Use of Non-uniform Rational B-splines for Discharge Calculation in the Velocity Area Method

The velocity area method belongs to the group of primary methods for discharge measurement in hydropower plants. The measurements require an appropriate application of measuring devices and carrying out correctly the process of data analyzing including integration technique. The authors present their own experiences gathered during many years of utilizing the current meter method for discharge measurement in many hydropower plants. They have developed the special integration techniques using the progressive numerical algorithms. The techniques differ from the recommendations contained in the relevant international standards. The authors＇ own software for calculating the discharge from the measured local velocity distribution （obtained using current meters） adopts advanced spline functions, the so-called NURBS （non-uniform rational B-splines）. Nowadays, this kind of splines is commonly used in modeling of the complex geometrical shapes because of their smoothness. It is assessed that it represents much better quality of interpolation than the classic spline functions （classic cubic spline technique）. Particularly, the better properties of the NURBS splines can be observed for velocity profile area characterized by very strong velocity gradients where boundary layers meet the core regions of the flow （mainstream）. In the developed software the boundary layer thickness and exponent of von Karman function is calculated in accordance with the ISO 3354 standard. The software has been successfully used during many performance tests of the hydraulic turbines in Poland for several years. Paper presents the results of flow rate measurements for two different flow systems of Kaplan turbines. First case concerns the application of the current meters in a long circular penstock whereas the second one in short rectangular turbine intake. A comparative analysis of three flow calculation procedures applied for these two cases is presented in the paper-（1） the integration procedure according to the ISO 3354     

Numerical Simulation of Water Flow through Nano-Hydraulic Turbine Driven by Rapid and Shallow Stream

This study is concerned with the numerical simulation of the flow through an open type cross-flow runner of a nano-hydraulic turbine driven by rapid and shallow stream. It employs the two-dimensional particle method, which was used for the flow simulation of a small-scale hydraulic turbine of impulse-type in the prior study. The tip speed ratio 2, defined as the ratio of the runner tip speed to the water stream velocity upstream of the runner, ranges from 0.1 to 0.8. The simulated flow at 2 = 0.5 is confirmed to agree well with the experimentally visualized one. The effect of 2 on the flows inside the rotating cascade as well as around the runner is clarified. The turbine performance, calculated by using the simulated flow, is also highlighted to agree almost with the measurement. These demonstrate that the present simulation method is indeed applicable to the development of open type cross-flow runner of nano-hydraulic turbine utilizing rapid and shallow stream.     

Parallel Open Source CFD-DEM for Resolved Particle-Fluid Interaction

A parallelized resolved method for the simulation of the dynamics of immersed bodies within fluids is presented. The algorithm uses a FDM （fictitious domain method） and combines the Lagrangian DEM （discrete element method） for tracking the bodies with a CFD （computational fluid dynamics） method for calculating the dynamics of the fluid phase. First the CFD-calculation is carried out, disregarding the solid bodies. Afterwards, the velocity information from the bodies is included and the force, the fluid imposes onto the bodies, is computed. The last step consists of a correction-operation which ensures the fulfillment of the conservation equation. Dynamic local mesh refinement is used for minimizing the number of fluid cells. The CFD-DEM coupling is realized within the Open Source framework CFDEMcoupling （www.cfdem.com）, where the DEM software LIGGGHTS （www.liggghts.com） is linked against an OpenFOAM~-based CFD solver. While both LIGGGHTS and the CFD solver were already parallelized, only a recent improvement of the algorithm permits the fully parallel computation of resolved problems. This parallelization permits the treatment of large-scale problems. The enclosed validation and application examples show the dynamics of the flow around settling and rotating spheres as well as an investigation of the settling of spheres regarding the Boycott effect.     

The Life Assessment of API 5L Grade B Geothermal Pipeline in Correlation with Corrosion under Insulation

The corrosion under insulation dominates metal loss in the case of API （American Petroleum Institute） 5L Grade B geothermal pipeline, whereas, the other possible corrosion causes, such as stress corrosion and thermal cracking, did not serve a role as critical factors regarding to pipeline degradation during 26-years working operation. Actually, the header pipe diameter 32 inches and 40 inches require priority for inspection due to higher corrosion rate compared to smaller pipe diameters. By simulation method on similar heavy duty service condition in which the working pressure of 15 bars and temperature of 183 ℃, it was proved that corrosion rate will severely occur at corrosion rate more than 10 mpy in the pipe diameters of 20 inches, 32 inches and 40 inches. Further,condensation factor may contribute more significant in the case of corrosion under insulation. Practically, the metal loss at a half initial thickness requires priority for inspection, intensive maintenance or possible partial replacement.     

Analytical Solution for Evaluation of Voltage Surge Distribution along Transformer Windings through the Method of Residues

Computer programs have definitely become indispensable for designing power transformer. Among several applications, computer programs are mostly used for electric field calculation and thus electrical insulation concerns. In consequence, studies based on analytical approach to basic studies of correlated problems have become even more important because they form the very basis of knowledge that is necessary to every transformer designer in view of taking all the advantages of computational analyses. On the other hand, one of the most important basic studies consists in the evaluation of voltage surge distribution along transformer windings for which the method of separation of variables has been extensively used thanks to some simplifying assumptions. With this aim, authors have developed and previously published works that show the applicability of an alternative and useful analytical method that is the method of the residues, which requires no simplification to be assumed. In this work, another important step is taken towards proofing the total applicability of this promising method that is through a practical problem. A comparison to the numerical method TLM （transmission line method） is also performed and concordance with TLM and experimental data confirms the proposal of the method of residues can be also applicable to several others problems of electromagnetism.     

Partial Discharge Measurement of OCP-Tapes in Rotating Electrical Machines

Nowadays, PD （partial discharge） measurements are a crucial part of the preventive maintenance of electrical equipment within high voltage engineering. Especially for electrical machines, both the supplier and the user are interested in the results of PD measurements. However, PDs hardly represent the cause of the failure, more likely they are claimed as the outcome of a failure. This paper deals with the insulation of a 6 kV electrical machine, whereas PD measurements were carried out at a single stator from wound coils. During manufacturing, these coils were equipped with different materials for the OCP （outer corona protection）. Using different PD measurement systems and different bandwidths, investigations of the PD behavior of the coils were carried out. Additionally, the surface resistivity of the corona protection was determined. As a result, conclusions for the correlations between the resistance of the OCP as well as the PD behavior are stated. Furthermore, the influence of using different measurement systems, different measuring circuits, and different bandwidths is shown.     

Induction of Internal Capacitance Effect in Performance Measurement of OPV （Organic Photovoltaic） Device by RTOSM （Real-Time One-Sweep Method）

The advantages of OPV （organic photovoltaic） are low cost, little pollution and flexible. But challenge for OPV manufacture still is lacking of accurately performance measurement due to capacitance issue. Firstly, characterization of OPV requires considering the slowly temporal response due to capacitance effect, and the relative I-V （current-voltage） curves are strongly dependent on the voltage sweep direction, even for the sweep time only in few seconds or less. Secondly, the IPCE （incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency） also shows the slowly temporal response due to capacitance effect and is dependent on the wavelength of the incident light. Furthermore, the related features for measuring I-V curves are more sensitive with temperature due to non-linear characteristics issue, but current IPCE spectra of OPV are similar to that happened in conventional crystalline Si or amorphous silicon devices. In this work, we developed a RTOSM （real-time one-sweep method） applied both in I-V and IPCE to analysis different electronic transport materials, and result showed this new approach proposed a good way to slow down testing time and having better accuracy for OPV measurement by eliminating acceptance effect instantly.     

The Application of the Combined Method for Selection of Optimal Excitation Parameters

The quality as well as reliability of electrical energy transmitted to consumers is one of the main parameters of successful operation of the power system. The searching of optimal coefficient＇s combination of PSS （power system stabilizer） is the main goal of this article. The possibility of application of the new combined approach for the optimal excitation＇s settings search is presented. MC （Monte Carlo） method, in order to search and select the optimal combination of excitation system, was applied. The proposed method has been researched with a mathematical model of the power system. This model has been built using Matlab/Simulink software. Paper shows advantages and disadvantages of the proposed methods.     

CFD Simulation of Reactor Internal Flow in the Scaled APR＋

A series of 1/5 scale reactor flow model tests have been conducted in order to determine the hydraulic characteristics of the APR＋ （advanced power reactor plus）. The objective of test was to determine the core inlet flow field of the model reactor in order to provide input information required by the open core thermal margin analysis code such as TORC. In this study, in order to examine the validity of the results of reactor flow model tests and the applicability of CFD （computational fluid dynamics） in the simulation of reactor internal flow, CFD simulation was conducted with the commercial multi-purpose CFD software, ANSYSCFX V. 14. It was found that the velocity field in the downcomer had the inhomogeneous feature. Relative high velocity region was located in the core region. This result was different from measurement and this difference may result from the fact that some internal structures were not modeled with the real geometry but treated as the porous domain.     

A comparison of experimental and numerical studies performed on a low-pressure turbine blade cascade at high-speed conditions, low reynolds numbers and various turbulence intensities

This paper focuses on a comparison of experimental and numerical investigations performed on a low-pressure mid-loaded turbine blade at operating conditions comprised of a wide range of Mach numbers(from 0.5-1.1),Reynolds numbers(from 0.4e+5-3.0e+5),flow incidence(-15-15 degrees) and three levels of free-stream turbulence intensities(2,5 and 10%).The experimental part of the work was performed in a high-speed linear cascade wind tunnel.The increased levels of turbulence were achieved by a passive grid placed at the cascade inlet.A two-dimensional flow field at the center of the blade was traversed pitch-wise upstream and downstream the cascade by means of a five-hole probe and a needle pressure probe,respectively.The blade loading was measured using the surface pressure taps evenly deployed at the blade mid-span along the suction and the pressure side.The inlet turbulence was investigated using the constant temperature anemometer technique with a dual sensor probe.Experimentally evaluated values of turbulent kinetic energy and its dissipation rate were then used as inputs for the numerical simulations.An in-house code based on a system of the Favre-averaged Navier-Stokes equation closed by a two-equation k-turbulence model was adopted for the predictions.The code utilizes an algebraic model of bypass transition valid both for attached as for separated flows taking in account the effect of free-stream turbulence and pressure gradient.The resulting comparison was carried out in terms of the kinetic energy loss coefficient,distributions of downstream wakes and blade velocity.Additionally a flow visualization was performed by means of the Schlieren technique in order to provide a further understanding of the studied phenomena.A few selected cases with a particular interest in the attached and separated flow transition are compared and discussed.     

A Battery Life-Cycle Estimation Method Based on Degradation Test Data

LiB （lithium-ion battery） has become serious concern for energy management systems, especially in Japan, where the argument on a nuclear power plant problem is active. Including reuse of LiB, long-term use is expected, however, method to ensure LiB life has not been developed thus the users of LiB are forced to accept the uncertainty of LiB life. Therefore this study suggests an evaluation method for LiB life using degradation experimental data. This method has three elements, defining indexes, preparing degradation speed database from the result of experiment, and setting up the use patterns of LiB. In order to be usable under non-experimental conditions, degradation speed database has the data in all conditions by complementing the experimental result. Finally, this evaluation model was verified by comparing model estimates and the experimental measurements.     

Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Stack Modelling in VHDL-AMS Language with Temporal and EIS Experimental Validations

This paper deals with two basic issues of fuel cell research： modelling and experimental validation. In particular, the EIS （electrochemical impedance spectroscopy） technique is applied to a PEMFC （proton exchange membrane fuel cell）. Experiments have been performed using a low-cost test bench and instrumentation developed around a 1,200 W Ballard Nexa fuel cell system. An electrical and dynamic model in VHDL-AMS language for PEM fuel cell stack is described. The privileged approach in this paper is an electrical method. Few papers deal with the modelling of a fuel cell in VHDL-AMS language with an electric approach. The fuel cell is characterised cell wise in VHDL-AMS; AC and DC measurements show the good agreement between the simulation results of the model and those measured in experiments. The model is capable to predict accurate stack profiles. The model is validated using temporal and impedance spectroscopy method; the impedance spectroscopy is performed at low and high frequencies. The experimental and simulated Nyquist plots show that the frequency response of the fuel cell stack can be predicted by the proposed fuel cell stack model. At high frequencies, comparisons between experimental and model impedance results are performed and show some similarities between the two Nyquist. Error between the two approaches is below 1.5%.     

Comparison between Conventional and Improved Gas Engine-Driven VRF under Same Climate Conditions

This paper reports the on-site performance evaluation of conventional and improved gas engine-driven VRF （variable refrigerant flow） units and （abbreviated as GHP） units. The study aims to elucidate two actual GHP units by using the probe insertion method. There is a tendency to decrease energy efficiency compared to a high loading factor. GHP operation was almost all part load operation. This on-site evaluation indicates a clear difference between conventional and improved GHP.     

The Research on Optimization of the Multiphase Flow Field of Biogas Plant by Using CFD Software

The inner flow field of a biogas plant can be optimized by agitating the feedstock to be evenly distributed for a rising biogas production rate. A hydraulic agitator can be installed in the digester with outlets far above the bottom. Hydraulic mixing is essential in a solid-liquid two-phase flow process, in which large solid particles can be found at the initial stage and turn to being high-concentration viscous liquid （non-Newtonian fluid）. A 0.75 m3 digester was taken as a case study with CFD （computational fluid dynamics） software. The basic pattern was simulated by using water as the medium and the pattern of pseudo plastic fluid state was simulated by the Euler-Euler Model, then the effect of optimized design with bottom inflow and high dispersed outlets could be verified. Viewed from the mixing effects, the velocity of 0.6 m/s is better than l m/s for water medium, while 1 m/s better than 0.6 m/s for pseudo plastic fluid medium.     

Design Methodology Research of the Floating Foundation for the Offshore MW-Rating Wind Turbine

With the rapid growth of the offshore wind industry, the innovative floating offshore wind turbine is chosen as the most feasible device to harvest the vast wind energy in deep water area. However there is no practical design guide for the floating wind turbine especially the floating foundation. In this paper, based on the investigation on the worldwide floating wind turbine and current available expertise on floating platforms accumulated in offshore O/G （oil and gas） industry, an integrated design methodology is presented according to the specialized characteristics of wind turbine, including the type selection of foundation and mooring system, design standard, design procedure, design conditions, key technologies involved. Finally a semi-submersible floating foundation is designed to support certain megawatt-rating wind turbine of Goldwind and also performance analysis and code checks are performed to validate the design. The design method of the floating foundation provided in this paper is proved feasible and can be adopted in practical engineering design.     

Stiffness Evaluation of the Welded Connection between Guide Thimbles and the Spacer Grids for 16 × 16 Fuel Assemblies Types,Using the Finite Element Method

The present work aims to evaluate the increase in the number of spot welds in the 16 × 16 type fuel assembly structure that connects guide thimbles and spacer grids, in order to provide a proper joint for this connection. This new and improved process can provide more stiffness to the whole structure, since the number of spots raised from four to eight. A 3-D geometric model of a guide thimble section was generated in a CAD （computer aided design） program （SolidWorks）. After that, the geometric model was imported to a CAE （computer aided engineering） program （ANSYS Mechanical APDL, Release 14.0）, where the finite element model was built, considering the guide thimble geometry assembled with the spacer grid through the welded connections. Boundaries conditions were implemented in the model in order to simulate the correct physical behavior due to the operation of the fuel assembly inside the reactor. The analysis covered specific loads and displacements acting on the entire structure. The method used to solve this finite element analysis was a linear static simulation in order to perform the connection between a spacer grid cell and a guide thimble section. Hence, four models was evaluated, differing on the spot weld number in the spacer grid and guide thimble connection. The rotational stiffness results of each model were compared. The results acquired from four and eight spot weld were validated with physical test results. The behavior of the structure under the acting force/displacement and the related results of the analysis, mainly the stiffness, were satisfied. The results of this analysis were used to prove that the increasing spot welds number is an improvement in the dimensional stability when submitted to loads and displacements required on the fuel assembly design. This analysis aid to get more information of extreme importance such as, the pursuance to develop better manufacturing process and to improve the fuel assembly performance due to the increasing of the bum-up.     

Field Method Research for Leak-off Coefficient Analysis Using Instantaneous Shut-in Pressure

The accurate monitor and prediction of fracturing pressure for formation is very important to hydraulic fracturing treatment operation, but whether hydraulic fracturing is successful or not, the fracturing fluid plays a very important role, leak-off coefficient is the most leading parameters of fracturing fluids. Mini-frac test was the most commonly used tools for leak-off coefficient analysis, but it has the shortcoming of time-consuming and costly that can not meet the requirement of the production. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a simple and convenient leak off coefficient analysis method with more inexpensive and time-saving than former methods. Based on ISIP （instantaneous shut-in pressure） method, a new field method of leak off coefficient field analysis model was presented. According to twice ISIP of the fracturing treatment in field operation, therefore, fluid leak off coefficient and formation characteristic can be studied quickly and reliably. More than 40 wells were fractured using this field method. The results show that average liquid rates of post-fracturing was 20 m3/d which double improvement compared with the past treatment wells. It had an important role for fracturing treatments in low permeability used in field application. reservoirs, the new model for real time analysis and adjust is successful     

煤矿矿井水中悬浮物测定质量控制方法研究

采用煤炭生产矿井水中悬浮物(SS)标准方法测定较清洁水样易产生负值现象,针对这一情况设计了“纯水浸泡1.5 d以上+120 mL以上纯水抽滤1次+滤膜与称量瓶同时恒重”的滤膜处理改进方法。该方法在神华新疆能源有限责任公司矿井水悬浮物测定中进行了应用,测定结果的精度和相对偏差均满足标准,检验质量控制方法可行。     

Development of a Full Parameterized FE-modeling Tool for Efficient Vibration Investigations on End Windings of Turbo- and Hydro-Generators

End windings of generators are excited to vibrations due to electromagnetic forces which can cause severe damage and noise. To avoid this, it is important to predict the natural frequencies and modes of the end windings with finite elements. Due to the complex structure and unknown boundary conditions, the conventionally calculation of stator end windings has been very difficult and time consuming up to now. This paper describes the development of a full parameterized modeling tool, which allows a quick calculation of natural frequencies during the design phase of the generator. To keep the computing time low, it is important to find a way to get exact calculation results without detailed modeling of all pans. Additionally, special attention was paid to the active part, which has been replaced by spring-damper elements, and the determination of their stiffness via experimental modal analysis combined with finite element calculations.