Experimental study of horizontal effects of flow on non-erosion absorbers in the presence of cavitation

Abstract

This article is devoted to one relatively small issue of the dynamics of hydraulic structures, the determination of horizontal hydrodynamic loads on energy absorbers of a high-pressure catchment area in a cavitating flow in the presence of erosion-free absorbers. In connection with the intensive construction of high and medium-pressure hydroelectric systems, spillways that operate at high flow rates, a very urgent task is to develop reliable and economical downstream devices that provide intensive damping of flow energy in a stilling well with favorable uninterrupted flow regimes and the absence of cavitation erosion of streamlined elements. Traditional methods of extinguishing energy using stilling wells and walls do not always solve the problem. In several cases, additional elements such as energy absorbers are installed, which effectively deal with malfunctioning currents. However, most of the used types of absorbers have a serious drawback - they are destroyed during cavitation studies by prof. N.P. Rozanov and his students made it possible, based on experiments, to develop several types of erosion-free or close to erosion-free dampers and obtain a dependence to determine the hydrodynamic loads acting on them at various stages of cavitation. This made it possible to use energy absorbers at high flow rates, which was done at the spillways of the Shamkhor and Artyomovsk hydroelectric power plants.