Investigation on Prominent Flow Instability-Related Hydraulic Phenomena in

Reversible Pump Turbines - A Review

Maxime Binama, Wen-Tao Su,
Xiao-Bin Li, Feng-Chen Li

Xian-Zhu Wei
State key laboratory of hydropower
Equipment,
Harbin Institute of Large Electric Machinery
Harbin 150040, China

School of Energy Science and Engineering

Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin
150001, China

Shi An
School of Management
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin
150001, China

and electrical grid stabilization purposes, where reversible

pump turbines are currently adopted over the formerly used
arrangements. Due to the frequent operating mode switching
and off-design operational requirements, flow stability
issues have been met at different sites, on my occasions in
these machines, thus attracting many researchers attention.
During the start-up under turbine operating mode, the
machine is put under runaway conditions, otherwise called
speed no-load conditions, where at constant guide vanes
opening, depending on the machines specific speed, the
performance characteristics curves (Qed-Ned and Ted-Ned)
may deform into an s shape, thus displaying the first type
of the mostly faced instabilities. Many investigations have
so far been carried out (Gentner et al. [1], Houdeline et al.
[2], Wang et al. [3], and Sun et al. [4]), where the S-shape
instability was generally found to be closely connected to
the head increase from the blockage of some impeller flow
areas, due to the developed rotating stall under part-load
conditions. Another frequently noticed instability is the so
called Saddle type instability, mostly occurring at partload conditions, under pump operating mode. Prez-Diaz et
al. [5] and Gentner et al. [1] confirmed the saddle type
instability close connection to the Head-Flow curve positive
slope (dQ/dH0). Under these conditions, as found through
many already carried out studies; Li et al. [6], Yao et al. [7],
and Li et al. [8] among others, the head dropped with a
decreasing flow, a phenomenon associated with different
hydraulic losses within the machine flow areas. As found
through many so far accomplished studies, different flow
instability related structures have so far been observed in
these machines, for which a thorough understanding of the
flow dynamics behind their occurrence may lead to
adequate prevention ways. In order to contribute to
knowledge gathering about complex flow patterns and their
hydrodynamic behaviors, the present article, through
different published research findings consultation, present a
literature review on the frequently investigated instabilityassociated flow structures in reversible pump turbines.

Abstract Right from the early age, energy constitutes a

fundamental need in human kinds daily life, from basic to
industrial level applications. However, from the past decades
energy issues such as fossil fuels depletion and oil price
increment, seconded by a continuous demographic growth as
well as socio-economic development standards, and also in the
move to CO2 - free energy production technology adoption;
renewable energy systems have found intensive use, where
hydropower plays a substantial role. Within the same,
pumped-storage hydropower plants, as a widely confirmed
solution in terms of energy storage and power management
flexibility provision, uses reversible pump turbines as an
alternative to formerly used electro-mechanical arrangements,
mainly from their varied advantages, cost-effectiveness and
fast operating modes switching ability among others.
Nevertheless, in line with the growing nature of current energy
market, these machines are subject to fast and frequent
startups and shutdowns, mostly operating at off-design
conditions, inflicting different flow instabilities occurrence;
which in turn, serves a source to various associated unwanted
phenomena such as structural vibrations and noise, all leading
to the machine efficiency degradation. For a clear
understanding of the flow stability aspects and influencing
parameters within the machine flow areas, as well as the flow
dynamics behind the cause; the present article, in a
comprehensively descriptive manner, presents a review to
already carried out studies and their findings, where flow
instability-related flow structures within reversible pump
turbines constitute the core. Among the selected content, a
discursive introductory literature to flow stability in pump
turbines was provided, followed by instability-associated flow
structures description, where phenomena such as flow
separation, rotating stall, vortex flow, cavitation, and rotorstator interactions; were discussed.
Keywords- Reversible pump turbines (RTPs), Flow stability,
rotating stall, Rotor- stator interaction, and vortex flow.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Hydropower play the key role in line with the current global
move to CO2-free energy sources. Pumped-storage
Hydropower plants are mostly used for both energy storage
1

II.

FLOW INSTABILITY-RELATED HYDRAULIC

causing the flow blockage and resultant flow reversal. In the

researches as carried out by Widmer et al. [26], Seidel et al.
[27] and Hasmatuchi et al. [28], the onset rotating stall was
found to rotate in the same direction with the impeller, with
a frequency in the range between 50-70% of the impeller
rotating frequency. More studies were carried out, where the
pump turbine flow instability was found to be linked to the
rotating stall onset in the machine flow channels, and some
of them are here-down presented with respective detailed
research methodologies. Pavesi et al. [29] investigated the
unsteady phenomena development and the instability
characteristics in a two-stage pump turbine under direct
operating mode. The investigation was carried out through
two technics namely the high-speed flow visualization and
dynamic pressure measurements respectively, at the
operating points ranging from the design to part load flow
rates. The analysis of pressure fluctuations were conducted
both in frequency and time frequency domains and the flow
visualization was focused in the wickets gates and in return
channels. The investigated machine characteristics showed a
slight hump region in the flow range from Q/QDIS=0.45 to
0.70. To study the flow characteristics in the instability
zones, the high-speed visualization technic was used
coupled with the air-bubbles injection in the guide and
return vanes. It was found that with a continual flow rate
decrease from the design flow rate through the instability
zone to the stable zone, the flow unsteadiness got gradually
severe, where the back flow in the return channel and
separated boundary layer as well as the induced rotating
stall in the guide vane, were noticed for flows slightly below
the design flow and flows at real instability (hump) zones.
Hasmatuchi et al. [30] studied the onset and development of
the flow unsteadiness at runaway and low flow conditions.
The rotating stall phenomena in a low specific speed radial
centrifugal pump turbine was experimentally investigated,
increasing the rotational speed from nominal through the
runaway to low flow conditions (zero torque value), where
high-speed flow visualization technic coupled with air
bubbles injection was used for flow field visualization in the
vaneless gap between the impeller and stay vanes, and
piezo-resistive pressure sensors were used for wall pressure
measurements in spiral casing, guide and stay vanes as well
as the draft tube. From the BEP to the S-shaped zone, the
pressure fluctuations changed from low to substantially high
pressure fluctuation, especially pronounced in guide vanes.
At runaway, a rise of low frequency component at 70% of
the runner rotational frequency was noticed, which as the
machine approached the zero flow conditions, increased in
amplitude. One rotating stall rotating with the impeller at
sub-synchronous speed was also noticed in the vaneless
space between the guide vanes and the impeller;
accompanied by the flow reversal in the guide vanes at
lower flows. It was also confirmed that the investigated
impeller channels flow blockage took source from the
developed rotational flow separations at the same areas.

PHENOMENA

Flow instabilities and related Pressure fluctuations and

vibrations in fluid machinery are generally believed to be
associated with different flow time dependent phenomena
occurring in the machine, and pertaining to internal and
external sources, such as rotor-stator interactions (RSI),
flow separation, cavitation, and so forth. In this section, a
brief literature survey on the same phenomena in pump
turbines is presented.
A. Rotating stall
Todays researches on instabilities in pumps are mostly
concerned with what happens inside the pump and how this
affects the pump characteristic [9]. Pump turbines may
sometimes experience the flow unsteadiness from flow
separation within the machine flow channels and other
associated phenomena such as rotating stall, impacting the
machine characteristics due to induced hydraulic losses.
Hasmatuchi [10] defined the flow separation as a complex
phenomenon, which is present in the flow around an aero or
hydrofoil, at high Reynolds number, mainly when the
incidence angle is changed from zero. Simpson [11] claimed
that the flow separation is the entire process of departure or
breakaway or the boundary layer flow breakaway. Hu and
Yang [12] declared that flow generation can be a source to
the unsteady area appearance with associated severe
turbulences and many recirculation zones.
Another
important effect was found by Hoarou et al. [13], which is
the onset of vortical flow structures, under two types of
mechanism, viz. Kelvin-Helmholtz and von Karman
instabilities. As portrayed through many investigation
findings, the flow separation is the origin of different flow
unsteadiness-related phenomena; especially occurring at offdesign operating conditions on the solid surfaces of the
machines rotor or stator. It is also believed to be the main
cause of rotating stall onset within the machine flow
channels. Zhang [14] defined the rotating stall as the cells of
flow separation, which emerge at different locations in the
impeller. A comparatively global definition was given by
Frigne and Van Den Braembussche [15], as the unsteady
flow phenomenon that gives rise to the occurrence of subsynchronous rotating velocity fluctuations. Both Brennen
[16] and Berten [17] stated that the so called stall, is a
highly dynamic phenomenon, which occur when the
machine operates with too high incidence angles at the
impeller blades or diffusor vanes. This leads to the unstable
behavior of the flow inside the machine, and it is one of the
reasons to the unstable machine operations [18], because the
induced losses lead to a drop in machine flow characteristics
[19]. Different investigators, such as Brennen [20], Dixon
[21], Johnson et al. [22], Sano et al. [23], and Stepanik and
Brekke [24] among others, have confirmed the rotating stall
onset in pumps and pump turbines, at off-design operating
conditions. Indeed, as presented by Fay [25], the stall cell
can consecutively occur at several flow channels, sometimes
2

Liu et al. [31] has studied the pump turbine instability at no

load opening. The Numerical simulation results from both
SST K- and
models were compared to
experimental ones as performed by Nicholas and Poul [32].
The results of
model were found in a good
agreement with experimental ones, so it was used for the
next simulations. A 3D unsteady incompressible flow was
used to study the pump turbine flow, where the fluid
coupling and direct mesh were used to simulate the transient
rotational speed and the angular rotational speed was found
through the formula:

IZ

dt M R M G

induced structural instability. The observed stall-induced

severe flow separations disturbed the flow, leading to
periodical high pressure fluctuations, the intensity of which,
was found to differ in different span-wise planes at the
guide vanes. Additionally, the guide vanes both sides
pressure fluctuation difference induced torque vibrations
could lead to adverse effect on the machine operation.
Hasmatuchi et al. [35] carried out an experimental
investigation on a reduced scale model of a reversible pump
turbine in generating mode aiming at the description of flow
instabilities onset and development under runaway and Sshape operating conditions. Pressure measurements and high
speed flow visualization technics were respectively used in
the stator and rotor-stator vaneless space, throughout the
entire experimental process.
The runner speed was
continuously increased from the best efficiency point until
the flow got reversed. The rotating stall appeared at the
runaway and its amplitude gradually increased with a
continuous flow decrease, reaching its maximum at zero
flow. One rotating stall rotating at a sub-synchronous speed
was noticed at rotor-stator vaneless gap, causing the flow
blockage in some runner flow channels.

(1)

Where IZ, MR, MG, t, and stand for moment of inertia,

runner torque, payload torque, time, and angular speed
respectively. The moment of inertia was found to have a big
influence on the machine characteristics at no-load opening
as its increase would dump both the speed and torque
fluctuations as well as eliminating the rotating stall within
the machine flow channels. Botero et al. [33] has presented
a flow visualization approach in a reduced scale model of a
Francis type reversible pump turbine, operating from turbine
mode through runaway to break turbine conditions.
Fluorescent monofilaments wires (tufting) coupled with
high speed image processing technics and pressure sensors
were installed in the vaneless space between the runner and
guide vanes, and within the guide vane flow channels, for
further descriptive analysis of flow with and without
rotating stall. The analysis was carried out at three operating
conditions as shown in Table 1. the flow at OP1 was found
to be stable with pressure fluctuations at the blade passing
frequency (BPF) and non-accented vortex rope, whereas
flow separation and recirculation causing the flow blockage
in some vane channels and the backflow from the impeller,
was noticed at OP2. At point OP3, the flow became even
more unstable giving rise to the rotating stall phenomena.
The used flow visualization and pressure measurements
technics were confirmed reliable. Xia et al. [34] carried out
a numerical study to investigate the onset and development
mechanism of rotating stall phenomenon in a pump turbine
model under pump mode.
point
OP1
OP2
OP3

B. Cavitation
Cavitation is defined as the process of formation of the
vapor phase in a liquid when it is subjected to reduced
pressures at constant ambient temperature [36]. In
hydroelectric machines, static pressure may sometimes fall
far enough to go below the fluid vapor pressure, thus giving
rise to the cavitation phenomenon and related flow
instabilities. The design, operation and refurbishment of
hydraulic turbines, pumps and PATs are strongly related to
cavitation phenomena, which may occur in either the
rotating runner-impeller or the stationary parts of the
machine [37]. So far, a great deal of studies have been
carried on cavitation occurrence in different hydraulic
machines, where different associated aspects viz cavitation
causes, cavitating flow dynamics, cavitation parameters,
cavitation impact on system characteristics, and mitigation
technics to say the least, have been discussed. Kumar and
Saini [38] and Maxime [39] have presented reviews on
different studies as carried out by several investigators on
cavitation occurrence in hydro-turbines and centrifugal
pumps respectively. Many other studies, Gantar [40], Prasad
et al. [41], Singh [42] among others have discussed
cavitation and its effect on pump turbine efficiency.
Moreover, a number of investigations on cavitation
occurrence in pump turbines were discussed by Zuo et al.
[43, 44] through their presented reviews about pump
turbines stability aspects. Pump turbine Cavitation-related
studies are of a crucial importance as cavitation occurrence
can, apart from causing different mechanical and hydraulic
damages, affect the system natural frequencies, and is
mostly the source of many unwanted system behaviors;
noise, vibrations and spontaneous pulsations among others.
For a pump-turbine, cavitation is more serious when it

Table 1. Reference points in the turbine [33]

Description
QED
nED
High efficiency point: calm flow
0.0995
0.1933
Runaway
0.0445
0.2421
Turbine-brake
0.0148
0.2324

CFD simulation results were found in a good agreement

with experimental ones where it was noticed that the flow
stability deteriorated as the flow rate gradually decreased
from BEP to lower values. At part-load, four equally and
circumferentially distributed rotating stall cells were
noticed, causing flow blockage in some vane channels, and
a forced flow in others, which led to strong flow jets in the
spiral casing and associated high pressure periodical
impingement on the casing wall as well as the possible
3

works as a pump [45]. A great deal of studies is already

carried out on cavitation occurrence and related instability
in pump turbines under both pump and generating modes.
An experimental study on leading edge cavitation detection
in a pump turbine operating in pump mode was presented by
Cencc et al. [46]. Zhang et al. [47] predicted the pump
turbine cavitation occurrence and its locations. Tao et al.
[48] presented a genetic algorithm-based optimization of
pump turbines cavitation inception performance.
Borciani and Thalmann [49] and Amblard et al. [50]
investigated the cavitation effect on the S-shape
characteristics on two low specific speed-Francis type pump
turbines, operating at the points ranging from turbine mode
through runaway and turbine brake zone to reversed pump
mode. The S-characteristics slope was found to flatten with
the decrease in cavitation number, which was more
pronounced at the model with higher specific speed.
Liu and Guan [51] studied the effect of cavitation on
pressure fluctuations in a pump turbine operating in pump
mode. The increase in cavitation number was found to
decrease the pressure fluctuation amplitudes. Schmidt et al.
[52] investigated the cavitation onset at the pump turbine
leading edge through acoustic emissions and high speed
video recording technics. Jese et al. [53] investigated the
cavitation locations in the runner of a pump turbine reduced
scale model operating in pump mode for a wide range of
flows. It was observed that the hump characteristics was due
to flow separations in the distributor and vaneless gap area,
leading to increased losses at lower flow rates. Moreover,
cavitation position was found to depend on the velocity
triangle at the runner inlet and its zones were getting wider
with the decrease in net pressure suction head (NPSH)
values. It was located at blade leading edges suction side
for reduced flows, on blade leading edges suction or
pressure side depending NPSH value at BEP flow, and at
the blade leading edges pressure side for increased flows,
as shown in Fig. 1. Numerical and experimental results were
found in a good agreement. Li at al. [54] has investigated
the relation between the pump-turbine hump characteristics
and cavitation phenomenon. Numerical simulations based
on the single phase model and multiphase model were
carried out where the multiphase model showed better
agreement with the test results.

Figure. 2. Head-Discharge facto curve [54].

Figure. 3. Cavitation regions for different operating points [54]

Four operating points namely A, B, C, F (see Fig. 2) were

analyzed, where as shown in Fig. 3, cavitation phenomenon
was found more pronounced at Hump (Point B) and high
flows (Point F) operating points. Therefore, it was
concluded that the hump characteristic is somehow linked to
the cavitation occurrence. Tao et al. [55] studied the
cavitation inception criteria and its local position in the
pump-turbine runner operating in pump mode. Numerical
simulations were carried out at five different flow rates
namely 360kg/s, 405kg/s, 450kg/s (design flow), 495kg/s,
and 540kg/s; where cavitation performance control was
achieved by gradually varying the outlet static pressure. It
was demonstrated that off-design operating points far away
from the design point, experienced a comparatively early
cavitation occurrence. Moreover, cavitation location was
found to depend on the inlet flow flux, where low flow rates
and high flow rates were found to exhibit blade leading
edges suction and pressure sides respectively (Fig. 4). The
vapor volume fraction in the range from 0.0001% to 0.001%
was recommended as the proper criterion for cavitation
inception in pump-turbines. Anciger et al. [56] has predicted

Figure. 1. Inlet velocity triangles for different flow rates [53]

the rotating stall occurrence and cavitation inception in a

pump turbine under pump mode operating conditions.
Analyzed at three operating points namely OP1, OP2, and
OP3 (Fig. 5), the rotating stall was initially observed at OP2
(a point slightly above the projected maximum head), and
got fully developed at OP3 with three distinct rotating stall
circumferentially and equally distributed, and rotating in the
runner rotational direction with a speed approximately equal
to one stay vane pitch per rotor revolution. This
phenomenon was found to take source from some guide
vane channels blockage by the onset stall cells, causing the
flow to forcibly find its way in next channels thus resulting
in equidistant flow jets in the casing, and causing high
pressure fluctuations. The investigation results on cavitation
inception were not very clear, but their numerical and test
results presented good correlation.

Moreover, the pressure fluctuations increased greatly at the

maximum cavitation point, and reduced with cavitation
region decrease. The decrease in relative opening was found
to greatly increase the vaneless space pressure fluctuations.
C. Rotor-stator interactions (RSI)
The pressure distribution on any hydraulic machines blade,
changes from pressure side to suction side, thus producing
the required working torque. The pressure field rotates with
the runner in such a way that, for a rotationally symmetric
field, an external fixed observer would notice a periodically
varying succession of pressure and velocity as the runner
rotates. Unfortunately, this rotational symmetry is not
always present in turbo machines. This serves the source of
many periodic flow disturbances, in the stator by the rotor
periodic blades passage and in the rotor by the stator nonuniform flow, which is generally known as Rotor-Stator
Interaction or RSI. This phenomenon is generally known to
give source to different flow unsteadiness associated with
high pressure fluctuations, leading to possible vibrations and
structural fatigue within the machine. Hasmatuchi [10] and
Zobeiri [58] have stated that during the operation of a
hydraulic turbomachine at any operating point, the relative
motion between the impeller blades and guide vanes induces
pressure fluctuations that propagate through the entire
machine. Nicolet et al. [59] claimed that the RSI take source
from the combined effect of rotating pressure field related to
runner blades and wakes of wicket gates, and that the RSIinduced pressure waves lead to two different kinds of
pressure fluctuations within the machine viz diametric
pressure mode in the vaneless space between runner and
guide vanes, and the standing waves in the spiral casing. As
presented through different studies, Tanaka [60] and Fischer
et al. [61] among others, the diametrical kind can give rise
to resonance phenomena occurrence between the rotating
diametric pressure and the impeller structure. On the other
hand, the standing wave may inflict resonance with the
power house structure or cause pressure fluctuations in the
penstock. The RSI may be considered as a combination of
inviscid flow, potential, and viscous flow, wake,
interactions [62]. Considering the potential effect, the stator
channels flow is periodically affected by the rotating rotor
blades, otherwise called the blade passing frequency (BPF)
effect, which is source to pressure fluctuations in the stator,
possibly extending to the spiral casing. On the other hand,
as stated by Gonzalez et al. [63], the periodical passing
frequency of the guide vanes when viewed from the
impeller, otherwise referred to as Guide vane passing
frequency (GPF), is quantitatively within the range of
natural frequencies of the impeller components, and
therefore serving the source of unwished vibrations and
fatigue cracks in the impeller. The mainly influencing
operating parameter for both BPF and GPF was found to be
the rotor-stator vaneless gap. Arndt et al. [64] investigated
the influence of rotor-stator vaneless gap on pressure
fluctuations in a centrifugal pump and found that with the

Figure. 4. Positions of inception cavitation under different flows [55].

Figure. 5. Three selected operating points used for CFD simulations [56]

Liu et al. [57] carried out a combined study on the pumpturbine hump characteristics and cavitation performance, at
three different GVOs namely 12, 18, and 24 in pump
mode. The mixture multiphase model was used together
with SST K- turbulence model for the numerical
simulations, the results of which got compared and
presented good agreement with experimental ones. It was
found that both the cavitation and hump characteristics
depend on the relative guide vane opening. And both
phenomena were found more pronounced at lower values of
GVO. Cavitation locations were found at the blade leading
edges suction side and got wider at the Hump wave trough.

radial gap increase in the range of 1.5 to 4.5 % of the runner

discharge diameter, the pressure fluctuations decreased by
50%. Its then obvious that the system will experience
strong interactions at full guide vanes opening, as the rotorstator vaneless ring will be at its smallest thickness; which
may lead to vibrations, hydraulic losses, and even blades
cracks from resonance onset between the vibration
frequency and the system natural frequency [63, 65, 66].
Other parameters, as presented through Al-Qutub et al. [67]
and Parrondo-Gayo et al. [68] are the blade trailing edge
shape and operating regime respectively. The potential and
viscous effects such as wakes [69, 70] and flow separations
[71] play key roles in pressure fluctuations increase. RSIcaused failures have been known from so long ago where
different cases, runner failure and structural vibrations
among others, were frequently met. As a matter of fact, as
shown in [72, 73], runner failures were recently met from
high RSI amplitudes, where runner natural frequency was
very close to wicket gate excitation frequency, within a
short operational time. Coutu et al. [74] presented an
impeller runner blade breakage case at a 447MW pumpturbine, after a 200 hours working time. In the latest designs
of pump-turbines, RSI has become the most important
excitation over the impeller-runner and usually produces the
highest vibration levels measured in the whole pump-turbine
[75]. The mostly used technics for RSI characteristics
analysis have been vibration, pressure and velocity
measurements; among which velocimetry technics, PIV [76,
77] and LDV [78, 79] to say the least, have been widely
adopted. It is of a central importance, to analyze the RSI
characteristics and its effects in turbo machines, which can
only be achieved through its deep understanding, where its
mechanism and influencing parameters must be clearly
described. Different researchers have so far presented their
findings on rotor-stator interaction and induced instabilities
in pump-turbines. Yan et al. [80] investigated the effect of
water compressibility on RSI-induced pressure fluctuations.
The CFD method plausibility was first validated by
comparing its results with those found through a 1-D code
for hydraulic networks, SIMSEN. Next the effect of
compressibility was investigated through compressible and
incompressible numerical simulations at different sound
speeds. Compressible simulation presented comparatively
larger pressure fluctuations in the vaneless space. On the
other side, the incompressible solution revealed pressure
fluctuation amplitudes linearly decreasing along the runner
channel center line, while compressible solutions exhibited
parabolic distributions coinciding with acoustic analysis. It
was confirmed that the water compressibility has a big
influence on pump turbine dynamical characteristics,
especially in cases of RSI-born pressure fluctuations.
Rodriguez at al. [81] investigated the RSI characteristics in
a 100MW pump turbine, where results from pressure
measurements and vibration measurements both in the
bearing and rotating with the shaft, have been compared.
Pressure measurements technic was found more suitable for

RSI characteristics detection and monitoring, and its results

could still be found through the vibration measurements
rotating with the shaft, thus making it more appropriate as
compared to the vibration measurements in the bearings.
The quality difference in information provided by both
vibration measurements methods was mainly due to the
different frequency response of rotor and bearing. Franke et
al. [82] developed the previous RSI models. They also
studied the RSI-arising pressure mode shapes in a reversible
pump turbine. Pressure measurements were carried out at
different areas such as the priming chamber between runner
and guide vanes as well as between the runner crown and
the head cover. Next, the RSI induced pressure pulsations
were calculated through elementary fluid flow principles,
the results of which agreed favorably with measured ones.
Zobeiri et al. [83] investigated the rotor-stator interactions in
a pump-turbine in generating mode at the maximum guide
vanes opening. The wall pressure measurements using
piezo-resistive sensors in the distributor channels were
carried out and the results satisfactorily agreed with
numerical ones. Fig. 6 shows the selected monitoring points
for numerical pressure fluctuation measurements in one
distributor channel. The spectral analysis revealed that the
difference originated from the value of BPF component. The
maximum pressure amplitude of BPF was noticed in the
rotor-stator area but it decreased very fast backwards to the
stay vanes as shown in Fig. 7, and the pressure amplitude of
the first harmonic spread to the spiral casing.

Figure. 6. Locations of monitoring points in the distributor [83].

Figure. 7. Frequency components of pressure coefficient in the distributor

[83]

Bolleter [84] introduced a new approach on rotor-stator

interactions, where the accounted pressure fluctuations were
considered to take source from the interaction between the
two non-uniform velocity-pressure fields; the first coming
from the guide vanes and the other is the non-uniform
pressure at the runner inlet [58]. Guedes et al. [85] studied
the RSI dynamics in a pump turbine through a comparative
scheme between RSI steady and unsteady models, through
two CFD codes, viz. Fine turbo and CFX TASK flow. The
analysis results showed that the unsteady rotor-stator
interface model as performed through the two codes could
accurately capture different flow features and reproduce all
RSI effects namely potential, viscous and pure advective
ones. Moreover, the used sliding mesh R-S interface method
was found to be very demanding in terms of mesh and time
step sizes thus requiring a huge numbers of nodes even for
simple geometries. The pump mode analysis results
revealed a highly non-uniform flow from the runner; where
at off-design operations, the flow entering the stator
channels was strongly influenced by the rotor-stator relative
position. The perceived flow behaviors at the rotor-stator
zone led to complex flow patterns in the stator. When
compared to experimental ones, the unsteady simulation
results displayed a good agreement, where different RSIassociated flow features could be correspondingly captured.
III.

IV.

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

The authors declare no conflict of interests regarding the

publication of this article.
V.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work is supported by National Natural Science

Foundation of China (51506037, 51276046, 71390522),
Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51421063), and the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(HIT.NSRIF.2017047).
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CONCLUSIONS

This paper presents a deep literature review from previously

published works on pump-turbine flow stability, where the
associated and most remarkable flow structures were
discussed. The following conclusions are drawn:
a. Flow instability in pump-turbines under both pump and
generating modes at off-design conditions, has been
noticed to be associated to different unsteady flow
phenomena, viz. vortex flow, rotating stall, flow
blockage and flow reversal; especially at critical
operating phases, viz. machine start-up and
synchronisation, operating modes transition, and load
rejection.
b. Different design and operational parameters, viz. inlet
blade angle, guide vanes number-impeller blades
number proportion, guide vanes opening, rotor-stator
vaneless ring thickness, and so other runner geometric
design parameters; have been found to considerably
influence the pump-turbine stability, thus requiring
more attention both at the design and operation stages.
Intensive research is still needed in the future to gain a full
understanding on the remaining gaps, leading to more
ability to make the pump turbine technology not only
economically reliable but also technically efficient.
Moreover more optimization approaches are still needed to
improve both the efficiency and flow stability in reversible
pump turbines under off-design operating conditions.

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