Operational Stability of Hydropower Plant with Upstream and Downstream Surge Chambers during Small Load Disturbance

Yi Liu, Xiaodong Yu (), Xinlei Guo (), Wenlong Zhao and Sheng Chen
Additional contact information
Yi Liu: State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
Xiaodong Yu: State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
Xinlei Guo: State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
Wenlong Zhao: Institute of Water Science and Technology, Hohai University, Nanjing 211106, China
Sheng Chen: College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: A surge chamber is a common pressure reduction facility in a hydropower plant. Owing to large flow inertia in the upstream headrace tunnel and downstream tailrace tunnel, a hydropower plant with upstream and downstream surge chambers (HPUDSC) was adopted. This paper aimed to investigate the operational stability and nonlinear dynamic behavior of a HPUDSC. Firstly, a nonlinear dynamic model of the HPUDSC system was built. Subsequently, the operational stability and nonlinear dynamic behavior of the HPUDSC system were studied based on Hopf bifurcation theory and numerical simulation. Finally, the influencing factors of stability of the HPUDSC system were investigated. The results indicated the nonlinear HPUDSC system occurred at subcritical Hopf bifurcation, and the stability domain was located above the bifurcation curve, which provided a basis for the tuning of the governor parameters during operation. The dominant factors of stability and dynamic behavior of the HPUDSC system were flow inertia and head loss of the headrace tunnel and the area of the upstream surge chamber. Either increasing the head loss of the headrace tunnel and area of the upstream surge chamber or decreasing the flow inertia of the headrace tunnel could improve the operational stability of the HPUDSC. The proposed conclusions are of crucial engineering value for the stable operation of a HPUDSC.

Keywords: hydropower plant; stability; upstream and downstream surge chambers; small load disturbance; dynamic behavior (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/11/4517/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/11/4517/ (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:16:y:2023:i:11:p:4517-:d:1163729

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 ().