The objective of this paper is to investigate the flow-induced vibration of a flexible hydrofoil in cavitating flows via combined experimental and numerical studies. The experiments are presented for the modified NACA66 hydrofoil made of POM Polyacetate in the closed-loop cavitation tunnel and the numerical investigations are performed using a hybrid coupled fluid structure interaction model. The results showed that with the decreasing of cavitation number, the vibration magnitude increases dramatically for the cloud cavitation and declines for the supercavitation. The cloud cavitation development strongly affects the vibration response, with the main frequency of the vibration being accordance with the cavity shedding frequency and other two frequencies corresponding to the bending and twisting frequencies.

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When Francis turbines operate at partial load, residual swirl in the draft tube causes low-frequency pulsation of pressure and power output. Scale effects and system response may bias the prediction of prototype behavior based on laboratory tests, but could be overcome by means of a 1D analytical model. This paper deals with the two most important features of such a model, the compliance and the source of excitation. In a distributed-parameter version, compliance should be represented as an exponential function of local pressure. Lack of similarity due to different Froude number can thus be compensated. The normally unknown gas content in the vortex cavity has significant influence on the pulsation, and should therefore be measured and considered as a test parameter.

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The paper presents two novel concepts of increasing the energy storage capacity at pumped storage power plants, both existing and new projects. The concepts utilize compressed air as a working medium to displace water from a volume originally not available for storage. The concepts are likely to give additional storage volume at a low cost, however, much development and many investigations are needed before the concepts can be shown to be technical and economical feasible solutions for energy storage. The concepts are disclosed so that researchers and utilities can start those investigations, hopefully helping the green transition by providing highly valuable energy storage for a future renewable energy having a much higher share of renewable energies than the current systems.

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Severe radial thrust under off-design operating conditions can be a harmful factor for centrifugal pumps. In the present work, effects of geometry of a double volute casing on the hydrodynamic performance of a centrifugal pump have been investigated focusing on off-design conditions. Three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis was carried out by using shear stress transport turbulence model. Numerical results for the hydrodynamic performance of the centrifugal pump were validated compared with experimental data. The hydraulic efficiency and radial thrust coefficient were used as performance parameters to evaluate the hydrodynamic characteristics of the centrifugal pump. The cross-sectional area ratio of the volute casing, the expansion coefficient of the rib structure, the distance between the rib starting point and volute entrance, and radius and width of the volute entrance, and length of the rib structure, were selected as geometric parameters. Results of the parametric study show that the performance parameters are significantly affected by the geometric variables and operating conditions. Optimal configurations of the double volute casing based on the design of experiments technique show outstanding performance in terms of the efficiency and radial thrust coefficient.

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The accuracy of turbulence models for the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in rough-wall flows is evaluated using data from large-eddy simulations (LES) of boundary layers with favourable and adverse pressure gradients. Some features of the flow (such as flow reversal in the roughness sublayer) cannot be captured accurately by any model, due to the fundamental model formulation. In mild pressure gradients most RANS models are sufficiently accurate for engineering applications, but if strong favourable or adverse pressure gradients are applied (especially those leading to separation) the model performance rapidly degrades.

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Latin hypercube sampling is widely used design-of-experiment technique to select design points for simulation which are then used to construct a surrogate model. The exploration/exploitation properties of surrogate models depend on the size and distribution of design points in the chosen design space. The present study aimed at evaluating the performance characteristics of various surrogate models depending on the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) procedure (sample size and spatial distribution) for a diverse set of optimization problems. The analysis was carried out for two types of problems: (1) thermal-fluid design problems (optimizations of convergent-divergent micromixer coupled with pulsatile flow and boot-shaped ribs), and (2) analytical test functions (six-hump camel back, Branin-Hoo, Hartman 3, and Hartman 6 functions). The three surrogate models, namely, response surface approximation, Kriging, and radial basis neural networks were tested. The important findings are illustrated using Box-plots. The surrogate models were analyzed in terms of global exploration (accuracy over the domain space) and local exploitation (ease of finding the global optimum point). Radial basis neural networks showed the best overall performance in global exploration characteristics as well as tendency to find the approximate optimal solution for the majority of tested problems. To build a surrogate model, it is recommended to use an initial sample size equal to 15 times the number of design variables. The study will provide useful guidelines on the effect of initial sample size and distribution on surrogate construction and subsequent optimization using LHS sampling plan.

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The cavitation erosion remains an industrial issue for many applications. This paper deals with the cavitation intensity, which can be described as the fluid mechanical loading leading to cavitation damage. The estimation of this quantity is a challenging problem both in terms of modeling the cavitating flow and predicting the erosion due to cavitation. For this purpose, a numerical methodology was proposed to estimate cavitation intensity from 3D unsteady cavitating flow simulations. CFD calculations were carried out using Code_Saturne, which enables U-RANS equations resolution for a homogeneous fluid mixture using the Merkle's model, coupled to a k-ε turbulence model with the Reboud's correction. A post-process cavitation intensity prediction model was developed based on pressure and void fraction derivatives. This model is applied on a flow around a hydrofoil using different physical (inlet velocities) and numerical (meshes and time steps) parameters. The article presents the cavitation intensity model as well as the comparison of this model with experimental results. The numerical predictions of cavitation damage are in good agreement with experimental results obtained by pitting test.

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In order to be able to predict the maximum Annual Energy Production (AEP) for tidal power plants, an AEP optimization tool based on Evolutionary Algorithms was developed by ANDRITZ HYDRO. This tool can simulate all operating modes of the units (bi-directional turbine, pump and sluicing mode) and provide the optimal plant operation that maximizes the AEP to the control system. For the Swansea Bay Tidal Power Plant, the AEP optimization evaluated all different hydraulic and operating concepts and defined the optimal concept that led to a significant AEP increase. A comparison between the optimal plant operation provided by the AEP optimization and the full load operating strategy is presented in the paper, highlighting the advantage of the method in providing the maximum AEP

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The most detrimental pressure pulsations in high-head pump-turbines is caused by the rotor-stator interaction (RSI) between the guide vanes and runner blades. When the pump-turbine operates in the S-shaped region of the characteristic curves, the deteriorative flow structures may significantly strengthen RSI, causing larger pressure pulsations and stronger vibration with an increased risk of mechanical failure. CFD simulations were carried out to analyze the impacts of flow evolution on the pressure pulsations in the S-shaped region of a model pump-turbine. The results show that the reverse flow vortex structures (RFVS) at the runner inlet have regular development and transition patterns when discharge reduces from the best efficiency point (BEP). The RFVS first occur at the hub side, and then shift to the midspan near the no-load point, which cause the strongest pressure pulsations. The locally distributed RFVS at hub side enhance the local RSI and makes the pressure fluctuations at the corresponding sections stronger than those at the rest sections along the spanwise direction. Under the condition of RFVS at the mid-span, the smaller flow rate make the smaller difference of pressure pulsation amplitudes in the spanwise direction. Moreover, the rotating stall, rotating at 35.7%-62.5% of the runner rotational frequency, make the low frequency components of pressure pulsations distribute unevenly along the circumference in the vaneless space. However, it have little influence on the distributions of high components.

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Hydropower is now changing its role from the energy generator into the most powerful and reliable tool for stabilizing the electrical network, especially under the increase of intermittent power sources like wind-power and solar-power. Although the hydropower plants are the most robust generating facilities, they are not immune from unexpected severe incidents having long downtime, considerable restoration cost and sometimes fatalities. The present paper provides some study results about severe incidents in the conventional hydropower plants, mainly about the flood, fire and electromechanical troubles, except for the incidents of civil facilities. It also provides some possible scenarios which may lead some measures how to avoid such incidents. Finally, it provides some comprehensible recommendations to avoid severe incidents based on experiences.

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In liquid-propellant rockets, POGO instability can occur, in which a fluctuation of propellant supply to the engine, a thrust fluctuation, and a structural vibration are coupled. For the prediction of this instability, it is required to provide dynamic characteristics of the pump represented as the transfer matrix correlating the upstream and downstream pressure and flow rate fluctuations. In the present study, the flow rate fluctuation is evaluated from the fluctuation of pressure difference at the different locations assuming that the fluctuation is caused by the inertia of the flow rate fluctuation. The experiments were performed in some flow conditions, and it was shown that the tendencies of dynamic characteristics are related to excitation frequencies, cavitation numbers and flow rate coefficients.

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