Transient Pressure Pulsations of a Model Pump-Turbine During Power Failure

Pump-turbine can operate in either pump mode or turbine mode. The quick response to load changes as well as the ability to store energy makes it essential to the stability of power grid. When a pump-turbine works in different condition, flow-induced instabilities occur, including Rotor Stator Interaction (RSI) between the runner and vanes, vortex formations and back flow regions. To understand these complicated flow dynamics, experimental and numerical investigations have been conducted by many researchers. Among these researches, many experiments on model test rigs are mainly focused on steady state, and knowledge for instabilities during transients is still lacking. In this paper, power failure experiments with constant guide van opening are conducted on an open-loop test rig. During the process, the operating point of the pump-turbine in the 4 quadrant characteristics moves from pump region through the brake region, turbine region to turbine brake region. Finally the pump-turbine settled down at runaway rotational speed. In our experiments, flow rate, rotational speed, torque, pressure in the spiral casing and the draft tube inlet are measured. Especially, dynamic pressure sensors mounted in the guide vane channels are used to measure transient pressure pulsations. Measured data are analyzed in both time domain and frequency domain. Results indicate that during power failure pressure pulsations in the vane channels vary significantly with the operating conditions. In the pump region, pressure pulsations are mainly composed of RSI. In the brake region, intensive stochastic noises occur, and the amplitude of RSI rises. In the turbine region, the magnitude of pressure pulsations drops sharply as the noise intensity goes down. In the turbine brake region, significant noises appear, and the amplitude of RSI increases dramatically.