Flow survey and blade pressure measurements in a Francis turbine model

François Avellan, Philippe Dupont, Mohamed Farhat
International Association For Hydraulic Research, 1990
Article de conférence

Résumé

Experimental flow analysis of hydraulic machines is of prime importance for improving the design of such a unit. Moreover, computational fluid dynamics codes need an experimental data reference in order to check their ability to simulate the main flow features. To obtain such an experimental data base a Francis turbine model and an associated instrumentation is specially developed. Measurements of both global and local quantities are performed for five different operating points of the turbine. A five-hole probe mounted on a remote displacement system provides static pressure and velocity components along three stations in the machine. An original rotating instrumentation is implemented in order to obtain the pressure distribution over the blades of the runner at 28 points ( 17 on the suction side and 11 on the pressure side) arranged along three streamlines.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/255074?ln=fr

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A common phenomenon in Francis turbines is draft tube surge. In these fixed-bladed machines, a strong runner outlet swirl can develop under off-design conditions. The action of the diffuser, and in particular the draft tube elbow, on the rotating flow field induces synchronous pressure and discharge fluctuations. These low frequency disturbances are of special interest, because they can easily propagate throughout the whole hydraulic system. The dynamic response of the system to the natural excitations can inhibit the normal usage of the powerplant. If the natural excitation occurs at frequencies close to an eigenfrequency of the hydraulic system, an important amplification of the hydraulic fluctuations can be expected. Passive measures, such as air admission or minor design modifications, are commonly taken as a last resort to try to reduce these phenomena. This work explores an active control approach to alleviate the problem. It is shown that the hydroacoustic fluctuations in a hydraulic installation can strongly be reduced by "injecting" the inverse signal of the turbine's natural excitation. While the main theme is the application of the active control approach to improve the operation stability of Francis turbines, the scope of this study is larger and addresses the following scientific topics: Modeling of an hydroelectric installation The dynamic behavior of an installation is studied based on an one-dimensional model. A compilation of the basic modeling tools was done. Using these tools, the dynamic model of a hydraulic installation and an external hydroacoustical source is presented. It is used to explain how the overall hydroacoustic fluctuations can be reduced using a hydraulic exciter mounted in the wall of a draft tube's cone. Improving the operation stability by active control The hydraulic fluctuations associated with off-design operating conditions of Francis turbines are often very periodic and characterized by the presence of a dominant frequency component. The aim is to cancel out this component for which the amplitudes are often excessive. An active control system, composed of a hydraulic exciter and its controller, has been developed for a Francis turbine. The exciter employs a pulsed flow injection in the draft tube to generate an antiexcitation at a given frequency, which is then synchronized with the turbine's natural excitation. A self-tuning extremum control algorithm optimizes the operating parameters of the exciter to minimize the overall fluctuations in the hydraulic installation. Laboratory tests show the efficiency of the active control system. The amplitude of the pressure and discharge fluctuations at the dominant frequency component are reduced to background noise levels. Multiple configurations of the exciter have been tested. A spectral analysis of the pressure fluctuations is presented, the system's energy balance has been performed and the control algorithm of the system is analysed. The energy balance is very encouraging: the exciter system needed only about 1 percent of the hydraulic power of the Francis turbine. Prediction of the operation stability of turbines based on model tests Laboratory tests on a scale model, homologous to the turbine, are an indispensable step in the development of a hydroelectric powerplant. Unlike the static characteristics, the dynamic behavior of a turbine installation is difficult to predict. An original identification method of the dynamic characteristics of a model turbine is proposed. The method is verified on a theoretical case study and experimentally tested. It constitutes the basis of the prediction of the operation stability of the powerplant based on model tests.

EPFL2000

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Classification of Cavitation in Hydraulic Machines using Vibration Analysis

Mohamed Farhat, Michaël Kaye

This paper describes vibration analysis techniques that have been adapted and used to classify cavitation in a model Francis turbine. This analysis can be used to compliment standard cavitation tests. Cavitation can be classified in various ways using vibration analysis. Cavitation attached to the blades of the runner is modulated by instabilities caused by the interaction with the blades and the guide vanes, as well as by the outlet swirl. The shape of this modulation is not sinusoidal. Cavitation on the runner is non-uniform; i.e. some blades are, on average, experiencing more aggressive cavitation than others are. Analysis techniques employed include a demodulation technique that considers the envelope auto-power spectrum, joint time-frequency analysis and phase averaging.

International Association For Hydraulic Research2002

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Physical Mechanisms governing Self-Excited Pressure Oscillations in Francis Turbines

Andres Müller

The importance of renewable energy sources for the electrical power supply has grown rapidly in the past decades. Their often unpredictable nature however poses a threat to the stability of the existing electric grid. Hydroelectric powerplants play an important role in regulating the integration of renewable energy sources into the network by supplying on-demand load balancing as well as primary and secondary power network control. Therefore, the operating ranges of hydraulic machines has to be continuously extended, which potentially produces undesirable flow phenomena involving cavitation. An example is the formation of a gaseous volume in the swirling flow leaving a Francis turbine runner at off-design operating conditions. At high load, this so called vortex rope is shaped axisymmetrically and may enter a self-excited oscillation, measurable through significant fluctuations of the pressure throughout the system and the mechanical torque transferred to the generator. The main objective of the present work is the identification of the physical mechanisms governing this self-sustained, unstable behavior by measurement. Furthermore, the key parameters of numerical approaches using one-dimensional hydroacoustic flowmodels or CFD require experimental validation. For this purpose, the measurements provide a comprehensive data base of various flow and system parameters at varying operating conditions. Two test cases are studied, a small scale hydraulic circuit with a micro-turbine as well as a reduced scale physical model of an existing Francis turbine. On the first test case, the study of the flow rate fluctuations up- and downstream of the oscillating vortex rope in the draft tube, together with the volume of the cavity, revealed the destabilizing effect of the flow swirl in the draft tube inlet. The second test case accurately simulates the behavior of an actual hydraulic power plant. Investigations range from a local study of the flow field in the draft tube cone bymeans of LDV, PIV, high speed visualization and wall pressure measurements to a global analysis, considering the response of the hydraulic and mechanical system to the excitation by the vortex rope oscillation. Among the main observations is a periodical variation of the flow swirl in the draft tube, synchronized with the pressure oscillations. This is likely to be caused by a cyclically appearing volume of cavitation on the runner blades, modifying the relative flow angle at the outlet. The interaction of the blade cavitation and the vortex rope oscillation via the flow swirl is found to play a crucial role in the occurrence of self-excited pressure oscillations in Francis turbines.

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Physical Mechanisms governing Self-Excited Pressure Oscillations in Francis Turbines

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EPFL2000