Numerical analysis of flow phenomena related to the unstable energy-discharge characteristic of a pump-turbine in pump mode

Regions of positive slope in the pressure-discharge characteristics are one of the major concerns in design and operation of centrifugal pumps, as they are limiting the admissible operating range to values above the critical discharge. The industrial pump turbine of specific speed v=0.42 (n(q)=66 min(-1)) proposed as QNET-CFD test case TA6-04 shows a marked saddle in the energy-discharge characteristic associated to a sudden drop of efficiency versus discharge at part load. The pump-turbine consists of a shrouded impeller with five blades, a diffuser with 22 guide and stay vanes and a spiral casing. CFD flow simulations on a reduced model were carried out with a finite volume Navier-Stokes code (CFX-5.7) using block-structured hexahedral meshes and the Menter-SST Turbulence model. Control of numerical quality has been performed. Reduced models with relatively low computational effort (mixing plane interface) already permit to capture the drop in efficiency and energy coefficient to analyze the flow phenomena inducing the drop of the energy coefficient T that occurs at partial discharge. Analysis of local flow patterns and energy and velocity distributions at the rotor-stator interface that are related to the onset of recirculation are presented.