Ruofu Xiao

Analysis of S Characteristics and Pressure Pulsations in a Pump-Turbine With Misaligned Guide Vanes

Growing environmental concerns and the need for better power balancing and frequency control have increased attention in renewable energy sources such as the reversible pump-turbine which can provide both power generation and energy storage. Pump-turbine operation along the S-shaped curve can lead to difficulties in loading the rejection process with unusual increases in water pressure, which lead to machine vibrations. Pressure fluctuations are the primary reason for unstable operation of pump-turbines. Misaligned guide vanes (MGVs) are widely used to control the stability in the S region. There have been experimental investigations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of scale models with aligned guide vanes and MGVs with spectral analyses of the S curve characteristics and the pressure pulsations in the frequency and time-frequency domains at runaway conditions. The course of the S characteristic is related to the centrifugal force and the large incident angle at low flow conditions with large vortices forming between the guide vanes and the blade inlets and strong flow recirculation inside the vaneless space as the main factors that lead to the S-shaped characteristics. Preopening some of the guide vanes enables the pump-turbine to avoid the influence of the S characteristic. However, the increase of the flow during runaway destroys the flow symmetry in the runner leading to all asymmetry forces on the runner that leads to hydraulic system oscillations. The MGV technique also increases the pressure fluctuations in the draft tube and has a negative impact on stable operation of the unit.

Multiobjective Optimization Design of a Pump–Turbine Impeller Based on an Inverse Design Using a Combination Optimization Strategy

This paper presents an automatic multiobjective hydrodynamic optimization strategy for pump–turbine impellers. In the strategy, the blade shape is parameterized based on the blade loading distribution using an inverse design method. An efficient response surface model relating the design parameters and the objective functions is obtained. Then, a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm is applied to the response surface functions to find a Pareto front for the final trade-off selection. The optimization strategy was used to redesign a scaled pump–turbine. Model tests were conducted to validate the final design and confirm the validity of the design strategy.

Experimental Investigation of Time-Frequency Characteristics of Pressure Fluctuations in a Double-Suction Centrifugal Pump

Pressure fluctuation is the primary reason for unstable operations of double-suction centrifugal pumps. By using flush mounted pressure transducers in the semispiral suction chamber and the volute casing of a double-suction pump, the pressure fluctuation signals were obtained and recorded at various operating conditions. Spectral analyses were performed on the pressure fluctuation signals in both frequency domain and time-frequency domain based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) and an adaptive optimal-kernel time-frequency representation (AOK TFR). The results show that pressure fluctuations at the impeller rotating frequency and some lower frequencies dominated in the semispiral suction chamber. Pressure fluctuations at the blade passing frequency, the impeller rotating frequency, and their harmonic frequencies were identified in the volute casing. The amplitude of pressure fluctuation at the blade passing frequency significantly increased when the flow rate deviated from the design flow rate. At 107% of the design flow rate, the amplitude increased more than 254% than that at the design flow rate. The time-frequency characteristics of these pressure fluctuations were affected greatly by both operating conditions and measurement locations. At partial flow rates the pulsation had a great irregularity and the amplitudes at the investigated frequencies were much larger than ones at the design flow rate. An asymmetrical pressure fluctuation structure in the volute casing was observed at all flow rates. The pulsation behavior at the blade passing frequency was the most prominent near the volute tongue zone, and the pressure waves propagated in both the radial and circumferential directions.

Influence of Splitter Blades on the Cavitation Performance of a Double Suction Centrifugal Pump

In order to study the influence of splitter blades on double suction centrifugal pumps two impellers with and without splitter blades were investigated numerically and experimentally. Three-dimensional turbulence simulations with and without full cavitation model were applied to simulate the flow in the two pumps with different impellers. The simulation results agreed with the experiment results and the internal flows were analyzed. Both the numerical and experimental results show that by adding splitter blades the hydraulic performance and the cavitation performance of the pump are improved. The pump efficiency is increased especially at high flow rate condition. The pump high efficiency area is extended dramatically. At the same time since the splitter blades share some part of the blade loading, the pump critical NPSH value is decreased. Obvious pressure increase and velocity decrease at blade suction surface near leading edge were observed in the pump impeller with splitter blades. And the pump cavitation performance was improved consequently.

Optimization for Cavitation Inception Performance of Pump-Turbine in Pump Mode Based on Genetic Algorithm

Cavitation is a negative factor of hydraulic machinery because of its undesirable effects on the operation stability and safety. For reversible pump-turbines, the improvement of cavitation inception performance in pump mode is very important due to the strict requirements. The geometry of blade leading edge is crucial for the local flow separation which affects the scale and position of pressure drop. Hence, the optimization of leading edge shape is helpful for the improvement of cavitation inception performance. Based on the genetic algorithm, optimization under multiple flow rate conditions was conducted by modifying the leading edge ellipse ratio and blade thickness on the front 20% meanline. By using CFD simulation, optimization was completed with obvious improvements on the cavitation inception performance. CFD results show that the pressure drop location had moved downstream with the increasement of the minimum pressure coefficient. Experimental verifications also got an obvious enhancement of cavitation inception performance. The stability and safety was improved by moving the cavitation inception curve out of the operating range. This optimization is proved applicable and effective for the engineering applications of reversible pump-turbines.

A Comparative Assessment of Spalart-Shur Rotation/Curvature Correction in RANS Simulations in a Centrifugal Pump Impeller

RANS simulation is widely used in the flow prediction of centrifugal pumps. Influenced by impeller rotation and streamline curvature, the eddy viscosity models with turbulence isotropy assumption are not accurate enough. In this study, Spalart-Shur rotation/curvature correction was applied on the SST - turbulence model. The comparative assessment of the correction was proceeded in the simulations of a centrifugal pump impeller. CFD results were compared with existing PIV and LDV data under the design and low flow rate off-design conditions. Results show the improvements of the simulation especially in the situation that turbulence strongly produced due to undesirable flow structures. Under the design condition, more reasonable turbulence kinetic energy contour was captured after correction. Under the low flow rate off-design condition, the prediction of turbulence kinetic energy and velocity distributions became much more accurate when using the corrected model. So, the rotation/curvature correction was proved effective in this study. And, it is also proved acceptable and recommended to use in the engineering simulations of centrifugal pump impellers.

Impact of guide vane opening angle on the flow stability in a pump-turbine in pump mode

In the pump mode (storage mode) of a pump-turbine, unstable head variations occur as the flow rate decreases, leading to unstable, unsafe operation. Thus, the hydrodynamics of pump-turbines in the unstable operating range should be investigated to improve their designs. This study presents experimental and numerical studies of the hydrodynamics. The experiments investigated the external characteristics with the head instabilities captured by both the model tests and the computational fluid dynamics simulations. The computational fluid dynamics model used detached eddy simulations to study the flow details which showed that hydraulic losses were the reason for the unstable head variations and the poor flow regime was the source of the losses. In the unstable, low flow rate range, the flow direction is no longer consistent with the guide vane direction, so undesirable flow structures develop in the passages. Therefore, appropriate guide vane opening angles are needed to improve the flow regime and reduce the hydraulic losses. These will enhance the operating stability and safety in engineering applications.

Predicting the Inception Cavitation of a Reversible Pump- Turbine in Pump Mode

Inception cavitation is a crucial indicator for reversible pump-turbines especially in pump mode. In actual applications, it is difficult to use CFD for the inception cavitation character. In this study, CFD simulation is conducted to find a proper way to evaluate the inception cavitation, different levels of vapor volume fraction in the impeller is predicted based on the tested results. Results show that the prediction of the location and scale of cavitation is accurate. The predicted cavitation number also matches the experimental data well. The vapor volume fraction levels from 0.0001% to 0.001% are recommended as the criterion of inception cavitation.

Experimental investigation of pressure instabilities affected by cavitation for a double-suction centrifugal pump

Cavitation is a common fault which has a close relationship with pressure instabilities in centrifugal pumps. In order to investigate the hydroacoustic response to cavitation phenomena, a pressure fluctuation experimental is carried out on a double-suction centrifugal pump. Frequency spectrum analysis and time-frequency joint analysis of pressure fluctuations in semi-spiral suction chamber and volute casing are presented based on fast Fourier transform (FFT) and adaptive optimal-kernel time-frequency representation (AOK TFR) methods. The results show that in semi-spiral suction chamber, as the available NPSH value continuously decreases, the frequencies affected by cavitation transfer to a lower frequency range and become relative higher concentrate in time-frequency representation. In volute casing, blade passage frequency (BPF), specific frequency at 1/2 of blade passage frequency (147 Hz) and some frequency bands are well captured. The amplitudes of BPF and BPF/2 are shown to have a reasonable dependence on available NPSH value, though the measuring location relative to volute tongue should be taken into account. Strong pulsation characteristics are observed on relative low available NPSH value conditions. Pressure fluctuation at impeller rotating frequency is shown to be sensitive with cavitation process, of which the amplitude sharply increases at first and then decreases.

Experimental Investigation of Relationship Between Pressure Fluctuations and Vibrations for a Double Suction Centrifugal Pump

Double-suction centrifugal pumps are widely employed in large-scale pumping stations, which generally run in the conditions of large discharge with huge energy consumption. Pressure fluctuation caused by internal flow due to tongue-impeller interaction is the primary source of pump vibration. In this paper, pressure fluctuations and vibrations signals on volute casing wall were experimentally obtained at five flow rates ranging from 59% to 121% of nominal flow rate. Time and frequency domains of the signals were mainly analyzed by using statistical and fast Fourier transform methods. The results show that rotational frequency, blade passing frequency and their harmonic frequencies of pressure fluctuations as well as vibrations are clearly identified. The magnitude at blade passing frequency has close relationship with the measurement location related to the volute tongue, and becomes larger when the flow rate deviates from the nominal flow rate. The magnitudes at blade passing frequency can increase by 70% and 151% at high flow rate over that at the nominal flow rate for pressure fluctuations and vibrations, respectively. While the magnitude of vibration at rotational frequency keeps nearly constant at partial flow rate, and decreases at high flow rate.Copyright