Axial water jet injection in a low head Francis turbine at part load

Abstract

The part load operation of a Francis turbine generally develops a rotating vortex rope (RVR) in the draft tube, generating flow instabilities and pressure pulsations. The present work reports the axial water injection method to mitigate the RVR and its associated pulsations in the draft tube. The runner cone is modified to install a nozzle of three different designs for water jet injection. Water is injected axially at the rate of 0.5% to 2% of the main flow. Spectral analysis is performed to assess the pressure amplitude and dominating frequency affected by the water injection. Spectrogram and spatial harmonic decomposition show a reduction in synchronous and asynchronous pulsation amplitudes. The pressure recovery in the draft tube cone is also improved. The spectral analysis shows that the water injection at 1% and 1.25% is the most effective. The water injection above 1.25% to 2% causes pulsations near the draft tube bend as the water jet bounces back after striking the elbow. A sharp decrease in the Strouhal frequency is observed above 0.5% jet injection. The efficiency of the turbine is also improved by water jet injection.