Analysis of the flow at a T-bifurcation for a ternary unit

Abstract

The motivation of this research is to understand the flow behavior through a 90° T- type bifurcation, which connects a Francis turbine and the storage pump of a ternary unit, under different operating conditions (namely turbine, pump and hydraulic short-circuit operation). As a first step a CFD optimization process to define the hydraulic geometry of the bifurcation was performed. The CFD results show the complexity of the flow through the bifurcation, especially under hydraulic short-circuit operation. Therefore, it was decided to perform experimental investigations in addition to the CFD analysis, in order to get a better understanding of the flow. The aim of these studies was to investigate the flow development upstream and downstream the bifurcation, the estimation of the bifurcation loss coefficients and also to provide comprehensive data of the flow behavior for the whole operating range of the machine. In order to evaluate the development of the velocity field Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (S-PIV) measurements at different sections upstream and downstream of the bifurcation on the main penstock and Laser Doppler Anemometrie (LDA) measurements at bifurcation inlet were performed.This paper presents the CFD results obtained for the final design for different operating conditions, the model test procedures and the model test results with special attention to: 1) The bifurcation head loss coefficients, and their extrapolation to prototype conditions, 2) S-PIV and LDA measurements. Additionally, criteria to define the minimal uniformity conditions for the velocity profiles entering the turbine are evaluated. Finally, based on the gathered flow information a better understanding to define the preferred location of a bifurcation is gained and can be applied to future projects.