LAUSR

Abstract A pumped hydro storage energy station (PHES) is an effective and reliable station which was quickly develop. To obtain better performances, blade leans have been employed recently on pump-turbine runners. To figure out the effect of the blade leans in turbine mode, numerical simulations were performed on two blade-leaned and no-leaned runners in this work. Because blade leans were on high-pressure edges, the vaneless space was paid chiefly attention. Distinctions due to the blade leans can be found in the spanwise direction. Amplitudes of the component of blade passing frequency in pressure fluctuations show nonuniformity at different vertical locations. While in no-leaned runners, the amplitudes are almost the same. It shows close correlations between the pressure fluctuations and blade leans. In addition, this difference was more prominent in the S-shaped region. The conditions were attributed to the different separations at the inlets of runners. Separations located at the pressure side of the blades and developed vortexes located near the hub, the shroud and at the middle span for runners respectively. The vortexes generated low-pressure areas producing a higher fluctuation in the vaneless space with the same frequency of blade passing when they rotated with the runner.