This master's thesis deals with simulation of vortex structure which is created in the draft tube of Francis turbine, at part load flow conditions. The main objective is to get the most accurate results from the calculations, using the student license of Ansys Fluent 19.1. The results from the calculations are compared with the experiment under the Francis-99 project. Mainlly in terms of dynamic properties of vortex rope – aplitude and frequency of pressure pulsations. Additionaly the time-averaged velocity profiles are compared. I used the test-case provided by NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology under the Francis-99 workshop series.

This master’s thesis deals with CFD simulation of spiral vortex structure in the diffuser of swirl generator. The objective of the thesis is to evaluate influence of change in diffuser opening angle on frequency and amplitude of pressure pulsation. All results are compared in charts which shows courses of frequencies and amplitudes along the diffuser. Two different turbulence models and several types of mesh were tested

This master’s thesis deals with the draft tube and its optimization for various operating conditions. The research investigates the theoretical description and function of the draft tube and explains known methods of suppressing pressure pulsation so far. In the computational part, the author proposes a new method and designs optimal geometry of adjustable installations (ribs) for the draft tube. Finally, the comparison with the default geometry without ribs is performed.

This master's thesis deals with CFD simulation of vortex rope in the elbow draft tube for overload operation of Francis turbine. The main objective of the thesis is to compare results of the CFD simulations of the original elbow draft tube with a derived straight cone draft tube considering volume and the shape of the cavitation region and dynamic flow characteristic. Results of the 3D simulations are also compared with axi-symmetric simulations, which reduce demands for computing time and power.

This thesis deals with the design of water turbine enabling optimal utilization of hydro-energetic potential of given location (barrage on Úpa river) chosen by ČEZ a.s. company. Moreover, the option of multi-unit layout is discussed. Because of the low-head profile of given location, the technology of swirl turbine in siphon configuration was chosen. Technology of swirl turbine presents new modification of Kaplan turbine with no need of guide vane. Swirl turbine is characterized by its high discharge and high speed. The main part of this thesis is focused on hydraulic design of the turbine.

This work deals with study of swirling flows where the spiral vortical structure appears. The main relation is to flow seen in the draft tube cone of hydraulic turbines operated out of the design point (i.e. best efficiency point). In this cases large coherent vortex structure (vortex rope) appears and consequently high pressure pulsations are propagated to the whole machine system leading to possible restriction of turbine operation. This flow features are consequence of flow instability called vortex breakdown in case of Francis turbine operated at part load (flow rate lower than optimal one). The present study is carried out using simplified device of swirl generator in order to access similar flow conditions as can be found in real hydraulic turbines. Both the dynamic and dissipation effect of spiral vortex breakdown are investigated. The first part of thesis deals with spiral form of vortex breakdown. The experimentally measured velocity profiles (LDA) and wall static pressures are correlated with numerical simulations carried out using open-source CFD package OpenFOAM 2.2.2. The high speed camera recording of cavitating vortex core is used to obtain image ensemble for further post-processing. The dissipation effect of spiral vortex structure is in detail discussed based on computed flow fields. The second part of thesis is dedicated to the application of POD decomposition to the study of spatio-temporal features of spiral vortex dynamics. Firstly the POD is applied to the both the experimentally obtained image ensemble of cavitating vortex and numerically computed static pressure fields. Secondly the comprehensive analysis of spiral vortex mitigation effect by the axial water jet is analyzed. The collaborative study employing the swirl generator apparatus designed by the researchers from Politehnica University of Timisoara in Romania is performed and changes in spatio-temporal vortex dynamic are studied. In this study the numerical data (in a form of three-dimensional pressure and velocity fields) are obtained using commercial CFD software ANSYS Fluent R14.

Em um reator de fundo redondo e volume útil de 5 L tratando esgoto sintético com carga orgânica de 800 mgDQO.'L POT.-1' com biomassa granulada a influência do tipo de escoamento e velocidade rotacional foi investigada com o uso de cinco impelidores sendo eles turbina e pá de seis pás planas verticais, turbina e pá de seis pás planas inclinadas 45 graus e hélice, comumente aplicados em processos biológicos. Foi também investigada a viabilidade de implementação de tubo de tiragem ao reator em conjunto com os impelidores tipo hélice e tipo pá de pás planas inclinadas alternadamente, com vistas a melhorar a mistura e conseqüente transferência de massa no meio reacional. Os resultados mostram que a alteração do tipo de impelidor e as variações da velocidade rotacional não exerceram influência significativa sobre a estabilidade e desempenho dos sistemas estudados. Entretanto a análise das constantes do modelo cinético de primeira ordem mostrou que a alteração na velocidade rotacional exerceu influência de aumento dos valores das constantes, demonstrando com isto que o aumento da velocidade rotacional melhora a transferência de massa sólido-líquido no meio reacional. A análise das constantes cinéticas também demonstrou que a promoção de escoamento axial em reatores agitados mecanicamente é preferível ao escoamento radial quando comparados os impelidores tipo pá de pás planas verticais e de pás planas inclinadas. A presença do tubo de tiragem demonstrou incrementar significativamente a transferência de massa, através do aumento dos valores numéricos das constantes utilizadas no ajuste do modelo cinético de primeira ordem aos valores experimentais. A potência consumida foi inferior a 1,6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' com rotações abaixo de 200 rpm e os impelidores axiais consumiram 75% a menos de potência do que os radiais / The effect of flow type and rotor speed were investigated in a round-bottom reactor with 5 L useful volume containing granular biomass and treating synthetic wastewater with organic load of 800 mgCOD.'L POT.-1'. Five impellers have been used to this end, namely: turbine and paddle with six-vertical-flat blade, turbine and paddle with six-45 degrees-inclined-flat-blade and helix, commonly used in biological processes. Utilization of a draft tube together with the helix and six-alternately-inclined-flat-blade impellers was also assessed as a means to improve mixing and consequently mass transfer in the reaction medium. Results showed that altering impeller type and variation in rotor speed did not exert significant effect on the stability and performance of the investigated systems. However, analysis of the first order kinetic model constants showed that alteration in rotor speed resulted in increase in the values of the constants, demonstrating that increase in rotor speed improves solid-liquid mass transfer in the reaction medium. Analysis of the kinetic constants also showed that axial flow in mechanically stirred reactors is preferable over radial flow when the vertical flat blade impeller is compared to the inclined flat blade impeller. The presence of the draft tube showed significant improvement in mass transfer, which could be seen by the increase in the values of the constants used in the fit of the first order kinetic model to the experimental values. The power consumed was less than 1.6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' at rotor frequency below 200 rpm and the axial impellers consumed 75% less power than the radial ones

La simulation numérique fiable des performances de turbines hydrauliques suppose : i) de pouvoir inclure dans les calculs RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) traditionnellement mis en œuvre l'effet des incertitudes qui existent en pratique sur les conditions d'entrée de l'écoulement; ii) de pouvoir faire appel à une stratégie de type SGE (Simulation des Grandes Echelles) pour améliorer la description des effets de la turbulence lorsque des écarts subsistent entre calculs RANS et résultats d'essai de référence même après prise en compte des incertitudes. Les présents travaux mettent en oeuvre une démarche non intrusive de quantification d'incertitude (NISP pour Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection) pour deux configurations d'intérêt pratique : un distributeur de turbine Francis avec débit et angle d'entrée incertains et un aspirateur de turbine bulbe avec conditions d'entrée (profils de vitesse,en particulier en proche paroi, et grandeurs turbulentes) incertaines. L'approche NISP est utilisée non seulement pour estimer la valeur moyenne et la variance de quantités d'intérêt mais également pour disposer d'une analyse de la variance qui permet d'identifier les incertitudes les plus influentes. Les simulations RANS, vérifiées par une démarche de convergence en maillage, ne permettent pas pour la plupart des configurations analysées d'expliquer les écarts calcul / expérience grâce à la prise en compte des incertitudes d'entrée.Nous mettons donc également en ouvre des simulations SGE en faisant appel à une stratégie originale d'évaluation de la qualité des maillages utilisés dans le cadre d'une démarche de vérification des calculs SGE. Pour une majorité des configurations analysées, la combinaison d'une stratégie SGE et d'une démarche de quantification des incertitudes permet de produire des résultats numériques fiables. La prise en compte des incertitudes d'entrée permet également de proposer une démarche d'optimisation robuste du distributeur de turbine Francis étudié. / The reliable numerical simulation of hydraulic turbines performance requires : i) to includeinto the conventional RANS computations the effect of the uncertainties existing in practiceon the inflow conditions; ii) to rely on a LES (Large Eddy Simulation) strategy to improve thedescription of turbulence effects when discrepancies between RANS computations and experimentskeep arising even though uncertainties are taken into account. The present workapplies a non-intrusive Uncertainty Quantification strategy (NISP for Non-Intrusive SpectralProjection) to two configurations of practical interest : a Francis turbine distributor, with uncertaininlet flow rate and angle, and a draft-tube of a bulb-type turbine with uncertain inflowconditions (velocity distributions, in particular close to the wall boundaries, and turbulentquantities). The NISP method is not only used to compute the mean value and variance ofquantities of interest, it is also applied to perform an analysis of the variance and identify inthis way the most influential uncertainties. The RANS simulations, verified through a gridconvergence approach, are such the discrepancies between computation and experimentcannot be explained by taking into account the inflow uncertainties for most of the configurationsunder study. Therefore, LES simulations are also performed and these simulations areverified using an original methodology for assessing the quality of the computational grids(since the grid-convergence concept is not relevant for LES). For most of the flows understudy, combining a SGE strategy with a UQ approach yields reliable numerical results. Takinginto account inflow uncertainties also allows to propose a robust optimization strategy forthe Francis turbine distributor under study.

La simulation numérique fiable des performances de turbines hydrauliques suppose : i) de pouvoir inclure dans les calculs RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) traditionnellement mis en œuvre l'effet des incertitudes qui existent en pratique sur les conditions d'entrée de l'écoulement; ii) de pouvoir faire appel à une stratégie de type SGE (Simulation des Grandes Echelles) pour améliorer la description des effets de la turbulence lorsque des écarts subsistent entre calculs RANS et résultats d'essai de référence même après prise en compte des incertitudes. Les présents travaux mettent en oeuvre une démarche non intrusive de quantification d'incertitude (NISP pour Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection) pour deux configurations d'intérêt pratique : un distributeur de turbine Francis avec débit et angle d'entrée incertains et un aspirateur de turbine bulbe avec conditions d'entrée (profils de vitesse,en particulier en proche paroi, et grandeurs turbulentes) incertaines. L'approche NISP est utilisée non seulement pour estimer la valeur moyenne et la variance de quantités d'intérêt mais également pour disposer d'une analyse de la variance qui permet d'identifier les incertitudes les plus influentes. Les simulations RANS, vérifiées par une démarche de convergence en maillage, ne permettent pas pour la plupart des configurations analysées d'expliquer les écarts calcul / expérience grâce à la prise en compte des incertitudes d'entrée.Nous mettons donc également en ouvre des simulations SGE en faisant appel à une stratégie originale d'évaluation de la qualité des maillages utilisés dans le cadre d'une démarche de vérification des calculs SGE. Pour une majorité des configurations analysées, la combinaison d'une stratégie SGE et d'une démarche de quantification des incertitudes permet de produire des résultats numériques fiables. La prise en compte des incertitudes d'entrée permet également de proposer une démarche d'optimisation robuste du distributeur de turbine Francis étudié. / The reliable numerical simulation of hydraulic turbines performance requires : i) to includeinto the conventional RANS computations the effect of the uncertainties existing in practiceon the inflow conditions; ii) to rely on a LES (Large Eddy Simulation) strategy to improve thedescription of turbulence effects when discrepancies between RANS computations and experimentskeep arising even though uncertainties are taken into account. The present workapplies a non-intrusive Uncertainty Quantification strategy (NISP for Non-Intrusive SpectralProjection) to two configurations of practical interest : a Francis turbine distributor, with uncertaininlet flow rate and angle, and a draft-tube of a bulb-type turbine with uncertain inflowconditions (velocity distributions, in particular close to the wall boundaries, and turbulentquantities). The NISP method is not only used to compute the mean value and variance ofquantities of interest, it is also applied to perform an analysis of the variance and identify inthis way the most influential uncertainties. The RANS simulations, verified through a gridconvergence approach, are such the discrepancies between computation and experimentcannot be explained by taking into account the inflow uncertainties for most of the configurationsunder study. Therefore, LES simulations are also performed and these simulations areverified using an original methodology for assessing the quality of the computational grids(since the grid-convergence concept is not relevant for LES). For most of the flows understudy, combining a SGE strategy with a UQ approach yields reliable numerical results. Takinginto account inflow uncertainties also allows to propose a robust optimization strategy forthe Francis turbine distributor under study.

Em um reator de fundo redondo e volume útil de 5 L tratando esgoto sintético com carga orgânica de 800 mgDQO.'L POT.-1' com biomassa granulada a influência do tipo de escoamento e velocidade rotacional foi investigada com o uso de cinco impelidores sendo eles turbina e pá de seis pás planas verticais, turbina e pá de seis pás planas inclinadas 45 graus e hélice, comumente aplicados em processos biológicos. Foi também investigada a viabilidade de implementação de tubo de tiragem ao reator em conjunto com os impelidores tipo hélice e tipo pá de pás planas inclinadas alternadamente, com vistas a melhorar a mistura e conseqüente transferência de massa no meio reacional. Os resultados mostram que a alteração do tipo de impelidor e as variações da velocidade rotacional não exerceram influência significativa sobre a estabilidade e desempenho dos sistemas estudados. Entretanto a análise das constantes do modelo cinético de primeira ordem mostrou que a alteração na velocidade rotacional exerceu influência de aumento dos valores das constantes, demonstrando com isto que o aumento da velocidade rotacional melhora a transferência de massa sólido-líquido no meio reacional. A análise das constantes cinéticas também demonstrou que a promoção de escoamento axial em reatores agitados mecanicamente é preferível ao escoamento radial quando comparados os impelidores tipo pá de pás planas verticais e de pás planas inclinadas. A presença do tubo de tiragem demonstrou incrementar significativamente a transferência de massa, através do aumento dos valores numéricos das constantes utilizadas no ajuste do modelo cinético de primeira ordem aos valores experimentais. A potência consumida foi inferior a 1,6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' com rotações abaixo de 200 rpm e os impelidores axiais consumiram 75% a menos de potência do que os radiais / The effect of flow type and rotor speed were investigated in a round-bottom reactor with 5 L useful volume containing granular biomass and treating synthetic wastewater with organic load of 800 mgCOD.'L POT.-1'. Five impellers have been used to this end, namely: turbine and paddle with six-vertical-flat blade, turbine and paddle with six-45 degrees-inclined-flat-blade and helix, commonly used in biological processes. Utilization of a draft tube together with the helix and six-alternately-inclined-flat-blade impellers was also assessed as a means to improve mixing and consequently mass transfer in the reaction medium. Results showed that altering impeller type and variation in rotor speed did not exert significant effect on the stability and performance of the investigated systems. However, analysis of the first order kinetic model constants showed that alteration in rotor speed resulted in increase in the values of the constants, demonstrating that increase in rotor speed improves solid-liquid mass transfer in the reaction medium. Analysis of the kinetic constants also showed that axial flow in mechanically stirred reactors is preferable over radial flow when the vertical flat blade impeller is compared to the inclined flat blade impeller. The presence of the draft tube showed significant improvement in mass transfer, which could be seen by the increase in the values of the constants used in the fit of the first order kinetic model to the experimental values. The power consumed was less than 1.6.'10 POT.-3' HP/'M POT.3' at rotor frequency below 200 rpm and the axial impellers consumed 75% less power than the radial ones