Numerical Analysis of the Flow by Using a Free Runner Downstream the Francis Turbine

Abstract

The current requirements of industrialized countries require the use of as much renewable energy as possible. One significant problem with renewable energy is that the produced power fluctuates. Currently, the only method available for energy compensation in the shortest time is given by hydroelectric power plants. Instead, hydroelectric power plants (especially the plants equipped with hydraulic turbines with fixed blades) are designed to operate in the vicinity of the optimal operating point with a maximum ±10% deviation. The energy market requires that hydraulic turbines operate in an increasingly wide area between −35% to 20% from the optimum operating point. Operation of hydraulic turbines far from the optimum operating point involves the appearance downstream of the turbine of a decelerated swirling flow with hydraulic instabilities (known in the literature as the vortex rope). The main purpose of this paper is to investigate numerically a new concept by using a free runner downstream on the main hydraulic runner turbine more precisely in the draft tube cone. The free runner concept requires rotations at the runaway speed with vanishing mechanical torque. The main purpose is to redistribute the total pressure and the moment between the shaft and the periphery. In addition, the free runner does not modify the operating point of the main hydraulic turbine runner.