Home Search Collections Journals About Contact us My IOPscience

Parametric design of a Francis turbine runner by means of a three-dimensional inverse design

method

This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article.

2010 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 12 012058

(http://iopscience.iop.org/1755-1315/12/1/012058)

View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more

Download details:
IP Address: 200.140.194.5
The article was downloaded on 22/03/2012 at 12:28

Please note that terms and conditions apply.

25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

Parametric design of a Francis turbine runner by means

of a three-dimensional inverse design method
K Daneshkah1 and M Zangeneh2
1
Advanced Design Technology, London WC1E 7JN, UK
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E
7JE, UK

E-mail: k.daneshkhah@adtechnology.co.uk
Abstract. The present paper describes the parametric design of a Francis turbine runner. The
runner geometry is parameterized by means of a 3D inverse design method, while CFD
analyses were performed to assess the hydrodymanic and suction performance of different
design configurations that were investigated. An initial runner design was first generated and
used as baseline for parametric study. The effects of several design parameter, namely stacking
condition and blade loading was then investigated in order to determine their effect on the
suction performance. The use of blade parameterization using the inverse method lead to a
major advantage for design of Francis turbine runners, as the three-dimensional blade shape is
describe by parameters that closely related to the flow field namely blade loading and stacking
condition that have a direct impact on the hydrodynamics of the flow field. On the basis of this
study, an optimum configuration was designed which results in a cavitation free flow in the
runner, while maintaining a high level of hydraulic efficiency. The paper highlights design
guidelines for application of inverse design method to Francis turbine runners. The design
guidelines have a general validity and can be used for similar design applications since they are
based on flow field analyses and on hydrodynamic design parameters.

1. Introduction
The hydraulic design of Francis turbine runners requires accomplishment of several targets and constraints. A
high level of efficiency and a cavitation-free flow in the runner is usually desirable. The flow in Francis turbine
runners is highly rotational and three-dimensional and therefore only three-dimensional methods will provide
effective solution for a Francis runner. A considerable improvement in the design of Francis turbines have been
obtained by the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). CFD results provide a better understanding of the flow
physics and they are now commonly used in industry, ref [1-4]. Although these methods are very useful for analysis
in different design configurations, they cannot be directly used as a design tool as they do not provide any direct
information on how to change the runner shape. So the designer needs to rely on trial and error to improve the runner
geometry. Such an approach, with its reliance on empiricism, may restrict the part of design space that is being used
in the design as the designer tends to stay within the bounds of successful previous designs.
A major improvement in the design of Francis runners can be achieved by the application of 3D inverse design
method for the design of the runner shapes. Unlike conventional direct design methods, where the blade geometry is
described by geometrical parameters, inverse design uses hydrodynamic parameters like the blade loading, to
compute the blade shape, offering a major advantage in the design process. Such an approach allows designers to
directly relate their understanding of flow physics in the design process and hence access a larger part of the design
space. The application of 3D inverse design method has already resulted in important design breakthroughs such as
suppression of secondary flows in radial and mixed flow impeller impellers [5-6], improvement of suction
performance and efficiency of water jet pumps [7], suppression of corner separation in pump diffusers [8] and
improvement of cavitation in a Francis turbine runner [9].
In this present paper, a parametric design study of a Francis turbine runner is carried out where an inverse design
method is used to parametrically describe the runner geometry and CFD analyses are performed to evaluate the
hydrodynamic and suction performance of different configurations. First, a baseline design was created using the
basic design specifications of the Francis turbine runner. Next, the impact of stacking condition on the runner


c 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd 1
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

performance was assessed. The aim of this study was to understand the effect of stacking condition of on the runner
efficiency and its suction performance. Then, the effect of blade loading was studied for an optimum stacking
configuration obtained in the previous step so that a cavitation-free flow in the runner is achieved, while maintaining
high level of hydraulic efficiency.

2. Inverse Design Method

The commercial 3D inverse design code TURBOdesign-1 was used as the design methodology in this study.
Turbodesign-1 [10] is a three-dimensional inviscid inverse design method, where the distribution of the
circumferentially averaged swirl velocity rVθ is prescribed on the blade meridional channel and the corresponding
blade shape is computed iteratively.
The circulation distribution is specified by imposing the spanwise rVθ distribution at blade leading and trailing
edge and the meridional derivative of the circulation drVθ/dm (blade loading) inside the blade channel. The pressure
loading (the pressure difference across the blade) is directly related to the meridional derivative of rVθ through
momentum equation of an incompressible flow in the blade passage in pitch-wise direction, which is given below:
∂ ( rVθ ) (1)
p + − p − = (2π / B ) ρWm
∂m
Where p+ and p– correspond to the static pressure on pressure and suction side of the blade, B is the blade number, ρ
is the density and Wm is the pitch-wise averaged meridional velocity.
The input design parameters required by the program are as follows:
• Meridional channel shape in terms of crown, band, leading and trailing edge contours.
• Normal thickness distribution at two or more spanwise sections.
• Fluid properties and design specifications.
• Number of blades.
• Inlet flow conditions in terms of spanwise distributions of total pressure and velocity components.
• Inlet and exit rVθ spanwise distribution. By controlling its value, the runner head is controlled
• Blade loading distribution (drVθ/dm) at two or more spanwise sections. The code then automatically
interpolates the blade loading in spanwise direction to obtain two-dimensional distribution of the loading
over the whole meridional channel.
• Stacking condition. The stacking condition must be imposed at a chord-wise location between leading and
trailing edge. Everywhere else the blade is free to adjust itself according to the loading specifications.

One unique feature of TURBOdesign1 is that it allows designers to vary one parameter (e.g stacking or blade
loading) while fixing the other parameters. The program then automatically arrives at the blade shape that satisfies
the necessary specific work at the correct flow rate and specified blade loading or stacking. It is this feature of the
code that is used in this paper for parametric study.
In order to verify the different configurations that were designed, CFD calculations were performed using the
commercial software ANSYS CFX 12.1. The computational domain was discretized by means of a hybrid H-C-O
type structured mesh with approximately 375K nodes per blade passage. The Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes
equations were solved using a finite-volume approach and k-ε model with standard wall function implementation
was used for the turbulence closure. The average value of total pressure, which occurs at the runner inlet was
imposed as a boundary condition at the inlet of the computational domain. For cavitation analysis, a two phase
Rayleigh-Plesset model is used. The interphase transfer is governed by a mixture model where the interface
length scale is 1 mm. Flow is assumed to be homogeneous and isothermal at 293.15 K. The saturation pressure is
3619 Pa and the mean nucleation site diameter is 2μm.

3. Design of Baseline Configuration

A Francis turbine runner with specific speed of vs=0.35 was selected for this study, where the specific speed
is defined by
ω Q 1/ 2
vs = (2)
π 1/ 2 (2 gH ) 3/ 4

2
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

The runner meridional geometry is presented in Fig.1. The runner maximum diameter is 157.5 mm and its
axial length is 140 mm. The runner meridional shape is usually fixed by design constraints and therefore it was
not changed during the design process. The runner has 13 blades with a maximum profile thickness of 7 mm at
the crown and 4 mm maximum thickness at the band. The runner operating conditions are listed in Table1.
Before proceeding with the parametric study, a baseline design was created using TURBOdesign-1. The
design specifications and inlet condition were imposed according to their values at the operating condition. A
free-vortex flow distribution (uniform spanwise rVθ ) was assumed at the runner inlet. The value of rVθ was
chosen to produce the available head at runner inlet. A zero stacking was imposed at runner LE.

Table 1. Francis Runner Design Specifications

Rotational speed 1350
Runner Head 42 m
Design flow rate 0.45 m^3 min-1
Inlet total pressure 415 kPa
Guide vane opening 73 deg
Required Shaft Power 165 kW

Crown
Band

-1
Blade Loading

-2

-3

-4
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Streamwise Distance

Figure 1 Francis runner meridional contour Figure 2 Blade Loading distribution

Figures 2 represents the normalized loading distribution of the baseline runner design. The loading is defined
at two sections (band and crown) and it is then interpolated over the meridional channel. Each loading
distribution is plotted against the normalized streamwise distance from leading edge (streamwise distance=0) to
trailing edge (streamwise distance=1). Both sections are mid-loaded with a constant loading from 25% to 75%
of blade chord. The value of blade loading at the leading edge controls the flow incidence at design point (see
equation [1]). The baseline design runner geometry obtained by the inverse code is presented in Fig.3.

3
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

Figure 3 Baseline Design 3D geometry

Figure 4 3D View of computational mesh

4. CFD Analysis of Baseline Configuration

CFD analysis is performed for the baseline design in order to investigate detailed flow field at design and off-
design conditions using a single-phase flow model. The flow is assumed to be steady-state and axi-symmetric,
therefore only one flow passage in the runner is modeled. Figure 4 shows the computational mesh at runner mid-
span for the baseline runner. In order to ensure of the accuracy of CFD results, a mesh dependency study was
performed for the baseline runner. Three mesh sizes with the same mesh topology were investigated; the coarse
mesh has a mesh size of 90K nodes per passage with an average value of Y+ at midspan of about 120, the
medium mesh has a total mesh size of about 375K nodes and an average Y+ at midpan of about 20, the fine mesh
has a total mesh size of about 700K nodes and an average Y+ at midspan of 10.
The runner performance characteristics at design flow corresponding to a guide vane opening of about 18 deg.
is presented in Fig. 5. for the three different mesh. The results confirm that a mesh independent solution is
reached for the medium size mesh This mesh size is used for all computation in the present work hereafter. The
performance characteristics also show that runner achieves the required power output with a good efficiency and
performs well at off-design condition. In this figure, the runner head, power and hydraulic efficiency are plotted
against non-dimensional blade velocity given by:

K u = U / 2 gH (3)

The hydraulic efficiency is given by:

Tω
η= (4)
ρ gQH

Figure 6 shows the velocity vectors on the suction and pressure surfaces on the runner. The flow is roughly
aligned with the streamwise direction on the suction side of the blade, whereas near the pressure side inside the
boundary layer the flow is forced towards the band, which indicates its strong three-dimensional character and
the distinct secondary flows in Francis runner. Figure 7 shows the runner pressure distribution at three
spanwise sections, i.e., crown , midspan and band. The low pressure region on the band suctions side indicates
that this area is prone to severe cavitation. This is further confirmed by a two-phase flow cavitation analysis, as it
can be seen by contours of water vapor volume fraction in Fig.8, confirming strong cavitation on the shroud near
the trailing edge region.

4
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

42 185 1

180
40 175
0.98
170

Power [kW]
38
Head [m]

165

η
0.96
160
36
155

Coarse Coarse 0.94 Coarse

150
34 Medium Medium Medium
Fine Fine Fine
145

32 140 0.92
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Ku Ku Ku

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 5 Runner performance characteristics at design flow rate, Runner Head (a), Shaft Power (b), Runner
Efficiency (c)

(a)
(b)

Figure 6 Baseline design: Velocity vector on the blade suction surface (a) and pressure surface (b) at design
point

300

Crown
250 Midspan
Band
200
Static Pressure [kPa]

150

100

50

-50

-100
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Streamwise Distance
Figure 8 Baseline design: contours of water
Figure 7 Baseline design: blade pressure
vapour volume fraction at design point
distribution at design point

5
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

5. Parametric Study of the Runner Stacking Condition

The stacking condition has a significant effect on spanwise work distribution and three-dimensional flow
structure in the Francis runner. Three stacking configurations were investigated using the inverse design code by
varying the stacking to -15, -30 and -45 degrees. The negative sign indicates the direction of stacking in such a
way that the pressure loading is reduced at the band and increased at the crown. This is done in order to reduce
the low pressure region on the band suction surfaces and associated cavitation region. All the other runner design
parameters were kept unaltered.
Figure 9 shows the 3D geometries of the runner for different stacking conditions and Fig. 10 presents the
corresponding blade pressure distributions at design condition obtained from a single-phase flow analysis for
each case. As it can be seen from these plots by increasing the stacking to -15 degrees, the loading at the band is
reduced and increased at the crown, however there is a still a low pressure region at about 20% chord followed
by another low pressure region from 70-95% chord on the band suction surface where cavitation can occur.
Increasing of stacking to -30 degrees, results in a roughly uniform spanwise pressure loading where the low
pressure region is significantly reduced and is limited to a small region between 75%-90% chord from midspan
to band on the suction surface. Further increase of stacking to -45 degrees, results in a very low pressure region
on the crown suction section from 40% chord onward which extend up to midspan. The results of cavitation
analysis, presented in Fig.11 in form of water vapour volume fraction contours on the blade surfaces confirms
the observations obtained from single-phase flow analysis.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 9 3D blade geometries at -15 deg (a), -30 deg (b) and -45 deg (c) stacking

300 300 300

Crown Crown Crown

250 Midspan 250 Midspan 250 Midspan
Band Band Band
200 200 200
Static Pressure [kPa]

Static Pressure [kPa]

Static Pressure [kPa]

150 150 150

100 100 100

50 50 50

0 0 0

-50 -50 -50

-100 -100 -100

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Streamwise Distance Streamwise Distance Streamwise Distance

(c)
(a) (b)

Fig. 10 Blade pressure distributions for -15 deg (a), -30 deg (b) and -45 deg (c) stacking design configuration

6
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

(a) (c)
(b)

Figure 11 Contours of water vapour volume fraction at -15 deg (a), -30 deg (b) and -45 deg (c) stacking
design configuration

6. Parametric Study of Blade Loading

The design with 30 degrees stacking which has a mid-loaded distribution both at the crown and the band
(Design S30_MM) is selected for further investigation of the blade loading distribution. Since cavitation occurs
toward in the blade aft part from midspan to band a fore-loaded distribution is specified at the band, while the
crown loading remains unaltered, as shown in Fig.12. All the other design parameters of the runner are
unaltered.
Figure 13 shows the blade pressure distribution at design point obtained from single-phase flow analysis for
this design (Design S30_MF). The pressure distribution plots show that that the low pressure region is raised
above the water vapour pressure at all sections and hence a cavitation-free design can be expected at design
operating condition. This is further confirmed by a two-phase flow cavitation analysis as shown in Fig.14 in
terms of water vapour volume fraction contours on the blade surfaces, where no region of cavitation can be
observed at least the design conditions.
Figure 15 shows the velocity vectors on the suction and pressure surfaces on the runner. Comparing to
secondary flow structure of the baseline design with no stacking, secondary flow on the pressure surface is
reduced close to the crown but is increased towards the band. This is due to a different spanwise work
distribution in the runner caused by the stacking condition which increases the blade loading towards the crown
and decreases it towards the band.
Figure 16 shows a comparison of blade sections between the baseline design and Design S30_MF at crown,
midspan and band. The effect of the prescribed stacking condition and loading distribution on the resulting blade
geometry obtained from the inverse design method can be clearly seen in these figures. The overall flow turning
of the baseline design is 20.4, 23.6 and 32.3 degrees and for Design S30_MF is 25.5, 21.7 and 21.4 degrees at
crown, midspan and band, respectively. This agrees with the increase of the blade loading at crown and its
reduction at the hub for Design S30_MF due to the prescribed stacking condition.
Finally, Fig.17 shows a comparison of the baseline runner performance characteristic with that of Design
S30_MF. The results show similar head and power and efficiency characteristics for both designs.

0 300

C row n
C ro w n
250 M id spa n
B a nd
B a nd
-1 200
Static Pressure [kPa]
Blade Loading

150

-2 100

50

-3 0

-5 0

-4 -1 0 0
0 0 .2 0 .4 0 .6 0 .8 1 0 0 .2 0 .4 0 .6 0 .8 1
S tre a m w ise D ista n ce S tre a m w ise D ista nce

Figure 12 Design S30_MF: Blade loading Figure 13 Design S30_MF: Blade pressure
distribution distributions

7
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

Figure 14 Design S30_MF: Contours of water vapor volume fraction

(a) (b)

Figure 15 Design S30_MF: Velocity vector on the blade suction surface (a) and pressure surface (b)

Z Z Z

Baseline
Y
DesignS30_MF X X X
Y

Baseline Baseline
DesignS30_MF DesignS30_MF

(b)
(a) (c)

Figure 16 Comparison of baseline and DesignS30_MF blade section geometries at crown (a), midspan (b)
and band (c)

8
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

42 185 0.99

180
40 0.985
175

170

Power [kW]
38 0.98
Head [m]

165

η
160
36 0.975
155

Baseline 150 Baseline Baseline

34 DesignS30_MF DesignS30_MF 0.97 D esignS30_M F
145

32 140 0.965
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Ku Ku Ku

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 17 Comparison of the baseline and DesignS30_MF runner performance characteristics at design flow
rate, Runner Head (a), Shaft Power (b), Runner Efficiency (c)

7. Conclusion
In this paper, a 3D inverse design method was applied to a Francis turbine design. Effect of inverse design
parameter (stacking condition and blade loading) on the flow field inside the runner was studied in a parametric
way. The aim of design was to obtain a cavitation free runner with high hydraulic efficiency. The flow field and
suction performance obtained by CFD with single-phase and two-phase flow models were compared between
different designs.
The effects of stacking condition on the spanwise work distribution and the associated pressure field was
studied in details. By a combination of stacking condition and blade loading parameters, the static pressure field
inside the runner was optimized so that the low pressure region on the blade suction side was eliminated and a
cavitation free runner was realized.
It was shown that parameterization of blade geometry using the inverse design flow related parameters can
provide the designer with control over the pressure field inside the runner, which can be used effectively to
suppress cavitation phenomena without deteriorating the hydraulic efficiency. The design guidelines presented in
this paper can be applied easily to the optimization of other Francis turbine runners. The 3D inverse method is an
extremely powerful and practical design tool for designing hydraulic turbine runners.

Nomenclature

B Number of blades TE Trailing edge

H Runner head [m] U Blade velocity[m/s]
LE Leading edge V Absolute velocity[m/s]
Ku Non-dimensional blade velocity vs Specific Speed
m Merdional distance W Relative velocity[m/s]
P Static pressure [Pa] θ Circumferential direction
Q Flow rate [m3/s] ρ Density [ kg/m3]
r Radius [m] ω Rotational Speed [rad/s]
T Torque [N.m]

References
[1] Drinta P, Sallaberger M 1999 Hydraulic Turbines- Basic Principle and State-of-the-Art Computation Fluid
Dynamics Application Proc. Institute of Mechanical Eng.vol 213 (Part C) pp 85-102
[2] Sallaberger M 1996 Quasi-Three-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Flow Calculation in a Francis
Turbine IGTI (Birmingham) p 96-GT-38
[3] Keck H, Goede E and Pestalozzi J 1990 Experience with 3D Euler Flow Analysis as a Practical Design
Tool In Proc. of 16th IAHR Symp.(Sao Paolo, Brazil)
[4] Nagafuji T, Uchida K, Tezuka K and Sugama K 1999 Navier Sokes Prediction on Performance of a

9
25th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 12 (2010) 012058 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/12/1/012058

Francis Turbine with High Specific Speed ASME Fluids Eng. (FEDSM99-7815)
[5] Zangeneh M, Goto A and Takemura T 1996 Suppression of Secondary Flows in a Mixed Flow Pump
Impeller by Application of Three-Dimensional Inverse Method ASME J. of Turbomachinery 118 536-
561
[6] Zangeneh M, Goto A and Harada H 1998 On the Design Criteria for Suppression of Secondary Flows in
Centrifugal and Mixed Flow Impellers ASME J. of Turbomachinery 120 723-35
[7] Bonaiuti D, Zangeneh M, Aartojarvi R and Eriksson J 2010 A Parametric Design of a Waterjet Pump by
Means of Inverse Design, CFD Calculations and Experimental Analyses ASME J. of Fluids Eng.132
031104
[8] Goto A, Zangeneh M 2002 Hydrodynamic Design of Pump Diffuser Using Invese Design Method and
CFD ASME J. of Fluids Eng. 124 319- 328
[9] Okomoto H, Goto A 2002 Suppression of Cavitation in a Francis Turbine Runner by Application of 3D
Inverse Design Method ASME Fluids Eng. (FEDSM2002-31192)
[10] Zangeneh M 1991 A 3D Design Method for Radial and Mixed Flow Turbomachinery Blades Int. J. of
Numerical Methods in Fluids 13 599-624

10