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The safe and steady operation of hydropower generation systems is crucial for electricity output in the grid. However, hydropower stations have complicated interior structures, making defect detection difficult without disassembly inspections. The application of digital modeling to hydropower stations will effectively promote the intelligent transformation of hydropower stations as well as reduce the maintenance costs of the system. This study provides a model of the power generating and transmission system for hydropower plants, with an emphasis on primary equipment and measured data. The model utilizes PSCAD to digitalize state response in hydropower plants with various short-circuit faults. The fault information is identified and learned using the Adaptive Time–Frequency Memory (AD-TFM) deep learning model. It is demonstrated that our proposed method can effectively obtain the fault information through radio frequency identification (RFID). The accuracy of the traditional method is 0.90, while the results for AD-TFM show a fault classification accuracy of 0.92, which is more than enough to identify multiple fault types compared to the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impeller, regarded as the central component of a centrifugal pump, plays a pivotal role in dictating overall performance. Overcoming challenges arising from the complexity of design parameters and the time-intensive nature of the design process has been a persistent obstacle to widespread adoption. In this study, we integrated ANSYS-CFX 2023 software with innovative inverse design techniques to optimize the impeller design within a centrifugal pump system. Our investigation reveals groundbreaking insights, highlighting the significant influence of both blade load and shaft surface geometry on impeller performance. Notably, through load optimization, substantial enhancements in centrifugal pump efficiency were achieved, demonstrating improvements of 1.8% and 1.7% under flow conditions of 1.0 Q and 0.8 Q, respectively. Further, the efficiency gains of 0.44% and 0.36% were achieved in their corresponding flow conditions. The optimization of blade load and shaft surface configuration notably facilitated a more homogenized internal flow pattern within the impeller. These novel findings contribute substantively to the theoretical foundations underpinning centrifugal pump impeller design, offering engineers a valuable reference to elevate their performance. Our utilization of ANSYS-CFX software in conjunction with inverse design methodologies showcases a promising avenue for advancing impeller design, ultimately culminating in superior efficiency and performance for centrifugal pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rock coring of the reservoir in the Bohai A field is difficult. The cores of the target section in the study area are loose, making it difficult to accurately measure the core-bound water saturation. The purpose of this research was to develop and validate a method for calculating a reservoir core-bound water saturation ratio using the cast thin section. First, pepper noise denoising and image enhancement were performed on the thin section by median filtering and gamma variation. Based on this, the enhanced sheet images were thresholded for segmentation by the two-dimensional OTSU algorithm, which automatically picked up the thin section pore-specific parameters. Then, the thin section image was equivalent to a capillary cross-section, while the thin film water fused to the pore surface was observed as bound water. For hydrophilic rocks with a strong homogeneity, the area of thin film water in the pore space of the sheet was divided by the total area of the pore space, which produced the bound water saturation. Next, the theoretical relationship between the film water thickness and the critical pore throat radius was derived based on the Young–Laplace equation. The bound water saturation of the rock was calculated by combining the pore perimeter and the area that was automatically picked up from the thin film for a given critical pore throat radius of the rock. Finally, 22 images of thin sections of sparse sandstone from the coring well section of the study area were image processed using the new method proposed in this paper, and the bound water saturation was calculated. The calculated results were compared with 22 NMR-bound water saturations and 11 semi-permeable baffle plate-bound water saturations in the same layer section. The results showed that the bound water saturation values calculated by the three methods produced consistent trends with absolute errors within 5%. The calculated results confirm the reliability of the method proposed in this paper. This method can effectively avoid the problem of the inaccurate results of core experiments due to the easy damage of sparse sandstone and provides a new idea for the accurate determination of the bound water saturation of sparse sandstone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy-conversion stability of hydropower is critical to satisfy the growing demand for electricity. In low-head hydropower plants, a gravitational surface vortex is easily generated, which causes irregular shock vibrations that damage turbine performance and input-flow stability. The gravitational surface vortex is a complex fluid dynamic problem with high nonlinear features. Here, we thoroughly investigate its essential hydrodynamic properties, such as Ekman layer transport, heat/mass transfer, pressure pulsation, and vortex-induced vibration, and we note some significant scientific issues as well as future research directions and opportunities. Our findings show that the turbulent Ekman layer analytical solution and vortex multi-scale modeling technology, the working condition of the vortex across the scale heat/mass transfer mechanism, the high-precision measurement technology for high-speed turbulent vortexes, and the gas–liquid–solid three-phase vortex dynamics model are the main research directions. The vortex-induced vibration transition mechanism of particle flow in complex restricted pipelines, as well as the improvement of signal processing algorithms and a better design of anti-spin/vortex elimination devices, continue to draw attention. The relevant result can offer a helpful reference for fluid-induced vibration detection and provide a technical solution for hydropower energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of hydraulic impedance is widely used for periodic or oscillating flow scenarios in applied hydraulic transients. This paper proposes an equivalent circuit-based discrete hydraulic impedance model for the hydraulic system of the power station. The equivalent hydraulic circuit is established by an analogy between the water hammer wave propagation in pressurized pipes and the electromagnetic wave propagation in conductors. The discrete hydraulic impedance at a given location is obtained by calculating the total specific impedance of the series and parallel circuits from one end to the other. In addition, the numerical solution process to obtain the natural frequencies of the system via the proposed model is designed in detail. Furthermore, oscillation characteristics of the pipelines in the hydropower station are investigated. The variation trends of the decay coefficients of different orders of oscillation of the system and the influence of turbine impedance on the oscillation frequencies are discussed, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy, fundamental to the attainment of a sustainable society. Despite its efficacy and success, there is a need to address the hydroelectric stations' oil throwing and mist leakage, resulting in the deterioration of the generating units, water, and biodiversity. The conventional engineering measures to deal with oil mist leakage include: the reduction in the operating pad and oil temperature, optimization of the oil circulation loop in the oil tank, improvement of the sealing performance, and design of the oil mist emission device. However, the problem of oil mist leakage of bearings is complex, intractable, and cannot be solved by only one method. Numerical simulation can help to solve the oil mist problem and make up for the shortage of engineering measures. Yet, the mass transfer, involving multi-component and multi-phase flow, becomes a limitation for many numerical studies. As a result, this paper seeks to integrate the solutions by reviewing two influences: the global measures of oil mist leakage proof in the oil tank of bearings in the past 40 years, and the views and experiences of engineering practices. These findings offer some relevant insights into the effectiveness of the applied methods and solving of the oil mist leakage problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transverse cofferdam in Xiangjiaba hydropower station was a water retaining concrete structure with a length of 126 m, a width of 12 m, and a height of 25.2 m, consisting of masonry, plain concrete structure (PC), and roller compacted concrete (RCC), which had to be demolished by blasting after the dam was built. There were many precise instruments nearby the cofferdam which had strict restrictions on blasting vibration. Therefore, the cofferdam was divided into six blasting regions, including land blasting and underwater blasting. Blasting parameters and blasting network structure were accurately designed and continuously optimized through blast-induced vibration test results. At nine measurement points in different locations, 57 blast vibration data were recorded. Consequently, 1386 holes with an explosive weight of 9641.3 kg were detonated in land blasting. The highest levels of vibration were recorded as 8.74 cm/s in the desilting tunnel on the right of the cofferdam. The explosives up to 11887.7 kg were detonated in an underwater blasting. According to the analysis of the law of vibration attenuation, the blast vibration value was reduced to 7.65 cm/s. The results showed that the research on the attenuation law of blasting vibration can effectively increase the charge weight per delay and control the blast-induced vibration. Consequently, the peak particle velocity (PPV) of underwater blasting could be predicted by analyzing the PPV of land blasting in same structure, which provided the basis for the design of underwater blasting parameters. A reliable method for cofferdam demolition in hydropower station was proposed, which provided a reference for similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversion tunnels are often used as tailrace tunnels in underground hydropower stations. The special layout results in complex flow regimes, including air-water two-phase flow. A set of experiments is conducted based on the model of a hydropower station which combines partial diversion tunnels with tailrace tunnels to investigate the interactions between the air and water phases in the combined diversion tunnels. Interactions between the air and water phases observed in the combined diversion tunnel significantly alter flow dynamics, and are classified into four types according to the initial tail water level. There is a range of initial tail water levels in which the interaction between the air and water phases cannot be neglected, and the range becomes greater when the change in flow rate increases. Such interactions may cause a pressure surge and the pressure surge reaches the maximum when the initial tail water level is approximately equal to the crown of the tunnel. The surge pressures do harm to the safety and stability of hydropower stations, so the condition should be considered and controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of the state-space method (SSM), a novel linear mathematical model of the unsteady flow for the tailrace system with an open channel is proposed. This novel model is an elastic linearized model of water hammer. The validity of the model has been verified by several examples of numerical simulation, which are based on a finite difference technique. Then, the complete mathematical model for the hydro-turbine governing system of hydropower station with an open tailrace channel, which is used for simulating the transient process of the hydro-turbine governing system under load disturbance, is established by combining the models of hydro-turbine, generator, governor and open tailrace channel. Finally, according to the complete model, the regulation quality for hydro-turbine governing system with an open tailrace channel under load disturbance is studied, and the effects of open tailrace channel and tailrace surge tank on regulation quality are analyzed. The results indicate that: The open tailrace channel has a strong influence on the regulation quality by observing the water level fluctuations in tailrace surge tank. The surge shows a piecewise periodical change along with the variation in the length of an open channel. The open tailrace channel can be used to improve the regulation quality of hydro-turbine governing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy shortage has revived the interest in hydroelectric power, but extreme geological condition always pose challenges to the construction of hydroelectric power stations with large underground caverns. To solve the problem of safe design of large underground caverns, a Chinese-style intelligent stability design, representing recent developments in Chinese techniques for the construction of underground hydropower systems is presented. The basic aim of this method is to help designers improve the stability and design efficiency of large underground hydropower cavern groups. Its flowchart consists of two parts, one is initial design with an ordinal structure, and the other is dynamic design with a closed loop structure. In each part of the flowchart, analysis techniques, analysis content and design parameters for caverns' stability are defined, respectively. Thus, the method provides designers with a bridge from the basic information of objective engineering to reasonable design parameters for managing the stability of hydraulic cavern groups. Application to two large underground caverns shows that it is a scientific and economical method for safely constructing underground hydraulic caverns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydropower is a kind of clean energy, which can effectively reduce the consumption of fossil energy and is one of the main fields of new energy development. Pumped storage power station not only provides a solution for storing electric energy and generating excess, but also is a clean, efficient, economical and safe power system regulation method with high quality. Accurate modeling of a pump-turbine, as the core equipment of a pumped storage unit, is the key to safe and stable operation of the pumped storage unit. At present, a method of simplifying the external characteristics of a pump-turbine into a first-order linear model is widely used, which cannot effectively and accurately reveal the nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the unit in transition process. In order to meet the demand of high-precision simulation of the unit, a new method of identifying Taylor series expansion considering nonlinearity based on the torque characteristic formula and the flow characteristic formula is proposed, which is applied to the pump-turbine external characteristic model, and retains the second derivative term, making the model a second-order nonlinear model, and thus, the pump-turbine model becomes a nonlinear model. The nonlinear model established is used to simulate the load increase and load rejection of the unit, and the results are compared with those for the linear model. The comparison shows that the nonlinear model established for the pump-turbine can reveal the dynamic response of the unit more effectively and accurately than the linear model, and provide a further guarantee for the safe and stable operation of pumped-storage units, which is of great significance to hydropower energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of society, the number of hydropower projects has increased. During the construction of these projects, due to excavation-induced unloading, the high sidewalls of the hydropower station are often subject to splitting failure, which produces many adverse effects on the construction of the cavern. In order to reveal the formation mechanism of splitting failure of hydropower stations, based on the strain gradient theory and elasto-plastic damage theory, we proposed an elasto-plastic damage softening model. Using the ODE45 program in MATLAB, we solved the numerical solution of displacement and stress of circular cavern based on our proposed elastoplastic damage model. Then, we apply the complex function method and use the Schwarz–Christoffel integral formula to obtain the mapping function from the outer domain of the high sidewall cavern to the outer domain of the unit circle. Finally, the elastic-plastic region and displacement distribution of the high sidewall cavern are obtained by mapping the obtained elastic-plastic solution of the circular cavern under the axisymmetric condition. In future research, it is necessary to further study the corresponding relationship between the internal length parameter of the material and its internal microstructure in order to accurately determine the internal length parameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical stable sectional area (CSSA) for surge tanks corresponds to the critical stable state of hydropower stations and is an important index to evaluate the stability of the turbine regulation system. The research on CSSA for surge tanks is always one of the most important topics in the area of transient processes of hydropower stations. The CSSA for surge tanks provides the value basis for the sectional area of surge tanks. In engineering practice, the CSSA for surge tanks is widely used to guide their hydraulic design. This paper provides a systematic literature review about the CSSA for surge tank of hydropower stations. Firstly, the CSSA for surge tanks based on hydraulic transients is discussed. Secondly, the CSSA for surge tanks based on hydraulic-mechanical-electrical coupling transients is presented. Thirdly, the CSSA for air cushion surge tanks is illustrated. Finally, the CSSA for combined surge tanks, i.e., upstream and downstream double surge tanks and upstream series double surge tanks, is presented. In future research, the CSSA for surge tanks of pumped storage power stations should be explored. The CSSA for surge tanks considering multi-energy complement is worth studying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsteady flow induced by hydropower stations exerts a significant impact on the water level in multi-approach channels, which directly threatens the safe passage of ships. In this study, a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model are adopted to simulate the water level fluctuations at the entrance of multi-approach channels and the lower lock head of a ship lift with consideration of initial water surface elevation, base flow, flow amplitude, regulation time, and locations of hydropower stations, unfavorable conditions are successfully identified; and the fluctuations at the approach channel entrance and the lower lock head of a ship lift under single-peak and double-peak regulating mode are analyzed considering the flow regulating of the Gezhouba Hydropower Station (GHS), thus, the water level oscillation process in the multi-approach channels is presented. Results show that the largest wave amplitude in the multi-approach channels manifests under unfavorable conditions including lower initial water surface elevation, smaller base flow, larger flow variation, and shorter regulation time; and water level fluctuation in the multi-approach channel is primarily induced by flow amplitude and net flow between the Three Gorges Hydropower Station (TGHS) and the GHS, with consideration of the counter-regulation process of the GHS. This research contributes to providing a reference for a similar large-scale cascade hydropower station regarding regulation and control of navigation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable operation is a challenge for hydropower stations with multi-turbine hydraulic coupled division systems with a common penstock. In this paper, the serious power fluctuations in a power station with such a division system are analyzed. The fluctuations occur in many conditions without any movement of the regulating system. The mathematical analysis illustrates that pressure fluctuation is responsible for power fluctuations. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method provided by ANSYS is used to study the flow pattern in penstocks. The vortex caused by the irrational structure of trifurcation is the reason for pressure fluctuations. Several methods are proposed to optimize the flow stability and three cases are simulated based on these measures. The calculation results of three cases prove the effectiveness of these measures. The measure of setting the new guide plate is finally conducted, and the output power fluctuations vanish. The flow calculation plays a role in the analysis and optimization of the hydraulic system of the hydropower unit. Some rules are summarized from the cases and are helpful in the design of trifurcation in a division system with a common penstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emission of Greenhouse gases (GHG) during the life cycle of four hydropower stations with installed capacity from 95 MW to 500 MW are assessed by the integrated GHG reservoir tool developed by International Hydropower Association. Model inputs are extracted from multi-source geographic datasets and construction planning documents. Three main conclusions are summarized: (1) In pre- and post-impoundment stages, areal GHG emission balance in reservoir area depends on the climate background, humid subtropical regions are more active than arid temperate regions. In the construction stage, emissions from fill, concrete and equipment account for more than 70% of the total. (2) GHG intensity falls rapidly when lifetime increases from 10 to 40 years and then drops slightly when lifetime becomes longer, which is 13.60 tCO2e/GWh for 50 years and 8.13 tCO2e/GWh for 100 years on average. The emission rates of hydropower stations with lower installed capacity are obviously large if they work for less than 30 years and differ less with stations possessing a higher installed capacity when their lifetime approaches 100 years. (3) Comparing with electricity generated by coal in China whose GHG intensity is 822 tCO2e/GWh, hydroelectricity is almost 100 times more efficient and clean. Thus, hydropower station plays an important role in dealing with the global warming issue as a substitution for a fossil fuel power source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]