Research Project “HYDROVIO”
Development of reversible pumps / hydroturbines
with optimized hydrodynamic and environmental design for high energy efficiency
and safe fish passage (HYDROVIO)
Official project website: www.hydrovio.gr
The research project “HYDROVIO” is
realized by the Laboratory of
Hydrodynamic Turbomachines (LHT) of the NTUA and the manufacturing company DRAKOS
– POLEMIS PUMPS, and concerns the study, optimal design
and laboratory validation of reversible pumps-turbines of special hydrodynamic
design to allow for safer fish passage to both directions, while maintaining a
high degree of energy efficiency.
These
machines can cover a multitude of applications, both in the field of
hydroelectric projects and energy storage units with pumped storage, as well as
in the fields of aquaculture, drying up of water areas and management of water
reserves.
Funding
The
"HYDROBIO" Project was implemented as part of the
RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE Action and was co-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and by National Resources,
through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and
Innovation (project code:T1EDK-01334)
Main research objectives
1. Investigation of the international
market and determination of the design and operation region (hydraulic head and
discharge rate) of pumps and reversible machines ‘friendly’ to the fish fauna,
which is of commercial interest.
2. Creation of an innovative methodology
for the assessment and quantification through appropriate indicators of the
degree of ‘fish friendliness’ of a hydraulic turbomachine (pump, hydroturbine or reversible machine).
3. Development and implementation of an
integrated computational methodology for optimal, customized design of
reversible hydrodynamic machines, with two competing objectives: Maximizing
efficiency and minimizing impact on fish fauna.
4. Creation of an innovative system for
reliable diagnosis of cavitation in hydrodynamic machines, with easy adaptation
and portability.
5. Development and implementation of a
telemetry system for the online monitoring of the operation of large installed
pumps and reversible hydraulic turbomachines.
6. Publication and promotion in the
international markets of the new products, and the capability of the Company
for specialized research and development of innovation.
7. Strengthening through the cooperation
with the LHT-NTUA of the research department of the Company in
the area of hydraulic turbomachines design with
computational methods, and improvement of its infrastructure for testing and
evaluation of new products.
8. Expansion and reinforcement of the
research team of the LHT, and further enhance of its potential for development
of new innovative tools and methods, at the forefront of the international
scientific and technological research.
Project Methodology
The research
project “HYDROVIO” includes 7 Work Packages, and its duration was four years. Its
implementation is based on modern computer tools and software, on the advanced
and well-equipped laboratory infrastructures of the participants and also on new innovative methodologies and techniques that
are developed in the framework of the project.
The first
key component of the proposed research includes the simulation and numerical
solution of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes fluid mechanics equations (RANS) in
the complex geometries of reversible mixed or axial flow hydraulic
turbomachines. To this aim, commercial computational fluid dynamics software is
used, in order to simulate at first the flow in the
runner / impeller (blade-to-blade), and then in the entire geometry of the
machines, including the inlet-outlet sections and the guide vanes.
The geometry
of the runner/impeller and of the rest components of the machine is introduced
in a parametric way, with techniques that are developed within the Project, so
that a wide range of different geometries can be produced using a relatively
small number of design variables. This parametric design allows for the
investigation of the effect of the various design parameters on the operational
behavior and performance of the reversible turbomachines, and then the
numerical optimization of its design, using relevant software.
Two design
objectives are set: Maximization of the energy efficiency of the reversible
turbomachines and minimization of the possibility of injury or mortality of the
fish fauna that passes through them. These two goals may be competitive, and
hence, the multiparametric optimization procedure produces a set of optimal
solutions, the so-called Pareto front, on which a manufacturer will be able to
select a specific machine design, depending on the conditions and requirements
of each application.
At this
point there is a need to quantify the degree of 'fish-friendliness' of a
hydraulic turbomachine, so that it can be set as an optimization target (cost
function). For this purpose, a new innovative methodology is developed,
according to which the motion of an object in the shape of a fish and with
variable dimensions can be numerically simulated, as it passes through the
machine. The hydrodynamic forces and pressures that are exerted on the
object-fluid interface (normal and shear stresses) are being recorded during
its trajectory, while at the same time they determine its motion in the flow
field at all degrees of freedom, as well as its possible impingement on the
inner solid surfaces of the machine.
Then, in order to certify the complete methodology of the optimal
customized design of a pump / turbine, the Company D-P Pumps studied and
manufactured on its premises two such models of reversible hydroturbines,
suitably selected from the computationally obtained optimum design results. Then,
the models are installed in the test rigs of D-P and LHT laboratories, and
their characteristic operating curves are measured with modern equipment.
Especially
for the mechanism of cavitation, an innovative detection methodology that was
being studied in LHT is completed and applied, and it is combined with a
telemetry technique, so that the whole device is portable and can be easily
installed in a real pump or hydroturbine in
operation.
Project Results:
The progress
and implementation of the Project and all its Work Packages were made in
accordance with the technical descriptions and objectives, as originally set
and described in the Technical Appendix. All Work Packages completed
successfully.
The
collaboration of the Laboratory of Hydrodynamic Machines NTUA (LHT/NTUA) and
the research department of the Company, DRAKOS-POLEMIS PUMPS was excellent, and
the successful implementation of the Project enabled both NTUA and the Company
to expand and strengthen their research groups, with further development of
their capabilities to create new innovative tools and methods, at the cutting
edge of international scientific and technological research.
Specifically,
from the beginning of the Project to its completion, the following were carried
out:
The
international market was investigated and the area of design and operation
(hydraulic head and nominal flow) of 'fish-friendly' pumps and reversible
engines identified, for which there is commercial interest. Also, all the basic
tasks & preparatory actions for the implementation of the Project were
completed, regarding the selection of machines to be investigated, the
literature review in order to identify the necessary
design criteria for hydrodynamic machines with a low fish mortality index, and
the investigation of the application range of pumps, hydro turbines and fish
friendly reversible machines.
A new
methodology was developed for the parametric design of the rotor/impeller and
the other parts (inlet, outlet, casing, etc.) of two different types of
reversible hydro-turbine pumps (axial and mixed flow), with the introduction of
a number of variable parameters to describe the geometry of the various parts,
so that modifications of the original design can be produced in an automated
way and in the desired range. Next, the details of the final selection and
generation of the computational domain and the numerical mesh, as well as the
computational data, boundary conditions and numerical simulation procedure,
were determined. Finally, the computational platform was configured, using
appropriate computational fluid dynamics software, to solve the flow in these
two types of machines, both for pumping and turbine producing operation.
Specific
reversible hydrodynamic machines (pumps-hydroturbines)
of different type and operating area were chosen for study: one axial flow
machine, with low hydraulic head and two mixed flow, higher head machines
(Francis and Deriaz). The main design parameters of
these three machines were thoroughly investigated, with multiple numerical
solutions of the flow, in order to draw conclusions on
the effect of the various hydrodynamic design variables on their hydraulic
performance and the potential effects on passing fish fauna, for both pump and hydroturbine operation. Appropriate correlations and
indexes from the literature for the effect of the rate of change of static
pressure, the magnitude of shear stresses and the probability of impingement on
solid boundaries, along a representative number of flow lines, were used to
assess the effects on fish fauna.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Then, after
parametric investigation identified the most critical design parameters of the
two machines and determined the desired range of their values, a numerical
optimization of the design of the reversible axial flow machine and the Deriaz mixed flow machine was carried out, which showed
better results against the Francis machine, regarding the effects on passing
fish fauna. The optimization has two parallel objectives: maximizing the degree
of energy efficiency of a complete pumping-production cycle and minimizing the
impact on passing fish. These effects were defined based on the various
relevant indicators and their combinations, and thus various optimization
procedures were implemented for each machine. Applying the Design of
Experiments method, multiple numerical solutions of the flow in the two
machines for the pumping and production operations were carried out, in order to finally obtain sets of optimal solutions (Pareto
fronts), on which the manufacturer can choose a specific machine, depending on
the conditions and requirements of each specific application (e.g. operating
program, species/size of fish, etc.).
In order to certify the integrated methodology of optimal
customized design of the new machines, studies were carried out concerning the
implementation of their scale models and their testing in the laboratory. The
design was carried out in a two-dimensional and three-dimensional environment.
The machines were studied in terms of the materials of the parts, their
strength/stress, the sealing of the structures and their assembly. All the
required construction engineering plans for the production process were
completed, and the selection of materials and the determination of casting
types were carried out, based on the choice of casting technique. International
technical standards were followed for the engineering studies and the adoption
of design methodology, such as tolerances of construction plans and assemblies.
Finally, all individual stages of the production process were analyzed and the construction of the models of the two new
machines was completed by the Company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The new
machines were then delivered to carry out their laboratory evaluations. The
laboratory test rigs of the Company and the NTUA Hydrodynamic Machines
Laboratory were prepared with the necessary modifications, additions
and configurations to the hydraulic circuits, in order to connect the new
machines. Two different test circuits were set up in the LHT/NTUA, one for the
axial flow model, which requires relatively large flow rates and small heads,
and one for the mixed flow model, with smaller flow rates and pipe diameters.
Also, the required measuring equipment was prepared and calibrated, with the
control and calibration of the measuring instruments and their installation in
the test rigs, as well as the software for taking and recording the measurements.
The two new models of reversible machines were finally successfully installed
in the laboratories by the staff of LHT and the Company.
An important
goal also achieved was the creation of an innovative hardware-software system
for the reliable detection/diagnosis of cavitation occurrence in hydrodynamic
machines, with easy adaptation and portability. The Spectral Kurtosis method
was applied, with the aim of constructing special filters, which can isolate
the characteristics of the phenomenon from the total measured signal received
by special sensors (accelerometers), which are placed in appropriate points on
the machines' shell. This new methodology, which is an international
innovation, was developed in laboratory pumps and successfully tested on the
mixed flow model within the framework of the Project.
At the same
time, with the use of modern technology based on IoT (Internet of Things), the
Company developed and implemented a telemetry system to monitor the operation
of machine models, but also potentially large installed pumps and reversible
pumps-hydroturbines. The system includes custom
sensors, combined with the Raspberry Pi microprocessor and PI tunnel web
portal, and it is flexible and scalable, even for remote control of the
machines. The system was connected to the internet and its capability of remote
monitoring of the operation of the laboratory models was confirmed.
Another
important objective of the Project was the development of a methodology for the
assessment and quantification through appropriate indicators of the degree of
'friendliness' of a hydrodynamic machine (pump, hydro turbine or reversible),
in terms of the fish fauna passing through the machine, which is applicable to
any hydrodynamic reaction machine. The new, innovative methodology developed in
the framework of the Project can simulate with satisfactory accuracy and low
computational cost the 6 degrees of freedom motion of objects within complex
flow fields. It was successfully applied to the monitoring and statistical
analysis of fish trajectories through reversible pump-hydro turbines, such as
those developed in this Project, confirming their improved environmental
design. In addition to kinematics, it is possible to record data to extract
indicators of fish injury, such as pressure, shear stresses and impacts on
solid surfaces, allowing the definition of a proposed general index of
'friendliness' of hydrodynamic machines.
In order to certify the
new methodology for customized optimal design of a pump/hydroturbine,
the models of the two new machines were installed in the laboratory setups of
the LHT/NTUA and the Company, and the specifications of testing procedures were
determined. The machines were then operated as pumps and as hydroturbines,
and series of measurements were taken in order to obtain the respective characteristic curves over
a range of their operation. It was found that the performance of the models in
both modes of operation is smooth, without dynamic phenomena, and in agreement
with their theoretical and numerical design specifications.
The sources
of errors during the laboratory measurements were analyzed and the uncertainty
of the measured quantities was calculated, and found
to be adequately low. Finally, the repeatability of the measurements was
checked and confirmed to be within the uncertainty limits of the tests.
As a final
evaluation of the two new machines, the characteristic curves of the laboratory
models were compared with the corresponding curves obtained from the numerical
simulation, both for hydroturbine operation and for
pump operation. The agreement was in all cases satisfactory, confiming the successful design of the machines. Finally,
analyzing the laboratory and numerical results, and taking
into account the observations and conclusions from all stages of the
design and construction methodology of the two models, specific proposals for
further improvements and modifications are formulated.
It is noted
that the successful completion of the physical object of 'YDROVIO' Project was
accompanied by the effective utilization of its funding, as well as the
achievement of all its outflow and evaluation Indicators.
The benefits
from the implementation of the Project for the two participants were multiple
and important. The synergy throughout the duration of the Project was very
successful, effectively utilizing the technical and research capabilities of
the LHT/NTUA and the D-P Company, and consolidating
our collaboration for further research and development of innovative products,
competitive in the global market.
Publications:
The research
and technological results of the Project were published in the following
international Scientific Journals and Conferences, presenting it to the
international scientific community.
1.
I Kassanos, V Sanoudos-Dramaliotis, J Anagnostopoulos, Numerical
modelling of fish passage and flow interaction in a hydroturbine,
Intl. Conference HYDRO 2019, Concept to Closure: Practical Steps, Porto,
Portugal, October 14-16, 2019.
2.
G Mousmoulis1, C Yiakopoulos, I Kassanos, I
Antoniadis, J Anagnostopoulos, Vibration
and acoustic emission monitoring of a centrifugal pump under cavitating
operating conditions, IAHR International Workshop on Cavitation
and Dynamic Problems in Hydraulic Machinery and Systems 9–11 October 2019,
Stuttgart, German, .ΙOP Conference Series: Earth and
Environmental Science, Volume 405, 012003, 2019.. DOI 10.1088/1755-1315/405/1/012003
3.
I Kassanos, V
Alexopoulos, J. Anagnostopoulos, Numerical analysis of the behaviour of a Deriaz versus a
Francis reversible turbine in terms of their energy efficiency and
fish-friendly characteristics, Intl. Conference HYDRO 2020, Strategies for
Future Progress,Online
event, October 26-28, 2020.
4.
G. Mousmoulis, C. Yiakopoulos, G. Aggidis, I. Antoniadis, I. Anagnostopoulos,
Application of Spectral Kurtosis on
vibration signals for the detection of cavitation in centrifugal pumps, Applied
Acoustics, 182, 108289, 2021.
5.
I Kassanos, V Alexopoulos, J Anagnostopoulos, Numerical
design methodology for reversible Deriaz turbine with
high energy performance and reduced fish impacts,
31st IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, 6 June - 1 July 2022, Trondheim, Norway, IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1079, 012076, 2022. doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1079/1/012076
6.
Ph Koukouvinis and J
Anagnostopoulos, Simulating Fish Motion through a Diagonal Reversible Turbine, Energies,
16, 810, 2023. .https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020810.
7.
Ph
Koukouvinis and J Anagnostopoulos, State of the Art in Designing Fish-Friendly
Turbines: Concepts and Performance Indicators, Energies, 16, 2661, 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062661
8.
Ph Koukouvinis and J
Anagnostopoulos, A fast 6-DoF tracking method for submerged
bodies: application to fish passage through a turbine, ICNAAM 2022
– 20th Intl Conf. on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics 19-25 September
2022, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. IOP (to
be published).
9.
I Kassanos, V
Alexopoulos J Anagnostopoulos, Design verification of a
reversible Deriaz turbine with increased efficiency
and improved fish friendly characteristics, Applied Energy Journal
(submitted).
An open Technical Workshop was also
organized, live-streamed on social media, which is available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOb4WLs-ww&ab_channel=DRAKOSPOLEMIS
Finally, the Company, in collaboration with
LHT/NTUA, created a specialized website exclusively for the Project, at the
address: www.hydrovio.gr, providing an interactive space where the
stakeholders can find more information and results of the Project.