Role and behavior of surge chamber in hydropower: Case of the Robert Bourassa hydroelectric power plant in Quebec, Canada

Fuamba, M; Brosseau, Gilles; Mainville, Éric; Colameo, S; Sparks, Donald L.

doi:10.1201/b16818-136

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“…A surge chamber receives water from the turbines and directs it to all four tailrace tunnels. The surge chamber, which is located parallel to the power-plant room for the machines, was built to dampen strong pressure produced by the water hammer in the tailrace tunnels and wave fluctuations during unit starts and stops and flow variations and to eliminate the surge produced by the water hammer in the draft tubes (Fuamba et al 2006). Measuring 450 m long, 45 m high, and 14 m wide, the surge chamber is divided into two 191 m long half-chambers; each half-chamber receives water from eight draft tubes and funnels this water to two tailrace tunnels.…”

Section: Description Of the Facilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of head losses in a surge chamber: Robert Bourassa power plant case study

Fuamba¹,

Brosseau²,

Mainville³

2007

Can. J. Civ. Eng.

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Optimal management of power plant units is achieved when the global efficiency of the units and the minimization of the total hydraulic head losses through the water transportation systems can be combined. Evaluating these hydraulic head losses appears to be very difficult due to the complexity of the flow conditions through the hydraulic structures. A hydraulic energy based method to determine head losses in the surge chamber has been proposed in this paper, as well as a method to manage the opening of units which would optimize the production of electricity. This method was applied to a case study, and successful results have been obtained showing how the head loss varies in the surge chamber.Key words: hydraulic head losses, power plant unit, surge chamber, unit efficiency, three-dimensional flow conditions, turbulent flow models, computational fluid dynamics.Résumé : La gestion optimale des centrales électriques est réalisée lorsque l'efficacité globale des centrales et la minimisation des pertes totales de charge hydraulique par les systèmes de transport de l'eau peuvent être combinées. L'évaluation de ces pertes de charge hydraulique semble être très difficile en raison de la complexité des conditions d'écoulement à travers les structures hydrauliques. Cet article propose une méthode basée sur l'énergie hydraulique, pour évaluer les pertes de charge dans la cheminée d'équilibre, de même qu'une méthode de gestion de l'ouverture des centrales qui pourrait optimiser la production d'électricité. Cette première méthode est appliquée à une étude de cas et les résultats positifs obtenus montrent la variation de la charge hydraulique dans la cheminée d'équilibre.Mots-clés : pertes de charge hydraulique, centrale électrique, cheminée d'équilibre, efficacité de l'unité, conditions d'écoulement tridimensionnel, modèles d'écoulement turbulent, dynamique des fluides numérique.[Traduit par la Rédaction] Fuamba et al. 1047

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Section: Description Of the Facilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%