Author(s): V De Henau; F A Payette; M Sabourin; C Deschênes; J M Gagnon; P Gouin

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Abstract: The objective of this paper is to investigate methodologies to improve the reliability of CFD analysis of low head turbine draft tubes. When only the draft tube performance is investigated, the study indicates that draft tube only simulations with an adequate treatment of the inlet boundary conditions for velocity and turbulence are a good alternative to rotor/stator (stage) simulations. The definition of the inlet velocity in the near wall regions is critical to get an agreement between the stage and draft tube only solutions. An average turbulent kinetic energy intensity level and average turbulent kinetic energy dissipation length scale are sufficient as turbulence inlet conditions as long as these averages are coherent with the stage solution. Comparisons of the rotor/stator simulation results to the experimental data highlight some discrepancies between the predicted draft tube flow and the experimental observations.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012084

Year: 2010