Pipe Systems With Micro-Turbines: Water Hammer Considerations

Micro and small turbines, as a means of producing clean and renewable energy by transforming hydropower to electricity, can be used extensively in pipe systems. With respect to hydraulic transient modeling, governed turbines have two additional features compared to the more familiar pump boundary condition: namely, wicket gate adjustments and more complicated device characteristics. Based on head balance (or nodal flow balance) considerations, torque (or speed change) relations, and the governor equation, a numerical model of the turbine boundary condition in a pipe system is established. The combinations of the three basic equations under specific situations are then discussed. To verify in a general way this numerical model, a penstock failure at Lapino Power Plant (Poland) is simulated. The current work sets the stage for a more comprehensive analysis of turbines and related unsteady flow issues in topologically complex pipe networks.Copyright © 2003 by ASME