Eduard Egusquiza

Interntional Committee on Hydraulic Machinery

This research paper introduces advancements in hydraulic turbine condition monitoring through the implementation of vibration-based condition indicators. Conventional methods rely on vibration monitoring systems, triggering alarms or unit trips based on overall measured values at specific points. However, these methods may generate false alarms und...

This work reports on a new Kaplan turbine that experienced an unstable behaviour during its start up. The unit experienced strong sound and vibration in that phase. To identify the origin of this unstable behaviour, a set of sensors were installed within the turbine. Subsequently, tests were performed to determine the response of the different sens...

Nowadays, in order to mitigate the global warming effects, there is a need of renewable energy generation for the objective of carbon neutrality. In this context, hydropower plays a key role not only because the amount of renewable energy generated but also because it is a fundamental player to ensure the stability of the electrical grid, as one of...

The construction of Pumped Storage Hydropower Systems (PSHSs) has significance for improving the renewable energy accommodation capacity and meeting the peaking demand for future power systems. During the rapid construction of PSHS, whether the transient process meets the safety requirements is a core issue for decision-makers. The traditional meth...

The hydro-wind-solar-storage bundling system plays a critical role in solving spatial and temporal mismatch problems between renewable energy resources and the electric load in China. An efficient bundling system capacity configuration can improve the consumption level and reduce the renewable energy transmission cost. However, the restriction betw...

The novel structure of the surge tank is often designed in hydropower stations, for example, the Coaxial Shaft Surge Tank (CSST). Reasonable mathematical modeling and physical model verification are effective methods in dealing with novel structure tanks. This study aims to analyze the influence of geometric and hydraulic parameters on the hydrauli...

The pumped hydro energy storage station flexibility is perceived as a promising way for integrating more intermittent wind and solar energy into the power grid. However, this flexible operation mode challenges the stable and highly-efficient operation of the pump-turbine units. Therefore, this paper focuses on stability and efficiency performance o...

To cope with the intermittent power supply of the new renewable energies and demand fluctuations, Francis turbines are required to operate more and more in an extended operating range, far away from the design point. With this operating behavior, it is very complex to interpret the trend of vibration parameters typically used in Condition Monitorin...

Hydropower has the advantages of quickly responding to load variability, which overcomes the unpredictable and unstable variabilities of solar and wind power. Therefore, such power generation can be combined into a hydro-wind-photovoltaic complementary plant (HWPCP). However, hydropower units running at partial load are prone to suffer from hydraul...

Understanding and simulating the dynamic characteristics of the hydro-turbine governor system is essential to guarantee the safety of the hydro-power systems. This study proposes a modification method of the water head at the draft tube inlet, which is to discretize the draft tube and introduce the excitation term of the vortex rope. The proposed a...

Runner and distributor blockages in hydraulic turbines occur due to the ingestion of external bodies such as rocks or logs. These obstructions can change the amplitude and uniformity of the pressure pulsations in the machine, creating large unbalanced forces that can lead to reduced efficiency, increased vibration and mechanical damage. In this pap...

In the coming decades, the proportion of wind–solar energy in power system significantly increases, resulting to uncertainties of power fluctuation in abundant wind–solar energy regions. The flexibility operation of Pumped Storage Power Plants (PSPPs) has already been widely recognized to regulate wind–solar power fluctuations; however, less is kno...

Homes in rural China often have access to water wells for domestic and agricultural use. Given the significant difference in height between the well water and the roof of the house, such an arrangement could be used as a solar-powered pumped-hydro energy generation system. These systems could both limit increases in carbon emissions from coal-power...

Hydropower offers highly flexible, low-carbon generation that can be used to balance electricity grids with high levels of wind and solar penetration. This will become increasingly important as the energy transition unfolds. However, hydropower generation faces several problems when used in a flexible, fast manner (on the order of seconds) when in...

Surge tank is an essential device to control hydraulic transient of a Hydroelectric Gnerating Systems (HGS)s. However, various types of surge tanks differently reflect in reducing water hammer and improve performance of HGS. This study aims to analyze the different performance of Air Chamber Tank (ACT) and Orifice Surge Tank (OST) during the succes...

One of the most critical operating conditions in hydraulic turbines is the start-up transient. This may be characterized by the presence of several resonances, which increase the vibration and stress levels on the runners. At present, its study is of interest due to the more frequent starts and stops of the turbines in the last years. The present s...

The assessment of the remaining useful life due to fatigue in Francis turbine runners implies complex measurements with strain gauges that have to be installed in a submerged and rotating structure, which is excited with high pressure pulsations and strong turbulent flows. Furthermore, the conditioning, storage and transmission of these signals to...

With the current demand of flexibility to hydraulic turbines, these are working under off-design conditions more than ever. Under these conditions different complex hydraulic phenomena appear, especially in Francis turbines, affecting the machine stability as well as reducing the useful life of its components. Hence, it is desirable to detect in re...

With the increasing entrance of wind and solar power for the generation of electricity, more flexibility is demanded to hydropower plants. More flexibility means that hydro turbines have to increase the operating range between minimum and maximum power. In Francis turbines the maximum power is limited by the appearance of a strong hydraulic excitat...

Nowadays, one of the major mechanical issues of hydraulic turbines and particularly Francis turbines are the failures produced by fatigue. Due to the massive entrance of new renewable energies such as wind or solar, hydraulic turbines have to withstand off-design conditions and multiple transients, which greatly increase the risk of fatigue failure...

The health condition of hydraulic turbines is one of the most critical factors for the operation safety and financial benefits of a hydro power plant. After the massive entrance of intermittent renewable energies, hydropower units have to regulate their output much more frequently for the balancing of the power grid. Under these conditions, the com...

The Francis hydro-turbine generator unit (FHTGU) is a typical nonlinear system with the coupling hydraulic, mechanical and electric subsystems. It is a challenge to understand the reasons for its operational failures because the major reason for failures involves complex interactions of the three subsystems. Subsystems’ model interaction with the m...

Pelton turbines are important machines for power generation from a renewable energy source such as water. For power rates below 20 MW, the rotor of Pelton turbines is usually in horizontal position. Considering ideal mounting and operating conditions, there are no axial forces acting on the rotor. In practice, there is an hydraulic force due to the...

This article presents a dataset obtained from the deployment of a IEEE 802.15.4g SUN (Smart Utility Network) single-hop network (11 nodes) in a large industrial scenario (110.044 m2) for a long period of time (99 days). The dataset contains ~11M entries with RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), CCA (Clear Channel Assessment) and PDR (Packet D...

Hydropower is nowadays essential for balancing the electrical grid providing flexibility and fast response. The role of hydraulic turbines has changed from working at their Best Efficiency Point (BEP) to work in the whole operating range when demanded. Francis turbines working at off-design conditions suffer from dynamic problems that affect the us...

Because of the addition of stochastic supply to the power grid introduced by new renewable energies, hydropower is required to respond rapidly to the fluctuation between power demand and supply. Consequently, hydropower units must work under extreme off-design conditions, where the machines are more prone to suffer from damages and shorter useful l...

Worldwide electricity generation is featured by the growth of intermittent renewable energies. In this context, hydropower plays a fundamental role because it provides flexibility to the power grid and ensures its stability. The new grid requirements have led hydropower units to working under a wider range of loads and with more start/stop sequence...

A large crack was discovered on one blade of a Kaplan turbine prototype after the inspection of the machine. In order to know the origin of the crack, a failure analysis was previously carried out (Zhang et al., 2019). To know the modal behaviour of cracked structures is of interest in order to detect the crack while in operation. For this purpose,...

The dynamic behavior of Francis runners is of interest in the hydraulic machinery field since it is one of the most used type of hydraulic turbines for electricity generation. To evaluate the dynamic behavior of Francis runners, their natural frequencies have been studied extensively in the past. However, mode-shapes and damping ratios associated t...

Nowadays, hydropower is demanded to provide flexibility and fast response into the electrical grid in order to compensate the non-constant electricity generation of other renewable sources. Hydraulic turbines are therefore demanded to work under off-design conditions more frequently, where different complex hydraulic phenomena appear, affecting the...

Determining the natural frequencies and mode shapes of rotating turbomachinery components from both rotating and stationary reference frames is of paramount importance to avoid resonance problems that could affect the normal operation of the machine, or even cause critical damages in these components. Due to their similarity to real engineering cas...

Reactive power shortage is one of the current issues that endanger the stability of the power grid systems. Some massive blackouts have been experienced in the past years due to the unbalance of reactive power. One of the solutions to provide the necessary reactive power to the grid is to operate generators as motors and supply or absorb reactive p...

An effective condition monitoring is essential to increase the availability of Pelton turbines and to avoid unexpected damage. The main challenge consists in determining the deformations and the stresses in the runner while in operation. To do so, it is essential to understand the dynamic response of the machine, and especially of the runner. Moreo...

Erosive cavitation in hydraulic turbines affects severely the runner structure, increasing maintenance costs and reducing the remaining useful life of the component. Actual vibro-acoustic techniques used to detect this kind of cavitation in hydraulic turbines are based on analysing high-frequency vibrations in different parts of the unit. Particula...

Francis turbines are increasingly demanded to work at part load in order to satisfy the electricity generation demand and to compensate the non-constant generation of other renewable sources such as wind or solar. At part load, Francis turbines present complex flow patterns dominated by cavitation and especially by the draft tube vortex rope. The v...

At present, hydropower plants play an important role because of their flexibility in the generation of electricity. Today, the required operating range of turbine units is expected to extend to deep part load. At part load the draft tube vortex rope is generated and, in some cases, can produce large pressure pulsations limiting the operation of the...

The ingestion of large bodies in hydraulic turbines can produce blockage in the runner and/or the distributor, modifying the amplitude and uniformity of pressure pulsations and generating large unbalanced forces. These unwanted effects can lead to reduced efficiency and increased vibration levels, which can produce significant mechanical damage. In...

In this present study, we propose a method for exposing biological cells to mechanical vibration. The motive for our research was to design a bioreactor prototype in which in-depth in vitro studies about the influence of vibration on cells and their metabolism can be performed. The therapy of cancer or antibacterial measures are applications of int...

Due to the entrance of new renewable energies, water-storage energy has to be regulated more frequently to keep the stability of power grid. Consequently, pump-turbines have to work under off-design conditions more than before, which will cause more damage and decrease their useful life. Advanced monitoring methodologies that can balance the degrad...

The ability of hydropower to adapt the electricity generation to the demand is necessary to integrate wind and solar energy into the electrical grid. Nowadays, hydropower turbines are required to work under harsher operating conditions and an advanced condition monitoring to detect damage is crucial. In this paper the methodology to improve the con...

Hydropower plants are of paramount importance for the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources in the power grid. In order to match the energy generated and consumed, Large hydraulic turbines have to work under off-design conditions, which may lead to dangerous unstable operating points involving the hydraulic, mechanical and electrical...

One of the main causes of damage in hydraulic turbines is cavitation. While not all cavitation appearing in a turbine is of a destructive type, erosive cavitation can severely affect the structure, thus increasing maintenance costs and reducing the remaining useful life of the machine. Of all types of cavitation, the maximum erosion occurs when clo...

Nowadays, hydropower plays an essential role in the energy market. Due to their fast response and regulation capacity, hydraulic turbines operate at off-design conditions with a high number of starts and stops. In this situation, dynamic loads and stresses over the structure are high, registering some failures over time, especially in the runner. T...

Due to the increasing share of new renewable energies like wind and solar in the generation of electricity the need for power regulation and energy storage is becoming of paramount importance. One of the systems to store huge amounts of energy is pumped storage using reversible hydropower units. The machines used in these power plants are pump-turb...

Hydropower plays a key role in the actual energy market due to its fast response and regulation capacity. In that way, hydraulic turbines are increasingly demanded to work at off-design conditions, where complex flow patterns and cavitation appear, especially in Francis turbines. The draft tube cavitation surge is a hydraulic phenomenon that appear...

Nowadays, hydropower plays an essential role in the energy market. Due to its fast response [...]

Nowadays, hydropower plants are of paramount importance for the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources in the power grid. [...]

Abstract

In this paper, an uncommon failure of a Pelton turbine has been analyzed. After the monitoring system detected a sudden increase in the vibration levels, the turbine was inspected. The inspection showed that a fragment of one bucket broke off during operation. Moreover there were several buckets with cracks, always located in the same side of the b...

The fast change in new renewable energy is affecting directly the required operating range of hydropower plants. According to the present demand of electricity, it is necessary to generate different levels of power. Because of its ease to regulate and its huge storage capacity of energy, hydropower is the unique energy source that can adapt to the...

Francis turbines operate in many cases out of its best efficiency point, in order to regulate their output power according to the instantaneous energy demand of the grid. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to analyse and determine the unstable operating points for these kind of units. In the framework of the HYPERBOLE project (FP7-ENERGY-2013...

Experimental tests in prototype are necessary to understand the dynamic behaviour of the machine during different operating points. Hydraulic phenomena as well as its effect on the structure need to be studied in order to avoid instabilities during operation and to extend the life-time of the different components. For this purpose, a complete exper...

Studying the dynamic response of Francis turbine runners is of paramount importance in order to avoid resonance problems during operating conditions. For this purpose, the natural frequencies as well as their associated mode-shapes and damping ratios of the runner have to be determined. In this paper, an Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) of the run...

To accurately determine the dynamic response of a structure is of relevant interest in many engineering applications. Particularly, it is of paramount importance to determine the Frequency Response Function (FRF) for structures subjected to dynamic loads in order to avoid resonance and fatigue problems that can drastically reduce their useful life....

Modal analysis is an experimental technique widely used to determine the dynamic response of structures. One of the most critical part is the selection of the actuator that will excite the tested structure.In many cases traditional exciters, such as hammers and shakers, have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, these exciters may have the disa...

Determining the dynamic response of submerged and confined disklike structures is of interest in engineering applications, such as in hydraulic turbine runners. This dynamic response is heavily affected by the added mass and damping as well as the proximity of solid boundaries. These solid boundaries are normally considered as completely rigid in t...

Natural frequencies estimation of Francis turbines is of paramount importance in the stage of design in order to avoid vibration and resonance problems especially during transient events. Francis turbine runners are submerged in water and confined with small axial and radial gaps which considerably decrease their natural frequencies in comparison t...

To understand the effect of rotation in the dynamic response of pump-turbine runners, simplified models such as disk-like structures can be used. In previous researches the natural frequencies and mode shapes of rotating disk-like structures submerged and confined have been analysed from the rotating frame. Nevertheless to measure these parameters...

In this paper, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a rotating disk submerged and totally confined inside a rigid casing, have been obtained. These have been calculated analytically, numerically and experimentally for different axial gaps disk-casing. A simplified analytical model to analyse the dynamic response of a rotating disk submerged a...

Predicting natural frequencies of rotating disk-like structures submerged in water is of paramount importance in the field of hydraulic machinery since the dynamic response of disks present similarities to the dynamic response of pump-turbines runners. Well-known computational methods, such as structural-acoustical FSI simulations, are perfectly ca...

The first three mode shapes of a cantilevered NACA0009 hydrofoil were experimentally investigated in air and under different flow conditions in a cavitation tunnel. First and second bending modes and first torsion mode were determined in resonance conditions with the hydrofoil vibrating in air, in still water, in flowing water or with leading edge...

Determining the dynamic response of submerged and confined disk-like structures is of interest in the hydraulic turbines field. Disks present similar dynamic characteristics than hydraulic turbine runners, especially in the mode-shapes associated with each natural frequency. The dynamic response of submerged structures is heavily affected by the ad...

Vortex generators (VGs) are used increasingly by the wind turbine industry as flow control devices to improve rotor blade performance. According to experimental observations, the vortices generated by VGs have previously been observed to be self-similar for both the axial (uz) and azimuthal (uθ) velocity components. Furthermore, the measured vortic...

Venetian blinds (VB) are shading devices of widespread use in residential and corporate buildings. They can reflect or transmit light into buildings and at the same time allow daylighting and exterior views. They can also efficiently block radiative heat from entering the building, and if combined with a heat dissipation system such as forced venti...

At present, pumped storage is the only system to store huge amounts of energy. The surplus of energy in the electrical grid is used for pumping water from a lower to a higher reservoir (pump operation). At peak hours or in case of emergency this water goes down generating electrical energy (turbine operation). In the last years, due to the massive...