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Water
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Recent Advances in the Operation and Maintenance of Hydropower Plants
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Recent Advances in the Operation and Maintenance of Hydropower Plants

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2024 | Viewed by 3976

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohammadreza Mohammadi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy and Sustainability, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK
Interests: water engineering; wind engineering; fluid mechanics; fluid-solid interaction
Dr. Moona Mohammadi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Khuzestan Water and Power Authority (KWPA), 8J3V+PCM Ahvaz, Iran
Interests: hydropower; water turbines; CFD simulation
Prof. Dr. Nigel Wright

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: flood risk management; climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydropower is one of the most significant sources of energy worldwide and plays a crucial role in the energy market. Hydropower has brought advantages for economies and individuals in many places, but there is also evidence of a range of drawbacks in terms of the environment and the impact on individuals and communities. The complexities around these sometimes conflicting issues need to be understood and addressed given that many operating hydropower plants play a significant role in energy markets. These plants suffer operational and maintenance challenges that need to be addressed in the long term. Moreover, new techniques have emerged over the years to monitor hydropower performance and mitigate the dams' environmental impacts. Furthermore, human-induced climate change is changing hydrological cycles, which will strongly influence hydropower plant management and operational conditions.

This Special Issue provides an overview of the recent advances in the operation and maintenance of hydropower plants and covers a range of topics, including, but not limited to:

  • The effect of climate change on hydropower plant operation and performance;
  • Hydropower plants’ construction and operation with regard to the environmental impact of the dam;
  • Numerical simulations of hydropower plant components;
  • Fluid/solid interaction of hydraulic parts;
  • Condition monitoring and non-destructive tests;
  • Machine learning methods for operation and maintenance purposes;
  • Design optimization based on computational tools;
  • Experimental flow visualization in hydro turbines.

Dr. Mohammadreza Mohammadi
Dr. Moona Mohammadi
Prof. Dr. Nigel Wright
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydro turbines
  • draft tube
  • hydropower operation and maintenance
  • hydropower and environmental effects
  • hydropower and climate change

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 34294 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Joint Bearing Capacity of Composite Cushion-Spiral Case Structures for Hydropower Stations Considering the Damage Mechanisms of Surrounding Concrete
by Wenjie Xu, Gang Wang, Zhenyue Ma and Fei Kang
Water 2024, 16(1), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16010112 - 27 Dec 2023
Viewed by 813
Abstract
The spiral case structure is an essential part of a hydropower station. To accurately explore the joint load-bearing effect of the cushion-spiral case structure, a cushion-spiral case structure with a high HD value was selected, modeled, and analyzed in this study. The reliability [...] Read more.
The spiral case structure is an essential part of a hydropower station. To accurately explore the joint load-bearing effect of the cushion-spiral case structure, a cushion-spiral case structure with a high HD value was selected, modeled, and analyzed in this study. The reliability of the model was verified through measured data. Given the contact relation between the spiral case and the cushion, the cushion laying range was used as the control parameter to investigate its impact on the joint bearing capacity of the structure. In addition, the concrete damage theory was introduced to probe the damage mechanism of the structure under assumed extreme working conditions. The steel spiral case bears most of the internal water pressure in the joint bearing system, and the bearing ratio of the surrounding concrete and reinforcement decreases with the increase in the cushion wrap angle. A 1.1–1.2 overload head is the main section that forms penetrating cracks. For the spiral case structure with a high HD value, a reasonable cushion can significantly reduce the damage level of the surrounding concrete and regulate the uneven lifting of the turbine pier and the shear strength of the stay ring. This study can provide reference points for the spiral case arrangement and range and the structural failure response under extreme working conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Operation and Maintenance of Hydropower Plants)
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18 pages, 7791 KiB  
Article
Study on Flow Characteristics of Francis Turbine Based on Large-Eddy Simulation
by Tianyu Xu, Quanjie Cheng, Changjiang Lin, Qiuyue Yu and Xiucheng Hu
Water 2023, 15(19), 3372; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15193372 - 26 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1253
Abstract
The research object was a Francis turbine, and the working conditions at 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 1% opening were determined by the opening size of the guide vane. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) was adopted as a turbulence model method to conduct three-dimensional unsteady [...] Read more.
The research object was a Francis turbine, and the working conditions at 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 1% opening were determined by the opening size of the guide vane. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) was adopted as a turbulence model method to conduct three-dimensional unsteady turbulent numerical simulation of the entire flow channel of a Francis turbine, and the flow situation of various parts of the turbine under different working conditions was obtained. The flow characteristics of each component under different working conditions were analyzed, and the hydraulic performance of each part was evaluated. The factors that affected the stability of hydraulic turbines were identified, and their formation mechanisms and evolution laws were explored. The results show that the guide vane placement angle was reasonable in the guide vane area, and the hydraulic performance was fine. The impact on the stability of the hydraulic turbine was small. Further research showed that the hydraulic performance was poor in the runner area, and there were flow separation and detachment phenomena in the flow field. This created a channel vortex in the runner blade channel. The channel vortex promoted the lateral flow of water and had a significant impact on the stability of the hydraulic turbine. The diffusion section of the draft tube can dissipate most of the kinetic energy of the water flow in the draft tube area, and it had a good energy dissipation effect. However, the was a large pressure difference between the upper and lower regions of the diffusion section, and it generated a backflow phenomenon. It created vortex structures in the draft tube, and the stability of the hydraulic turbine was greatly affected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Operation and Maintenance of Hydropower Plants)
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17 pages, 4022 KiB  
Article
Francis Turbine Draft Tube Troubleshooting during Operational Conditions Using CFD Analysis
by Moona Mohammadi, Ebrahim Hajidavalloo, Morteza Behbahani-Nejad, Mohammadreza Mohammadi, Saber Alidadi and Alireza Mohammadi
Water 2023, 15(15), 2794; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15152794 - 02 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1344
Abstract
Hydropower plant vibrations due to pressure fluctuations and their troubleshooting methods are some of the most challenging issues in power plant operation and maintenance. This paper targets these fluctuations in a prototype turbine in two geometries: the initially approved design and the as-built [...] Read more.
Hydropower plant vibrations due to pressure fluctuations and their troubleshooting methods are some of the most challenging issues in power plant operation and maintenance. This paper targets these fluctuations in a prototype turbine in two geometries: the initially approved design and the as-built design. Due to topographic conditions downstream, these geometries slightly differ in the draft tube height; the potential effect of such a slight geometrical change on the applicability of troubleshooting techniques is investigated. Therefore, the water flow was simulated using the CFD scheme at three operating points based on the SST k–ω turbulence model, while the injection of water/air was examined to decrease the pressure fluctuations in the draft tube, and the outputs were compared with no-injection simulations. The results show that a slight change in draft tube geometry causes the pressure fluctuations to increase 1.2 to 2.8 times after 4 s injecting at different operating points. The modification in the location of the air injection also could not reduce the increase in pressure fluctuations and caused a 3.6-fold increase in pressure fluctuations. Therefore, the results show that despite water/air injection being a common technique in the hydropower industry to reduce pressure fluctuations, it is effective only in the initially approved design geometry. At the same time, it has a reverse effect on the as-built geometry and increases the pressure fluctuations. This research highlights the importance of binding the construction phase with the design and troubleshooting stages and how slight changes in construction can affect operational issues. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Operation and Maintenance of Hydropower Plants)
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