Numerical simulation study of hydraulic performance of the ball valve implied in ultra-high head Pelton turbine

Abstract

Abstract This paper is deal with the hydraulic performance of the ball valve served in ultra-high head Pelton turbine systems, the Moving Particle Simulation method is used for numerical simulation uncommonly instead of the Finite Volume method. A valve rotating range of 0 degree to 90 degree is simulated by the software Particleworks, according to the pressure change through the valve, we get the flow resistance coefficient which is consistent with those of other similar literature. The change of the internal flow distribution can be visually observed. At the small rotation degree, the flow velocity entering the ball valve is very high and the disturbance in flow field is large. With the rotation degree increases, the flow in ball valve and the outlet pipe is gradually stabilized, the pressure difference before and after the ball valve is gradually reduced. It brings reference value for the structure and size design of the ball valve in the future.