CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Vol. 30,aNo. 4,a2017

10.1007/s10033-017-0097-1

Experimental Investigation of Inter-Blade Vortices in a Model Francis Turbine

LIU Demin1, 2,* , LIU Xiaobing1, and ZHAO Yongzhi2

1 Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery of Ministry of Education, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
2 Dongfang Electric Machinery Co., Ltd, Deyang 618000, China

Received March 24, 2016; revised September 5, 2016; accepted October 14, 2016

Abstract: The inter-blade vortex in a Francis turbine becomes one of the main hydraulic factors that are likely to cause blade erosion
at deep part load operating conditions. However, the causes and the mechanism of inter-blade vortex are still under investigation
according to present researches. Thus the causes of inter-blade vortex and the effect of different hydraulic parameters on the
inter-blade vortex are investigated experimentally. The whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex is observed by a high speed camera.
The test results illustrate the whole life cycle of the inter-blade vortex from generation to separation and even to fading. It is observed
that the inter-blade vortex becomes stronger with the decreasing of flow and head, which leads to pressure fluctuation. Meanwhile, the
pressure fluctuations in the vane-less area and the draft tube section become stronger when inter-blade vortices exist in the blade
channel. The turbine will be damaged if operating in the inter-blade vortex zone, so its operating range must be far away from that
zone. This paper reveals the main cause of the inter-blade vortex which is the larger incidence angle between the inflow angle and the
blade angle on the leading edge of the runner at deep part load operating conditions.
Keywords: inter-blade vortex, Francis turbine, high speed photography
Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering (2017) 30: *–*; DOI: 10.3901/***; published online January *, 2017

1 Introduction many blade flow passages, the vortex will be named as

developed inter-blade vortex as shown in Fig. 2(b). To
reduce the damage of inter-blade vortex, the runner
Large scale Francis turbines have been extensively
crown needs to be shorter, which can reduce the
used in high head hydropower stations in recent years.
accumulation effect of inter-blade vortices and
The safe and stable operation of them has become a
minimize their formation in the flow passage. Thus, it is
major concern, besides efficiency. Their operating
important to study the inter-blade vortex to provide
instability could be induced by hydraulic factors,
guidance for the design of Francis turbines and bulb
mechanical factors and electromagnetic factors.
turbines[4].
Inter-blade vortex is one of the unsteady hydraulic
However, the characteristics of the cavitation
phenomena that can induce vibration and possible
phenomena observed at the deep part load operating
fatigue failure when Francis turbines operate at deep
conditions, especially the inter-blade cavitation vortices,
part load conditions as shown in Fig. 1[1]. The dotted
are not fully understood yet due to the limited number of
line represents the incipient line while the solid line
publications in this area[5–6].
represents the developed line of the inter-blade vortices.
If the inter-blade vortex is unstable, it will be a very
If the range of operating heads of a Francis turbine is
aggressive type of cavitation, and it is at the risk of
extremely wide, the occurrence of inter-blade vortex at
deeply eroding blades and provoking pressure
partial load may become unavoidable[2]. According to
fluctuations[7], especially, the inter-blade vortex
the IEC regulation[3], if the inter-blade vortex can only
cavitation on the unsymmetrical blade hydrofoil[8]. The
be seen in two or three blade flow passages, the vortex
inter-blade vortices may also induce strong mechanical
can be defined as incipient inter-blade vortex as shown
vibration due to the excitation of natural frequencies of
in Fig. 2(a); if the inter-blade vortex can be seen in
many components of the turbine by their wide-band

excitation spectrum[2]. Some hydropower stations were
Corresponding author. E-mail: liudemin999@126.com
damaged by inter-blade vortices, as reported in Ref. [9].
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant
No. 51279172), Open Research Subject of Key Laboratory of Fluid For example, both units No. 13 and No. 14 in Tarbela
Machinery of Ministry of Education, Xihua University, China(Grant Power Station were damaged by inter-blade vortices.
No. szjj2015-022), and Key Laboratory of Natural Science Fund of
Education Department of Sichuan Province, China(Grant No. 080704)
The total length of cracks on all blades caused by the
© Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg inter-blade vortex was about 4 m. In addition, totally 52
2017 bolts between the seal ring and the lower ring were
 YLIU Demin, et al: Experimental investigation of the inter-blade vortices of a model Francis turbine
loosened. After the rehabilitation in reducing the
inter-blade vortex, Tarbela Power Station can operate
safely now. This type of damage was also reported in
Foz do Chapeco Hydropower Station(Brail, 2004)[10]
and Gongzui Hydropower Station(China, 2003)[11].
Fig. 1. Hill curve of the model turbine.
Fig. 2. Inter-blade vortices at different stages
The experimental method of inter-blade vortices has
been improved according to YAMAMOTO, et al[12],
CHEN et al[13], LIU[14] and AVELLAN[15]. The
inter-blade vortices was visualized by from the low
pressure side of the turbine across a transparent diffuser
cone with an inclined window, and then they developed
a novel technique to see through the blade channel from
the high pressure side of the turbine by using an
instrumented guide vane with a transparent window and
appropriate lighting, and reported the first visualizations
of inter-blade cavitation vortices from this new
perspective. Two types of inter-blade vortices are
identified with experiment observation, i.e., vortex
shedding on blade suction side at high head and vortex
incipient on pressure side of the blades at low head. By
using the dynamic pressure sensor and the strain gauge
method, the pressure fluctuation frequency and
amplitude induced by inter-blade vortex can be
measured, and AVELLAN[15] believed that the
inter-blade vortex is a type of cavitation vortex.
Considerable work has been done on the numerical
simulation of the inter-blade vortices. The computation
of the inter-blade vortex is quite sensitive to the grid size
in the turbine blade channel[16]. The shape of inter-blade
vortex at the leading edge of runner blade can be
simulated by solving the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged
Navier-Stokes equations with the Reynolds-stress model
and the bubble two-phase flow model[17]. The pressure
fluctuation of the inter-blade vortex in a Francis turbine
can be obtained by using the experimental and
numerical simulation methods, and the frequency of
inter-blade vortex is about one time of the runner
frequency[18]. The amplitude of static stress increases
suddenly with the forming of inter-blade vortices[19]. The
unsteady characteristic of inter-blade vortex can be
elaborated by adopting the SST k   turbulence
model[20]. Through comparing the pressure fluctuations,
it can be concluded that the frequency of the inter-blade
vortex is similar to the runner frequency while the
amplitude of the inter blade vortex is smaller than that of
the draft tube vortex. Based on calculation and
experimental results by ZUO, et al[21] , YAMAMOTO[22],
et al, and GAO[23], et al, they found that inter-blade
vortices near the runner leading edge and the shroud are
stable and non-stable, respectively. Both the
experimental and the numerical results show that the
inter-blade cavitation vortex is clearly attached to the
runner hub. And the inter-blade vortex is created by the
collision of the relatively high velocity flow and the
separated flow close to the hub. Correspondingly, the
low pressure region appears at the centre of the vortex
resulting in the formation of the inter-blade cavitation
vortex.
By now, the high speed photography has been widely
used in cavitation studies of hydraulic machineries, such
as the determination of cavitation inception[24] and the
investigation on characteristics of different types of
cavitation vortices.
Although there are a large number of experimental
studies and numerical simulations, a consistent
conclusion about the pressure fluctuation and evolution
mechanism induced by inter-blade vortex still has not
been reached.
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
In this paper, the inter-blade vortex was observed and Table 2. Key parameters of the inter-blade vortex test
the pressure fluctuation induced by it was measured. The
Measuring items Measuring instrument Uncertainty/
high speed photography was used in the process.
Comparisons of the life cycle and the pressure Discharge Q Electromagnet flow meter 0.20％
fluctuation between the inter-blade vortex and the draft
vortex were made, and the results are presented below. Speed N Speed sensor 0.02％
As far as the author is aware, this is the first publication Head H Pressure sensor 0.05％
addressing the detailed experimental observation of the Load Load sensor 0.05％
inter-blade vortex in hydraulic machinery. Absolute pressure Pressure sensor 0.10％
Pressure fluctuation Dynamic Pressure sensor 0.10％
2 Test Stand Water temperature Temperature sensor ±0.10°
Air discharge Flow meter 0.10％
The test of inter-blade vortex was conducted on the Wicket gate angle Angle displacement sensor 0.10％
DF-150 Test Stand of Dongfang Hydraulic Machinery,
as shown in Fig. 3. It can perform the efficiency test, the
cavitation test, the pressure fluctuation test, the runaway 3 Experimental Setup
test, the wicket gate torque test, the hydraulic axial
thrust test, the Winter-Kennedy test and other The tested object was a Francis turbine with the
customer-oriented special tests. The test abilities of the specific speed of 185.7, and the main parameters of
stand such as water head, runner diameter and rotational turbine are listed in Table 3.
speed are listed in Table 1.
Table 3. Main characteristics of the tested Francis
turbine

Parameter Value
Runner diameter at inlet Dth/mm 350
Runner diameter at outlet D1/ mm 560
The number of runner blades Z1 17
The number of guide vanes Z0 24
o
Maximum guide vane opening a/( ) 34
Rotational speed N/(r·min–1) 935
Specific speed Ns/(m·kW) 185.7
Fig. 3. Test stand of DF-150 for inter-blade vortex
The measuring points of pressure fluctuation,
Table 1. Key parameters of DF-150 test stand including the measuring points at Y and X directions on
the vane-less area and the measuring point DTconeHW
Parameter Value
on the draft cone section, are shown in Fig. 4(a). The
Maximum test head H/ m 150
Model runner diameter D /mm 250～500
observation instruments were a high speed camera and a
Maximum speed of dynamometer 2500 high-intensity xenon flash lamp used as the light source.
N/(r·min–1) The inter-blade vortex was observed by the high speed
Generator power P/ kW 500 camera. The camera was facing the transparent cone
Maximum test discharge Q/ (m3·s–1) 1.5 section of the draft tube made of transparent Plexiglas
Suction head of model runner H /m -8.5～+25
with a 30° angle of elevation as shown in Fig. 4(b). To
Systematic uncertainty of efficiency ±0.25%
avoid the refraction of light by the transparent Plexiglas,
the Polaris-cope installed on the camera lens was used in
The key experimental parameters used in the test the process of inter-blade vortex recording.
are listed in Table 2.
 YLIU Demin, et al: Experimental investigation of the inter-blade vortices of a model Francis turbine

pressure measuring section at the outlet, V2 is the

average velocity at the outlet section of the model
turbine, g is the gravity acceleration, H is the operating
head, σ is the cavitation coefficient, and NPSE is the net
positive suction energy.

Fig. 5. Sketch of cavitation coefficient definition

Totally three groups of n11 were selected within the

operation range of the prototype, which are 58.60 r/min,
64.00 r/min and 74.85 r/min, as listed in Table 4.

Table 4. Tested working conditions

Unit speed Unit discharge Cavitation No condensable gas

No.
n11/(r·min–1) Q11/( l·s–1) No. σ NCG /(mg·l–1)
A1 74.85 500 0.458 45.6
A2 74.85 490 0.457 45.6

A3 74.85 394 0.468 45.6

A4 74.85 390 0.465 45.6
A5 74.85 335 0.458 45.6

Fig. 4. Measuring points of pressure fluctuation B1 64.00 546 0.162 45.6

B2 64.00 534 0.162 45.6
and high speed camera on the flow passage B3 64.00 529 0.161 45.6
B4 64.00 518 0.166 45.6

The cavitation number is very important in the B5 64.00 514 0.162 45.6

occurrence of inter-blade vortex, and it determines the B6 64.00 452 0.162 45.6

intensity of the vortex. The cavitation coefficient is C1 58.60 500 0.104 45.6

specified in IEC regulation[3]. The cavitation coefficient C2 58.60 483 0.105 45.6

of the model turbine was calculated according Eqs. (1) C3 58.60 465 0.103 45.6
(3). The determination of net positive suction energy C4 58.60 454 0.103 45.6
NPSE is shown in Fig. 5. C5 58.60 449 0.102 45.6
0.5
where n11 is the unit rotation speed of the runner, nD1/H , NCG
  NPSE E , (1) means no condensable gas, and Q11 is the unit discharge, Q/(D12H0.5))

2
Pm  Pamb  Pva V2
NPSE    g( Z r  Z m ) , (2) For each n11, the cavitation number(σ) was
 2
determined according to the tail water level of the
prototype at the corresponding head. All conditions were
E  gH , (3)
tested at the same no condensable gas(NCG) condition.
The pressure at the draft tube outlet was adjusted to
where Pm is the pressure on section m, Pamb is the
achieve the required cavitation number at each working
ambient pressure, Pva is the vapor pressure of water, Zr is
condition. Five or six openings were selected for each
the altitude of the distributor centerline, Zm is the
n11, which are the vortex incipient condition in the flow
altitude of the suction head transducer on the low
passage, two or three conditions on the left side (with
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
smaller discharge) and one or two conditions on the
right side (with larger discharge). The experimental
conditions in Group A were named as A1, A2, A3, A4 and
A5 with the discharge decreasing successively. The
experimental conditions in other groups were named in
the same way. All the experimental conditions are shown
in Fig. 6. The broken line is the incipient line of the
inter-blade vortex observed by the high speed camera.
According to the IEC regulation, with the discharge
decreasing at the same unit speed, when the inter-blade
vortex appears in two or three inter-blade flow passages,
it will be defined as the incipient inter-blade vortex.
The tested conditions and the inter-blade vortex
incipient line are shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 7. Life cycle of an inter-blade vortex
Both the inter-blade vortex and the draft vortex can be
seen at same time in the transparent cone section on the
draft tube at some working conditions. However, it can be
seen from Fig. 8(a) to Fig. 8(e) that the draft vortex
weakens while the inter-blade vortex becomes stronger if
comparing them at the same unit speed n11=58.60 r/min.
The draft vortex is a kind of helically vortex with a
precession movement, while the inter-blade vortex is a
kind of columnar vortex with an analogical precession
movement. The movements of the draft vortex are caused
by the circumferential velocity Cu and axial velocity Cm,
and the former provides the rotating energy while the
Fig. 6. Tested inter-blade vortex incipient line
4 Results and Discussion
At the beginning of the experiment, the discharge, the
pressure and the torque including dynamic torque and
friction torque were calibrated to keep the tested data
independent from the tested instruments.
4.1 Life cycle of the inter-blade vortex
Fig. 7 shows the whole life cycle of an inter-blade
vortex labeled by circle. At 1/6T, the inter-blade vortex
forms in the middle of a blade flow passage and it is a
transparent strip near the blade trailing edge. At 2/6T to
4/6T, the tail end of the vortex begins to stretch and
becomes thin gradually. At 4/6T, the tail of the
inter-blade vortex is separating from the main vortex
and the vortex sheds completely at 5/6T. At 6/6T, the
separated inter-blade vortex flows to draft tube, and then
weakens and dies away.
latter provides the driving force towards downstream.
With the discharge decreasing (smaller than the rated
value), the axial velocity Cm decreases from C3m to C5m,
as shown in Fig. 9, and the draft vortex’s force of
precession weakens in the process. However, the
circumferential velocity Cu which provides rotating
energy to the inter-blade vortex increases from C3u to C5u,
as shown in Fig. 9, so the inter-blade vortex becomes
stronger at working condition C5. The sold line represents
the rated discharge, the broken line represents the working
condition C3, and dash-dotted line represents the working
condition C5 in Fig. 9.
 YLIU Demin, et al: Experimental investigation of the inter-blade vortices of a model Francis turbine

Fig. 8. Comparison between inter-blade vortex and draft vortex for Group C

The incidence angle i is calculated at all working

conditions as listed in Table 5. The velocities Cu and Cm
are calculated on the leading edge(LE) and the trailing
edge(TE). Meanwhile, the incidence angle is calculated
on the basis of the runner leading edge as shown in Fig.
4(b). The geometry installed angle of runner blade is same
with the flow angle on rated working condition.
The inter-blade vortex on the runner leading edge is
caused by the incidence angle i which is the source of
flow separation, and the circumferential velocity Cu
Fig. 9. Velocity triangle
provides the rotating energy source for the inter-blade
vortex, as shown in Fig. 9. With the discharge decreasing,
the flow angle becomes smaller and the incidence angle
4.2 Incidence angle
becomes larger as listed in Table 5. With the increasing of
The incidence angle i is the difference between flow the incidence angle, the vortex begins to separate and the
angles  and 1 in Eq. (4). The larger the incidence inter-blade vortex becomes stronger and the pressure
angle is, the more serious the inter-blade vortex separation fluctuation amplitude increases.
will be.

i    1  antanCm Cu   antanCm r Cur  , (4)

 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Table 5. Working conditions and incidence angles

Working condition n11/(r·min–1) Q11/(l·s–1) Cm _TE/(m·s–1) Cu _TE/(m·s–1) Cm _LE/(m·s–1) Cu _LE/(m·s–1) iLE/(o)

A1 74.85 500 4.56 0.71 3.11 0.81 6.06

A2 74.85 490 4.47 0.71 3.05 0.81 6.34

A3 74.85 394 3.60 0.71 2.45 0.81 9.74

A4 74.85 390 3.56 0.71 2.43 0.81 9.92

A5 74.85 335 3.06 0.71 2.08 0.81 12.69

B1 64.00 546 4.98 0.61 3.40 0.69 3.00

B2 64.00 534 4.87 0.61 3.32 0.69 3.25

B3 64.00 529 4.83 0.61 3.29 0.69 3.36

B4 64.00 518 4.73 0.61 3.22 0.69 3.60

B5 64.00 514 4.69 0.61 3.20 0.69 3.70
B6 64.00 452 4.12 0.61 2.81 0.69 5.31

C1 58.60 500 4.56 0.56 3.11 0.63 3.00

C2 58.60 483 4.41 0.56 3.01 0.63 3.39

C3 58.60 465 4.24 0.56 2.89 0.63 3.84

C4 58.60 454 4.14 0.56 2.82 0.63 4.13
C5 58.60 449 4.10 0.56 2.79 0.63 4.26

rated condition 60.30 700 6.39 0.58 4.36 0.65 0.00

Where Cm is the axial velocity, Cu is the circumferential velocity, Cmr is the axial velocity at the rated condition, Cur is the circumferential velocity at the
rated condition and i is the incidence angle which is the flow angle (  ) difference between the rated condition and other working conditions on the

runner leading edge, LE= leading edge, and TE= trailing edge.

4.3 Pressure fluctuation of the inter-blade vortex

By comparing the pressure fluctuation amplitudes at
The pressure fluctuations were measured at many
working conditions C2 and C5 in Table 6, it can be seen
working conditions, and the typical working conditions
that the amplitude (peak-peak value) increases with the
such as the inter-blade vortex incipient conditions and the
decreasing of the unit discharge from Q11=483 l/s to
developed conditions were chosen to compare the
Q11=449 l/s. It can be seen from Table 5 that the incidence
pressure fluctuations. The pressure fluctuation amplitude
angle (i=3.39) at C2 is smaller than that (i=4.26) at C5.
(Amp.) and the first dominant frequency at working
The flow separation is more serious at C5, so the pressure
conditions C2 and C5 on measuring points (VanelessY) are
fluctuation amplitude is larger. Additionally, the
listed in Table 6, where the amplitude (Amp.) refers to the
amplitudes at B3 and A5 are larger than those at B2 and A3
peak-peak value, while the frequency and amplitude
with the similar reason as C5. The working condition C2,
(Amp1.) refer to those of the first dominant frequency,
C5, B2, B3, A3 and A5 have the same first dominant
respectively. The sketch of measuring points is shown in
frequency which is 15 fn. The possible reason is that the
Fig. 4.
pressure fluctuation amplitude on the vane-less area is
mainly affected by the interference of the frequency 15 fn
Table 6. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point VanelessY by the runner blade on measuring points(VanelessY). The
interference of blade passing frequency is consistent at
n11/(r·min–1) Amp. A/ % Frequency f/Hz Amp1. A/ %
different working conditions. The amplitude-time shows
58.60 C2 C5 C2 C5 C2 C5 the pressure fluctuation amplitude while the amplitude-
1.49 3.36 15 fn 15 fn 0.51 0.37
frequency one shows the dominant frequency value in Fig.
64.00 B2 B3 B2 B3 B2 B3
1.45 1.62 15 fn 15 fn 0.33 0.31
10.
74.85 A3 A5 A3 A5 A3 A5
1.66 1.86 15 fn 15 fn 0.28 0.24
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Vol. 30,aNo. 4,a2017

Fig. 10. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point VanelessY at different working conditions

fluctuation amplitude at working condition C5 is decided

The pressure fluctuation amplitude and the first by the blade passing frequency 15fn and the draft vortex
dominant frequency value at working conditions C2 and frequency 0.20fn, as shown in Fig. 11(b). The pressure
C5 on measuring points(VanelessX) are listed in Table 7. fluctuation amplitude is affected by the high frequency
The sketch of measuring points is shown in Fig. 4. By and low frequency fluctuation.
comparing the pressure fluctuation amplitudes at working . Table 7. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point
conditions C2 and C5, it can be seen that the amplitude VanelessX
(peak-peak value) increases with the decreasing of the
n11/(r·min–1) Amp. A/ % Frequency f/Hz Amp1. A/ %
unit discharge from Q11=483 l/s to Q11=449 l/s. It can be
58.60 C2 C5 C2 C5 C2 C5
seen from Table 5 that the incidence angle (i=3.39) at C2
2.63 3.36 0.22 fn 0.20 fn 0.63 0.87
is smaller than that (i=4.26) at C5. The flow separation is 64.00 B2 B3 B2 B3 B2 B3
more serious at C5, so the pressure fluctuation amplitude 1.73 1.94 15 fn 15 fn 0.39 0.45
is larger. The amplitudes at B3 and A5 are larger than those 74.85 A3 A5 A3 A5 A3 A5
at B2 and A3 with the similar reason as C5. Additionally, 1.61 1.87 15 fn 15 fn 0.25 0.29
the amplitude at C5 is the largest among these working
conditions. The possible reason is that the pressure
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Vol. 30,aNo. 4,a2017

Fig. 11. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point VanelessX at different working conditions

The pressure fluctuation amplitude and the first
dominant frequency and amplitude are listed in Table 8
and shown in Fig. 12. By comparing the pressure
fluctuation amplitudes at different unit speeds, it can be
seen that the pressure fluctuation amplitude on the draft
tube measuring point increases with the increasing of the
unit speed from n11=58.60 r/min to n11=74.85 r/min, and
the amplitude at the unit speed n11=74.85 r/min is two
times than that at n11=58.60 r/min. It can be seen from
Table 5 that the incidence angles are 3.39 degrees and
12.69 degrees at n11=58.60 r/min and n11=74.85 r/min,
respectively. This proves that serious flow separation
takes place at high unit speed and this is the possible
reason that the pressure fluctuation amplitude at working
condition A5 is the largest on measuring point
DTConeHW, as listed in Table 8. At the same time, the
circumferential velocity Cu  0.71 at the working
condition A5 on the runner blade trailing edge is the
largest at n11=74.85 r/min, as listed in Table 5, so the
pressure fluctuation amplitude is the largest at the
working condition A5. This is because the draft vortex’s
rotating energy is mainly from the circumferential
velocity.
 YLIU Demin, et al: Experimental investigation of the inter-blade vortices of a model Francis turbine

Table 8. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point 64.00 B2 B3 B2 B3 B2 B3

1.73 1.94 0.26 fn 0.26 fn 0.45 0.38
DTConeHW 74.85 A3 A5 A3 A5 A3 A5
n11/(r·min–1) Amp. A/ % Frequency f/Hz Amp1. A/ % 5.07 6.59 0.71 fn 0.71 fn 0.38 0.65

58.60 C2 C5 C2 C5 C2 C5
2.06 3.36 0.24 fn 1.00 fn 1.15 0.41

Fig. 12. Pressure fluctuations on measuring point DTConeHW at different working conditions

increases with the decreasing of the unit discharge, such

The pressure fluctuation multi-frequency curves and
dominant frequency curves at different working
conditions are shown in Fig. 10Fig. 12. The pressure
fluctuation amplitude on the measuring points in the
vane-less area (between the guide vane and the runner)
as the working conditions C2, C5, B2, B3, A3 and A5, as
listed in Table 6 and Table 7. This pressure fluctuation on
the vane-less area is caused by the inter-blade vortex and
blade passing frequency fluctuation. The initial stage of
the inter-blade vortex is very unstable as seen from the
full life cycle of the vortex in Fig. 7. Meanwhile, the
 CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
pressure fluctuation amplitude on the draft tube
measuring point DTConeHW increases with the
increasing of the unit speed, for example, from the unit
speed n11=58.60 r/min to n11=74.85 r/min in Table 8. The
inter-blade vortex is very sensitive to the discharge,
especially at high unit speed n11=74.85 r/min. This
pressure fluctuation on the draft tube area is caused by the
inter-blade vortex and the draft vortex shedding from Fig.
7. The first main frequencies are 0.71fn and 0.24fn at
n11=74.85 r/min and n11=58.60 r/min, respectively. And
the sum is about the runner rotating frequency.
5 Conclusions
(1) The main cause of the inter-blade vortex is the large
incidence angle between the inflow angle and the blade
angle on the leading edge of the runner at deep part load
operating conditions.
(2) The inter-blade vortex is very sensitive to the
discharge especially at high unit speed. The pressure
fluctuation on the vane-less area between the guide vane
and the runner blade is caused by the separation of the
inter-blade vortex due to the increasing of the incidence
angle.
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Biographical notes
 YLIU Demin, et al: Experimental investigation of the inter-blade vortices of a model Francis turbine

LIU Demin, male, born in 1982, is currently a senior engineer at

Dongfang Electric Machinery Company, China. He received his
PhD degree from fluid machinery Engineering, Tsinghua
University, China, in 2011. His research interests include CFD
and hydraulic design. He is in charge of Kaplan turbine,
pump-turbine and all kinds of pumps. Especially he finished the
Dunhua pump storage station pump-turbine unite design. He has
published more than 20 papers.
Tel: +86-838-2411953; E-mail: liudemin999@126.com

LIU Xiaobing, male, born in 1965, is currently a professor at

Xihua University, China. He received his PhD degree from fluid
machinery Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, China, in 1995. His research interests include
cavitation and sand erosion. He has published more than 40
papers.
Tel: +86-28-87720083; E-mail: liuxb@xhu.edu.cn

ZHAO Yongzhi, male, born in 1965, is currently a senior engineer

at Dongfang Electric Machinery Company, China. He received his
master degree from fluid machinery engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2001.
His research interests include CFD and hydraulic design. He is in
charge of Kaplan turbine and bulb turbine. He has published more
than 10 papers.
Tel: +86-0838-2410038; E-mail: zhaoyongzhi@sina.com