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x
i
(~ u
i
) = 0 (1)
u
i
t
-
x
j
(u
i
u
j
) = 2
p
rx
i
-
x
j
(m -m
t
)
r
u
i
x
j
-
u
j
x
i
_ _ _ _
- f
i
(2)
where p is the pressure, r the density, u
i
the component of velocity vector ~ u(u
1
; u
2
; u
3
)
and f
i
the component body force vector
~
f( f
1
; f
2
; f
3
): m the laminar viscosity, m
i
the
turbulent viscosity which was closed by SST k-v turbulence model (Menter, 1994).
The continuity equation and the momentum equations for the uid in the rotational
frame (runner) are:
x
i
(w
i
) = 0 (3)
w
i
t
-
x
j
(w
i
w
j
) = 2
p
rx
i
-
x
j
(m -m
t
)
r
w
i
x
j
-
w
j
x
i
_ _ _ _
- f
/
i
(4)
where w
i
is the component of relative velocity vector ~ w(w
1
; w
2
; w
3
): f
/
i
the component of
force vector F
/
~
.
The two velocity vectors ~ u; ~ w are related by:
~ u = ~ w - ~ v ~r (5)
Force vector F
/
~
is written as:
~
F
/
= 22 ~ v ~ w 2 ~ v ( ~ v ~r) -
~
f (6)
Here ~ v is the angular velocity of the runner and ~r is the position vector in the rotation
frame. Only gravity was considered in vector f
~
.
The time-dependent RANS model was discretized using the control-volume
technique through the SIMPLEC scheme with a second-order upwind scheme used for
the convection terms and a central difference scheme for the diffusion terms in the
momentum equations. The time step was 0.0056 s, which is 1/100 of the runner
rotational period. This time step was validated to be enough for catching some main
pressure uctuation frequencies such as rotational frequency and blade passing
frequency.
The pressure conditions were set on inlet and outlet according to the head of
each operation condition and estimated velocity on the two boundaries. The initial
Dynamic stresses
in Kaplan
turbine blades
755
turbulence variables on the inlet and outlet were estimated according to the hydraulic
diameters and turbulence intensity, which was set to be 6 percent on the inlet and
7 percent on the outlet.
The structure mesh is shown in Figure 1. The mesh near blade pivot was carefully
generated to ensure the accurate representation of the llet corner in order to avoid
false stress concentration. The transient dynamic equilibrium equation for the stresses
in a linear structure is:
[M]{ u} - [C]{ u} - [K]{u} = {F
t
} (7)
where [M] is the mass matrix, [C] the damping matrix and [K] the stiffness matrix,
{u} i the nodal displacement vector, { u} the nodal velocity vector and {u } the nodal
acceleration vector, {F
t
} the node load vector, including gravity, centrifugal force and
pressure force that was transferred from ow analysis.
Equation (7) was discretized using the FEM method and solved using the Newmark
method. The iterative equation was (Hallquist, 1998):
1
aDt
2
[M] -
d
aDt
[C] - [K]
_ _
{u
n-1
} = {F
t
} - [M]
1
aDt
2
{u
n
} -
1
aDt
{u
_
n
} -
1
2a
2 1
_ _
{u
n
}
_ _
- [C]
d
aDt
{u
n
} -
d
a
2 1
_ _
{u
_
n
} -
Dt
2
d
a
2 2
_ _
{u
n
}
_ _
(8)
where a and d are the Newmark integration parameters and Dt = t
n-1
2 t
n
:
Equation (8) shows that the effects of the velocity and acceleration terms are
considered in the transient displacement computation. {u} was obtained from
equation (8) with {s} calculated at every time step from:
s = [D][B]{u} (9)
where [D] is the elastic matrix based on Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio for the
material, [B] the strain-displacement matrix based on the element shape functions.
The dynamic stresses in blades were computed based on the fourth strength theory.
The von Mises or equivalent stress, s
e
, was computed using:
s
e
=
1
2
(s
x
2s
y
)
2
- (s
y
2s
z
)
2
- (s
z
2s
x
)
2
- 6 t
2
xy
-t
2
yz
-t
2
xz
_ _ _ _
_
(10)
The blade material is cast steel Cr
13
Ni
5
M
o
with the properties listed in Table I.
The key problem was to transfer the pressure load p on the blades to the dynamic
analysis code. To do this the grids on blade surfaces and the hub were identical for both
uid mesh and structure mesh. Asmall code was developed to generate an index for the
interface nodes in the two domains for the purpose of transferring data at each time.
Density (kg/m
3
) Youngs modulus (Pa) Poissons ratio
7.85 10
3
2.06 10
11
0.3
Table I.
Blade material properties
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24,8
756
The advantage of this method is that the pressure on the blades can be precisely
transferred without any interpolation. The ow eld simulation started rst. For most
cases, the frequencies and amplitudes of the pressure oscillations on the monitoring
nodes changed very little after several rotational periods. Then the structure calculation
was conducted and the calculation results were recorded for several periods.
3. Calculation result
The calculations were performed for 13 operating conditions with operating
parameters listed in Table II.
During the calculations, two points on one blade pressure side ( p1) and the suction
side (s1) were selected as monitoring points (Figure 2). Pressure uctuations at the two
points are shown in Figure 3 for three typical conditions GK3, GK8 and GK10.
Under the conditions approximating the optimum point and those with large blade
angles and guide vane openings, the pressure on the blade uctuates with the runner
Operating condition
Net head H
(m)
Power N
(MW)
Guide vane opening GVO
(percent)
Blade angle BA
(8)
GK1 61 235 65.6 17.29
GK2 61 215 62.4 15.44
GK3 61 100 36.21 5.57
GK4 57.3 215 65.76 16.68
GK5 57.3 100 40.54 6.16
GK6 53 235 78.58 20.41
GK7 53 215 74.05 18.3
GK8 53 150 59.03 11.72
GK9 53 100 47.19 6.95
GK10 43.8 235 94.6 25.82
GK11 43.8 215 90.46 23.32
GK12 43.8 100 57.37 9.43
GK13 38 180 97.66 23.26
Table II.
Calculated conditions
Figure 2.
Recording points on one
blade with (a) viewed from
runner inlet to outlet;
(b) viewed from runner
outlet to inlet
(a) Recording point p1 on pressure side (b) Recording point s1 on suction side
P1
S1
Dynamic stresses
in Kaplan
turbine blades
757
rotation frequency, f
n
, as shown in Figures 3(b), (e), (c) and (f) for conditions GK8 and
GK10. However, for conditions with small blade angles and small guide vane openings,
the blade pressure uctuations are accompanied by increased turbulence and the
uctuations which does not show any obvious periodic feature, as shown in Figure 3a
and d for condition GK3. Figure 4 shows that the randomness pressure uctuations in
GK3 are related to the secondary ow across the ow path. There are obvious vortexes
near hub within no blade region between the guide vanes and runner blades for GK3
with small guide vane opening. The random movements of vortexes cause pressure
uctuations on blades. For the same reason, the pressure uctuation amplitude for
GK3 is greater than for the other two conditions.
Figure 3 also shows that the mean value and amplitude of the torque uctuations is
small for conditions near the optimum point (GK8, Figure 3h), is larger for large blade
angles and large guide vane openings (GK10, Figure 3i) and even larger for small
blade angles and small guide vane openings (GK3, Figure 3g), which was veried by
the power stations operating recordings. When the turbine was operating under
approximately optimum condition (for example, GK8) the operating oil pressure inside
the piston chamber was normal, but operating under approximate condition GK3 the
oil pressure inside the chamber was extremely high.
Figure 3.
Pressure uctuations and
torque on one blade for
three typical operating
conditions
420
15
960
920
880
840
800
50.5
145
150
155
160
51.0
51.5
52.0
52.5
10
5
0
5
10
pressure on pl, GK3
pressure on sl, GK3
turque on one blade, GK3 turque on one blade, GK8
turque on one blade, GK10
pressure on sl, GK8
pressure on sl, GK10
pressure on pl, GK8
pressure on pl, GK10
400
P
/
k
P
a
P
/
k
P
a
T
/
k
N
.
m
760
800
760
720
755
750
745
740
T
/
k
N
.
m
T
/
k
N
.
m
P
/
k
P
a
P
/
k
P
a
P
/
k
P
a
P
/
k
P
a
380
360
356.5
188
184
180
356.0
355.5
355.0
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(a) (b)
18.0 18.5
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(d)
18.0 18.5
t/s
(g)
16.5 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(e)
t/s
(f)
18.0 18.5
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(h)
18.0 18.5
16.5 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5
t/s
(i)
16.5 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(c)
t/s
18.0 18.5 16.5 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5
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Figure 4.
Velocity vectors in no
blade region between the
guide vanes and runner
blades
(
a
)
G
K
3
(
b
)
G
K
8
(
c
)
G
K
1
0
Dynamic stresses
in Kaplan
turbine blades
759
Typical pressure distribution and the von Mises static stress distributions in blades are
shown in Figure 5 for condition GK3. The maximum stress is near the blade root for all
cases. This was consistent with general knowledge on static stress distributions in
Kaplan turbine blades. The dynamic stresses at the node with maximum stress are
plotted in Figure 6 for the three typical conditions.
Figures 3 and 6 show that the dynamic stresses in blades are closely related to the
pressure uctuations in the ow path. For most cases, the main pressure uctuation
frequency and dynamic stress frequency is the runner rotation frequency f
n
. The mean
stresses and the dynamic stresses amplitudes (with 95 percent probability) at the node
with the maximum stress are shown in Figure 7 for all calculated conditions. The mean
stress increased with head and decreased with blade angle. This is due to the fact that
Figure 5.
Pressure distribution on
blades and stress
distributions in blades on
condition GK3
Pressure
5.792e+005
154895 0.294E+08
0.148E+08 0.440E+08 0.732E+08 0.102E+09 0.132E+09
0.586E+08 0.879E+08 0.117E+09
3.959e+005
2.126e+005
2.931e+004
1.540e+005
[Pa]
(a) Pressure distributions (Pa) (b) Stress distributions (MPa)
Figure 6.
Dynamic stress at the
node with the maximum
stress (condition GK3,
GK8, GK10)
136
120.2
104
102
100
120.0
119.8
132
s
e
/
M
p
a
s
e
/
k
P
a
s
e
/
M
N
.
m
128
124
GK3
GK8
GK10
16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(a)
18.0 18.5 16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(b)
18.0 18.5 16.5 17.0 17.5
t/s
(c)
18.0 18.5
Figure 7.
The maximum mean
stress levels and dynamic
stresses amplitudes
(plotted with error bars)
for 13 conditions
140
Head=61 m
Head=57.3 m
Head=53 m
Head=43.8 m
Head=38 m
Head=61 m
Head=57.3 m
Head=53 m
Head=43.8 m
Head=38 m
130
120
s
e
/
M
P
a
s
e
/
M
P
a
110
100
140
130
120
110
100
4 8 12 16
Blade angle () Guide vane opening (%)
20 24 28 40 60 80 100
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760
the overall pressure difference between the pressure side and suction side of one blade
increases with head, and the bending effects increase with the decrease of blade angle.
Dynamic stress amplitude is low within 60-80 percent opening, and is higher at high
opening of above 90 percent with low head (GK10, GK11, GK13) and is the highest at
low opening (36 percent) with high head (GK3).
The maximum dynamic stresses amplitude is 8.6 MPa, which is less than the
limited stress of blade material. So blades are safe in practical application. In fact, the
runner has been operating for more then ten years without any cracks.
4. Conclusions
The dynamic stresses in the blades of a Kaplan turbine were analyzed for 13 operating
conditions using the CFD analyses in ow system coupled with the stresses analysis
in the runner. The stress distributions in blades show that the highest stress was
located near the blade root. The mean stress increases with head and decreases with
blade angle. The dynamic stresses in blade are closely related to the pressure
uctuations inside the ow path, which are low within 60-80 percent opening, are
higher at 90 percent opening (full output) with low heads and are the highest at low
opening (36 percent) with high head. The present study indicates that the prediction of
dynamic stress during design stage is possible. To ensure the safety of blades it is
recommended to check up safety coefcient during design stage at least for two
conditions, the 100 percent output with lower head and the 50 percent output with the
highest head.
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Corresponding author
Zhengwei Wang can be contacted at: wzw@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
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