Curved Surface of Pelton Bucket Based on Differential Geometry

Shen Na
Department of Electrical Engineering Guangzhou College of South China University of Technology Guangzhou, China ShenNa@foxmail.com
AbstractA 3-D free curved surface of a Pelton bucket was discretized into the 51x51 = 2,601 nodes of boundary fitted grid (BFG) for the CFD. The non-orthogonal curvilinear local frames were introduced with the natural basis vector g for the respective nodes of BFG. The natural basis vector g and its partial derivatives g/P at each node were computed based on the differential geometry. As a result, the strong effect of the singular shape of the cutout, especially of its end-wall, on the Pelton bucket was numerically clarified and managed by the differential geometry. After the whole curved surface was approximated by the 50x50 = 2,500 local flat panels tangent to each node, the local surface area S and the Gaussian curvature in each panel were investigated to assess the quality of the BFG. Keywords-Pelton bucket, boundary fitted grid (BFG), natural basis vector, partial derivative, differential geometry

Kubota Takashi
College of Electric Power South China University of Technology Guangzhou, China

II.

DISCRETIZATION OF CURVED SURFACE WITH NATURAL

BASIS VECTOR

A. Complicated boundary of Pelton bucket The boundary of a Pelton bucket consists of splitter, cutout, end-wall, outer-brim, side-brim, and inner-brim as depicted in Fig. 1. Splitter and cutout have a role of leading edge for the unsteady inflow of 3-D jet, and three brims are the trailing edge to discharge the unsteady water sheet flow from the bucket, respectively. Among those six boundaries, the only end-wall is most straight from the cutout-bottom to the outerbrim tip. Due to its singular feature, the end-wall may interfere with the smooth curved surface of bucket.
out-brim tip cutout bottom end-wall cutout outer-brim

I.

INTRODUCTION

As a part of boundaries for a free curved surface of Pelton bucket, the cutout and the end-wall are indispensable to secure the smooth entrance of the unsteady jet flow into the rotating bucket[1]. The existence of cutout and end-wall, however, may interfere with the original curved surface based on the hydrodynamic requirement. In order to discuss the interference of cutout/end-wall on the curved surface of Pelton bucket, it is the prerequisite to acquire the accurate tangential vectors and the curvature of the local panels on the curved surface. Both ends of the end-wall consist of two singular points: the one is the cutout-bottom, and the other is the outerbrim tip. By applying a boundary fitted grid (BFG) to discretize the curved surface of the Pelton bucket [2], the natural basis vector g and its partial derivatives g/P were computed in the non-orthogonal curvilinear frame [3]. Any small region of curved surface was defined as a local panel tangent to the nodes by using g1 and g2 and their partial derivatives g/P. By investigating the distribution of the partial derivatives g/P and the curvature along the nodal curve, the interference of the cutout-bottom and the outer-brim tip on the inner curved surface was simulated numerically. As a result, the interference of the end-wall on the Pelton bucket was qualitatively clarified and managed by the differential geometry.

splitter

side-brim

inner-brim Figure 1. Boundaries of a Pelton bucket

In order to discretize the 3-D free curved surface of a bucket for the CFD with two parameters s (having the index is) and t (with jt), the boundary fitted grid (BFG) was applied as follows: the splitter has the boundary of s=0, the side-brim s=1, the cutout/end-wall/outer-brim t=0, and the inner-brim t=1, respectively. By evenly dividing s and t into 50, respectively, 51 x 51 = 2,601 nodes of BFG were generated [4]. The BFG was defined in the rotating runner frame as illustrated in Fig.2. In the runner frame (XR1, XR2, XR3), the position vector PC of any node-C in BFG can be expressed as: PC=XRCieRi. (1)

where the unit basis vector eRi was defined at the origin of the runner frame. Dummy index i means the components were in Cartesian runner frame.

Project supported by Reform Commission Projection in Guangdong Province (Grant No. BKYB2011099)

where RNij is the transform tensor from the unit basis vector eRi to the natural basis vector g.
XR 3 XR 1 XR 2 PC s

R
t

The components of natural basis vector gC1 and gC2 shall, however, be tangent to the curved surface at the node-C, and was approximated here by the weighted central divided difference as follows: gC1 (wURUi1 + wDRDi1) eRi. gC2 (wLRLi2 + wRRRi2) eRi. (5) (5a)

Figure 2. Position vectors of BFG in Cartesian runner frame

B. Natural basis vector in non-orthogonal curvilinear local frame When another node-N was selected adjacent to the node-C on the curved surface as shown in Fig.3 which was the magnified of the pane in Fig.2, the displacement vector PN on the surface was expressed as: P N = P N P C =
i

Where, the weight wU and wD (so did wL and wR) were computed with considering the uneven grid distance between the center node-C to the adjacent node-N due to the discretization inaccuracy of BFG as follows: wU = 1 PU1/(PU1 + PD1) . wD = 1 PD1/(PU1 + PD1) . wU + wD = 1 (6) (6a) (6b)

XNi
i

eRi (i=1,2,3).
i

(2)

XN = XRN XRC .

(2a)

Numerically, the dummy index N was a representative of one of the node-U (upper neighbor of node-C), the node-D (down), the left or right neighbor to the relevant node-C of BFG, respectively.
s U PN g1 L t D g2 C PN1 PN2 R

The normal component vector gC3 was defined perpendicular to the tangent surface consisted of gC1 and gC2 as pointed out in Fig. 4: gC3 = gC1 x gC2.
s U g3 L t D g1

(7)

g2 C

Figure 3. Displacement vector in local natural frame

Since the PN of (2) resided on the curved surface around the above node-C, it can be expressed by the local natural (non-orthogonal curvilinear) basis vector gC at the node-C as follows: PN = PNj gCj (j=1,2). (3)

Figure 4. Natural basis vector gC at local node-C

The index j=1 shows the direction-s from the splitter to the side-brim along the down to upper neighbor of BFG, and j=2 expresses the direction-t from the cutout/end-wall/outer-brim to the inner-brim along the right to left neighbor of BFG, respectively, as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, every node in BFG was defined as the local origin in the natural frame. And the natural basis vector can be approximated by the forward divided difference as: gCj PN/PNj = (XNi/PNj) eRi = RNijeRi . (4)

C. Variation of natural basis vectors in Pelton bucket By consecutively connecting the local nodes, along jt = 25 (which is almost in the middle area of the bucket) as an example, the shape of a Pelton bucket was graphed with the natural basis vector in Fig. 5. Fig. 5(a) shows the distribution of three Cartesian components of gC1 in (5) along is from the splitter to the side-brim of a bucket.

jT=25

(a)

g1 at jT = 25

respectively. Along the cutout (is = 0 to 16), the amount of 1 | gC1| increases gradually. After the sudden peak at the cutout-bottom, the gradient becomes zero along the straight end-wall (is = 21 to 30). Then, after the second peak at the outer-brim tip, the gradient is decreased gradually along the outer-brim (is = 36 to 50). When the position of jt-nodes is moved by 20 % inside (jt = 10) from the boundary (Fig. 6(b)), the two peaks still exist but weaker than at jt =0. This is the extended effect of the endwall and two singular points. Third peak at is = 24 corresponds to the original curvature of the curved surface. At jt = 20 (40 % inside from the boundary), Fig. 6(c) still reveals the clear trace of two peaks, though the amounts are in the similar order with the original curvature. The slight trace of outer-brim tip is shown in Fig. 6(d).

(b)

g2 at jT = 25

(c)

g3 at jT = 25

(a) jt = 0

(b) jt = 10

Figure 5. Distribution of g along is

Similarly, Figs. 5(b) and 5(c) show the tendency of gC2 and gC3 along jT = 25 curve. The complete bucket was thus described by the differential geometry. III. PARTIAL DERIVATIVES OF G AND INTERFERENCE OF
SINGULAR POINTS (c) jt = 20 (d) jt = 30

A. Partial derivatives of g along BFG curve Since the natural basis vectors g1 and g2 were tangent to the node of BFG, their partial derivatives g1/P1 and g2/P2, etc. were computed to check the gradient (corresponding to the normal curvature) at the node as follows: hgj (:= gj/Ph) = (hgj)i eRi. (8)

Figure 6. Distribution of |1g1| along s direction

From the hydrodynamic point of view, those peaks interfere the original curvature of the curved surface. The interference of the cutout-bottom and the outer-brim tip on the Pelton bucket was thus quantitatively investigated by the partial derivative of the natural basis vector. C. Bucket surface based on differential geometry After the setup of the natural basis vector and its partial derivative for the non-orthogonal curvilinear BFG on the curved surface, the shape of a Pelton bucket was investigated by the differential geometry. Since two tangential vectors g1 and g2 at a node were linearly independent, a flat panel including them was also tangent to the node. The metric E, F and G were computed by the dot-product of the tangential vectors as follows [5]: E = g1g1; F = g1g2 = g2g1; G = g2g2. (10)

where, the index h=1 shows the partial derivative along s direction, and h=2 along t direction, respectively. Numerically, they were approximated, by applying the same weights as g, as follows: 1gC1 wD (gC1 gD1)/PD1 + wU (gU1 gC1)/PU1. 1gC2 wD (gC2 gD2)/PD1 + wU (gU2 gC2)/PU1. 2gC1 wR (gC1gR1)/PR2 + wL (gL1 gC1)/PL2. 2gC2 wR (gC2 gR2)/PR2 + wL(gL2 gC2)/PL2. B. Interference of cutout-bottom and outer-brim tip As an example, the distribution of | gC1| was graphed along the is-nodes under the boundary of cutout end-wall outer-brim (jt = 0) as shown in Fig. 6(a). Points of is = 18 and is = 33 correspond to the cutout bottom and the outer-brim tip,
1

(9) (9a) (9b) (9c)

The area S of the tangential flat panel for every node was approximated as (Fig. 7): S Cs P1 P2. (11)

simulated by a hemisphere having the spherical radius Rs (= B/4) = 0.0963 m (B is the representative inner width of the bucket), its Gaussian curvature was 1/Rs2 = 108.

Figure 7. Tangential flat panel for every node

where P1 and P2 are the lengths of the flat panel and the coefficient Cs was computed by the metric E, F and G:

Figure 8. Gaussian curvature along jt constant curve

Cs = EG F

(12)

IV.

CONCLUSION

With using the three metrics, the first fundamental form I was approximated by:

Differential geometry was applied to the 3-D free curved surface of a Peloton bucket. The conclusions obtained are as follows; (1) The boundary-fitted grids (BFG) were applied to the free curved surface of Pelton bucket, in order to discretize the whole surface into the 51 x 51 = 2,601 nodes. (2) The natural basis vectors g and their partial derivatives g/P were numerically computed for all the nodes by the differential geometry. By investigating the distribution of g/P along the BFG nodes, the interference of the singular points of cutout bottom and outer-brim tip on the surface was qualitatively clarified. (3) By computing the first fundamental parameters E, F, G, the area of each tangential flat panel can be obtained to predict the pressure, force, torque and stress acting on the bucket. By calculating the second fundamental parameters L, M, N with the differential geometry, the Gaussian curvature and mean curvature of the local surface can be obtained for all the nodes. REFERENCES
[1] Han Fengqin, Shen Na, Li Longxiang, et al. Unsteady separation of jet branch by cutout of rotating Pelton bucket, SCIENCE CHINA Technological Sciences, 2011, 54(2), pp. 302-310. HAN Feng-qin, LIU Ping-an, XIAO Ye-xiang et al. Discrete analogue curvature fluctuating widely Pelton bucket inner Surface by Body-Fitted Coordination[J]. Water Resources and Power, 2005, 23(4):68-69. HAN Feng-qin, LI Long-xiang, SHEN Na, et al. Natural basis vectors on 3-D free surface with singular nodes, Journal of Engineering Thermophysics, 2009, 30(8), pp. 1135-1138. Xiao Ye-xiang, Shen Na, Han Feng-qin, et al. A numerical generation of 3-D non-orthogonal body-fitted grid with free-surface for Pleton bucket, Journal of Engineering Thermophysics, 2008, 29(4), pp. 595598. KOBAYASHI Syoshichi. Geometry differential of curve and curved surface [M]. Tokyo, 1998, pp. 47-59.

I EP1 P1 + 2F P1 P2 + G P2 P2. (13)

With the tangential vector g and their partial derivatives g/P, the parameter L, M and N were expressed as:

L = 1g1g3, M1 = 2g1g3, M2= 1g2g3, N = 2g2g3. (14)

Since the local panels were anisometric and discontinuous as illustrated in Fig. 7, M1 M2 at each node. The second fundamental form II was approximated with the parameter L, M1, M2 and N [4] as:

II = dPdg3 L P1 P1+(M1+M2) P1 P2 +N P2 P2. (15)

The first and second fundamental forms were used to compute the normal curvature along the curved surface. In order to represent the curvature of the bucket, the Gaussian curvature and the mean curvature H were computed by the following equations:

[2]

= maxmin (LNM1 M2)/(EGF2).

H = (max+min)/2 [EN-(M1+M2)F+GL]/[2(EGF2)].

(16)

[3]

[4]

(17)
[5]

Where, max and min were the maximum and minimum curvature at the node. Fig. 8 depicts the distribution of Gaussian curvature along is. Except the two peaks in the curve of jt = 5 which reveal the interference of singular points, most of was less than 100. If the relevant bucket was