Flow Behavior Around Stayvanes and Guidevanes of a Francis Turbine

Abstract

The three-dimensional computation of steady and incompressible internal flows is of interest in numerical simulations of turbomachinery, and such simulations are currently under investigation, from inviscid to viscous flow analyses. First, surface pressure distributions have been measured for the stayvanes and the guidevanes of a Francis turbine. They are presented to verify the numerical results. Second, both inviscid and viscous three-dimensional flow analyses have been made, so as to predict the flow behavior in the same domain. Comparison of the measured pressure distributions to the predicted pressure distributions has been made to study the usefulness of the present simulations. It can be pointed out that a global analysis which includes a runner flow passage, except runner blades, is necessary to predict the three-dimensional flow characteristics and that inviscid flow analysis has the capability of good prediction for flow without separation. Viscous flow analysis gives similar results, though it is necessary to investigate further the improvement of prediction accuracy. Flow characteristics around the stayvanes and the guidevanes are also discussed.