Kirill Frolov
Deputy General Director responsible for scientific and project activities
– What kind of scientific research and development work is been carried out at RusHydro?
– In 2015 the growth of the works related with innovative subjects was 25% comparing to the previous year, and total share in the revenue mix amounted 12%. It is a worthy indicator.
First of all, the Company pays attention to the issues linked with guaranteeing of the facilities safe operation, fulfillment of the programs ofrehabilitation and modernization, Integrated modernization program (IMP) and operations monitoring. Based on priorities existing in 2015 more than ten research and development projects have been implemented. They included continuously operating three-dimensional modeling of geofiltration through facilities of Votkinskaya HPP. Mathematical model and methodology of short and long-term forecast of stream flow to reservoirof Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP accounting for grid modernization have been developed. Precision of level monitoring equipment was improved in order to provide for more accurate monitoring of hydropower facilities conditions.. Influence of biological processes on concrete surfaces of the hydraulic structures has been studied.
Approximately 20 % of the works is done for external customers. We fulfill research and development works for external companies from the fields of nuclear power and hydropower engineering, and transport infrastructure. For example, we worked out an alternative option of principal technical solution at the section of the transport bridge across the Kerch Strait. We elaborated a set of technical solutions for protecting supports of the Kerch Strait transport bridge against ice.
Furthermore, solutions in the field of construction materials and structures, including the composite ones, are beingdeveloped. Research is conductedin the field of renewable energy sources, including tidal, wave and low head river hydropower. Works in the field of flood protection are being carried out.
– And what projects are managed by RusHydro?
– Significant share of the project works falls to the program of technical rehabilitation and modernization and the program of complex modernization. Taking into account the fact that engineering process management during HPP (PSPP) modernization and construction requires a complex approach, the Company returned to the practice of appointing General designers discontinued in 2002 after implementation of new legislation on technical regulation. A General designer, an engineering company, was appointed by PJSC RusHydro to every HPP (PSPP). The main task of the General designer is to guarantee effectiveness and high technological level of the objects of technical rehabilitation and modernization as well asvia intergrated approach for development of HPP construction documents.
In addition to development of construction documents, the institutes of design and research complex provide field supervision, development of engineering documentation and provide support during all stages of the object life cycle.
The institutes of design and research complex work on the orders of the external customers including the foreign ones; they provide complex engineering and consulting services to power engineering companies, perform expert assessment of the construction documents.
-What are the specifics of hydropower engineering objects?
– The specifics of hydro power plants construction are that every project is unique. The uniqueness is determined by natural, engineering and geological conditions where it is necessary to “insert” hydraulic facility with certain performance specifications. Selection of the site for dam location and calculation of hydropower equipment are only two of many tasks solved by the specialists in the process of the hydraulic facility project development.
– Which of the projects could be called “breakthrough projects” in the reported year?
– It is hard to choose the most “breakthrough” designs because all of them are innovative ones. For example, at Nizhne-Bureyskaya HPP a technical solution involving absolutely new type of watertight element is being implemented for the first time both in national and in world practice. The element made of clay-cement concrete was erected along the whole height of the dam. Moreover, it ensures flood protection as well. This technical solution has very good perspectives for further implementation in the field of hydrotechnical construction.
A new type of controlling and measuring equipment based on fiber-optics of domestic design is being implemented in order to increase reliability and safety at Zaramaskaya HPP-2. This type of equipment is implemented in the field of hydrotechnical and hydraulic power construction for the first time.
Talking about the stage of technology implementation it is worth to mention project of reinforced concrete structures strengthening with the system of external reinforcement of composite materials based on carbon fibers. At the stage of trial operations, project of low-head mini-HPP on the basis of orthogonal turbine deserves attention.