Analysis of S Characteristics and Pressure Pulsations in a Pump-Turbine With Misaligned Guide Vanes

Growing environmental concerns and the need for better power balancing and frequency control have increased attention in renewable energy sources such as the reversible pump-turbine which can provide both power generation and energy storage. Pump-turbine operation along the S-shaped curve can lead to difficulties in loading the rejection process with unusual increases in water pressure, which lead to machine vibrations. Pressure fluctuations are the primary reason for unstable operation of pump-turbines. Misaligned guide vanes (MGVs) are widely used to control the stability in the S region. There have been experimental investigations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of scale models with aligned guide vanes and MGVs with spectral analyses of the S curve characteristics and the pressure pulsations in the frequency and time-frequency domains at runaway conditions. The course of the S characteristic is related to the centrifugal force and the large incident angle at low flow conditions with large vortices forming between the guide vanes and the blade inlets and strong flow recirculation inside the vaneless space as the main factors that lead to the S-shaped characteristics. Preopening some of the guide vanes enables the pump-turbine to avoid the influence of the S characteristic. However, the increase of the flow during runaway destroys the flow symmetry in the runner leading to all asymmetry forces on the runner that leads to hydraulic system oscillations. The MGV technique also increases the pressure fluctuations in the draft tube and has a negative impact on stable operation of the unit.