• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-48
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• 2013

If large pressure fluctuation is observed in the draft tube of a Francis turbine at part-load operation, we have generally called it draft-tube-surge. As occurrence of this phenomenon seriously affects the limit of turbine operating range, extensive studies on the surge have been made since proposal of surge-frequency criterion given by Rheingans. According to the literature survey of related topics in recent IAHR symposiums on hydraulic machinery and systems, in which state-of-the-art contributions were mainly presented, a certain review of them may be desirable for an outlook on the future studies in this research field. Thus, in this review paper, the authors' previous attempts for the last three decades to challenge the following topics: a rational method for component test of a draft tube, nature of spiral vortex rope and its behavior in a draft tube and cavitation characteristics of pressure fluctuations, are introduced together with other related contributions, expecting that more useful and significant studies will be accomplished in the future.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.230-239
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• 2015

The swirling flow in the draft tube of a Francis turbine can cause the flow instability and the cavitation surge and has a larger influence on hydraulic power operating system. In this paper, the cavitating flow with swirling flow in the diffuser was studied by the draft tube component experiment, the model Francis turbine experiment and the numerical simulation. In the component experiment, several types of fluctuations were observed, including the cavitation surge and the vortex rope behaviour by the swirling flow. While the cavitation surge and the vortex rope behaviour were suppressed by the aeration into the diffuser, the loss coefficient in the diffuser increased by the aeration. In the model turbine test the aeration decreased the efficiency of the model turbine by several percent. In the numerical simulation, the cavitating flow was studied using Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) with particular emphasis on understanding the unsteady characteristics of the vortex rope structure. The generation and evolution of the vortex rope structures have been investigated throughout the diffuser using the iso-surface of vapor volume fraction. The pressure fluctuation in the diffuser by numerical simulation confirmed the cavitation surge observed in the experiment. Finally, this pressure fluctuation of the cavitation surge was examined and interpreted by CFD.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.260-268
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• 2009

The effects of acoustic modes in the penstock on the self-excited oscillation in hydraulic power system were studied by assuming a finite sound velocity in the penstock. The flow in the draft tube is considered to be incompressible assuming that the length of the draft tube is smaller than the wavelength of the oscillation. It was found that various acoustic modes in the penstock can become unstable (amplified) by the diffuser effect of the draft tube or the effect of swirl flow from the runner. Their effects on each mode are discussed.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.618-626
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• 2012

Suppression of abnormal flow phenomena in the Francis hydro turbine is very important to improve the turbine performance. Especially, as cavitation and cavitation surge makes serious problems when the turbine is operated in the range of partial flow rate, optimum method of suppressing the abnormal flow characteristics is required necessarily. Moreover, as swirl flow in the draft tube of the Francis turbine decreases pressure at the inlet of the draft tube, suppression of the swirl flow can be an useful method of suppressing the occurrence of cavitation. In order to clarifying the possibility of suppressing the swirl flow by J-Groove in the draft tube, a series of CFD analysis has been conducted in the range of partial load, designed condition and excessive flow rate of a Francis turbine. A kind of J-Groove is designed and applied to the draft tube of the Francis hydro turbine model. The pressure contours, circumferential velocity vectors and vortex core regions in the draft tube are compared by the conditions with or without J-Groove. In addition, a group of data about the velocity in the draft is presented to show the influence of J-Groove.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2010

Based on the one-dimensional stability analysis, the self-excited oscillation in hydraulic power generating systems was studied by a simple experiment and numerical simulation. It was shown that a cavity in a conical diffuser can cause surge. With the diffuser, a high amplitude and low frequency oscillation occurs at low cavitation number. This oscillation was not observed with the straight pipe. It was confirmed that the diffuser effect of the draft tube can be the cause of the full load surge in hydraulic power system. Numerical results were also analyzed to check the validity of the one-dimensional stability analysis.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.152-160
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• 2012

Model tests and CFD were carried out to find out the cause of cavitation surge in hydraulic power plants. In experiments the cavitation surge was observed at flow rate, both with and without a surge tank placed just upstream of the inlet volute. The surge frequency at smaller flow rate was much smaller than the swirl mode frequency caused by the whirl of vortex rope. An unsteady CFD was carried out with two boundary conditions: (1) the flow rate is fixed to be constant at the volute inlet, (2) the total pressure is kept constant at the volute inlet, corresponding to the experiments without/with the surge tank. The surge was observed with both boundary conditions at both higher and lower flow rates. Discussions as to the cause of the surge are made based on additional tests with an orifice at the diffuser exit, and with the diffuser replaced with a straight pipe.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.80-90
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• 2010

The cavity oscillation with swirling flow in hydraulic power generating systems was studied by a simple experiment and numerical simulation. Several types of fluctuation were observed in the experiment, including the cavitation surge caused by the diffuser effect and the vortex precession by the swirling flow. Both cavitation surge and vortex precession were simulated by CFD. Detailed flow structure was examined through flow visualization and CFD.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.418-425
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• 2009

A vertical bulb turbine unit with elbow type draft tube has been developed due to avoidance of complicated assembling and long standstill period at overhaul in comparison with conventional horizontal bulb turbine unit. Before designing the prototype vertical bulb unit, a hydrographic model test was carried out to establish the ideal design concept for this innovative generating unit. Froude similarity is not available for vortex occurrence. Consequently, an intake structure without air entraining vortices under all the flow conditions is developed, and it is confirmed that the surge wave at load rejection is not affected harmful influence for other constructions.