Hydraulic Oscillation and Instability of a Hydraulic System with Two Different Pump-Turbines in Turbine Operation

Abstract

Hydraulic oscillation mainly reveals the undesirable pressure fluctuations which can cause catastrophic failure of any hydraulic system. The behavior of a hydraulic system equipped with two different pump-turbines was investigated through hydraulic oscillation analysis to demonstrate severe consequences induced in turbine operation, including S-shaped characteristics. The impedance of a pump-turbine has an essential role in the determination of the instability of the hydraulic system. The conventional way to determine the instability solely using the slope of a characteristic curve was improved, including the effect of guide vane opening in pump-turbine impedance, which consequently modified the instability expression. With this pump-turbine impedance, hydraulic oscillation analysis, including free oscillation analysis and frequency response analysis, was carried out. The free oscillation analysis entails the computation of complex natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes of the system. These computations provided necessary information about the vulnerable position of vital hydraulic components and the scenario for self-excited oscillation. Further, the analysis illustrates the significant role of guide vane opening to prevent the system from becoming unstable. Lastly, frequency response analysis was performed for the system with an oscillating guide vane to obtain the frequency response spectrum, which revealed that the resonating frequencies are consistent with natural frequencies, and it supported free oscillation results.