Influence of rotational inertia on the runner radial forces of a model pump‐turbine running away through the S‐shaped characteristic region

Abstract

To enhance the power grid's stability and safety, pumped-storage power stations (PSPSs) have to keep themselves stable and safe strictly. However, instabilities happen frequently in some PSPSs due to the S-shaped characteristics of pump-turbines. When the operating point goes through the S-shaped region, intensive radial forces on the runner could cause shaft swing of the turbine-generator unit. In this study, the runaway transient scenarios of a pump-turbine in a model PSPS were simulated by using a one-dimensional and three-dimensional coupled computational fluid dynamics model, and the influence of the unit rotational inertia on the runner radial forces was investigated. The results show that when the pump-turbine runs in the S-shaped region, large rotational inertia is easier than a small one to induce abrupt increases in runner radial forces. The reason is that large rotational inertia gives slower changes in rotational speed and discharge, providing enough time to generate unstable and uneven flow patterns in the pump-turbine. This indicates that apart from the running away region in the characteristics plane, the running away duration is also essential for the transient instability of a pump-turbine. The finding is different from the traditional understandings and should be considered when selects the rotational inertia of a pump-turbine unit.