The 3-D characteristics of the water-air flow patterns in a corridor-shaped air-cushion surge chamber during hydraulic transients need to be considered in the shape optimization. To verify the reliability of the water-air two-phase model, namely, the volume of fluid model, the process of charging water into a closed air chamber is successfully simulated. Using the model, the 3-D flow characteristics under the load rejection and acceptance conditions within the air-cushion surge chamber of a specific hydropower station are studied. The free surface waves, the flow patterns, and the pressure changes during the surge wave process are analyzed in detail. The longitudinal flow of water in the long corridor-shaped surge chamber is similar to the open channel flow with respect to the wave propagation, reflection and superposition characteristics. The lumped parameters of the 3-D numerical simulation agree with the results of a 1-D calculation of hydraulic transients in the whole water conveying system, which validates the 3-D method. The 3-D flow structures obtained can be applied to the shape optimization of the chamber.
Although the hydraulic transients in pipe systems are usually simulated by using a one-dimensional (1-D) approach, local three-dimensional (3-D) simulations are necessary because of obvious 3-D flow features in some local regions of the hydropower systems. This paper combines the 1-D method with a 3-D fluid flow model to simulate the Multi-Dimensional (MD) hydraulic transients in hydropower systems and proposes two methods for modeling the compressible water with the correct wave speed, and two strategies for efficiently coupling the 1-D and 3-D computational domains. The methods are validated by simulating the water hammer waves and the oscillations of the water level in a surge tank, and comparing the results with the 1-D solution data. An MD study is conducted for the transient flows in a realistic water conveying system that consists of a draft tube, a tailrace surge tank and a tailrace tunnel. It is shown that the 1-D-3-D coupling approach is an efficient and promising way to simulate the hydraulic transients in the hydropower systems in which the interactions between 1-D hydraulic fluctuations of the pipeline systems and the local 3-D flow patterns should be considered.
This paper presents the simulation and the analysis of the transient process of a Francis turbine during the load rejection by employing a one-dimensional and three-dimensional(1-D-3-D) coupling approach. The coupling is realized by partly overlapping the 1-D and 3-D parts, the water hammer wave is modeled by defining the pressure dependent density, and the guide vane closure is treated by a dynamic mesh method. To verify the results of the coupling approach, the transient parameters for both typical models and a real power station are compared with the data obtained by the 1-D approach, and good agreements are found. To investigate the differences between the transient and steady states at the corresponding operating parameters, the flow characteristics inside a turbine of the real power station are simulated by both transient and steady methods, and the results are analyzed in details. Our analysis suggests that there are just a little differences in the turbine outer characteristics, thus the traditional 1-D method is in general acceptable. However, the flow patterns in the spiral casing, the draft tube, and the runner passages are quite different: the transient situation has obvious water hammer waves, the water inertia, and some other effects. These may be crucial for the draft tube pulsation and need further studies.
