Effect of inflow disturbances in Pelton turbine distributor lines on the water jet quality

Abstract

The proper design of the manifold, distributing the flow to the individual nozzles, is crucial for the Pelton turbine performance. The generation of both energy losses and secondary flows must be reduced to a minimum to provide optimal water jet quality and, hence, efficiency. However, the inflow state due to the penstock is commonly disregarded at the design stage. By numerical flow simulation, we show how such penstock perturbations affect the water jet cross-section and axis deviation by considering different pipe bends upstream of the manifold. The two-phase flows resulting in a typical Pelton turbine manifold are predicted using the Volume-Of-Fluid (VOF) approach in conjunction with the k-omega SST turbulence closure model. Pipe bends are attached five manifold inlet diameters upstream of the manifold itself. The consequences on the secondary flows in the nozzles and the free water jet quality are reported quantitatively. The analysis shows that even small inflow perturbations into the manifold due to penstock piping significantly affect the water jet quality. A yet unreported mechanism is revealed, where the secondary flows mitigate the impact of the flow rate imbalance across the nozzle on the water jet deviation.