Design of a Simplified Experimental Test Case to Study Rotor–Stator Interactions in Hydraulic Machinery

Benoit Dussault, Yves St-Amant and Sébastien Houde ()
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Benoit Dussault: Mechanical Engineering Department, Hydropower Innovation Center (Heki), Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Yves St-Amant: Mechanical Engineering Department, Hydropower Innovation Center (Heki), Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Sébastien Houde: Mechanical Engineering Department, Hydropower Innovation Center (Heki), Université Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: Because of the introduction of significant amounts of electricity from intermittent energy, such as solar and wind, on power grids, hydraulic turbines undergo more transient operation with varying rotation speeds. Start and stop sequences are known to induce significant mechanical stress in the runner, decreasing its lifespan. Complex fluid–structure interactions are responsible for those high-stress levels, but the precise mechanisms are still elusive, even if many experimental and numerical studies were devoted to the subject. One possible mechanism identified through limited measurements on large turbines operating in powerhouses is rotor–stator interactions. It is already known that rotor–stator interaction (RSI) in constant-speed operating conditions can lead to runner failure when the RSI frequency is close to the natural frequencies of specific structural modes. Start and stop sequence investigations show that RSI can induce a transient resonance while the runner is accelerating/decelerating, which generates a frequency sweep that excites the structure. Studying transient RSI-induced resonance of structural modes associated with hydraulic turbine runners is complex because of the geometry and the potential impacts from other flow-induced excitations. This paper presents the development and validation of an experimental setup specifically designed to reproduce RSI-induced resonances in a rotating circular structure with cyclic periodicity mimicking the structural behavior of a Francis runner. Such a setup does not exist in the literature and will be beneficial for studying RSI during speed variations, with the potential to provide valuable insights into the dynamic behavior of turbines during transient conditions. The paper outlines the different design steps and the construction and validation of the experiment and its simplified runner. It presents important results from preliminary analyses that outline the approach’s success in investigating transient RSI in hydraulic turbines.

Keywords: rotor–stator interaction; hydraulic turbine; simplified model; vibration; transient; designed experimental setup; resonance; strain gauges (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: 2025
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