The compressible effect of water is a key factor in transient flows. However, it is always neglected in the unsteady simulations for hydraulic machinery. In light of this, the governing equation of the flow is deduced to combine the compressibility of water, and then simulations with compressible and incompressible considerations to the typical unsteady flow phenomenon (Rotor stator interaction) in a pump turbine model are carried out and compared with each other. The results show that water compressibility has great effects on the magnitude and frequency of pressure fluctuation. As the operating condition concerned, the compressibility of water will induce larger pressure fluctuation, which agrees better with measured data. Moreover, the lower frequency component of the pressure signal can only be captured with the combination of water compressibility. It can be concluded that water compressibility is a fatal factor, which cannot be neglected in the unsteady simulations for pump turbines.

The unsteady cavitating turbulent flow in a Francis turbine is simulated based on governing equations of the mixture model for cavity-liquid two-phase flows with the RNG k- turbulence model in the present paper. An improved mass transfer expression in the mixture model is obtained based on evaporation and condensation mechanics with considering the effects of the non-dissolved gas, the turbulence, the tension of interface at cavity and the effect of phase change rate and so on. The governing equations of the mixture model for the unsteady cavitating-liquid flow is solved by a direct coupling method numerically with the finite volume method (FVM) using the unstructured tetrahedron grid and the structured hexahedral grid system. This direct coupling simulation was successfully applied to simulate the cavitating two-phase turbulent flow through a Francis turbine. The simulated external results agreed well with the experimental results.

A numerical model based on a pumped storage power station was built to develop the numerical simulation, to analyze the pressure fluctuations in a pump turbine in different guide vanes' opening angle. The different guide vanes' opening angles were simulated using the SST k-ω turbulence model and SIMPLEC Pressure-Velocity coupling scheme. The pressure sensor were placed in mainly three positions, they are: bottom ring between runner and the wicket gates, downstream and left side in the draft tube cone below the runner. All the peak to peak values of pressure fluctuation meet signal probability of 97%. The frequency is gained by Fast Fourier Transform. The pressure fluctuations in different positions of the model in pump condition were showed when the guide vanes' opening angels were different. The simulation results confirmed the results gained in model tests. The results show that pressure fluctuations in design opening angle were much lower than those in off design opening angle. The main source of pressure fluctuations between runner and guide vanes is rotor stator interaction. While a lower frequency is the main frequency of the pressure fluctuation in draft tube.

A transient process of load rejection of a prototype pump-turbine was studied by three dimensional, unsteady simulations, as well as steady calculations.Dynamic mesh (DM) method and remeshing method were used to simulate the rotation of guide vanes and runner. The rotational speed of the runner was predicted by fluid couplingmethod. Both the transient calculation and steady calculation were performed based on turbulence model. Results show that steady calculation results have large error in the prediction of the external characteristics of the transient process. The runaway speed can reach 1.15 times the initial rotational speed during the transient process. The vortex rope occurs before the pump-turbine runs at zero moment point. Vortex rope has the same rotating direction with the runner. The vortex rope is separated into two parts as the flow rate decreases to 0. Pressure level decreases during the whole transient process.The transient simulation result were also compared and verified by experimental results. This computational method could be used in the fault diagnosis of transient operation, as well as the optimization of a transient process.

In this paper, a method of changing rotational speed of impeller periodically as the pulsatile working condition is developed to realize pulse outputs both of flow discharge and of head for a centrifugal pump through experiment. The performance of the centrifugal pump under pulsatile working operation condition is measured which indicates this model pump could produce desired pulse flow under such condition. Flow patterns at four testing points under pulsatile conditions are obtained by means of the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technology both with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) particles and refractive index matched (RIM) fluid. Results of PIV measurement show the distributions of velocity, streamlines, and the principal Reynolds normal stress (PRNS). Under the design flow rate condition, the relative velocity in the blade channel distributes smoothly and decreases from inlet to exit. And at the impeller exit, the relative velocity is lower close to suction side than that near pressure side of blade in most of blade channels.

The simulation of a steady swirl flow generated by a rotating wall in a cylindrical container and the resulting free-surface vortex has been studied to provide some theoretical proposals and to get the mechanism of circulation propagation and vortex formation. Eight different kinds of working condition were presented in the paper.