Abstract: Identifying the values of water pressure distributed on the cushion structure of pipeline is of vital significance in the design of hydropower station. In association with the postprocessing of ANSYS, we present four methods of calculating the water pressure distribution on concrete, steel plate and non-cushioned zone using finite element software. Corresponding calculation method can be selected according to the complexity of the structure to be calculated. Among the four methods, the equivalent force method can be used to calculate the distribution of steel plate and concrete in holistic complex 3D model. Being convenient and reliable, the method solves the problem of analyzing the internal water pressure of the whole structure encountered in simplified 2D simulation.

Key words: water pressure, cushion structure, concrete, steel plate, distribution, pipeline of hydropower station