Study of Flow Characteristics inside Francis Turbine Draft Tube with Adjustable Guide Vanes

Abstract

Numerical investigation was performed on a semi-model (one stay vane, two guide vanes, one runner passage inclusive of one main and one splitter blade, and the draft tube) of a high-head Francis turbine model with adjustable guide vanes in the draft tube. The motive of the present study is to investigate the possibility to mitigate the rotating vortex rope (RVR) formed at part load operating condition. Each guide vane in the draft tube consists of two hydrofoils. The upper hydrofoil is adjustable according to the flow angles leaving the runner. The lower hydrofoil is stationary and corresponds to the flow angle at best efficiency point (BEP).The factors considered while designing these guide vanes were a) number of guide vanes, b) chord length, c) span and d) position in the draft tube. The preliminary results indicate that the RVR pressure amplitude was suppressed by 97% compared to the reference model with no guide vanes at part load (PL) operating condition. An 8.7% increment in the draft tube pressure recovery was obtained which indicates that implementation of the guide vanes in the draft tube could positively impact the turbine efficiency beside the mitigation of the pressure pulsations at PL operation.