CFD on Francis Turbine Under Different Load Conditions

Francis turbine is the most prevalent turbine in hydropower plants to generate electricity due to its wide range of operation. However, the part load efficiency of Francis turbine is poor. The performance of Francis turbine becomes critical under part load operation. Manufacturers rely on the efficiency of turbine available based on model testing results which are time-consuming and costly. In recent times, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are considered an effective tool for analyzing the hydraulic performance of turbines. In this paper, the performance of a Francis turbine has been investigated through CFD analysis under different load conditions using commercially available CFX code. The SST turbulent model is considered to capture the turbulent nature of water flow through the turbine passes. An attempt has also been made to validate the simulation results with the turbine manufacturer’s model testing results available in the literature. The simulation results of this study will be useful as the basis to investigate the performance under various operating conditions of a Francis turbine in future studies.