Seeking an improved understanding of unsteady flows in water supply and hydro power systems

我们的两大基础设施系统，即供水和水力发电系统，传统上都是在假设稳定或缓慢变化的水流条件下设计的。然而，这两个系统都经历了快速不稳定流形式的频繁扰动，无论是与供水系统中的消防相关，还是与水力系统中的功率控制功能相关。这种流动扰动可能会产生严重的后果，这些后果可能会损害系统性能和结构完整性，有时会导致负面的健康后果。不稳定流动可能由正常操作或各种紧急操作（如电源故障或组件故障）引起。 该提案旨在更好地理解、更准确地预测和更可靠地控制供水和水力发电系统中经常出现的整个非恒定流响应范围。(i)第一个是开发程序，以有效地耦合复杂的机器特性，在泵和涡轮机系统中，使用复杂的计算模型来表示，以更好地近似和更有效地预测复杂和昂贵的涡轮机及其相互作用的系统的关键行为。具体目标是高效且有效地表示一系列复杂的交互，以更好地了解风险、不安和缺陷的发生。 (ii)第二个挑战在数值和物理上都特别关注这些液压系统中一系列麻烦和危险的两相流条件，包括与系统填充，系统排水和组合空气真空阀操作相关的有时破坏性事件。将特别关注涡轮机和输送系统中的负压，这种情况可能导致气穴，严重的水锤，甚至可能导致饮用水系统中的系统污染。(iii)第三个重点是更好地科普控制方程的频谱以及不同级别的近似和计算挑战，从而继续开发一系列灵活和自适应的算法，以在不同的计算模式之间切换。这里的目标是实现更有效的预测和对系统交互的更深入的理解。我们已经创造了一种革命性的、完全自适应的、灵活的非定常流建模方法，但其能力尚未得到开发。 这方面将侧重于更好的水系统设计。(iv)将考虑实际的设计和干预措施，以控制和驯服非定常流事件，从稳压罐和空气室，到专门的控制系统，到改进的操作协议，再到后备动力系统，从燃料电池到超级飞轮，这些都是随着储能系统的不断革命而成为可能的。

Two of our great infrastructure systems namely, water supply and hydroelectric systems have traditionally been designed assuming steady or slowly changing flow conditions. Yet both of these systems experience frequent upsets in the form of rapid unsteady flow, whether associated with firefighting in water systems or with power control functions in hydro systems. Such flow disturbances can have dramatic outcomes, outcomes that can compromise system performance and structural integrity, sometimes leading to negative health consequences. Unsteady flow can arise from normal actions or from a variety of emergency actions such as power failure or component failure. This proposal seeks to better understand, to more accurately predict, and to more assuredly control, the whole range of unsteady flow responses that often occur in both water supply and hydroelectric systems.Particular attention will be given to four specific challenges. (i) The first is to develop procedures to effectively couple complex machine characteristics, in both pump and turbine systems, represented using sophisticated computational models to better approximate and more efficiently predict the crucial behaviour of both the complex and expensive turbo machines and the systems with which they interact. The specific goal is to efficiently and effectively represent the range of complex interactions to better understand risks, upsets and the occurrence of defects. (ii) The second challenge gives special attention, both numerically and physically, to a range of troublesome and dangerous two-phase flow conditions in these hydraulic systems, including the sometimes destructive events associated with system filling, system draining, and the operation of combination air vacuum valves. Special focus will be given to negative pressures in both turbo machines and conveyance systems, an occurrence that can lead to cavitation, severe water hammer and possibly even system contamination in potable water systems. (iii) The third focus is to better cope with the spectrum of governing equations and the different levels of approximation and computation challenges, and thus to continue to develop a range of flexible and adaptive algorithms to switch between different computational modes. The goal here is to achieve more efficient predictions and a more insightful understanding of system interaction. We have already created a revolutionary and fully adaptive and flexible unsteady flow modelling approach, but it capacity is not yet explored. This aspect will focus on better water system design.(iv) Practical design and intervention measures will be considered to control and tame unsteady flow events, from surge tanks and air chambers, to specialized control systems, to improved operational protocols, to back-up power systems made possible with the on-going revolution in energy storage systems, from fuel cells to super flywheels.