• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.169-182
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• 2015

When simulating the dynamic behaviour of a hydro power plant, it is essential to have a good representation of the turbine behaviour. The pressure transients in the system occurs because the flow changes, which the turbine defines. The flow through the turbine is a function of the pressure, the speed of rotation and the wicket gate opening and is, most often described in a performance diagram or Hill diagram. In the Hill diagram, the efficiency is drawn like contour lines, hence the name. A turbines Hill diagram is obtained by performance tests on scaled model in a laboratory. However, system dynamic simulations have to be performed in the early stage of a project, before the turbine manufacturer has been chosen and the Hill diagram is known. Therefore one have to rely on diagrams for a turbine with similar speed number. The Hill diagram is drawn through measured points, so for using the diagram in a simulation program, one have to iterate in the diagram based on curve fitting of the measured points. This paper describes an alternative method. By means of the Euler turbine equation, it is possible to set up two differential equations which represents the turbine performance with good enough accuracy for the dynamic simulations. The only input is the turbine's main geometry, the runner blade in- and outlet angle and the guide vane angle at best efficiency point of operation (BEP). In the paper, simulated turbine characteristics for a high head Francis turbine, and for a reversible pump turbine are compared with laboratory measured characteristics.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.375-382
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• 2009

Hydraulic instability associated with pressure fluctuations is a serious problem in hydraulic machinery. Pressure fluctuations are usually a result of a strong vortex created in the centre of a flow at the outlet of a runner. At every radial turbine and also at every single regulating axial turbine, the draft tube vortex appears at part-load operating regimes. The consequences of the vortex developed in the draft tube are very unpleasant pressure pulsation, axial and radial forces and torque fluctuation as well as turbine structure vibration. The consequences of the vortex are transferred upstream and downstream with amplitude and frequency modulation in respect of the turbine operating regime, cavitation conditions and air admitted content. Numerical prediction of the vortex appearance in the design stage is a very important task. The amplitude of the pressure pulsation is different for each operating regime therefore the main goal of this research was to numerically predict pressure pulsation amplitude versus different guide vane openings and to compare the results with experimental ones. For the numerical flow analysis of a complete Francis turbine (FT), the computer code ANSYS-CFX11 has been used.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.30-39
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• 2014

The cross flow turbine is economical because of its simple structure. For remote rural region, there are needs for a more simple structure and very low head cross flow turbines. However, in this kind of locations, the water from upstream always flows into the turbine with some other materials such as sand and pebble. These materials will be damage to the runner blade and shorten the turbine lifespan. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new type of cross flow turbine for the remote rural region where there is availability of abundant resources. The new design of the cross flow turbine has an inlet open duct, without guide vane and nozzle to simplify the structure. However, the turbine with inlet open duct and very low head shows relatively low efficiency. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to optimize the shape of the turbine inlet to improve the efficiency, and investigate the internal flow of a very low head cross flow turbine. There are two steps to optimize the turbine inlet shape. Firstly, by changing the turbine open angle along with changing the turbine inlet open duct bottom line (IODBL) location to investigate the internal flow. Secondly, keeping the turbine IODBL location at the maximum efficiency achieved at the first step, and changing the turbine IODBL angle to improve the performance. The result shows that there is a 7.4% of efficiency improvement by optimizing turbine IODBL location (open angle), and there is 0.3% of efficiency improvement by optimizing the turbine IODBL angle.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.35-46
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• 2020

Recently, turbines operating in hydro power plants are required to undergo renovation and modernization due to their age exceeding 30 years. In the process of renovation or modernization, a performance test of the scaled-down model is necessary to verify the performance of the real-size model. This model test method, with criteria that is similar to that of a real turbine, is the most economical and important method. Furthermore, the shapes of the runner and guide vane can be modified or replaced easily. However, during the process of modernization, the components with the spiral casing and draft tube are impossible to repair or replace because of the buried ground. Thus, in this study, numerical analysis is conducted to investigate the hydraulic performance based on the difference between the two-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) shape and the real three-dimensional scan shape of the spiral casing and draft tube.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.315-323
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• 2010

This work investigates the influence of water compressibility on pressure pulsations induced by rotor-stator interaction (RSI) in hydraulic machinery, using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS-CFX. A pipe flow example with harmonic velocity excitation at the inlet plane is simulated using different grid densities and time step sizes. Results are compared with a validated code for hydraulic networks (SIMSEN). Subsequently, the solution procedure is applied to a simplified 2.5-dimensional pump-turbine configuration in prototype with different speeds of sound as well as in model scale with an adapted speed of sound. Pressure fluctuations are compared with numerical and experimental data based on prototype scale. The good agreement indicates that the scaling of acoustic effects with an adapted speed of sound works well. With respect to pressure fluctuation amplitudes along the centerline of runner channels, incompressible solutions exhibit a linear decrease while compressible solutions exhibit sinusoidal distributions with maximum values at half the channel length, coinciding with analytical solutions of one-dimensional acoustics. Furthermore, in compressible simulation the amplification of pressure fluctuations is observed from the inlet of stay vane channels to the spiral case wall. Finally, the procedure is applied to a three-dimensional pump configuration in model scale with adapted speed of sound. Normalized Pressure fluctuations are compared with results from prototype measurements. Compared to incompressible computations, compressible simulations provide similar pressure fluctuations in vaneless space, but pressure fluctuations in spiral case and penstock may be much higher.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.107-119
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• 2021

The cross-flow turbine is one of the most famous and widely used hydraulic power systems for a long time. The cross-flow turbine is especially popular in many countries and remote regions where off-grided because of its many benefits such as low cost, high efficiency at low head, simple structure, and easy maintenance. However, most modern turbines, including the cross-flow turbine, are unsuitable for the ultra-low head situation, known as less than 3m water head or zero head with over 0.5m/s flow velocity. In this study, we demonstrated a 20kW class inverted-type cross-flow turbine's performance. First, we reevaluated our previous studies and introduced how to design the inverted-type cross-flow turbine. Secondly, we fabricated the 20kW class inverted-type cross-flow turbine for the performance test. And then, we designed a testbed and installed the turbine system in the demonstration facility. In the end, we compare the demonstration with its previous CFD results. The comparing result shows that both CFD and real model fitted on guide vane angle at 10 degrees. At the demonstration, we achieved 42% turbine efficiency at runner speed 125 RPM.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.363-370
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• 2013

Small scale hydropower is one of most attractive and cost-effective energy technologies for installation within sewage treatment plants. This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of a semi-kaplan micro-hydropower (MHP) system for application to sewage treatment plants with high flow fluctuations and a low head. The semi-kaplan MHP is equipped with an adjustable runner blade, and is without a guide vane, so as to reduce the incidence of mechanical problems. A MHP rating 13.4 kWp with a semi-kaplan turbine has been considered for Kiheung Respia sewage treatment plant, and this installation is estimated to generate 86.8 MWh of electricity annually, which is enough to supply electricity to over 25 households, and equivalent to an annual reduction of 49 ton $CO_2$. The semi-kaplan turbine showed a 90.2% energy conversion efficiency at the design flow rate of 0.35 $m^3/s$ and net head of 4.7 m, and was adaptable to a wide range of flow fluctuations. Through the MHP operation, approximately 2.1% of total electricity demand of Kiheung Respia sewage treatment plant will be achievable. Based on financial analysis, an exploiting MHP is considered economically acceptable with an internal rate of return of 6.1%, net present value of 15,539,000 Korean Won, benefit-cost ratio of 1.08, and payback year of 15.5, respectively, if initial investment cost is 200,000,000 Korean Won.