Performance Prediction by Viscous Flow Analysis for Francis Turbine Runner

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. Vu ◽  
W. Shyy

Validation of a three-dimensional computational algorithm for viscous flow analysis has been conducted for two types of Francis turbine runner geometry, one low head and one high head, using experimental measurement. Assessment has been made for both qualitative features of flow behavior, as well as quantitative distribution of blade pressure and head loss. The influence of the grid size on the accuracy of the numerical solution is also discussed. Effort has been made to address some of the design issues, and to demonstrate that the present computational algorithm can make useful contributions to help improve the current design practices.

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Suzuki ◽  
Tomotatsu Nagafuji ◽  
Hiroshi Komiya ◽  
Takako Shimada ◽  
Toshio Kobayashi ◽  
...  

The three-dimensional computation of steady and incompressible internal flows is of interest in numerical simulations of turbomachinery, and such simulations are currently under investigation, from inviscid to viscous flow analyses. First, surface pressure distributions have been measured for the stayvanes and the guidevanes of a Francis turbine. They are presented to verify the numerical results. Second, both inviscid and viscous three-dimensional flow analyses have been made, so as to predict the flow behavior in the same domain. Comparison of the measured pressure distributions to the predicted pressure distributions has been made to study the usefulness of the present simulations. It can be pointed out that a global analysis which includes a runner flow passage, except runner blades, is necessary to predict the three-dimensional flow characteristics and that inviscid flow analysis has the capability of good prediction for flow without separation. Viscous flow analysis gives similar results, though it is necessary to investigate further the improvement of prediction accuracy. Flow characteristics around the stayvanes and the guidevanes are also discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Chon ◽  
R. S. Amano

When the airflow patterns inside a lawn mower deck are understood, the deck can be redesigned to be efficient and have an increased cutting ability. To learn more, a combination of computational and experimental studies was performed to investigate the effects of blade and housing designs on a flow pattern inside a1.1mwide corotating double-spindle lawn mower deck with side discharge. For the experimental portion of the study, air velocities inside the deck were measured using a laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) system. A high-speed video camera was used to observe the flow pattern. Furthermore, noise levels were measured using a sound level meter. For the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) work, several arbitrary radial sections of a two-dimensional blade were selected to study flow computations. A three-dimensional, full deck model was also developed for realistic flow analysis. The computational results were then compared with the experimental results.


Author(s):  
Jose´ Manuel Franco-Nava ◽  
Oscar Dorantes-Go´mez ◽  
Erik Rosado-Tamariz ◽  
Jose´ Manuel Ferna´ndez-Da´vila ◽  
Reynaldo Rangel-Espinosa

Application of two mayor design tools, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), for the performance improvement of a 76 MW Francis turbine runner is presented. In order to improve the performance of the runner, not only a CFD based optimization for the runner but also its structural integrity evaluation was carried out. In this paper, a number of analyses included within the design tools-based runner optimization process are presented. Initially, a reference condition for the fluid behaviour through turbine components was carried out by means of the computation of fluid conditions through the spiral case and stays vanes, followed by CFD-based fluid behaviour for the wicket so as to include the flow effects induced by these components in the final CFD analysis for the runner. All CFD computations were generated within the three dimensional Navier-Stoke commercial turbomachinery oriented CFD code FINE™/Turbo from NUMECA. The whole hydraulic turbine performance was then compared against actual data from a medium-head Francis type hydro turbine (76 MW). Then, CFD-based flow induced stresses in the turbine runner were computed by using a three dimensional finite element model built within the FEA commercial code ANSYS. Appropriate boundary conditions were set in order to obtain the results due to the different type loads (pressure and centrifugal force). The FEM model was able to capture the pressure gradients on the blade surfaces obtained from the CFD results. Improvement of efficiency and power for the runner was computed by using a parametric model built within 3D CFD code integrated environment FINETM/Design3D from NUMECA which combines genetic algorithms and a trained artificial neural network. During the optimization process the artificial neural network is trained with a database of geometries and their respective CFD computations in order to determine the optimum geometry for a given objective function. The optimisation process and the trend curve of the optimization or design cycle that included 29 parameters (corresponding to the control points of runner blade primary sections) which could vary during the process is presented. Finally, the flow induced stresses of the optimized Francis turbine runner was computed so as to evaluate the final blade geometry modifications related to the efficiency and power improvement.


2013 ◽  
Vol 655-657 ◽  
pp. 449-456
Author(s):  
Hong Ming Zhang ◽  
Li Xiang Zhang

The paper presents numerical prediction of cavitation erosion on a Francis turbine runner using CFD code. The SST turbulence model is employed in the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations in this study. A mixture assumption and a finite rate mass transfer model were introduced. The computing domain is discretized with a full three-dimensional mesh system of unstructured tetrahedral shapes. The finite volume method is used to solve the governing equations of the mixture model and the pressure-velocity coupling is handled via a Pressure Implicit with Splitting of Operators(PISO) procedure. Comparison the numerical prediction results with a real runner with cavitation damage, the region of higher volume fraction by simulation with the region of runner cavitation damage is consistent.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 168781401769007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengcheng Guo ◽  
Zhaoning Wang ◽  
Longgang Sun ◽  
Xingqi Luo

According to several model test results of Francis turbines, complete model efficiency hill charts were constructed. The formation and inevitability of diversified hydraulic phenomena on model efficiency hill chart for typical head range were analyzed and the difference is compared, as well as characteristics and commonness toward the curves are discussed and summarized. Furthermore, hydraulic performance and geometric features are presented by particularly analyzing the efficiency hill charts. The inherent characteristics of Francis turbine is expressed by all kinds of curves on the model efficiency hill charts, and these curves can be adjusted and moved in a small range but cannot be removed out. Due to wide range of unit speed in terms of medium-low-head hydraulic turbines, incipient cavitation curve on suction side can be observed and it is positioned close to the operation zone; however, it fails to be visualized for the high-head turbine. The blade channel vortex curves are in the vicinity of optimum region for low-head hydraulic turbines, while high-head shows reverse trend. The interaction between zero incidence angle and zero circulation curve has a significant influence on isoefficiency circles. All comparisons and analyses could provide hydraulic design basis and retrofit references.


1998 ◽  
Vol 64 (620) ◽  
pp. 1142-1148
Author(s):  
Takaya KITAHORA ◽  
Junichi KUROKAWA ◽  
Mitsunobu MATUMOTO ◽  
Ryouji SUZUKI

2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Huitenga ◽  
N. K. Mitra

For the use as a startup device the characteristic of a hydrodynamic coupling has to be steep at the nominal high speed operation condition and flat in the range of lower speed ratios. The economical design of the runner requires that the mass and the volume of the coupling should be as small as possible. The flow field in a starting configuration is simulated and a detailed analysis of the three-dimensional flow field is performed to deduce constructional modifications which meet both requests. The analysis shows that several modifications on pump and turbine runner seem to be successful. The consequences of the variation of the runner geometries will be discussed in detail in Part II of this paper. [S0098-2202(00)02104-0]


1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Copenhaver ◽  
Chunill Hah ◽  
Steven L. Puterbaugh

A detailed aerodynamic study of a transonic, high-through-flow, single stage compressor is presented. The compressor stage was comprised of a low-aspect-ratio rotor combined alternately with two different stator designs. Both experimental and numerical studies are conducted to understand the details of the complex flow field present in this stage. Aerodynamic measurements using high-frequency, Kulite pressure transducers and conventional probes are compared with results from a three-dimensional viscous flow analysis. A steady multiple blade row approach is used in the numerical technique to examine the detailed flow structure inside the rotor and the stator passages. The comparisons indicate that many flow field features are correctly captured by viscous flow analysis, and therefore unmeasured phenomena can be studied with some level of confidence.


Author(s):  
Tomohiko Jimbo ◽  
Debasish Biswas ◽  
Yasuyuki Yokono ◽  
Yoshiki Niizeki

In this work, unsteady viscous flow analysis around turbine blade cascade using a High-Order LES turbulent model is carried out to investigate basic physical process involved in the pressure loss mechanism. This numerical analysis is assessed to the wind tunnel cascade test. Basically, all the physical phenomena occurring in nature are the effect of some cause, and the effect can somehow be measured. However, to understand the cause, detail information regarding the visualization of the phenomena, which are difficult to measure, are necessary. Therefore, in our work, firstly the computed results are compared with the measured data, which are the final outcome of the cause (of the phenomena under investigation), to verify whether our physics-based model could qualitatively predict the measured facts or not. It was found that the present model could well predict measured data. Therefore, the rest of the computed information, which were difficult to measure, were used to visualize the overall flow behavior for acquiring some knowledge of the physical process associated with the pressure loss mechanism. Our study led to an understanding that the interaction of the vortex generated on the suction and pressure surface of the blade and the secondary vortex generated on the end-wall, downstream the trailing edge resulted in the formation of a large vortex structure in this region. This unsteady three-dimensional flow characteristic is expected to play an important role in the pressure loss mechanism.


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