See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/296468958

Investigation into the flow details of runner region in a pump turbine at off-
design conditions

Article  in  Advances in Mechanical Engineering · February 2016

DOI: 10.1177/1687814016630727

CITATIONS READS

2 90

5 authors, including:

Deyou Li Hongjie Wang

Harbin Institute of Technology GuangDong University of Technology
52 PUBLICATIONS   314 CITATIONS    35 PUBLICATIONS   234 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Study on mechanism and control strategy of cavitation vortex instability in draft tube of hydro-turbines View project

Studies on transient processes of pump-turbines View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Deyou Li on 30 March 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Special Issue Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2016, Vol. 8(2) 1–15
Ó The Author(s) 2016
Investigation into the flow details of DOI: 10.1177/1687814016630727
aime.sagepub.com
runner region in a pump turbine at
off-design conditions

Ruzhi Gong1, Deyou Li1, Hongjie Wang1, Xianzhu Wei1,2

and Daqing Qin1,2

Abstract
Due to the rapid development of large thermal power stations and nuclear power stations, it requires that the power
grid should provide greater capability and flexibility. Security, stability, and economy in operation should also be taken
into consideration. The pumped storage power station which has double peak regulating capability is a good choice to
realize this goal. However, the existence of S shape characteristic of a pump turbine in generating mode at off-design
condition makes it difficult to connect to the power grid. So it is necessary to analyze the reason of S shape characteris-
tic in pump turbine by experimental investigation and numerical simulations. To achieve the above-mentioned object,
numerical simulations of a pump turbine’s internal flow field were performed. The generating mode was analyzed by
unsteady computational fluid dynamics simulation. The evolution of flow details in runner regions under the S shape
characteristic conditions was observed by changing the guide vane opening. The unsteady flow structure and load on the
blades in regions of S shape characteristic were obtained, which will contribute to the design of hydro-turbine.

Keywords
Hydraulic machinery, computational fluid dynamics, S shape characteristic, pump turbine, unsteady simulation

Date received: 16 June 2015; accepted: 5 January 2016

Academic Editor: Junwu Wang

Introduction Pumped-storage power plants have taken the task of

Rapid developments of large thermal power plants—
either coal or nuclear—need more powerful and feasi-
ble ability of the electrical system. It requires that the
power grid should provide greater capability and flexi-
bility. Rigorous safe, stable, and economical strategy of
the electrical system is needed because of the random-
ness of the electricity between demand and supply.
Pumped-storage power plants have strong ability of
peaking and are convenient in starting, stopping, and
compensating. It can decrease the cost of electrical sys-
tem construction and supply the need of peaking and
frequency adjustment, which increases the quality
and reliability of the electrical supply and improves
the operating conditions of electrical system.
power-frequency control for the electrical grid.1 Some
real machine tests and experiments indicate that the
unstable operation problems are possible to come into
existence when the turbine subjected to S shape charac-
teristics (Figure 1). Depending on the specific speed of
1
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of
Technology, Harbin, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Hydropower Equipment, Harbin Institute of
Large Electrical Machinery, Harbin, China
Corresponding author:
Hongjie Wang, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute
of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
Email: wanghongjie@hit.edu.cn

Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without
further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/
open-access-at-sage).
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 1. Complete characteristic curves of pump turbine.
the pump turbine, the discharge-speed as well as
torque-speed characteristics at constant guide vane
opening can be ‘‘S-Shaped.’’2 In this case, the machine
operation may become strongly unstable at runaway
speed and beyond, with a significant increase in struc-
tural vibrations and noise. Moreover, a stable runaway
operating point is difficult to be reached and therefore
the synchronization with the electrical network in
safety conditions becomes impossible.3 In this case, one
rotational speed may correspond to three discharge val-
ues, which will inevitably increase mechanical vibra-
tions and noises to a larger extent. Most of all, it is
difficult for the hydraulic machine to be synchronous
with the power network. The existence of S shape char-
acteristic in low head start of a pump turbine is the
restriction of the pump turbine development. This will
induce large pressure pulsations and vibrations in
pump turbines.4–6 And this characteristic of reversible
pump turbine will lead to severe difficulties in the tran-
sition process of generators cut-in.
The hydromechanical mode period depends on the
rotating inertias, the penstock water inertia, and on the
local gradient of the turbine characteristic in the S
shape as it is well described by Martin.7,8 To investigate
the reason of S shape characteristic, some researches
were carried out. Hasmatuchi2 found that by numerical
simulations the pressure fluctuation in the stay vane
zone will increase from turbine status to runaway sta-
tus. Anciger et al.9 described the rotating stall and cavi-
tation inception phenomena, which will lead to the
instability of a pump turbine, using computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) simulations. Yin et al.10 investigated
the possible different flow patterns existing in pump
turbine under off-design conditions in pump mode. The
simulation result was compared with experimental data
and they showed good agreements. Velocity field ana-
lyzing in stay vanes and guide vanes found the ‘‘jet-
wake’’ flow pattern in the pump turbine. And the S
shape characteristic of a pump turbine was predicted
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
and the results coincided well with the experimental
results.11 The flow field in the turbine was described as
well.12 Tani and Okumura13 improved the efficiency of
the pump turbine under turbine status by applying the
CFD method to the turbine design. Blanc-Coquand
et al.14 analyzed the influence of blades’ number, flow
rate, and vaneless zone area on the rotor–stator interac-
tion by introducing unsteady CFD computation of the
pump turbine under both turbine status and pump sta-
tus. Backman15 simulated the three-dimensional (3D)
flow field of a pump turbine and studied the rotor–
stator interaction through analyzing the flow distribu-
tion, amplitude, and frequency of pressure fluctuations.
Pettersen and Nielsen16 proposed the mathematical
equations of pump turbine complete character curve
according to the mathematical theory of pump turbine
inner flow character. And ‘‘S’’ character was sketched
according to the equation derivation and analysis.
Hasmatuchi17 found in the experiment that the pressure
fluctuation of a turbine in the guide vane region will
increase, and the low frequency component in the pres-
sure fluctuation will increase evidently when the turbine
steps into the ‘‘S’’ region. Gentner et al.18,19 has evalu-
ated several CFD procedures with different approaches
for the calculation of the described instabilities in pump
and turbine operation. Sun et al.20 Studied the S char-
acter of a pump turbine with discrete-event simulation
(DES) model. Borresen and Knutsen21 deeply studied
the flow character under turbine status; however, the
flow character under runaway status and braking status
are less studied. The article carefully examined the flow
field of a pump turbine under turbine mode, runaway
mode, and braking mode at different guide vane open-
ings. The mechanism of S shape characteristic of the
turbine was analyzed.
Case description
The parameters of pump turbine model studied in the
article are shown in Table 1. Figure 2 shows the meri-
dional sketch of the turbine runner. The scaled model
parameters are provided by Harbin Institute of Large
machinery. The specific speed of the scaled model is
nq = 29.58 r min21. The whole flow passage of the
scaled turbine is simulated in the article. The scale tur-
bine model includes spiral casing, stay vanes, guide
vanes, runner, and draft tube (see Figure 3).
Numerical scheme
A time-dependent Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes
(RANS) model is chosen for the governing equations
of the flow, and numerical simulations are performed
in order to obtain the flow field in the turbine flow pas-
sage. Commercial CFD code CFX is used to carry out
Gong et al. 3

Figure 2. Meridional sketch of the turbine runner.

Table 1. Geometrical parameters of scaled turbine.

Parameters Value

Runner low pressure diameter, D1 (mm) 274

Blades number, Z 9
Guide vanes distribution diameter, D0 (mm) 610.46
Guide vanes number, Z0 20
Guide vane height, B0 (mm) 45.84
Stay vanes number, Zs 20

Figure 3. Model of scaled turbine.

the numerical simulations. The code solves the incom-
pressible unsteady time averaged Navier–Stokes equa-
tions in a primitive variable form. No-slip condition is
assumed on all the solid walls. The effects of turbulence
are modeled using the shear stress transport (SST)
model.10 The flow near the wall area will be calculated
by transport equation, and automatic near-wall treat-
ment is introduced in the model. Boundary function
will shift to the low Reynolds number wall function in
the near-wall region, so that the continuity equation
and momentum equation can be solved in the sub-
layer. The mesh for simulations is generated by ICEM
grid generator (see Figures 4–7).
Three different grid densities (fine-G1 with grid
number of 9.96 million, medium-G2 with grid number
of 6.62 million, and coarse-G3 with grid number of Figure 4. Mesh in spiral casing.
4.43 million) were used to carry out the grid sensitivity
check. The type G3-type mesh was the coarsest mesh in uncertainty in the grid convergence were estimated
the simulation. The subsequent mesh was updated by using the GCI method:22 the computed flow para-
1.5 3 in the grid number. The grid quality was taken meters are established in Table 2, and Figure 8 shows
into consideration at each step of grid creation so that the grid check results. The approximate and extrapo-
the mesh nodes did not correspond exactly to a 1.5 3 lated relative errors are estimated as
increase. The simulations were performed at the 45.5%
 
guide vane opening, and operating condition G 1  G 2 
21
ea =    ð1Þ
n11 = 35.529 r m1/2 min21, Q11 = 0.3194 m1/2 s21, for all G1 
grid types. The grid convergence index (GCI) method  21 
was used to evaluate the numerical uncertainties and Gext  G2 
e21 =   ð2Þ
grid convergence. The extrapolation values and
ext  G21 
ext

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 5. Mesh in stay vanes and guide vanes.

Figure 7. Mesh results in draft tube: (a) mesh in draft tube and
(b) mesh at the cross section of draft tube.

Table 2. Computed flow parameters.a

Parameter Turbine head (H) Turbine efficiency (h)

r21 1.5 1.5

r32 1.5 1.5
G1 14.89 90.71
G2 14.87 90.78
G3 13.94 91.31
21
Gext 14.890439 90.69935
e21
a 0.0013432 0.000772
e21
ext 0.0000295 0.000117
GCI21fine 0.0000369 0.000147
GCI32med 0.0017182 0.001111
a
Experimental head is 14.92 and experimental efficiency is 85.51 for the
validated condition.

Figure 6. Mesh results in runner: (a) mesh in runner and (b) The GCI from G2 to G1 was very low compared to
mesh at blade inlet.
the GCI from G3 to G2. And the turbine head and effi-
(r21 G1  G2 ) ciency with the fine grid are closer to the experimental
21
Gext = ð3Þ results. The converged solution with the fine grid
(r21  1)

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

Gong et al. 5

Figure 9. Hydraulic turbine test rig in Large Electrical

Machinery.

Figure 8. Grid sensitivity check.

Zhou et al.24,25 proposed that the imaginary part of
Table 3. Grid information. complex eigenvalue of velocity gradient tensor can dis-
play the vortex structure and quantize local vortex
Components Nodes number (3105) Average y+ intensity, and the parameter is defined as the swirling
strength. Adrian et al.26 state that the method is a
Spiral casing 16.8 11.3
Distributor 38.5 1.48
responsible method to identify and count vortexes in
Runner 31.819.2 3.47 flow field.
Draft tube 12.3 7.6
Total grid 99.6 –
Results discussion
(G1 with grid number of 9.96 million) was used for fur- The computations are carried out at the guide vane
ther simulations at different operating conditions. opening of 22.7%, 45.5%, and 145.5% (with respect to
The grids near the wall are specially treated. And the best efficiency point guide vane opening,
the grid information of each part is shown in Table 3. aBEP = 22 mm, set as 100% opening) under the condi-
According to the recommendations of Versteeg and tion of first quadrant in the turbine character chart.
Mlalasekera,23 y+= 11.63 can be regarded as the edge Several operating conditions are simulated under each
of boundary layer. guide vane opening. During the data process, time
The inlet is set as mass flow inlet, the outlet of the averaged results are used for efficiency (h), head (H),
turbine is set as pressure outlet, and the runner speed is torque (T), and flux rate (q). Instantaneous results are
attained for contours, streamlines, and pressure
set as the experiments. The interface between spiral cas-
profiles.
ing and stay vanes was simulated by general grid inter-
Experiments are carried out on the hydraulic plat-
face (GGI); the interface between guide vanes and
form of Harbin Institute of Large machinery. The
runner was simulated by transient frozen rotor; and the
accuracy of the platform is designed to accord with
interface between runner and draft tube was simulated
standard of IEC 60193. Figure 9 shows the test rig in
by transient frozen rotor.
Harbin Institute of Large Electrical Machinery.
Swirling strength method is applied to analyze the
Figure 10 shows the numerical results and experi-
flow field in the article. Swirling strength method is an
mental results under the guide vane opening of 22.7%,
analysis method based on the critical point of local
45.5%, and 145.5%. From the results we know that
velocity gradient. The swirling strength is defined as
there is no S shape characteristic at the guide vane
the imaginary part of complex eigenvalue of velocity
opening of 22.7%, that S shape characteristic in the
gradient tensor
character chart of 45.5% guide vane opening is not
very evident or has slight S shape characteristic, and
lei = max
     that there is evident S shape characteristic at the guide
∂vx ∂vy 1 ∂vx ∂vy 1 ∂vx ∂vx ∂vy ∂vy vane opening of 145.5%.
0,   + +
∂y ∂x 2 ∂x ∂y 4 ∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y The operating conditions chosen to be analyzed are
ð4Þ listed in Table 4. They are selected to be stable state
(without S shape characteristic), limit of stability state
where x, y are x and y coordinates, respectively (m), (with less S shape characteristic), and unstable state
and vx, vy are velocities in x and y directions, respec- (with evident S shape characteristic). The three points
tively (m s21). are located on the different positions of ‘‘S’’ zone of the

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Table 4. Simulation conditions.

Guide vane n11 (r m1/2 min21) Q11 (m1/2 s21) Head, h (m) Condition mode
opening, b (%)

22.7 38.996 0.1018 12.316 Turbine status

22.7 43.562 0.0724 10.373 Runaway status
22.7 45.454 0.0072 9.453 Braking status
45.5 35.516 0.3194 14.925 Turbine status
45.5 48.634 0.1433 7.548 Runaway status
45.5 48.276 0.0458 8.023 Braking status
145.5 53.034 0.5230 6.008 Turbine status
145.5 50.874 0.3065 5.849 Runaway status
145.5 50.533 0.0917 6.420 Braking status

the same runner phase are selected, for example, the

Figure 10. First quadrant character of pump turbine under
different guide vane openings: (a) n11–Q11 profile and (b) n11–T11
profile.
character curve. Runaway conditions are the operating
conditions in which the torque of the runner is zero.
And breaking conditions are the operating conditions
in which the torque of the runner is below zero. The
shown results below are instantaneous ones. States with
runner at the same position relative to spiral casing and
draft tube.
The runner is the components for a turbine to realize
the energy transfer, which greatly affects the efficiency
and stability of a turbine. Figures 11–13 show the
streamline principle in turbine runner at the guide vane
opening of 22.7%, 45.5%, and 145.5%, respectively.
There is almost no vortex in the runner under tur-
bine operating status. The vortex has emerged in the
runner under runaway operating status. There are more
vortexes in the runner under braking operating status
than under runaway operating status, and the vortex
will block up the flow passage. The larger the guide
vane opening, the smoother the streamline distribution,
and the later the vortex movement emerge under run-
away operating status and braking operating status.
The vortex intensity will be weaker and the influenced
region will be smaller. The reason is that the vanes pro-
duce larger prevention to backflow of vaneless zone
under smaller guide vane opening, which makes the
vortex develop rapidly when the turbine step into run-
away or braking operating status. While under larger
guide vane opening, backflow in vaneless zone will
transfer to the guide vane passage smoothly, which
slows down the development of vortex at the runner
inlet.
Figure 14 described the pressure surface, suction sur-
face, leading edge, trailing edge, and rotational direc-
tion of the turbine runner blades in the form of cascade
expansion which will be analyzed in Figures 15–20.
Figures 15–17 show the streamlines distribution at
the guide vane opening of 22.7%, 45.5%, and 145.5%,
respectively. The cutting planes analyzed are the middle
stream surface in each condition. At the guide vane
opening of 22.7%, two vortexes will be produced at the
runner inlet, and the rotational direction of two vor-
texes is opposite to each other. Under braking status,
the two vortexes at the runner inlet will merge and
almost block the flow passage. The fluid at the inlet
region cannot flow into the middle and tail part of the

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

Gong et al. 7

Figure 11. Streamlines in runner at 22.7% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.36 s), (b) runaway status (t = .0352 s), and
(c) braking status (t = 0.353 s).

Figure 12. Streamlines in runner at 45.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.359 s), (b) runaway status (t = 0.369 s), and
(c) braking status (t = 0.36 s).
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 13. Streamlines on the runner mid-span at 145.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.379 s), (b) runaway status
(t = 0.401 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.385 s).

runner because of the blockage of the two vortexes.

Figure 14. Description of turbine runner blade.
Contrariously, the fluid will flow back to the vaneless
zone. Under turbine status, the flowback area is small
and the vortex is weak. The flow is relatively steady
and smooth. Under runaway status, the water will flow
into the cone spirally because of the influence of two
vortexes in the flow passage. Under braking status, the
flow passage will be blocked by a vortex at the inlet,
and another new vortex at the middle region of the
flow passage will emerge. At the guide vane opening of
45.5% and 145.5%, similar principle will appear. The
unsteady condition comes later or the turbine flow is
more stable under large guide vane opening than that
under small guide vane opening.
Figures 18–20 show the vortex intensity distributions
in runner zone. Vortex with high intensity mainly distri-
butes at the inlet and the outlet of the runner. The
intensity of vortex at the outlet of the runner is larger
than that of the vortex at the runner inlet. The increas-
ing of guide vane opening will enlarge the flux differ-
ence between turbine status and braking status, which
leads to a higher flow rate at which the vortexes appear
under a larger guide vane opening. The vortex intensity

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

Gong et al. 9

Figure 15. Streamline distribution in the runner at the guide vane opening of 22.7%: (a) turbine status (t = 0.36 s), (b) runaway
status (t = .0352 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.353 s).

Figure 16. Streamline distribution in the runner at the guide vane opening of 45.5%: (a) turbine status (t = 0.359 s), (b) runaway
status (t = 0.369 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.36 s).

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 17. Streamline distribution in the runner at the guide vane opening of 145.5%: (a) turbine status (t = 0.379 s), (b) runaway
status (t = 0.401 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.385 s).

Figure 18. Vortex intensity distributions at 22.7% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.36 s), (b) runaway status (t = .0352 s),
and (c) braking status (t = 0.353 s).
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
Gong et al. 11

Figure 19. Vortex intensity distributions at 45.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.359 s), (b) runaway status
(t = 0.369 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.36 s).

Figure 20. Vortex intensity distributions at 145.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.379 s), (b) runaway status
(t = 0.401 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.385 s).
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
12
Figure 21. Pressure profile on the blade at 22.7% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.36 s), (b) runaway status (t = .0352 s),
and (c) braking status (t = 0.353 s).
will be larger and the vortex region will be wider. The
‘‘misplacement’’ and the difference of flow rate at which
the vortex appear may be the reason of S-shaped char-
acter. At the guide vane opening of 145.5%, the vortex
will appear at the inlet and outlet of runner from run-
away status to braking status, and the vortex will be
enhanced during the processing. The flow stability will
become worse.
The load on the blades will be influenced a lot by
flow profile in the runner. Figures 21–23 show the load
on the blades under different conditions. At the inlet
and outlet of the runner, the pressure on the pressure
surface of a blade is lower than that on the suction sur-
face due to the vortex at inlet and backflow at outlet
under turbine status with guide vane opening of 22.7%
and 45.5%. The fluid will obtain energy from the blades
in this region. Some water with increasing energy will
flow back to the vaneless zone, which will lead to the
pressure increase. At the other location of a blade, the
pressure on pressure surface of a blade is higher than
that on the suction surface because the blades will
obtain energy from fluid. The fluid will obtain energy
from blades only at the inlet and there is no backflow at
the outlet with the guide vane opening of 145.5%.
Under runaway status and braking status, the region
where the water receives power by runner blades
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
develops to the downstream caused by the increase in
backflow area, which will lead to the lower pressure
drop between pressure surface and suction surface. The
torque on the runner is ‘‘0’’ under runaway status, while
the torque on the runner is negative under braking
status.
Conclusion
The article studied the flow field of a pump turbine at
the guide vane opening of 22.7%, 45.5%, and 145.5%
under turbine status, runaway status, and braking sta-
tus. The first quadrant character of the turbine is
obtained through unsteady simulations for the men-
tioned conditions. It is found that when water receives
power from runner blades in the inlet region, braking
torque will appear, which indicates that the turbine
deviates from the turbine status. When the braking tor-
que enlarged and the whole torque on the runner
becomes ‘‘0,’’ the turbine will step into runaway status.
When the pressure drop between pressure surface and
suction surface becomes nearly ‘‘0,’’ the turbine will
step into braking status. Different ranges of vortex and
backflow will exist in the runner under different operat-
ing conditions at small guide vane opening, and the
vortex and backflow mainly distribute at vaneless zone,
Gong et al. 13

Figure 22. Pressure profile on the blade at 45.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.359 s), (b) runaway status
(t = 0.369 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.36 s).

Figure 23. Pressure profile on the blade at 145.5% guide vane opening: (a) turbine status (t = 0.379 s), (b) runaway status
(t = 0.401 s), and (c) braking status (t = 0.385 s).

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

14
runner inlet, and runner outlet. At larger guide vane
openings, the vortex and backflow will appear in the
runner till the turbine step into runaway status. It is to
say that the development of vortex and backflow under
large guide vane opening shows hysteresis quality with
respect to that under small guide vane openings. The S-
shaped characteristic is a natural characteristic for a
certain hydro-turbine, it cannot be avoided; however, it
can be reduced in the period of designing a turbine. Or
we can avoid the turbine operating in the S-type section
by controlling the motion principle of guide vane when
the working condition of the turbine is adjusted.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This work was supported by Foundation for
Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51121004) and the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51176040).
References
1. Kirschner O, Ruprecht A and Gode E. Experimental
investigation of pressure fluctuations caused by a vortex
rope in a draft tube. IOP C Ser Earth Env 2013; 15:
062059.
2. Hasmatuchi V. Hydrodynamics of a pump-turbine at
off-design operation conditions: numerical simulation.
In: Proceedings of the ASME-JSME-KSME 2011 joint
fluids engineering conference, Hamamatsu, Japan, 24–29
July 2011. New York: ASME.
3. Widmer C, Staubli T and Ledergerber N. Unstable char-
acteristics and rotating stall in turbine brake operation of
pump-turbines. J Fluid Eng: T ASME 2011; 133: 041101.
4. Xiao R, Sun H, Liu W, et al. Analysis of S characteristics
and its pressure pulsation of pump-turbine under pre-
opening guide vanes. J Mech Eng 2012; 48: 174–179.
5. Nennemann B and Parkinson E. YiXing pump turbine
guide vane vibrations problem resolution with advanced
CFD analysis. In: Proceedings of the 25th IAHR sympo-
sium on hydraulic machinery and systems, Timisoara, 20–
24 September 2010.
6. Braun O, Kueny JL and Avellan F. Numerical analysis
of flow phenomena related to the unstable energy-
discharge characteristic of a pump-turbine in pump
mode. In: Proceedings of the 2005 ASME fluids engineer-
ing division summer meeting and exhibition, Houston, TX,
19–23 June 2005. New York: ASME.
7. Martin CS. Stability of pump-turbines during transient
operation. In: Proceedings of the 5th international confer-
ence on pressure surges, Hannover, 22–24 September
1986.
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
8. Martin CS. Instability of pump-turbines with S-shaped
characteristics. In: Proceedings of the 20th IAHR sympo-
sium on hydraulic machinery and systems, Charlotte, NC,
6–9 August 2000.
9. Anciger D, Jung A and Aschenbrenner T. Prediction of
rotating stall and cavitation inception in pump turbines.
IOP C Ser Earth Env 2010; 12: 12013.
10. Yin JL, Liu JT, Wang LQ, et al. Performance prediction
and flow analysis in the vaned distributor of a pump tur-
bine under low flow rate in pump mode. Sci China Tech
Sci 2010; 53: 3302–3309.
11. Yin JL, Wang DZ, Wei XZ, et al. Hydraulic improve-
ment to eliminate S-shaped curve in pump turbine. J Fluid
Eng: ASME 2013; 135: 071105.
12. Wang LQ, Yin JL, Jiao L, et al. Numerical investigation
on the ‘‘S’’ characteristics of a reduced pump turbine
model. Sci China Tech Sci 2011; 54: 1259–1266.
13. Tani K and Okumura H. Performance improvement of
pump-turbine for large capacity pumped storage plant in
USA. Hitachi Rev 2009; 58: 98–202.
14. Blanc-Coquand R, Lavigne S and Deniau JL. Experimen-
tal and numerical study of pressure fluctuation in high
head pump-turbine. In: Proceedings of the 20th IAHR
symposium on hydraulic machinery and systems, Charlotte,
NC, 6–9 August 2000.
15. Backman G. CFD validation of pressure fluctuations in a
pump turbine. Luleå: Luleå University of Technology,
2008.
16. Pettersen K and Nielsen TK. An explanation to the steep
speed–flow characteristics of RPTs. In: Proceedings of the
22nd IAHR symposium, Stockholm, 26 June–2 July 2004.
17. Hasmatuchi V. Experimental investigation of a pump-
turbine at off-design operating conditions. In: Proceed-
ings of the 3rd international meeting of the workgroup on
cavitations and dynamic problems in hydraulic machinery
and systems, Brno, 14–16 October 2009.
18. Gentner C, Sallaberger M, Widmer C, et al. Numerical
and experimental analysis of instability phenomena in
pump turbines. IOP C Ser Earth Env 2013; 15: 032042.
19. Gentner C, Sallaberger M, Widmer C, et al. Comprehen-
sive experimental and numerical analysis of instability
phenomena in pump turbines. IOP C Ser Earth Env 2013;
22: 032046.
20. Sun H, Xiao RF and Wang FJ. Analysis of the pump-
turbine S characteristics using the detached eddy simula-
tion method. Chin J Mech Eng 2015; 28: 115–122.
21. Borresen B and Knutsen S. Numerical computation of
the pump turbine characteristic. In: Proceedings of the
21st IAHR symposium on hydraulic machinery and sys-
tems, Lausanne, 9–12 September 2002.
22. Celik IB, Ghia U, Roache PJ, et al. Procedure for estima-
tion and reporting of uncertainty due to discretization in
CFD applications. J Fluid Eng: ASME 2008; 130:
078001.
23. Versteeg HK and Mlalasekera W. An introduction to com-
putational fluid dynamics: the finite volume method. New
York: Wiley, 1995.
24. Zhou J, Adrian RJ, Balachandar S, et al. Mechanisms for
generating coherent packets of hairpin vortices in channel
flow. J Fluid Mech 1999; 387: 353–396.
 Gong et al. 15

25. Zhou J, Adrian RJ and Balachandar S. Autogeneration n11 unit rotational speed (r m1/2 min21),
of near-wall vortical structures in channel flow. Phys pffiffiffi1
n11 = nD pffiffiffi
H 3:65n Q
Fluids 1996; 8: 288–290. nq specific speed (r min21), nq = H 0:75
26. Adrian RJ, Christensen KT and Liu ZC. Analysis and Q volume flow rate (m3 s21)
interpretation of instantaneous turbulent velocity fields. Q11 unit flow rate (m1/2 s21), Q11 = D2Qpffiffiffi
H
Exp Fluids 2000; 29: 275–290. r21 mesh ratio (G2/G1) 1

r32 mesh ratio (G3/G2)

Appendix 1 T torque on the runner (N m)
T11 unit torque (N kg21), T11 = rDT3 H
Notations 1

vx velocity in x direction (m s21)

a guide vane opening (mm) vy velocity in y direction (m s21)
B0 guide vane height (mm) x x coordinate (m)
D0 guide vanes distribution diameter (mm) y y coordinate (m)
D1 runner diameter (mm) y+ dimensionless wall distance (–)
e21
a approximate relative error Z blades number (–)
e21
ext extrapolated relative errors Z0 guide vanes number (–)
21
Gext extrapolated value for G1 and G2 grid Zs stay vanes number (–)
type
21
GCIfine grid convergence index for the fine grid b guide vane opening in percentage respect
(G1) to aBEP (%)
32
GCImed grid convergence index for the medium r density (kg m23)
grid (G2)
H head (m)

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on March 17, 2016

View publication stats