Numerical Investigation of Performance and Flow Characteristics of Francis Turbine in Part Load Condition

Abstract

Abstract Due to the complexity of the flow phenomena inside Francis turbines, it is very time-consuming and expensive to determine their performance and flow characteristics under different operating conditions through model tests and field measurements. The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to improve turbine design and performance is a more cost-effective alternative to traditional methods of forecasting flow characteristics in different flow domains across the whole turbine channel. The performance and flow characteristics of the turbine under various part load working circumstances are studied by numerical simulations employing the shear stress transfer SST (k − ω) turbulence model. Four different operating conditions from 50%,70%,80% and 100% of the maximum and minimum power were analyzed, and the flow characteristics across the entire turbine channel were investigated in detail. The study results shows the calculated efficiencies of four operating condition have good agreement with measured ones, and the efficiency differences between numerical simulation and measurement are below 0.44%. Visualization of velocity and pressure in the whole Francis turbine shows that output torque, output power, and performance are in good agreement with experiment results. This study’s findings can be utilized to improve the design, efficiency, and hydraulic stability of Francis turbines.