex rope was investigated simultaneously in the pressure and velocity data. The asynchronous mode was observed to dominate over the synchronous mode in both velocity and pressure measurements.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.230-239
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• 2015

The swirling flow in the draft tube of a Francis turbine can cause the flow instability and the cavitation surge and has a larger influence on hydraulic power operating system. In this paper, the cavitating flow with swirling flow in the diffuser was studied by the draft tube component experiment, the model Francis turbine experiment and the numerical simulation. In the component experiment, several types of fluctuations were observed, including the cavitation surge and the vortex rope behaviour by the swirling flow. While the cavitation surge and the vortex rope behaviour were suppressed by the aeration into the diffuser, the loss coefficient in the diffuser increased by the aeration. In the model turbine test the aeration decreased the efficiency of the model turbine by several percent. In the numerical simulation, the cavitating flow was studied using Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) with particular emphasis on understanding the unsteady characteristics of the vortex rope structure. The generation and evolution of the vortex rope structures have been investigated throughout the diffuser using the iso-surface of vapor volume fraction. The pressure fluctuation in the diffuser by numerical simulation confirmed the cavitation surge observed in the experiment. Finally, this pressure fluctuation of the cavitation surge was examined and interpreted by CFD.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.295-302
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• 2009

The flow in the draft tube cone of Francis turbines operated at partial discharge is a complex hydrodynamic phenomenon where an incoming steady axisymmetric swirling flow evolves into a three-dimensional unsteady flow field with precessing helical vortex (also called vortex rope) and associated pressure fluctuations. The paper addresses the following fundamental question: is it possible to compute the circumferentially averaged flow field induced by the precessing vortex rope by using an axisymmetric turbulent swirling flow model? In other words, instead of averaging the measured or computed 3D velocity and pressure fields we would like to solve directly the circumferentially averaged governing equations. As a result, one could use a 2D axi-symmetric model instead of the full 3D flow simulation, with huge savings in both computing time and resources. In order to answer this question we first compute the axisymmetric turbulent swirling flow using available solvers by introducing a stagnant region model (SRM), essentially enforcing a unidirectional circumferentially averaged meridian flow as suggested by the experimental data. Numerical results obtained with both models are compared against measured axial and circumferential velocity profiles, as well as for the vortex rope location. Although the circumferentially averaged flow field cannot capture the unsteadiness of the 3D flow, it can be reliably used for further stability analysis, as well as for assessing and optimizing various techniques to stabilize the swirling flow. In particular, the methodology presented and validated in this paper is particularly useful in optimizing the blade design in order to reduce the stagnant region extent, thus mitigating the vortex rope and expending the operating range for Francis turbines.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2011

Our previous experimental and numerical investigations of decelerated swirling flows in conical diffusers have demonstrated that water jet injection along the symmetry axis mitigates the pressure fluctuations associated with the precessing vortex rope. However, for swirling flows similar to Francis turbines operated at partial discharge, the jet becomes effective when the jet discharge is larger than 10% from the turbine discharge, leading to large volumetric losses when the jet is supplied from upstream the runner. As a result, we introduce the flow-feedback approach for supplying the jet by using a fraction of the discharge collected downstream the conical diffuser. Experimental investigations on mitigating the pressure fluctuations generated by the precessing vortex rope and investigations of pressure recovery coefficient on the cone wall with and without flow-feedback method are presented.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.315-323
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• 2009

Pressure oscillations triggered by the unstable interaction of dynamic flow features of the hydraulic turbine with the hydraulic plant system - including the electrical design - can at times reach significant levels and could lead to damage of plant components or could reduce component lifetime significantly. Such a problem can arise for overload as well as for part load operation of the turbine. This paper discusses an approach to analyze the overload high pressure oscillation problem using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling of the hydraulic machine combined with a network modeling technique of the hydraulic system. The key factor in this analysis is the determination of the overload vortex rope volume occurring within the turbine under the runner which is acting as an active element in the system. Two different modeling techniques to compute the flow field downstream of the runner will be presented in this paper. As a first approach, single phase flow simulations are used to evaluate the vortex rope volume before moving to more sophisticated modeling which incorporates two phase flow calculations employing cavitation modeling. The influence of these different modeling strategies on the simulated plant behavior will be discussed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.1
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• pp.87-102
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• 2021

Long span cross-rope suspension structure is an innovative structural system evolved from typical Cross-Rope Suspension (CRS) guyed tower, a type of supporting system with short span suspension cable supporting overhead power transmission lines. In mountainous areas, the span length of suspension cable was designed to be extended to hundreds or over one thousand meters, which is applicable for crossing deep valleys. Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) of overhead power transmission lines was considered to be one of the major factors of its fatigue and service life. In this paper, VIV and its controlling by Stockbridge damper for long span CRS was discussed. Firstly, energy balance method and finite element method for assessing VIV of CRS were presented. An approach of establishing FE model of long span CRS structure with dampers was introduced. The effect of Stockbridge damper for overall vibration of CRS was compared in both theoretical and numerical approaches. Results indicated that vibration characteristics of conductor in long span CRS compared with traditional tower-line system. Secondly, analysis on long span CRS including Stockbridge damper showed additional dampers installed were essential for controlling maximum dynamic bending stresses of conductors at both ends. Moreover, factors, including configuration and mass of Stockbridge damper, span length of suspension cable and conductor and number of spans of conductor, were assessed for further discussion on VIV controlling of long span CRS.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2013

If large pressure fluctuation is observed in the draft tube of a Francis turbine at part-load operation, we have generally called it draft-tube-surge. As occurrence of this phenomenon seriously affects the limit of turbine operating range, extensive studies on the surge have been made since proposal of surge-frequency criterion given by Rheingans. According to the literature survey of related topics in recent IAHR symposiums on hydraulic machinery and systems, in which state-of-the-art contributions were mainly presented, a certain review of them may be desirable for an outlook on the future studies in this research field. Thus, in this review paper, the authors' previous attempts for the last three decades to challenge the following topics: a rational method for component test of a draft tube, nature of spiral vortex rope and its behavior in a draft tube and cavitation characteristics of pressure fluctuations, are introduced together with other related contributions, expecting that more useful and significant studies will be accomplished in the future.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.182-193
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• 2016

Introduction of intermittent electricity production systems like wind and solar power to electricity market together with the deregulation of electricity markets resulted in numerous start/stops, load variations and off-design operation of water turbines. Hydraulic turbines suffer from the varying loads exerted on their stationary and rotating parts during load variations since they are not designed for such operating conditions. Investigations on part load operation of single regulated turbines, i.e., Francis and propeller, proved the formation of a rotating vortex rope (RVR) in the draft tube. The RVR induces pressure pulsations in the axial and rotating directions called plunging and rotating modes, respectively. This results in oscillating forces with two different frequencies on the runner blades, bearings and other rotating parts of the turbine. This study investigates the effect of transient operations on the pressure fluctuations exerted on the runner and mechanism of the RVR formation/mitigation. Draft tube and runner blades of the Porjus U9 model, a Kaplan turbine, were equipped with pressure sensors for this purpose. The model was run in off-cam mode during different load variations. The results showed that the transients between the best efficiency point and the high load occurs in a smooth way. However, during transitions to the part load a RVR forms in the draft tube which induces high level of fluctuations with two frequencies on the runner; plunging and rotating mode. Formation of the RVR during the load rejections coincides with sudden pressure change on the runner while its mitigation occurs in a smooth way.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.286-294
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• 2009

Hydroelectric power plants are known for their ability to cover variations of the consumption in electrical power networks. In order to follow this changing demand, hydraulic machines are subject to off-design operation. In that case, the swirling flow leaving the runner of a Francis turbine may act under given conditions as an excitation source for the whole hydraulic system. In high load operating conditions, vortex rope behaves as an internal energy source which leads to the self excitation of the system. The aim of this paper is to identify the influence of the full load excitation source location with respect to the eigenmodes shapes on the system stability. For this, a new eigenanalysis tool, based on eigenvalues and eigenvectors computation of the nonlinear set of differential equations in SIMSEN, has been developed. First the modal analysis method and linearization of the set of the nonlinear differential equations are fully described. Then, nonlinear hydro-acoustic models of hydraulic components based on electrical equivalent schemes are presented and linearized. Finally, a hydro-acoustic SIMSEN model of a simple hydraulic power plant, is used to apply the modal analysis and to show the influence of the turbine location on system stability. Through this case study, it brings out that modeling of the pipe viscoelastic damping is decisive to find out stability limits and unstable eigenfrequencies.