Evolution of hydraulic losses in the side inlet and outlet of a pumped storage power Station

The side inlet and outlet of pumped storage power Station are important components of the Station' s di-version System, and the flow pattern within them is of great significance to the safe Operation of the entire power Station. In this paper, the side inlet and outlet of a pumped storage power Station were selected as the research object, and the internal flow pattern, vortex distribution, hydraulic loss and other hydraulic characteristics of the side inlet and outlet under the same flow rate and different water levels were investigated by combining the revised wall rough-ness theoretical model and the RNG k — s turbulence model. The results of the numerical model and those of the ex-perimental model are in good agreement. In addition, a numerical model of hydraulic losses in the local hydraulic System of the side inlet and outlet of pumped storage power Station based on the energy balance equation was con-structed first, and then, the contribution of various hydraulic losses to the global hydraulic losses was given. Final-ly, the hydraulic loss evolution process was corresponded to the specific flow pattern, to quantify and jointly ana-lyze the relevant specific hydraulic losses in the side inlet and outlet, which make a good groundwork for the next step of hydraulic optimization. The results indicate that the flow pattern inside the inlet and outlet is more turbulent in cases of high-water level power generation, accompanied by varying degrees of flow Separation and vortex gener-ation. Additionally, the flow distribution in these power generation cases is more uneven, exhibiting a phenomenon of biased flow. The hydraulic loss in power generation cases cannot be ignored and mainly concentrated in the ad-justment section and anti-vortex beam section. The results of this paper have significant reference value for the sub-sequent optimization of design in related fields. © 2024 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press. All rights reserved.