Parametric study of water column separation in Francis pump-turbine draft tube

The paper presents the modelling, simulation and analysis of the transient behaviour of a 340 MW pump-turbine in case of emergency shutdown in generation mode with particular attention to the possible draft tube water column separation. First, the model of a pumped storage power plant with simplified layout is setup with the EPFL software SIMSEN. This model includes a penstock feeding one 340 MW pump-turbine with the related rotating inertia and a tailrace tunnel. The model of the tailrace tunnel allows for water column separation simulation. Thus, the related SIMSEN model is introduced and validations are briefly presented. Then, the influence of the tailrace tunnel length and diameter on the minimum pressure in the draft tube is investigated through a parametric study first without water column separation model. Finally, the simulation results of the transient behaviour of the pump-turbine with downstream water column separation are presented for different degree of severity triggered by the submergence and the tailrace tunnel dimensions taken as parameters.