Joel Sundström

Hydropower is a clean and sustainable source of electricity and delivers about 50 % of the Swedish supply.My research project is a part of Swedish Hydropower Centre (SVC), a centre for education and research within hydropower and mining dams (www.svc.nu).

My research focuses on hydraulic turbine flow rate measurements with the Pressure-Time (Gibson) method. Accurate flow rate measurements are challenging in low head machines (<50 m) due to the short water passages and geometrical variations. Accurate flow rate measurements are important for hydraulic turbine owners. The measurements are used to asses turbine efficiency and optimize economical income from production. One commonly utilized method is the Pressure-Time method. The Pressure-Time method is based on the change of momentum of the fluid into pressure during closure of the guide vanes. By measuring the pressure difference between two different sections, the force acting on the fluid volume between the two sections may be related to the fluid acceleration, and thus the flow rate before commencement of the closure sequence.

My research topics concerns how to more accurately model the frictional losses in the Pressure-Time evaluation procedure. This is done by experimental analyses involving particle image velocimetry, constant temperature anemometry and pressure measurements along with numerical validation of the test cases.