Large-eddy simulation of turbulent flow considering inflow wakes in a Francis turbine blade passage

W. Q. Wang, L. X. Zhang, Yan Yan, Yakun Guo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Turbulent flow in a 3-D blade passage of a Francis hydro turbine was simulated with the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to investigate the spatial and temporal distributions of the turbulence when strongly distorted wakes in the inflow sweep over the passage. In a suitable consideration of the energy exchanging mechanism between the large and small scales in the complicated passage with a strong 3-D curvature, one-coefficient dynamic Sub-Grid-Scale (SGS) stress model was used in this article. The simulations show that the strong wakes in the inflow lead to a flow separation at the leading zone of the passage, and to form a primary vortex in the span-wise direction. The primary span-wise vortex evolves and splits into smaller vortex pairs due to the constraint of no-slip wall condition, which triggers losing stability of the flow in the passage. The computed pressures on the pressure and suction sides agree with the measured data for a working test turbine model.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)201-209
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Hydrodynamics, Series B
Volume19
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2007

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