Analysis of Pressure Fluctuations in a Prototype Pump-Turbine with Different Numbers of Runner Blades in Turbine Mode

Deyou Li, Yuekun Sun, Zhigang Zuo, Shuhong Liu, Hongjie Wang and Zhenggui Li
Additional contact information
Deyou Li: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Yuekun Sun: State Key Laboratory of HydroScience and Engineering, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhigang Zuo: State Key Laboratory of HydroScience and Engineering, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Shuhong Liu: State Key Laboratory of HydroScience and Engineering, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Hongjie Wang: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Zhenggui Li: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: In pump-turbines, high pressure fluctuation is one of the crucial instabilities, which is harmful to the stable and effective operation of the entire unit. Extensive studies have been carried out to investigate pressure fluctuations (amplitude and frequency) at specific locations. However, limited research was conducted on the distribution of pressure fluctuations in turbine mode in a pump-turbine, as well as the influence of the number of runner blades on pressure fluctuations. Hence, in this study, three dimensional numerical simulations were performed to predict the distribution of pressure fluctuations with different numbers of runner blades in a prototype pump-turbine in turbine mode using the shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model. Three operating points with the same hydraulic head and different mass flow rates were simulated. The distribution of pressure fluctuation components of blade passing frequency and its harmonics in the direction along the whole flow path, as well as along the circumferential direction, was presented. The mass flow rate and number of runner blades have great influence on the distribution of pressure fluctuations, especially at blade passing frequency along circumferential direction. The mass flow rate mainly affects the position of peak pressure fluctuations, while the number of runner blades mainly changes the number of peak pressure fluctuations. Additionally, the number of runner blades influences the dominant frequencies of pressure fluctuations especially in the spiral casing and draft tube.

Keywords: pump-turbine; prototype; pressure fluctuation; number of runner blades; blade-passing frequency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1474/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1474/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:6:p:1474-:d:150997

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().