Measurement of Unsteady Flow in Pump-Turbine for Hydropower Using PIV Method

It is thought that the pressure fluctuation can occur due to the interaction between flow through guide vanes and flow into runner blades, resulting in a vibration of turbine and a blade cracking, in a hydraulic turbine operated in a wide range for flexible power demand. High accurate velocity measurement with high time/spatial resolution can help to clarify the mechanism of the interaction and to provide good experimental data for the validation of numerical procedure. So the aim of present study is to estimate the unstable velocity field quantitatively in the area between guide vanes and runner blades, using high time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV). Two types of velocity measurements were carried out, i.e., phase-locked measurement and high time sequential velocity measurement, in a pump-turbine model with 20 guide vanes and 6 runner blades. The characteristic of the flow field varied corresponding to the operating conditions such as flow rate and rotational speed. Opening angles of guide vanes were kept uniform. A clockwise vortex was generated at inside of the runner blade under smaller rotational speed. A counterclockwise vortex was separated at the backside of the runner blade under higher rotational speed. At any operating conditions, the velocity between guide vanes and runner blades oscillated periodically at the blade passing frequency.