Comparative study of conical and cylindrical draft tubes in PAT applications: Enhancing energy efficiency and flow stability

IF 6.9 2区工程技术 Q2 ENERGY & FUELS

Applied Thermal Engineering Pub Date : 2025-10-04 DOI:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.128602

Chuan Wang , He Yu , Chenglong Niu , Tao Wang , Pengcheng Guo , Yulong Yao

{"title":"Comparative study of conical and cylindrical draft tubes in PAT applications: Enhancing energy efficiency and flow stability","authors":"Chuan Wang , He Yu , Chenglong Niu , Tao Wang , Pengcheng Guo , Yulong Yao","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.128602","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pump as Turbine (PAT) is an economical and effective technology widely applied in chemical processing, oil refining, and seawater desalination for liquid energy recovery and environmental protection. This study presents a novel investigation of the effects of draft tube geometry on PAT performance, comparing a conical draft tube with a traditional cylindrical draft tube through combined experimental validation and numerical simulation. The originality of this work lies in systematically analyzing not only the external hydraulic performance but also the internal flow structures, total entropy production, and pressure pulsation characteristics, providing a comprehensive assessment of energy efficiency and flow stability. Results indicate that at the high-efficiency operating point, the conical tube reduces turbulence intensity by 0.5 % and lowers the required head by 0.22 m compared with the cylindrical tube. The internal flow is more stable, with a more uniform static pressure distribution, lower turbulent kinetic energy, and significantly reduced central and eccentric vortices. Moreover, the conical tube effectively decreases total entropy production and reduces pressure pulsation amplitudes, with a maximum reduction of 47.5 % at key monitoring points. Overall, this study provides new insights into optimizing draft tube design in PAT systems, highlighting practical guidelines for enhancing both energy efficiency and operational stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"281 ","pages":"Article 128602"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Thermal Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359431125031941","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENERGY & FUELS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Pump as Turbine (PAT) is an economical and effective technology widely applied in chemical processing, oil refining, and seawater desalination for liquid energy recovery and environmental protection. This study presents a novel investigation of the effects of draft tube geometry on PAT performance, comparing a conical draft tube with a traditional cylindrical draft tube through combined experimental validation and numerical simulation. The originality of this work lies in systematically analyzing not only the external hydraulic performance but also the internal flow structures, total entropy production, and pressure pulsation characteristics, providing a comprehensive assessment of energy efficiency and flow stability. Results indicate that at the high-efficiency operating point, the conical tube reduces turbulence intensity by 0.5 % and lowers the required head by 0.22 m compared with the cylindrical tube. The internal flow is more stable, with a more uniform static pressure distribution, lower turbulent kinetic energy, and significantly reduced central and eccentric vortices. Moreover, the conical tube effectively decreases total entropy production and reduces pressure pulsation amplitudes, with a maximum reduction of 47.5 % at key monitoring points. Overall, this study provides new insights into optimizing draft tube design in PAT systems, highlighting practical guidelines for enhancing both energy efficiency and operational stability.

查看原文本刊更多论文

锥形和圆柱形尾水管在PAT应用中的比较研究：提高能量效率和流动稳定性

泵式汽轮机（PAT）是一种经济有效的技术，广泛应用于化工、炼油、海水淡化等领域，用于液体能量回收和环境保护。本文通过实验验证和数值模拟相结合的方法，对锥形尾水管和传统圆柱形尾水管进行了比较，研究了尾水管几何形状对PAT性能的影响。这项工作的独创性在于不仅系统地分析了外部水力性能，而且系统地分析了内部流动结构、总熵产和压力脉动特性，提供了对能量效率和流动稳定性的综合评估。结果表明，在高效工作点，锥形管比圆柱管湍流强度降低0.5%，所需扬程降低0.22 m。内部流动更加稳定，静压分布更加均匀，湍流动能更低，中心涡和偏心涡明显减少。此外，锥形管有效地降低了总熵产和压力脉动幅值，在关键监测点最大降低了47.5%。总的来说，这项研究为优化PAT系统的尾水管设计提供了新的见解，突出了提高能源效率和运行稳定性的实用指南。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Applied Thermal Engineering 工程技术-工程：机械

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

15.60%

发文量

1474

审稿时长

57 days

期刊介绍： Applied Thermal Engineering disseminates novel research related to the design, development and demonstration of components, devices, equipment, technologies and systems involving thermal processes for the production, storage, utilization and conservation of energy, with a focus on engineering application. The journal publishes high-quality and high-impact Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Short Communications and Letters to the Editor on cutting-edge innovations in research, and recent advances or issues of interest to the thermal engineering community.