Hydraulic Characteristics Analysis of Double-Bend Roadway of Abandoned Mine Pumped Storage

Abstract

The roadway of an abandoned mine is an ideal site for the construction of underground pumped storage hydropower, but the operation of the power station is deeply restricted by the structural characteristics of the roadway. With the common double-bend roadway of an abandoned mine as the research object, this study conducted numerical simulations based on the theory of mass conservation and momentum conservation and explored the law of the flow field characteristics and energy loss of a double-bend roadway with the roadway structure and angle. The results showed that a velocity gradient and a pressure gradient form from the outer wall to the inner wall when the fluid flows through the two bends of the roadway. The low-speed zone and maximum positive pressure appeared at the outside of the bend, while the high-speed zone and maximum negative pressure appeared at the inside of the bend. As the angle rose, the peak value of positive pressure increased correspondingly when the fluid flowed through Model A, whereas the negative pressure displayed a fluctuating trend of increasing first and then decreasing and reached its peak when β = 45°. By contrast, when the fluid flowed through Model B, the velocity gradient was symmetrically distributed at the two bends. The peak value of the positive pressure of the first bend increased, and the other positive and negative pressures displayed a trend of “first increasing and then decreasing” when the angle increased, and they reached their peak when β = 45°. When β ≥ 60°, the fluid formed a backflow zone when it flowed through each bend. With an increase in the angle, the area of the backflow zone increased correspondingly. The head loss of the two models increased with the angle. At the same angle, the head loss of Model B was greater than that of Model A. According to the requirement of abandoned mine pumped storage, the roadways with a bend angle of 15° or 30° in Model A and 15° in Model B can be used. The research results can provide some reference for the underground space exploitation and utilization of abandoned mine pumped storage.