Large Eddy Simulation of a Complete Francis Turbine

In recent years, hydroelectric power plants have received increased attention for the role they play in integrating volatile renewable energies that contribute to stabilizing the electrical grid. One major issue, though, is rooted in running turbines under conditions they were not originally designed for, leading to undesirable flow phenomena. With the standard modeling approaches that are typically used in industry simulations of hydroelectric turbines, simulation accuracy in scenarios where the turbine is used off-design is rather poor. The goal of this project is to increase simulation accuracy by the selection of suitable modeling approaches and the use of a fine mesh resolution, which is only possible by the use of supercomputers.

Read the complete user research report at the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing.

Principal Investigator

Timo Krappel

Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machinery, University of Stuttgart