Estudio hidráulico de las obras anexas del Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Minas San Francisco mediante un modelo matemático de flujo de tres dimensiones

Abstract

In order to establish the flow pattern in the works annexed to the Minas San Francisco Hydroelectric Project, and to validate the results obtained through the small-scale physical model executed by the Program for Management of Water and Soil (PROMAS) and the Hydraulics and Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at University of Cuenca, through this study, the three-dimensional numerical modeling software SSIIM (Simulation of Sediment movements In Water Intakes with Multiblock option) has been implemented to the prototype of the reservoir and to works annexed to the project. This software is based on the approximation of a control volume with a three-dimensional mesh for flow calculation by solving the Navier-Stokes equations with the K-epsilon turbulence model. The study reports results of numerical simulation that are compared and analyzed with qualitative and quantitative results obtained from the study of the small-scale physical model. A good correspondence between numerical simulation and physical modeling is reported, confirming the flow patterns, the velocity distribution and streamlines, and the presence of local phenomena of interest for the project. Through the analysis and discussion of the results, it is concluded that the three-dimensional numerical modeling with SSIIM constitutes a complementary support to physical modeling to study the hydraulic performance and flow processes in subcritical regime in hydraulic structures of hydroelectric generation projects. Finally, recommendations are made to make way for the implementation of future studies to compare and analyze the performance of other models of numerical simulation as a tool for the design and analysis of the operation of hydraulic structures and flow processes in civil engineering projects.