Numerical Investigation of Cavitating Turbulent Flow in a Francis Turbine Runner Fitted with Splitter Blades

Abstract:

The paper presents numerical investigation of cavitating turbulent flow in a high head Francis turbine runner fitted with splitter blades at part load operation. Analysis was performed by OpenFOAM code. A mixture assumption and a finite rate mass transfer model were introduced. 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. Simulation results show that the volume fraction of water vapor and the pressure uneven distribution on the main blade and splitter blade. It will lead to cavitation and fatigue damage.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 662)
• Pages: 637-642
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.662.637
• Online since: February 2013
• Authors: Hong Ming Zhang, Li Xiang Zhang
• Keywords: Cavitating Turbulent Flow, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Francis Turbine, OpenFOAM, Splitter Blades

References

[1] He Liming, Qian Hanxin, Wu Yulin. Flow Calculation through a Francis Turbine Runner with Attached Blades, JOURNAL OF HYDROELECTRIC ENGINEERING, Vol. 76, 2002. 1, 162-169.

[2] Masami Harano, Kiyohito Tani, Satoru Nomoto. Practical Application of High-performance Francis-turbine Runner Fitted with Splitter Blades at Ontake and Shinkurobegawa No. 3 Power Stations of THE KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. Hitachi Review Vol. 55 (2006).

[3] Yi-hua Hou, Xue-yi Qi, Ren-nian Li, Jing Zhang. Numerical Simulation of 3-D Flow in Low Specific Speed Francis Runner with Splitter Blades, 2008 International Symposium on Information Science and Engineering.

DOI: 10.1109/isise.2008.118

[4] G. Kergourlay,M. Younsi, F. Bakir, and R. Rey. Influence of Splitter Blades on the Flow Field of a Centrifugal Pump: Test-Analysis Comparison, International Journal of Rotating Machinery, Volume 2007, 1-13.

DOI: 10.1155/2007/85024

[5] Mustafa Golcu. Artificial neural network based modeling of performance characteristics of deep well pumps with splitter blade, Energy Conversion and Management, 47(2006), 3333–3343.

DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2006.01.011

[6] Shuhong Liu, Liang Zhang, Michihiro Nishi, Yulin Wu. Cavitating Turbulent Flow Simulation in a Francis Turbine Based on Mixture Model, Journal of Fluids Engineering, MAY 2009, Vol. 131, 051302-1-8.

DOI: 10.1115/1.3112382

[7] Yulin Wu , Shuhong Liu, Hua-Shu Dou , Liang Zhang. Simulations of unsteady cavitating turbulent flow in a Francis turbine using the RANS method and the improved mixture model of two-phase flows, Engineering with Computers, (2011) 27: 235–250.

DOI: 10.1007/s00366-010-0194-6

[8] Lingjiu Zhou, Zhengwei Wang, Yongyao Luo, Guangjie Peng. Numerical Simulation of avitating Flow in a Francis Turbine, Proceedings of FEDSM2008, 2008 ASME Fluids Engineering Conference, August 10-14, 2008 Jacksonville, Florida USA.

[9] Robert F. Kunz, David A. Boger, David R. Stinebring at al. A preconditioned Navier±Stokes method for two-phase flows with application to cavitation prediction, Computers & Fluids, 29(2000), 849-875.

DOI: 10.1016/s0045-7930(99)00039-0

[10] Rickard E. Bensow and Goran Bark. SIMULATING CAVITATING FLOWS WITH LES IN OPENFOAM, V European Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics, ECCOMAS CFD 2010, J. C. F. Pereira and A. Sequeira (Eds), Lisbon, Portugal, 14-17 June (2010).

[11] Openfoam web site. http: /www. openfoam. com.