Numerical study of rotor-stator interactions in a hydraulic turbine with Foam-extend

In the development of high head hydraulic turbines, vibrations are one of the critical problems. In Francis turbines, pressure fluctuations occur at the interface between the blades of the runner and guide vanes. This rotor-stator interaction can be responsible for fatigue failures and cracks. Although the flow inside the turbomachinery is complex, and the unsteadiness makes it difficult to model, the choice of an appropriate setup enables the study of this phenomenon. This study validates a numerical setup of the Foam-extend open source software for rotor-stator simulations. Pressure fluctuations results show a good correspondence with data from experiments.