Surge Wave Propagation in a Common Tailrace Channel for Two Large Pumped-Storage Plants
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 2
Abstract
Sudden starting and stopping of turbines and pumps lead to highly unsteady flow in tailrace channels of hydropower plants (HPP). Submergence of Pelton turbines and air entrainment in pumps due to surge waves must be avoided by technical measures. The existing 240 MW Veytaux pumped-storage plant in Switzerland will be enlarged by a new powerhouse adding another 240 MW, using the same tailrace channel and intake. Therefore, surge waves, induced by the two combined HPPs’ operation, were investigated using a physical model. For its validation, the flow behavior of the present scheme was tested and compared to prototype measurements. The enhanced scheme was investigated to analyze critical scenarios, to optimize the plant operation rules, and to define its limits. The effect of the layout on wave reflection in pump mode is highlighted and compared to theoretical approaches.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Cédric Bron for his significant contribution to the experimental setup. The study was funded by the Forces Motrices Hongrin-Léman (FMHL), represented by Gaël Micoulet, and followed by the consulting engineer consortium Stucky, Emch & Berger, and EDF, represented by Martin Wickenhäuser (Stucky).
References
Benet, F., and Cunge, J. A. (1971). “Analysis of experiments on secondary undulations caused by surge waves in trapezoidal channels.” J. Hydraul. Res., 9(1), 11–33.
Chow, V. T. (1959). Open-channel hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
De Cesare, G., Bieri, M. P., Terrier, S., Candolfi, S., Wickenhäuser, M., and Micoulet, G. (2014). “Flow and waves in a common tailrace channel of two pump storage plants–Phyical and numerical.” Advances in Hydroinformatics, P. Gourbesville, J. Cunge, G. Caignaert, eds., Springer.
Favre, H. (1935). Etude théorique et expérimentale des ondes de translation dans les canaux découverts, Dunod, Paris.
Faure, J., and Nahas, N. (1961). “Etude numérique et expérimental d’intumescences à forte courbure du front.” La Houille Blanche, 5, 576–587.
Henderson, F. M. (1966). Open channel flow, Macmillan, New York.
Meile, T. (2007). Influence of macro-roughness of walls on steady and unsteady flow in a channel, communication LCH N°36, A. Schleiss, ed., Ecole polytechnique fédérale, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Meile, T., Boillat, J.-L., and Schleiss, A. J. (2011). “Water-surface oscillations in channels with axi-symmetric cavities.” J. Hydraul. Res., 49(1), 73–81.
Meile, T., Boillat, J.-L., and Schleiss, A. J. (2013). “Propagation of surge waves in channels with large-scale bank roughness.” J. Hydraul. Res., 51(2), 195–202.
Soares Frazao, S., and Zech, Y. (2002). “Undular bores and secondary waves–Experiments and hybrid finite–volume modelling.” J. Hydraul. Res., 40(1), 33–43.
Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). (2008). “Bestimmung von Wirkungsgraden bei Pumpspeicherung in Wasserkraftanlagen.” Bern, Switzerland.
SFOE. (2011). “Statistik der Wasserkraftanlagen der Schweiz.” Bern, Switzerland.
Treske, A. (1994). “Undular bores (Favre-waves) in open channels–Experimental studies.” J. Hydraul. Res., 32(3), 355–370.
Zairov, K. I., and Listrovoy, P. P. (1983). “Experimental investigation of the positive traveling surges fore-part observed in canals.” Proc., 20th International Association for Hydraulic Research (IAHR) Congress, 210–218.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 2 • February 2014
Pages: 218 - 225
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 21, 2012
Accepted: Jul 19, 2013
Published online: Jul 25, 2013
Discussion open until: Dec 25, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.