Direct Tool for Generation of the Geometry of a Francis Turbine Guide Vane System

Hydropower accounts for about 70 percent of the World's renewable energy. Therefore, hydraulic turbines, their development and flexibility represent important factor. This paper focuses on the software design and simulation of the optimal stationary parts of these turbines. Water quantity and its distribution to the runner in a Francis turbine is controlled by the wicket gate which represents a radial cascade composed of guide vanes. The wicket gate has the task to regulate the amount of water discharge and generate the proper circulation at the runner inlet. Since the wicket gate provides the required hydrodynamic conditions at the runner entrance, optimizing its design is of great significance. The most important parameters are the guide vanes number and the guide vane shape. By testing the performance of different blade types, the most favorable guide vane geometry can be found. In this paper, the software MATLAB and ANSYS Workbench are used to automate the process of generating the geometry of a certain Francis turbine wicket gate and/or only one guide vane with the aid of python scripting. The procedure of automated geometry creation, where the final product depends on the variable input parameters, would be followed by numerical investigation of the water flow in the guide vane system and structural analysis of the guide vane. This design tool is intended to facilitate the optimization process which follows.