Free rotation of a Pelton turbine

Numerical simulation of the interaction between a water jet and a Pelton turbine, with free rotation computed by the solver.

Industry
Energy - Hydraulics - Rotating machinery
Physics
Single-phase flow - Fluid/rigid-body interaction
Platform
HPC Cluster

Free rotation of a Pelton turbine

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Objective

Demonstrate Fugu’s ability to simulate the dynamics of a Pelton turbine driven by a water jet, with free rotation computed by the solver.

Simulation setup

The simulation resolves a fully water-filled 3D domain in order to capture the impact of a water jet on the buckets and the induced rotation of the turbine. The coupling between the flow and the solid motion is directly resolved by the solver.

  • Fully water-filled 3D domain
  • Water jet
  • Pelton turbine modeled as a rigid body in free rotation

Results

The simulation highlights the transfer of momentum from the jet to the turbine as well as its transient acceleration. This case illustrates Fugu’s ability to robustly handle the coupling between a hydraulic flow and a mobile solid in free rotation.