FSI analysis of Francis turbines

Sediment erosion is one of the key challenges in hydraulic turbines from a design and maintenance perspective in Himalayas and Andes. Past research works have shown that the optimization of the Francis turbine runner blade shapes can decrease erosion by a significant amount. This study has taken the proposed designs from past works and conducted a CFD analysis on a single passage of a Francis runner blade to choose an optimized design in terms of erosion and efficiency. Structural analyses have been performed on the selected design through one-way and two-way FSI to compare the structural integrity of the designs.