Unsteady multi-phase cavitation analysis on the effect of anti-cavity fin installed on a Kaplan turbine runner

Mohamed Murshid Shamsuddeen, Jungwan Park, Young-Seok Choi and Jin-Hyuk Kim

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 162, issue C, 861-876

Abstract: The tip leakage cavitation phenomenon observed in axial-flow type turbines is one of the major causes of blade tip erosion. This study is focused on the Kaplan turbine cavitation occurring at the tip clearance gap between the blade tip and the stationary shroud casing. An unsteady multi-phase cavitation numerical model is studied on a three-dimensional real scale turbine model for five on-cam conditions. The tip leakage cavitation appeared for the optimum cam condition and at high flow rates. The installation of an Anti-Cavity Fin (ACF) on the suction side along the runner blade tip is investigated for its cavitation mitigation functionality. The hydraulic performance, blade loading distribution, vapor volume fraction and tip leakage flow are compared between the blades with and without an ACF. Detailed flow physics on the formation of Tip Leakage Vortex (TLV) and cavitation zones for three on-cam conditions oriented in high flow rates are also presented. The ACF is shown to be effective in decreasing the cavitation intensity at the leading edge without altering the turbine hydraulic performance. A modification of ACF shape at the trailing edge is suggested to avoid damage to the turbine blade and the ACF.

Keywords: Kaplan turbine; Cavitation; Tip leakage flow; Vortex; Anti-cavity fin; On-cam condition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120313458
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:162:y:2020:i:c:p:861-876

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.08.100

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().