Predicting the performance of a high head Francis turbine using a fully implicit mixing plane

Abstract

In the present paper numerical investigations of a complete high head Francis turbine comprehensive of a spiral casing, stay and guide vanes and draft tube have been performed at three operating conditions, namely at part load (PL), best efficiency point (BEP), and high load (HL). The main target of the investigations is to assess the prediction accuracy of a reduced domain of the complete turbine using a novel mixing-plane formulation.