Numerical simulation of pulsation processes in hydraulic turbine based on 3D model of cavitating flow

A new approach was proposed for simulation of unsteady cavitating flow in the flow passage of a hydraulic power plant. 1D hydro-acoustics equations are solved in the penstock domain. 3D equations of turbulent flow of isothermal compressible liquid-vapor mixture are solved in the turbine domain. Cavitation is described by a transfer equation for liquid phase with a source term which is responsible for evaporation and condensation. The developed method was applied for simulation of pulsations in pressure, discharge, and total energy propagating along the flow conduit of the hydraulic power plant. Simulation results are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with experiment. The influence of key physical and numerical parameters like discharge, cavitation number, penstock length, time step, and vapor density on simulation results was studied.