Simulation and Control of Hydro Power

www.usn.
no
FMH606 Master's Thesis 2017

Process Technology
Simulation and control of hydro power

plants
Valentyna Splavska
Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences

Campus Porsgrunn
www.usn.no
Course: FMH606 Master’s Thesis 2017

Title: Simulation and control of hydro power plants
Pages: 67
Keywords: hydropower system, modelling, Modelica, frequency and power control
Student: Valentyna Splavska
Supervisor: Bernt Lie
External partner: Skagerak Energi
Availability: Open
Approved for archiving:

(Bernt Lie)
Summary:
Sustainable energy development implies meeting the energy needs of the future without
jeopardizing the life quality of the planet. To achieve these goals is possible by gradually
replacement in energy production profile of traditional energy sources by renewable until
technically reasonable level. Hydropower is an undeniable leader among renewable energy
sources and an important technological tool for implementation of Europe’s ambitious cli-
mate and energy goals. This is proven by latest official reports and investigations. Inclusion
into the grid of variable in time hydropower energy sources can cause distrubances. This
impacts significantly to the quality of electricity and grid balancing. For generation profile
prediction and control purpose, modeling of the hydropower systems is used. Since hydro-
power systems are principally similar and match well object-oriented modeling capabilities.
The objective of this thesis is to develop mechanistic model of the hydropower system and
to validate it. For this purpose, the mechanistic model based on the Euler equations was
developed and tested by application to the case studies with different components configura-
tion. For simplicity, the compressibility of water and elasticity of pipe walls were neglected,
since the main aim is to compare a turbine model based on the Euler equations vs. a table
look-up model. The influence of surge tanks on the transients of the system was illustrated.
The developed model is not suitable for analysis of cavitation, because compressibility neg-
lecting and filtering out of some pressure transients by elasticity in water/pipes. The research
contributes in refining a case study for hydropower systems, and in emphasizing the use-
fulness of mechanistic turbine models. The results of model simulation were validated by
comparison with ”hill charts” model for relevant components configuration and empirical
model consisting of look-up tables based on the turbine geometry obtained by using Alab
software.
Preface
This work is an individual research task documented in a master’s thesis FMH606 during
the last (fourth) semester of the Master program Process technology at University College
of Southeast Norway.
The topic of the master’s thesis is ”Simulation and control of hydropower plants”. The
development of the mechanistic model of the hydropower system based on the Euler
equations and its validation stays in a focus in this thesis.
The task for the master’s thesis (see Appendix A) is predominantly related to the courses
FM1015 Modeling of Dynamic Systems and SCEV3215 Object-oriented Modeling of Hy-
dro Power Systems taken in the first and third semesters of the master’s program respect-
ively. The working process on the task implied both application and amplification of the
knowledge and skills obtained during entire masteræs program.
The obtained results of the work are supposed to present in a conference paper (58th Inter-
national Conference of Scandinavian Simulation Society, SIMS 2017, Reykjavik, Iceland)
(see Appendix B).
Acknowledgements
I am truly grateful to University College in Southeast of Norway for the excellent pos-
sibility to work on the task of master’s thesis within simulation and control of hydro
power systems. It was an incomparable opportunity to be involved into education process
of the University College which gave me both theoretical knowledge and practical skills
within modeling and simulation of dynamic systems, transport process and fundamental
thermodynamic, process control techniques and other disciplines important for being the
successful process engineer.
I want to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Professor Bernt Lie for signific-
ant contribution to my research. The structural and systematical organization of weekly
meetings with taste of coffee inspirated and encouraged me during this semester. Partic-
ularly, I would like to thank for course FM1015 Modeling of Dynamic Systems which has
become a central factor in the decision making process of my future working field.
3
I would like to thank Liubomyr Vytvytskyi for technical assistance with model simulation
in Dymola, support within model development and encouragements during this period.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Ingunn Granstrøm from Skagerak for
technical consultations, providing of geometry data relevant to the case studies and time
sacrificing for simulation of case studies in Alab.
Porsgrunn, 15th May 2017

Valentyna Splavska
4
Contents
Preface 3
Contents 6
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1 Introduction 10
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2 Previous work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 Overview of thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 System overview 15
2.1 Reservoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Conduit system/waterway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2.1 Water intake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.2 Intake race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.3 Sand trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.4 Fine trash rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.5 Surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.6 Surge shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.7 Penstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.8 Penstock isolating valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.9 Air vessel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Hydropower turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.1 Turbine inlet valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3.2 Turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.3 Cavitation and sand erosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.4 Closing valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 System outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.1 Draft tube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5.2 Draft tube gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.3 Outlet surge shaft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.4 Outlet tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5
Contents
3 Model development 24
3.1 Reservoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Inlet race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 Manifold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 Penstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5 Surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Stability criterion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.7 Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.8 Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.9 Governor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.10 Discharge race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 Simulation of the study cases 37

4.1 Modelica overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Simulation of the study cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.1 Hydropower system with Francis turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.2 Hydropower system with Pelton turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.3 Comparison of mechanistic and look-up table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5 Control of the hydropower plant 45

5.1 Control system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2 Speed droop control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.3 Power/frequency Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6 Conclusions 49
Bibliography 51
A FMH606 Masther’s thesis description 55
B The abstract for conference paper 59
C The global hydropower usage. Statistic data 62
D The hill charts 65
6
List of Figures
2.1 Principal scheme of a hydropower system [29] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1 Schematic representation of the model for flow through reservoir with water
level as a time function. [29] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Schematic representation of the model for dam with constant water level . 25
3.3 Schematic representation of the model for inlet race . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 Schematic representation of the model for flow through the penstock . . . 27
3.5 Schematic representation of the model for flow through the surge tank . . 28
3.6 The main components of friction loss in the aggregate rotation . . . . . . . 32
3.7 Turbine efficiency curve of a Francis turbine vs. partial load . . . . . . . . 33
3.8 The relation between the position of the servo motor and the turbine open-
ing degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.9 Schematic representation of the model for discharge race . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.1 The hydropower system without surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.2 The hydropower system with upstream surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.3 The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks . . . . 40
4.4 The hydropower system without surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.5 The hydropower system with upstream surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.6 The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks . . . . 42
4.7 The Francis turbine efficiency vs. flow rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.8 The comparison of the obatined results (efficiency) with look-up table . . . 43
4.9 The comparison of the obatined results (power) with look-up table . . . . 43
4.10 The comparison of the obatined results (power) with look-up table . . . . 44
4.11 The results of the calculated geometry for Francis turbine . . . . . . . . . 44
5.1 The relation between the position of the servo motor and the turbine open-
ing degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.2 The lock diagram of a turbine closed loop governor system . . . . . . . . . 46
C.1 Hydroelectricity generation till 2050 in the Hydropower Roadmap vision

(TWh) [3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
C.2 Newly added hydropower capacity in 2015 generalized over continents, MW 63
C.3 Regional hydropower technical potential and percentage of undeveloped
technical potential (2009) [3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7
List of Figures
C.4 Installed hydropower capacity in Europe, MW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

C.5 The global hydroelectricy generation, 1965-2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
D.1 The K461 runner hill chart and the matrix of discrete points [54] . . . . . 65
D.2 The K461 runner hill chart’s table [54] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
D.3 The RO75-702 runner hill chart and the matrix of discrete points [55] . . . 67
D.4 The RO75-702 runner hill chart’s table [55] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8
Nomenclature
Symbol Explanation
IEA International energy agency

IHA International hydropower association
AS Allmennaksjeselskap
NOK Norwegian kroner
SIMS Scandinavian Simulation Society
EPFL École Politechnique Federale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology in Lausanne)
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
SIMSEN Simulation software for the analysis of electrical power networks,
adjustable speed drives and hydraulic systems
CFD Computational fluid dynamics
9
1 Introduction
This chapter gives a brief preview of the thesis structure and content along with the
background and goal of the work, and survey of available literature sources relevant to
the master thesis’ framework.
1.1 Background
In 2010, the European Commission defined the main idea of sustainable development
as “meeting the needs of present generations without jeopardizing the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs – in other words, a better quality of life for everyone,
now and for generations to come” [1]. The last few years have witnessed positive intention
and progress of the global society towards implementing targets of a new sustainable
agenda and agreement on climate change. This process has stimulated interest in low-
carbon, resilient and sustainable technologies and, hence, brought a particular focus on
renewable and clean energy sources [2].
An undeniable leader among renewable energy sources has always been hydro power due
to its several advantages. As the most conventional advantages can be mentioned: high
level of reliability, proven technology, high efficiency, quite low operating, and maintenance
costs, flexibility, and large storage capacity [3]. Nowadays over 97 % of the world’s energy
storage capacity relates to the hydropower sector [3].
Since 2005, due to new capacity additions, hydropower has been the absolute leader in
electricity generation among renewable energy sources. Hydropower covers almost one-
sixth of the world’s electricity needs [4]. According to the Technology Roadmap prepared
by IEA in 2012, hydropower is the major global electricity generation technology among
renewable technologies. Moreover, hydropower technology will remain so for a long time
as it is foreseen in [3]. In [3] it was predicted that by 2050 the global capacity approaches 2
000 GW and global electricity generation exceeds 7 000 TWh. Predominantly, increasing
in hydroelectricity generation will be reached by realization of the large hydropower pro-
jects in emerging economies and developing countries. IEA in its latest report announced
as the most perspective for hydropower technologies development regions in Africa (re-
gional and cross-boundary river basins, including the Congo, Nile and Zambezi rivers),
Asia (monstly in China) and Latin America (predominantly regions in Brazil) [3].
10
1 Introduction
At the end of 2015 world’s hydropower generation reached the level of 3 975 TWh. By
the results of 2015, the absolute leader besides of new installed hydropower capacity
was China (19,4 GW). Countries with a significant contribution to the extension process
of new installed hydropower capacity are Brazil (2,5 GW), Turkey (2,2 GW), India (1,
9 GW), Iran (1 GW) and Vietnam (1 GW) [2]. Information about added hydropower
capacity generalized over continents is given in Appendix 1 figure C.2.
On the European continent Scandinavia and Alpine countries are pioneering and leading
regions in the number of installed hydropower capacity. Here, the leadership position
in hydropower sector development belongs to Norway (30 566 MW) [2, 5]. 99 % of all
electrical power production in Norway originates from hydropower [4]. Also, Norway is
Europe’s absolute leader in installed hydropower capacity including pumped storage and
remains on the 6th place in the global scale [2, 6]. Generalized picture over installed
hydropower capacity in Europe is given in Appendix 2 C.4.
The development of renewable resources brings a new set of technological challenges not
previously faced by the grid. Among these challenges, the variability of renewable gen-
eration has an urgent character [7]. The variability of renewable resources implicitly or
explicitly depends on characteristic weather fluctuations. The weather forecast includes
some part of prediction and uncertainty in itself, which, in its turn, induces uncertainty
in generation output (on the scale of seconds, hours and days) and difficulties to predict
it [7]. This contributes to disturbances which occur and can cause an unbalance of the
grid system. If the part of renewable generation penetrations on the grid is considerably
small (less than 30%), it can be smoothly integrated [7]. Otherwise, the application of
modern approaches for extending and operating the grid is required.
The variability of renewable energy can be accommodated by using regulation scheme
when demand and renewable supply are matched—both rising and falling together [7].
Nevertheless, the accommodation cost can rise dramatically if changes in demand and
renewable supply occur in opposite directions.
Generation profile of hydropower sources has different variability profile as in case of wind
power or solar renewable sources. It caused by the greater predictability (over wind power)
of its generation even for run-of-river plants and the control over the source through its
storage capabilities [7]. In spite of that, the hydropower generation profile is variable over
longer time scales, depending on precipitation and water run-off.
The mentioned challenges are addressed to solve by well-tuned control systems and mod-
eling of the generation processes. Since hydropower systems are principally similar (in the
meaning of extensive applying of standard components), they match well object- oriented
modeling capabilities.
A model of a hydropower system covers the most important parts of the hydropower
plant or, for instance, those components which are of interest. The model consists of
a mathematical description in the form of differential algebraic equations of physical
11
1 Introduction
processes inside the component (friction, expansion, compression, pressure drop, water
hammer effect etc.) and shows the impact to the other units of the hydropower plant.
Hence, modeling of the dynamic processes is a crucial tool in hydropower sector control
and development.
Typically, for modeling, simulation packages and established libraries of the hydropower
plant components are applied. Several modern languages allow to compose and compute
a model of a hydropower plant. This thesis considers the equation-based language Mod-
elica and its simulation environments OpenModelica and Dymola, due to well-developed
libraries, commercial availability and powerful mathematical apparatus (more detailed
overview of chosen language will be given in Chapter 4) [8, 9].
The objective of this thesis is to present a model description for various units of the
hydropower system, develop and implement two numeric case studies for the waterway
with different configuration and simulate the composed models. Consideration of standard
frequency and power control methods is of interest as well.
1.2 Previous work

Since the first model of a hydropower system was developed, it has been of interest
to formulate the model of physical processes as close to the real system as possible.
Furthermore, it is crucial to reach model accurate reflection to the dynamic of the physical
system. This can be approached by model reduction considering some assumptions. The
most applicable assumptions in hydropower systems modeling are: compressibility of
working liquid, elasticity of the piping system and water column, thermal expansion,
liquid density change, temperature deviation, loss, non-linearity of model, water hammer
and cavitation effect, flow swirl, open channel, dam type etc. Therefore, there is a diversity
of research directions within hydropower system modeling.
One of the most fundamental and pioneering investigation within hydraulic turbine and
turbine control models was made by IEEE in 1992 [10]. In this work, IEEE Working
Committee presented a variety of hydro power plant models and proposed some control
techniques of the power generation available in concern to the computing power and
technical development at that time [10].
Several of the available investigations on modeling of hydropower system have considered
a hydropower system with compressible water column and penstock [12, 11, 13, 14].
In fact, simplified models with assumption about incompressible penstock are still used.
These models are aimed to pay more attention to the interaction between electrical and
hydraulic system of hydro power plant and disturbances which may occur [13, 14].
12
1 Introduction
A quite comprehensive turbine-penstock model is developed in [15]. In accordance with

his research, requirement of the achieving of the desired accuracy level of the turbine-
penstock models can be met by consideration of the non-linearity of the system behavior
[15]. The nonlinear models of the hydropower system were likewise considered in [16, 17,
14]. The novel inelastic linearized model of the unsteady flow for the tailrace system with
an open channel and water hammer effect consideration was developed in [19, 18].
There is also quite developed research field dedicated to run-of-river hydropower plant
object-oriented modeling [20].
A considerable number of investigations are connected with control system improvement.
Thus, in [21], the optimization of hydropower production deviation is in focus. To analyze
the reason for power production deviation, a reference analytical model based on the
Francis turbine was developed, and implemented in Modelica using HydroPower Library
of Modelon AB in [21]. In [22], different control algorithms are considered, and the
appropriate hydropower plant simulator is developed. In [23], the analysis of the primary
control system for the case of isolated model of hydropower plant is of interest.
There are several works which has as objective the estimation of wicket gate loads, based
on CFD study. Thus, in [24] investigation of hydrodynamic loads on a wicket gate was
performed. A hydropower system with Kaplan turbine was taken as case study.
In [25] the research is focused on the transient phenomena impact and optimization of the
controllers and governor parameters in accordance with operating conditions the power
plants may face to provide an efficient and safety operation control of the system [25, 26].
The prediction of transient modes consequences are based on numerical simulation of the
dynamic behavior of the entire system implemented in SIMSEN software developed by
the Laboratory of Electrical Machines of the EPFL [25, 27].
In [28], the effect of penstock parameter variation on mechanical power is of interest.
In order to analyze the system response, the authors developed the nonlinear model of
a turbine and long penstock without hydraulic friction losses [28]. As implementation
environment for the developed model MATLAB SIMULINK was used.
1.3 Overview of thesis

The main distinctive features of this thesis are:
1. Based on a developed model of the hydropower plant, the following six case studies
were simulated in OpenModelica:
a) without surge tank (Francis and Pelton turbines)
b) with upstream surge tank (Francis and Pelton turbines)
13
1 Introduction
c) with upstream and downstream surge tanks (Francis and Pelton turbines)
2. The developed model for Francis turbine was validated by means of comparison
analysis of simulation results both with hill charts and look-up table based on the
turbine geometry.
Specifically, in Chapter 2 a general overview of main hydropower system components are
given. Based on this overview, conclusion about the elements to be included in the future
model of the hydropower system was made.
Chapter 3 presents a mechanistic model of the hydropower system in the form of differ-
ential algebraic equations for the chosen system components and case studies in Chapter
2.
Chapter 4 gives an brief overview of Modelica language and Dymola simulation envir-
onmental. The main advantage and mathematical apparatus capabilities are specified.
In the second sub-chapter the simulation results of case studies are presented. Also, the
comparison analysis of the obtained results vs. hill charts and look-up table is given.
Chapter 5 includes the brief information about relevant to the considered hydropower
system types of control. The appropriate variant of the control system is presented.
Chapter 6 introduces the conclusions and discussion of the perspectives for future re-
search.
14
2 System overview
This chapter gives overview of the basic components of a hydropower system. Hydropower
systems are very divers in terms of plant type and size, generating unit type and size,
the height head, their sizes and purposes (i.e. electricity generation, capacity or multi-
purpose) [3].The common primarily classification of the hydropower plants includes three
functional classes:
1. Run-of-river hydropower plants harness energy for electricity production mainly
from the available flow of the river [3]. Thus, the generation profile is predominantly
driven by natural river flow conditions or releases from any upstream reservoir.
In such a system, instead of a reservoir, part of a natural river flow diverts into
the turbine waterway. Hence, there is no such upstream reservoir and generation
depends on precipitation and runoff. In this case generation profile has substantial
daily, monthly, seasonal and yearly variations. A short-term storage (”pondage”)
is to be included to run-of-river hydropower system to provide hourly and daily
flexibility in load demand profile adapting.
2. Reservoir (or storage) serves for water storing to provide the flexibility of electricity
generation on demand, and diminish dependency on the inflow variability [3]. Reser-
voirs are classified by their size, electrical capacity and generation potential. Due to
design features of the reservoir hydropower systems, they can be used to cover both
base (it means that generation takes place round-the-clock and in all seasons) and
peak loads (conversely, the generation takes place during hours of peak demand).
3. Diversion system implies separation of a part of the river from a main stream and
diverted to a tunnel/canal. Then it proceeds to the hydropower system and after-
wards joins the main stream of the river again [21].
4. Pumped storage plants serve as on-grid electricity storage. From a downstream
reservoir water is pumped into a upstream reservoir when exceeding of electricity
supply takes place. When demand exceeds instantaneous electricity generation, the
electricity generates by releasing of stored water and flowing back from the upstream
to the downstream reservoir through the turbine. So, principally, both the pumped
storage and reservoir hydropower systems serve to store potential energy in the
form of elevated water for generating on demand [3]. The distinction is that the
pumped storage systems consume energy from the grid to lift the water up, and
return most of this energy to the grid later. Thus, the effective (efficiency approach
15
2 System overview
from 70% to 85%) electricity storage is provided. Nowadays, 99% of on-grid storage
is represented by pumped storage systems.
The following work considers only the reservoir hydropower systems. The principal scheme
of the typical reservoir hydropower system is shown in figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1: Principal scheme of a hydropower system [29]
According to approved standards of the hydropower plant constructions discussed in [30],

starting at the reservoir, the following elements are installed: a coarse trash rack, intake
gate, intake race tunnel, surge tank (if needed, a surge shaft can be installed in addition),
sand trap, fine trash rack, penstock isolating valve with air valve, penstock, spherical
valve, turbine, draft tube, draft tube gate, outlet surge shaft and tale race tunnel. Since
all components of the hydropower system are connected in series, the valves and gates
are important elements of hydropower system for controll and regulation pruposes, to
meet safety requirements in case of failure and to provide possibility for technical main-
tenance. Technical characteristics of these valves have to meet the following operational
requirements: flood control, water tightness, set minimum hoist capacity, convenience of
installation and maintenance, failure free performance and avoidance of safety hazards to
the operating staff and the public [31].
Water from the reservoir passing through the coarse trash rack enters the intake race
tunnel via the intake gate and proceeds to the manifold and further to the penstock before
reaching the turbine gate. Next, it goes ahead into the scroll casing causing rotation in
the turbine. The turbine rotor is connected with the generator rotor by the shaft coupling
element. The entering water flow is regulated by wicket gate, which in its turn is actuated
by a servomotor controlled by the governor [30]. The driving force for the governor is the
deviation between the developed torque and the electricity demand. The gross head of
16
2 System overview
the water in the hydropower system is determined by the difference between elevation of
upstream and tail reservoir. In real systems, the gross head is less than the mentioned
elevation difference, because of energy loss due to friction [21].
Hence, the hydropower system can be divided into the following structural blocks: reser-
voir, conduit system (waterway), hydropower turbine, generator and system outlet. The
following sections give operation principles for main components of the hydropower sys-
tem.
2.1 Reservoir
The reservoir is aimed to store water which is the working body in the hydropower plant
system. The reservoir can be formed on the basis of a lake or a river. The water height
level in the reservoir is one of the key factors which determine the hydraulic effect of the
hydropower plant. To store enough amount of the working body based on the natural
reservoir (lake, river) for the needed hydraulic effect, the dam should be constructed.
Thus, the steadiness of the production irrespective of varying precipitation or inflow to
the reservoir is provided. There are different types of dams. In [32] the following categor-
ization of dams is proposed:
1. Embankment dam (including huge diversity of dam types depending on utilization
of available materials (mostly natural materials like soil, gravel, stone, moraine);
the initial classification is presented by earthfill and rockfill embankments [32])
2. Concrete dam (covering major types of concrete dams as gravity, buttress and arch
dams and variety of more or less common variants of the mentioned above major
types)
2.2 Conduit system/waterway

The conduit system is a piping system which convey water from the water intake to the
turbine. The waterway includes water intake, intake race (constructed as open channel or
tunnel), sand trap, trash racks, manifold, penstock, air vessel, surge tank and surge shaft
[30, 29]. If the intake race is constructed as open channel, the system can be dug in the
ground, blasted in rock or built up of wood or concrete in the form of an inclined channel
(chute).
17
2 System overview
2.2.1 Water intake
The water intake is following by the reservoir. Since the reservoir is open, trees, branches,
stones, debris and other bulky trash may enter and cause hazardous damage or failures of
the system. Hence, their entering into the hydro power plant system must be prevented.
For preventive purpose, the water intake zone should be equipped with a coarse trash
rack [30]. Some hydropower systems have a deep water intake which allows to skip trash
rack and has better regulation capabilities. In this case, below the water intake, a sump
is to be constructed.
For technical maintenance or emergency situations when conduit system emptying is
required, an intake gate is to be installed to shut off water delivery. Since leakage through
the main gate can occur, a small gate may be arranged for drainage purposes.
2.2.2 Intake race
The part of the waterway between water intake and the surge tank is denoted the intake
race. The intake race may be drilled, blasted or bored in the rock. The boring method
allows to obtain smoother surface inside the intake race and, consequently, reduce the
friction head loss for the same cross section consequently [30]. The intake race ends with
a sand trap.
2.2.3 Sand trap
The sand trap is a part of the intake race with gradually increasing cross-section. This
component is used to improve sedimentation of suspended particles [31, 30]. The widened
cross-section of the tunnel in the zone following the sump causes significant reduction of
the water velocity. Thus, sand sediment is collected and transported away from this zone
through the transport tunnel via connecting gates [31]. The shape of the sand trap is a
rectangular basin. The sand trap helps to reduce the erosion processes on the mechanical
components of the valves and turbine [31]. In order to prevent bypassing of sand, the
sand trap basin should be emptied at fixed time intervals set in accordance with the
hydropower plant operation and maintenance schedule.
2.2.4 Fine trash rack
A fine trash rack is usually installed before the penstock. The fine trach rack is a valuable
element of the system which is aimed to prevent entering of debris of smaller stones
downstream the system. Thus, a fine trash rack is a double-protection system of the
18
2 System overview
valve and the turbine together with sand trap for the case when the last one is full or
omitted [30]. The difference between coarse and fine trash racks is in the bar size: the
spacing of bars in a fine trash rack is smaller than in the coarse rack [31]. Here, the
dimensions should be chosen in consideration to withstand a completely clogged trash
rack [31]. To prevent resonance problems and fatigue fractures of the bars, the frequency
of the bars must not be equal to the Von Karmans vortex frequency [31]. For analysis
of oscillating flow mechanism, the dimensionless Stouhals number must be in a range of
0,19-0,20[31].
2.2.5 Surge tank
While water flow is proceeding trough the waterway it can accelerate or decelerate caus-
ing pressure variations with magnitude exceeding the nominal pressure in the waterway,
which, in its turn, leads to the load changes causing the mass oscillations [30, 21]. This
large pressure oscillations is called “water hammer” effect. The intensity of the water
hammer effect is defined by the length of the waterway and the magnitude of acceleration
or deceleration. Thus, the piping system of the waterway should be reinforced suffi-
ciently (which usually is not economically feasible) or the magnitude of possible pressure
variations should be controlled in an appropriate way. There are several water hammer
prevention means that can be applied: limitating the gate or valve closing time, pressure
regulator valves installed close to the turbine, surge tank and surge shaft [21]. In this
thesis a surge tank is considered as a water hammer prevention mean. The surge tank
connects to the intake race and the penstock by manifold [29]. The size of the surge tank
should be large enough to fulfill the requirement of a stability criteria (Thoma criteria)
and be able to reduce the maximum magnitude of pressure variation in the tunnel to an
appropriate level [31].
2.2.6 Surge shaft
Surge shaft is a surge tank with small cross section area. The surge shaft is installed
additionally to the surge tank.
2.2.7 Penstock
The penstock is a pipe either welded of steel plates, or made of concrete or wood, This
pipe serves to connect the pressure tank and turbine inlet valve in the machine hall [30].
The penstock can be lined and unlined. A choice of the appropriate shaft depends on
the rock quality. If the rock quality is sufficiently high, an unlined pressure shaft is more
economical and technically suitable. Otherwise the shaft is being lined by concrete or steel
19
2 System overview
plate mining embedded in concrete [30]. The penstock lining increases the cost, however,
it contributes to losses reducing.
There are also possibilities for inside and outside installation of penstock in the rock. In
case of installation inside the rock, the penstock is embedded in a concrete plug. For
installation above ground, the penstock should be mounted on foundation concrete block
and fixed in reinforced concrete anchoring blocks in definite points.
The length of the penstock is an important parameter proportional to the water inertia
and influences on the dynamic height loss [33]. An automatic isolating/shut-off valve at
the upstream end of a penstock must be installed. This valve provides automatically
closing if a pipe rupture takes place.
2.2.8 Penstock isolating valve
The penstock isolating valve is a butterfly type valve, which closes if the water velocity is
higher than 1,25 of the water velocity at full power output of the plant [31]. The necessity
of the isolating valve installation depends on the length of the intake race.
2.2.9 Air vessel
In order to mitigate pressure fluctuation caused by pumps, vortex shedding, valves clos-
ing/opening, etc. in a hydropower system with closed surge tank, an air vessel is used
[25].
2.3 Hydropower turbine
2.3.1 Turbine inlet valve
A turbine inlet valve should be installed prior to the turbine. The type of valve is defined
by the turbine type. Thus, for high pressure turbines, a spherical valve is recommended
[31]. To prevent cavitation damage of the valve seal, the turbine inlet valve must be drop
tight [31].
20
2 System overview
2.3.2 Turbines
The Pelton turbines are used for high heads and small flows. In the Pelton turbines water
passes through nozzles and strikes spoon-shaped buckets arranged on the periphery of a
wheel.
Francis turbines accommodate a wide range of heads (20 m to 700 m), small to very
large flows, a broad rate capacity and excellent hydraulic efficiency [3]. Therefore, Francis
turbines are the most common and widely-used turbine type. Guide vanes direct the
water tangentially to the turbine wheel.Then, the water enters the wheel and exits it in
the middle [3]. For output optimization and efficiency over the variations in head and
flow conditions, the guide vanes are adjustable.
For Kaplan turbines the operating range is low heads and large flows. The Kaplan turbine
is a propeller-type turbine with adjustable blades [3].
2.3.3 Cavitation and sand erosion
Water turbines are often affected by impact of cavitation and sand erosion. High head
turbines (above 250 m) are primarily in the risky zone due to high pressures, pressure
variations and high water velocities [30].
Cavitation in the waterway/turbine occurs due to vaporization of water at low pressure
condition and re-condensation to liquid water. This creates some phase pulsation leading
to local high pressure spikes in pressure which may easily destroy equipment such as
turbine blades [29]. The main condition for vaporization is a decrease in the local pressure
below the saturation pressure of water at the given temperature [29].
For a Francis or Kaplan turbine, the runner and draft tube cones are exposed to cavitation,
while for a Pelton turbine the needle, nozzles and the runner buckets are attacked mostly
by cavitation. This has stimulated a progressive development of a material science applied
to hydropower turbines. Today, guide vanes and runners exposed to high flow velocities
with high risk of cavitation and turbulence corrosion are preferably made of stainless steel
13% Cr 4% Ni and 16% Cr 5% Ni respectively [30]. The 16% Cr 5% Ni stainless steel is
also used for the upper part of the draft tube cone, surface of the covers against the guide
vane end faces. The hardened stainless steel of 13% Cr 4% Ni or 16% Cr 5% Ni is used
for the parts exposed to high flow velocities such as needle tips and nozzles.
Sand erosion occurs mainly on the plants at net heads above 200 - 300 m. Sand erosion
implies some abrasive wear, which is able to destroy the oxide layer on the flow guiding
surfaces and can lead to unevenness of the surfaces which may be the origin also for
cavitation erosion [30]. There are some differences between the effects sand erosion can
make for Pelton and Francis turbines. Thus, in the case of Pelton turbines, the needle
21
2 System overview
tip, the seal rings in the nozzles and the runner buckets are affected by sand erosion.
Here, the particle size is an important parameter which defines the localization and type
of the damages. This phenomenon is caused by the turbulence occurrence in the high jet
velocity bringing the grain particles to oscillate and rotate in circles leading to collisions
with the steel surface [30]. For a Francis turbine, the guide vane cascade and the labyrinth
rings are mostly exposed to the sand erosion.
2.3.4 Closing valve
A closing valve must be installed upstream the turbine. There are various types of closing
valves, such as a gate, butterfly valve, gate valve, spherical valve etc [30].
2.4 Generator
The generator is used in the hydropower systems in order to perform the conversion of
mechanical energy from the turbine into electric energy.This conversion process is de-
scribed by Faraday’s law:
dΦB
ε = −N (2.1)
dt
Principally, the generator consists of a rotating part (the rotor) and a stationary part (the
stator). According to Faraday’s law, the rotating magnetic field delivered by the rotor,
induces voltage in the copper coils in the stator.
Generators can be divided into synchronous and asynchronous generators. The first type
is widely applied in bigger hydro power plants, while, on smaller hydropower plants (less
than 5 MW) asynchronous generators are more applicable [21].
2.5 System outlet
2.5.1 Draft tube
The waterway ends with a draft tube. In [31], it is referred to the downstream part of the
turbine. The draft tube serves to convey the water from the turbine to the downstream
reservoir (tail water). Due to specific configuration with a gradually increasing cross-
section towards the downstream reservoir, the remaining kinetic energy at the runner
outlet is converted to pressure energy at the draft tube outlet [31].
22
2 System overview
2.5.2 Draft tube gate
The draft tube gate has an isolating function, to provide access to the draft tube and
turbine for inspection or maintenance. At the normal operation regime of the turbine,
the draft tube gate is locked and secured [31].
2.5.3 Outlet surge shaft
The outlet surge shaft is aimed to reduce a low pressure wave in order to separate the
water column beneath the turbine runner when shut down of the turbine is occur. The
size of the outlet surge shaft should be chosen in a way to fulfil the requirement of the
maximum surge level to flood the power house during shut down of the turbines which
following by the start simultaneous with the adverse point of surge time of the outlet
tunnel system. Otherwise the restriction on the turbine’s start sequence after shut down
must be set [31].
2.5.4 Outlet tunnel
This component is the last one before the downstream reservoir. The design of the outlet
tunnel is similar to the intake race tunnel.
23
3 Model development
The following chapter develops mechanistic model for each system component. For this
model, assume that the hydropower system consists of the following components: reser-
voir, intake race, manifold, upstream surge tank, penstock, turbine, generator, governor,
discharge race, downstream surge tank, and tail water reservoir. These components are
assumed to include to the model, based on the component’s contribution to a dynamics
of the entire hydropower system.
3.1 Reservoir
In the following model, the reservoir is assumed as an open pound (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1: Schematic representation of the model for flow through reservoir with water level as a time
function. [29]
From a pressure balance of a reservoir, the pressure at the water intake (the outlet of the
reservoir) is the sum of atmospheric pressure and static pressure of the dam depending
on the water height in the dam. So that:
pa + pres,1 = pres,2 (3.1)
pres,1 = pst,res = ρ ghres (t) (3.2)
24
3 Model development
The mass balance of the dam:

dmres
= ṁi,res − ṁe,res (3.3)
dt
For model simplification, the water level in the reservoir is assumed as constant or with
insignificant variation which impact is not essential to the model of entire hydropower
system (Figure 3.2).
This assumption can be considered due to inertia of the reservoir as a system, since the
time period for water level changing in the reservoir can be considered as very large to the
time period for pressure and mass flow changing inside the hydropower system. Therefore,
Figure 3.2: Schematic representation of the model for dam with constant water level
the reservoir model can be reduced to:

pa + pres,1 = pres,2 (3.4)
pres,1 = pst,res = ρ gHres
pres,2 = pIR,1
3.2 Inlet race

Schematically the model of the intake race is shown in figure 3.3. Momentum balance:
dMIR
= M˙IR,i − M˙IR,e + FIR,∑ (3.5)
dt
Assume: M˙IR,i = M˙IR,e , so that equation 3.5 can be reduced to:
dMIR
= FIR (3.6)
dt
25
3 Model development
Figure 3.3: Schematic representation of the model for inlet race
D2IR

mIR
MIR = 2
V̇IR , m = ρ VIR , VIR = π rIR LIR = π LIR
AIR 4
The forces acting in the inlet race:

FIR = FIR,p + FIR,g − FIR,f (3.7)
HIR K 000 IR AIR,w fIR,D
FIR,p = pIR,1 AIR − pIR,2 AIR , FIR,g = mIR g , FIR,f =
LIR 4
000 ρ
AIR,w = π DIR LIR , KIR = 2 V̇IR V̇IR
2AIR

1 εIR 5, 74
= −2 lg + (3.8)
3, 70DIR NIR,Re 0,9
p
fIR,D
ρ V̇IR DIR
NRe,IR =
µ AIR
3.3 Manifold
The main purpose of the manifold is to connect the outlet of the inlet race, the inlet of the
penstock and the inlet of the upstream surge tank. By assuming that there is negligible
mass (inertia) inside the manifold, steady state for both mass and momentum balances
can be assumed [29]. Since no mass is accumulated, the mass balance of the manifold can
be represented as:
dm
=0
dt
V̇i = V̇P + V̇ST (3.9)
The momentum balance of the manifold:
dM
=0
dt
pIR,2 = pP,2 = pST,1 = p∗
26
3 Model development
3.4 Penstock
Principally, a penstock is a steep pipe (Figure 3.4) which connects the inlet part of the
hydropower system (via the manifold) and the wicket gate inlet to the turbine.
Figure 3.4: Schematic representation of the model for flow through the penstock
By assuming no leakage through the penstock piping system, the influent mass flow is
equal to the effluent one, so that:
dmP
= ṁi,P − ṁe,P = 0 (3.10)
dt
dMP
= FP (3.11)
dt
D2P

mP
MP = V̇P , mP = ρ VP , VP = π rP2 LP = π LP
AP 4
The forces acting in the penstock:
FP = FP,p + FP,g − FP,f (3.12)
HP K 000 P AP,w fP,D

FP,p = pP,1 AP − pP,2 AP , FP,g = mP g , FP,f =
LP 4
27
3 Model development
ρ
AP,w = π DP LP , KP000 =

V̇P
V̇P
2A2P
!
1 εP 5, 74
= −2 lg + (3.13)
3, 70DP N 0,9
p
fP,D Re,P
ρ V̇P DP
NRe,P = (3.14)
µ AP
3.5 Surge tank
Figure 3.5: Schematic representation of the model for flow through the surge tank
28
3 Model development
The pressure balance of the surge tank can be represented as:
pST,1 − ∆pST = pST,2 (3.15)
pST,1 = p∗ , pST,2 = pa
The mass balance:
dmhrmST
= ṁST,i (3.16)
dt
ṁST,i = ρ V̇ST
The momentum balance:
dMST
= ṀST,i + FST (3.17)
dt
D2ST

mST 2
MST = V̇ST , mST = ρ VST , VST = π rST `ST = π `ST
AST 4
V̇ST ρ 2
ṀST,i = ṁST,i υ = ρ V̇ST υ = ρ V̇ST = V̇
AST AST ST
The forces acting in the surge tank:
FST = FST,p − FST,g − FP,f (3.18)
HST K 000 ST AST,w fST,D

FST,p = pST,1 AST − pST,2 AST , FST,g = mST g , FST,f =
LST 4
000 ρ
AST,w = π DST `ST , KST = 2 V̇ST V̇ST
2AST
!
1 εST 5, 74
= −2 lg + (3.19)
3, 70DST N 0,9
p
fST,D ST,Re
ρ V̇ST DST
NRe,ST = (3.20)
µ AST
Sometimes, the surge tank has a specific form when a cross section is a function of the
elevation [25]. In this case, the volume of the surge tank can be found by integration of
the cross section which is function of the elevation.
29
3 Model development
3.6 Stability criterion

For a surge tank design (iterative procedure), the basic parameter is the stability criterion.
In hydropower the most common are Thoma (original or modified 3.22) criterion, and Svee
criterion 3.23. The equations of the original Thoma stability criterion and Svee criterion
are derived in [34].
AI RLI R
AST ≥ (3.21)
2gaHe f f
AI RLI R
AST ≥ 1, 5 (3.22)
2gaHe f f
AT LT
AST ≥ (3.23)
2 υ0 2
1
2g a + 2g H0 − z0 + υ2go 1+ Q 0 ∆η
η0 ∆Q + 2 2g
According to Svee criterion, the gross head must be larger than product of head loss and
the losses in the turbine. Svee criterion takes into consideration the surge tank location.
In the equation 3.23 is assumed an upstream surge tank location. In case of downstream
location of the surge tank, when the velocity head will decrease the stability, rather than
contribute to it [34], the equation 3.23 can be written as:
AT LT
AST ≥ (3.24)
2 υ0 2
1
2g a + 2g H0 − z0 − υ2go 1+ Q 0 ∆η
η0 ∆Q − 2 2g
In [35], it was noted that the equation 3.23 doesn’t consider other effects, which impact
the stability (for instance, throttling the surge tank, or throttling the tunnel itself).
3.7 Turbine
According to Bernoulli-inspired expression, the pressure drop across the guide vane and
the turbine rotor can be ∆ptr can be given as following [29]
s
∆ptr
V̇p = CV f (uV ) (3.25)
pa
For Francis turbine, the guide vane signal depends on the guide vane angle:
α1 = g (uV )
30
3 Model development
By assuming a linearity of the function f (uV ) = uV , the equation 3.25 can be simplified
to[29]:
s
∆ptr
V̇p = CV uV
pa
∆ptr = p p,2 − ptr,2
Assume a steady energy balance across the guide vane. So that:
K̇ p + Ṗp,2 + p p,2V̇p = K̇tr,2 + Ṗtr,2 + ptr,2V̇p − Ẇts − Ẇ f ,t (3.26)
Assume the following [29]:

1. The vertical difference between the exit of the penstock and the entrance to the
turbine rotor can be neglected, so that: Ṗp,2 = Ṗtr,1
2. The diameter of the exit pipe from the turbine is equal to the diameter of the
entrance pipe, so that: K̇ p = K̇tr,2
3. Ẇ f ,t ∝ Ẇts , so that it can be assumed that: Ẇ f ,t + Ẇts η h = Ẇts

Considering given above assumption, the equation 3.26 can be reduced to:
Ẇts
p p,2V̇p = ptr,2V̇p −
ηh

Ẇts = ηh ptr,2V̇p − p p,2V̇p = ηh ∆ptr
The increasing diameter of the draft tube after the turbine and a steady energy balance
leads to:
K̇d,1 + Ṗd,1 + pd,2V̇d = K̇tr,2 + Ṗtr,2 + ptr,2V̇p (3.27)
Assume the following [29]:

1. The vertical difference between the exit of the penstock and the entrance to the
turbine rotor can be neglected, so that:Ṗtr,2 = Ṗd,1
2. The diameter of the exit pipe from the turbine is equal to the diameter of the
entrance pipe, so that: K̇tr,1 ≈ K̇tr,2
31
3 Model development
Figure 3.6: The main components of friction loss in the aggregate rotation
So that, the equation 3.27 can bre rewritten as:
pd,1V̇d ≈ ptr,2V̇p + K̇tr,1 − K̇d,1

ρ
K̇d,1 = Vp 3
2A2d
In the ideal case, the K̇d,1 has a small value.

The aggregate rotation can be represented via either angular momentum balance, or
kinetic energy balance [29]. Considering kinetic energy balance, we get:
dKa
= Ẇts − Ẇ f ,a − Ẇg
dt
1
Ka = Ja ωa 2
2
A friction loss in the aggregate rotation is multi-component (Figure 3.6).
Assume the prevalence of the bearing friction components in the total friction loses in the
aggregate rotation.
Ẇ f ,a = k f ,b ωa 2
32
3 Model development
Figure 3.7: Turbine efficiency curve of a Francis turbine vs. partial load
By assuming the efficiency of the generator as ηe , the available electric energy can be
given as:
Ẇe = ηeẆg
The stability of the hydrpower system depends also on the turbine efficiency [34]. Thus,
when the turbine runs at a discharge under the best efficiency point, a load increasing will
cause insignificant changes in discharge. In its turn, this will lead to efficiency increasing
and manoeuvrability of the turbine for variable power demand. In this case the system
is more stable and, thus, less surge tank area is needed[34]. In case of turbine running at
the best efficiency point already, the increasing in discharge will cause to the efficiency
reduction. In its turn, this will lead to another insignificant discharge increasing, and the
system will therefore need a surge tank of larger area. Thus, this case is less stable than
a system operating on a load lower than the best efficiency point.
Figure 3.7 shows an efficiency curve of a typical Francis turbine, with varying for different
partial loads.
For a Pelton or Kaplan turbines, the curve will have another form.
33
3 Model development
3.8 Generator
The angle between generator torque and the grid frequency, can be described by the angle
between the generator stator and rotor in a rotating reference frame between generator
torque and the grid frequency [36]. The angle is related to the angular grid frequency:
ωgrid = 2π fgrid (3.28)
In a case of synchronous generators connection to the grid, the synchronous angular speed
of rotation can be defined by the grid frequency:
2
ωs = ωgrid (3.29)
P
The angular speed of rotation of the turbine, ωtr , has to be equal to the synchronous
speed for the steady state operation mode. When the load change occurs, the change in
angle between the generator stator and rotor can be found as [36]:
dδ 2
= ωtr − ωgrid (3.30)
dt P
Concerning to equation 3.30, the angle increases in case of increasing of the electrical load
leading to the grid frequency decreasing and, thus, a positive change of δ . Otherwise, the
angle will decrease.
Assume:δ ≈ sin δ ] [36, 37]. So that:
sin δ
Tg = Tg,R (3.31)
sin δR
Where the subscript R is related to the related values.
By means of the torque equation, the damping of the angular movement can be de-
scribed:
dω dδ
= ρ V̇ ts − r22 ω − Tg − md (3.32)

Ip
dt dt
Where md is the angular movement damping coefficient.
3.9 Governor
The governor frequency is introduced by means of following system of differential equa-
tions [36, 37]:
( dy
dt = c h
dc yref 1 dn 1 (nref −n) bp TK +bt Ti bp
i (3.33)
dt = TK − bt nref dt + bt Ti nref − bt Ti c − (y
bt Ti ref − y)
34
3 Model development
Where y is the servo motor position and c is the servo motor velocity. The equation 3.33
are derived from the transfer function of the PI-governor for case of permanent speed
droop and servo motor time constant [36]. In the hydropower system, the volumetric flow
rate is defined by the opening degree of the turbine [36]. In [38] was assumed the turbine
acts as a valve with a varying opening degree, which is defined by the dimensionless valve
equation: √
V̇ 2gHR
κ= √ (3.34)
V̇R 2gH
Where V̇R and HR are the volumetric flow rate and the rated head respectively.
Since the position of the servo motor is a proportional function of the turbine opening
degree (Figure 5.1) [36], the differential equations 3.34 can be defined by means of the
turbine opening degree instead of servo motor position by direct replacing kappa and y.
Figure 3.8: The relation between the position of the servo motor and the turbine opening degree
3.10 Discharge race

Schematically the model of the discharge race is shown in figure 3.9. Assume the trans-
itional duct between the turbine and the inlet to the discharge race is of considerably
small value, so that it can be neglected. The momentum balance of the discharge race:
dMDR
= ṀDR,i + FDR (3.35)
dt
D2DR

mDR 2
MDR = V̇DR , mDR = ρ VDR , VDR = π rDR LDR = π LDR
ADR 4
The forces acting in the discharge race:
FDR = FDR,p + FDR,g − FDR,f (3.36)
35
3 Model development
Figure 3.9: Schematic representation of the model for discharge race
FDR,p = pDR,1 ADR − pDR,2 ADR , pDR,2 = pa + ρ gHTW

HDR K 000 DR A,w fDR,D
FDR,g = mDR g , FDR,f =
LDR 4
000 ρ
ADR,w = π DDR LDR , KDR = 2 V̇DR V̇DR
2ADR
By assuming that V̇DR = V̇P
!
1 εDR 5, 74
p = −2 lg + 0,9 (3.37)
fDR,D 3, 70DDR N
DR,Re
ρ V̇DR DRD
NRe,DR = (3.38)
µ ARD
36
4 Simulation of the study cases
4.1 Modelica overview

Modelica is a modern object-oriented modeling language which has become quite popular
in the last ten years due to commercial availability and wide range of modeling and
simulation tools.
Modelica was developed by a non-profit organization “The Modelica Association”. Its
members from Europe, U.S.A., Canada and Asia have been working on the open standard
Modelica and the open source Modelica Standard Library development since 1996. Today,
Modelica (along with related to it technologies) is a continuously developing modeling
language, performed within the ITEA2 projects EUROSYSLIB, MODELISAR, OPEN-
PROD, and MODRIO [8].
The mathematical apparatus is represented by differential, algebraic and discrete equa-
tions [8]. The capacity of the mathematical apparatus of Modelica allows to implement
multi-domain models of large and heterogeneous systems of various complexity. It is
widely used for mechatronic models in robotics, automotive and aerospace applications
involving mechanical, electrical, hydraulic control and state machine subsystems, process
oriented applications and generation and distribution of electric power [8]. Modelica has
good developed libraries with a large set of model components and function from many
domains. Commercially available and free of charge simulation environments (CATIA,
Systems, Dymola, LMS AMESim, JModelica.org, MapleSim, OpenModelica, SCICOS,
SimulationX, Wolfram SystemModeler etc.) along with possibility to convenient import
into Simulink (using export features of Dymola, MapleSim, and SimulationX) makes Mod-
elica one of the most preferable modern object-oriented modeling language in industry.
While the debugging process in Modelica codes is quite challenging, the issues of the Mod-
elica Language and to the Modelica Standard Library are reported via the Modelica issue
tracking system [8]. As it was mentioned above, the energy production using hydropower
systems is valuable and wide used technology in Norway. That is why it is of interest to
provide proper control system and investigate in details the physical processes inside the
hydropower system. The entire waterway from a reservoir to the generation aggregate is
relatively easy to formulate in state space form as differential algebraic equations (DAEs),
but considerably more complex to formulate in state space form as ordinary differential
equations (ODEs) [8]. So that, it is advantageous to encode hydropower system models
37
in languages supporting DAEs ( such as Modelica, for instance) and appropriate solvers
and simulation environmental [8].
In the following work, it is of interest to investigate how waterway models can be rigor-
ously formulated as DAEs by means of mass, momentum and mechanical energy balances
(mechanistic model) with added algebraic constitutive equations, including models for
different types of turbines (Pelton and Francis turbines) [8].
4.2 Simulation of the study cases

To illustrate the models, the following realistic numerical case studies were simulated (for
both Francis and Pelton turbines):
• without surge tank (for Francis and Pelton turbines)
• with upstream surge tank (for Francis and Pelton turbines)
• with upstream and downstream surge tanks (for Francis and Pelton turbines)
The developed model can be used for further investigation of dynamics and control of the
system.
4.2.1 Hydropower system with Francis turbine
In this subsection, results of the simulation of a hydropower system with Francis turbine
are given. For the simulation of the developed mechanistic model, study cases from
literature sources were used [31, 36, 39] and is given in Table 4.2.1.
Parameter Value Units
H 270 m
Q 20,8 m3
s
N 500 rpm
The hydropower system without surge tank The simulation results of the developed mech-
anistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.1
The hydropower system with upstream surge tank The simulation results of the developed
mechanistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.2
38
Figure 4.1: The hydropower system without surge tank
Figure 4.2: The hydropower system with upstream surge tank
The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks The simulation res-
ults of the developed mechanistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.3
39
Figure 4.3: The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks
4.2.2 Hydropower system with Pelton turbine
In this subsection, results of the simulation of a hydropower system with Pelton turbine
are given. For the simulation of the developed mechanistic model, study cases from
literature sources were used [31, 36, 39] and is given in Table 4.2.2.
Parameter Value Units
H 70 m
Q 0,1 m3
s
N 500 rpm
The hydropower system without surge tank The simulation results of the developed mech-
anistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.4
The hydropower system with upstream surge tank The simulation results of the developed
mechanistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.5
The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks The simulation res-
ults of the developed mechanistic model is illustrated on Figure 4.6
40
Figure 4.4: The hydropower system without surge tank
Figure 4.5: The hydropower system with upstream surge tank
4.3 Comparison of mechanistic and look-up table

In the following section the graphical relations of the efficiency of Francis turbine vs. flow
rate is illustrated.
The calculated geometry for Pelton and Francis turbines is given in 4.11, 4.3 respect-
41
Figure 4.6: The hydropower system with upstream and downstream surge tanks
Figure 4.7: The Francis turbine efficiency vs. flow rate
ively.
u1 cu1 z ds B D n Zp Z p∗ n∗ D∗
17, 789 37, 059 2 0, 041 0, 133 0, 346 981, 67 3, 056 5 600 0, 566
42
Figure 4.8: The comparison of the obatined results (efficiency) with look-up table
Figure 4.9: The comparison of the obatined results (power) with look-up table
43
Figure 4.10: The comparison of the obatined results (power) with look-up table
Figure 4.11: The results of the calculated geometry for Francis turbine
44
5 Control of the hydropower plant
5.1 Control system

Since a hydropower plants delivers electric power to a grid which they are connected to,
there is a requirement to the turbine to keep a synchronous speed of rotation to ensure the
grid frequency of 50 Hz [30]. Thus, there is a need of installation of a controller which can
maintain the balance between the delivered power and the power demand. This function
is in a duty of the governor system which serves for the control and adjustment of the
turbine power output [30]. The two main purposes of the governor system are:
1. At any grid load and current conditions in a conduit, the rotational speed of the
turbine-generator unit has to be kept stable and constant. [30]
2. If load rejections or any emergency stop occur, according to acceptable limits of the
rotational speed rise of the unit and the pressure rise in the conduit, the turbine
admission has to be closed.
Principally, the governor system act as:
• In case of deficit of hydraulic power occur in a grid

In this case the rotational masses decelerate and the speed of rotation decreases.
The governor senses a speed deviation from the synchronous speed and gives a
signal to change the guide vane position, so that the volume flow increases. Thus,
the balance between the delivered power and the power demand is obtained.
• In case of surplus of hydraulic power occur in a grid
In this case the rotational masses are accelerated, the speed of rotation increases
and when the governor senses a speed deviation from synchronous speed, it changes
the flow by closing the wicket gates until the hydraulic power and the power demand
is balanced [30].
Thus, the main purpose of the governor is to provide stability of a generation unit in case
of running on an isolated by keeping of frequency within set deviation limits at any grid
load and prevailing conditions in the water conduit. The deviation of the load is a function
of the frequency change which depends on the permanent droop setting. Moreover, the
governor should close down the turbine admission according to acceptable limits of the
45
rotational speed rise of the unit and the pressure rise in the water conduit in case of load
rejections or emergency stops [30].
Generally, the turbine governor system consists of three main components:
1. The controller - to execute the control processes.
2. Servo system - to amplify that executes the admission changes determined by the
controller.
3. The pressure oil supply system – to supply sufficient quantities of pressure oil to
the servo system at any time [30].
For a stable operation of the electrical grid, frequency regulation is required. Thus, in
case of frequency deviation (increasing/decreasing) in the grid, each power generation
unit is obligated to change (reduce/add respectively) a fixed percentage of its total rating
output power multiplied by the amount of the change in the grid frequency from/to its
output power [21]. It is so-called ”speed droop control”. The permanent speed droop is
set by the grid administration [21]. In Norway this function is performed by Statnett (the
permanent speed droop is set to 10
Figure 5.1: The relation between the position of the servo motor and the turbine opening degree
The block diagram of the governor system is given on Figure 5.2. The input reference
signal is compared with the measured speed (speed feedback signal).
Figure 5.2: The lock diagram of a turbine closed loop governor system
46
By a momentary change in the load a deviation between the generator power output and
the load occurs. This deviation causes the unit inertia masses either to accelerate or to
decelerate. The output of this process is the speed, which again is compared with the
reference.
5.2 Speed droop control

When the frequency deviation (increasing/decreasing) occurs in the grid, there is a re-
quirement for each power generation unit to reduce or add, with respect to the frequency
deviation direction, a fix percentage of its total rating output power multiplied by the
amount of the change in the grid frequency’ from/to its output power [21]. For calculation
of the amount of this power, the following equation 5.1 is used:
∆f

fN
S= · 100% (5.1)
∆P
PN
Here, S is a permanent droop, which is a percentage number, set by the grid adminis-
tration body (for instance, in Norway this is Statnett; speed droop is set to 10 %) [21].
Predominantly, the droop is a decrease in speed setting at the load increases. There are
several applications of the droop principle in the control systems.
5.3 Power/frequency Control

One of the stability system requirement is production power with respect to consumption.
This leads to flexibility requirement of the production system to changes in consumption
and production [21]. The load in the system is continuously variable, which means that
the frequency control system is needed [21]. The power/frequency control is performed in
to stages:
1. Primary control Primary control implies the speed droop control mentioned in the
section above. When the frequency deviation from the optimum value 50 Hz occurs,
the speed droop controller is applied automatically to the turbine governor which,
in its turn, increases or decreases the guide vane opening wrt the droop control
settings.
2. Secondary control After primary control application, the grid has still a constant
frequency deviation from optimum. Thus, the secondary control is needed to com-
pensate the deviation by means of the load frequency control. The load frequency
control sets higher/lower a set-point to correct the frequency again [21]. Usually,
47
this type of control is applied in combination with an automatic generation control.

The automatic generation control takes into account different generation regions
and balances the power production [21].
48
6 Conclusions
The hydropwoer system modeling is considered in this work. Firstly, the background
for the research and its actuality is given in the introduction part. The necessity and
profitability of the usage of renewable energy sources is illustrated via statistical data.
The main accent is put on the hydro power and the current state of the global usage
of them. To expand knowledge in the research achievements within field of the hydro
power systems, some previous work concerning modeling and investigation of hydropower
system parameters.
To complete understanding of the hydropower system, the main components and possible
configuration is described and considered. After components investigation, the conclu-
sion about elements which should be included into the investigated hydro power system
is made. Further, the mechanistic model for each element of hydro power system was
developed in the form of the differential algebraic equation describing mass, momentum
and energy balances. There is a stability requirement to hydropower systems, thence the
two main stability criterion are considered.
The simulation of the study cases is following by the mechanistic models development.
Dymola software was chosen as a simulation environment because its wide range of ad-
vanced tools to simulate hydropower systems. As the study cases were chosen hydropower
systems with Francis and Pelton turbines. It was decided to focus on the investigation
of impact of the surge tank and its location to the hydropower system stability and effi-
ciency. For that reason,the mentioned above hydropower systems were simulated for cases
without surge tank, with upstream located surge tank, with both upstream and down-
stream located surge tanks. The obtained results of the simulated cases are presented.
The obtained results were validated by comparison with hill chart and look-up table. The
comparison shows an insignificant deviation between the efficiency curve obtained by sim-
ulated data and look-up table, while the deviation with hill charts are more significant.
This can be explained by the usage of the specific runner configuration for hill chart devel-
opment and application of the dimensioning and application of dimensionless parameters.
This mean, that, although the hill chart is quite useful tool for fast estimation of the tur-
bine efficiency, but high dependency to the specific geometry makes application of the hill
charts to limited. The hill charts can be widely used in case of access to the software for
hill charts generation (for instance, HydroHillChart with specific modules for each type
of turbines). Otherwise, the mechanistic model gives more realistic results. The usage of
the look-up table is easiest method to estimate efficiency of the turbine, but availability
49
6 Conclusions
of these tables is quite challenging and not always is available directly. The extended
investigation result is presented in the conference paper ”Hydropower Systems: Compar-
ison of Mechanistic and Table Look-up Turbine Models”. The last chapter presents the
main types and requirement to the control system of the hydropower plant. As a poten-
tial to the further research I foresee the deepen of the investigation of the control system
and development of the comprehensive model of hydro power system considering elastic
penstock and water compressibility to obtain more realistic model. Also, it is of interest
to make investigation of the efficiency for different turbine configurations.
50
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54
Appendix A
FMH606 Masther’s thesis description
55
Appendix B
The abstract for conference paper
59
Hydropower Systems: Comparison of Mechanistic and Table Look-up Turbine Models
Splavska V., Vytvytskyi L., Lie B.
University College of Southeast Norway, Porsgrunn, Norway
bernt.lie@usn.no
valentyna.splavska@gmail.com
Abstract:
Sustainable energy development implies meeting the energy needs of the future without
jeopardizing the life quality of the planet. To achieve this, sustainable energy sources need to be
renewable, and hydropower is an undeniable leader among them, according to the latest IEA
report.
A hydropower plant, including the waterway, energy transformation block, and the distribution
grid, constitutes a complex dynamic system that we must control to operate within constraints. A
hydropower plant can be divided into subsystems where several of these belong to the same class,
hence an object-oriented modeling language will greatly simplify the process of setting up a model.
As an example, various conduits (intake race, penstock, etc.) essentially vary in geometry, slope,
friction, etc. The advantage of an object-oriented language is also obvious if we want to study a
system of many power plants.
The equation based modeling language Modelica supports differential algebraic equations, and is
a good choice for modeling hydropower systems. OpenModelica is one of several free simulation
tools based on Modelica; Dymola is an example of a commercial tool. Commercial hydropower
libraries are available for Dymola, but a simple, free library is also under development at
University College of Southeast Norway.
In this paper, a detailed overview of hydropower system components is given. Components of the
system includes intake race, upstream and downstream surge tanks, penstock, turbine and draft
tube. We use a case study from the literature for illustration, including a Francis turbine.
Turbine models are available at several levels of detail. Mechanistic models based on physical
principles are useful in that they enable simulation of hypothetical systems. Empirical models, on
the other hand, require fitting to experimental data.
Accurate mechanistic CFD models are too computationally intensive for transient analysis and
control design. Mechanistic models based on the Euler equations are suitable for simulation of
hypothetical systems, but may have too constrained model structure to allow for perfect
representation. Dimensionless models and hill chart models can be fitted to experimental data,
hence are considered empirical models. On the other hand, it is possible to fit “empirical” models
to accurate CFD simulations instead of experimental data. These empirical models typically
consist of look-up tables for how turbine power efficiency varies with flow rate, control input, etc.
To this end, the paper presents a case study hydropower system, with models implemented in
Modelica. For simplicity, we neglect compressibility of water and elasticity of pipe walls: the main
aim is to compare a turbine model based on the Euler equations vs. a table look-up model. We also
illustrate how surge tanks influence the transients of the system. Because neglecting
compressibility and elasticity in water/pipes filters out some pressure transients, the model is not
suitable for analysis of cavitation. The research contributes in refining a case study for hydropower
systems, and in emphasizing the usefulness of mechanistic turbine models.
Keywords: hydropower system, Modelica, object-oriented modeling, mechanistic model, table
look-up model, Francis turbine.
Appendix C
The global hydropower usage. Statistic data

In consonance with IHA prediction, it’s expected a doubling of global hydrocapacity up
to 2000 GW and global hydroelectricity generation over 7000 TWh by 2050 [2] (Figure
C.1).
Figure C.1: Hydroelectricity generation till 2050 in the Hydropower Roadmap vision (TWh) [3]
As reported by [3], only during last year an estimated 33,7 GW of hydropower capacity
(including 2,5 GW of pumped storage) was put into operation, which in its turn contrib-
uted to global installed hydropower capacity rising to 1 212 GW [2]. At the end of 2015
world’s hydropower generation reached the level of 3 975 TWh. By the results of 2015,
the absolute leader besides of new installed hydropower capacity was China (19,4 GW).
Countries with a significant contribution to the extension process of new installed hydro-
power capacity are Brazil (2, 5 GW), Turkey (2,2 GW), India (1, 9 GW), Iran (1 GW)
62
Appendix C The global hydropower usage. Statistic data
and Vietnam (1 GW) [2]. Information about added hydropower capacity generalized over
continents is given in Figure C.2.
Figure C.2: Newly added hydropower capacity in 2015 generalized over continents, MW
The potential for hydropower capacity additions is still quite ambitious and promising
especially in perspective regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America (Figure C.3).
Figure C.3: Regional hydropower technical potential and percentage of undeveloped technical potential
(2009) [3]
On European continent Scandinavia and Alpine countries are pioneering and leading
regions in the amount of installed hydropower capacity. Generalized picture over installed
hydropower capacity in Europe is shown in Figure C.4.
The dynamic of the global hydroelectricty generation for period 1965-2011 is shown in
Figure C.5.
63
Appendix C The global hydropower usage. Statistic data
Figure C.4: Installed hydropower capacity in Europe, MW
Figure C.5: The global hydroelectricy generation, 1965-2011
64
Appendix D
The hill charts

The hill chart for Pelton turbine with K461 runner is presented in Figures D.1, D.2.
Figure D.1: The K461 runner hill chart and the matrix of discrete points [54]
The hill chart for Francis turbine with RO75-702 and /// runner is presented in Figures
D.3, D.4 .
65
Appendix D The hill charts
Figure D.2: The K461 runner hill chart’s table [54]
The hill charts are buil.d by using HydroHillChart software with Pelton and Francis
modules. The hill charts for bulb and Kanplan turbines are presented in [57] and [56]
respectively.
66
Appendix D The hill charts
Figure D.3: The RO75-702 runner hill chart and the matrix of discrete points [55]
Figure D.4: The RO75-702 runner hill chart’s table [55]
67

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Simulation and control of hydro power

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4 Simulation of the study cases 37

5 Control of the hydropower plant 45

A FMH606 Masther’s thesis description 55

B The abstract for conference paper 59

C The global hydropower usage. Statistic data 62

D The hill charts 65

4.1 The hydropower system without surge tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

C.1 Hydroelectricity generation till 2050 in the Hydropower Roadmap vision

C.4 Installed hydropower capacity in Europe, MW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

IEA International energy agency

1.2 Previous work

A quite comprehensive turbine-penstock model is developed in [15]. In accordance with

1.3 Overview of thesis

Figure 2.1: Principal scheme of a hydropower system [29]

According to approved standards of the hydropower plant constructions discussed in [30],

2.2 Conduit system/waterway

2.2.1 Water intake

2.2.2 Intake race

2.2.3 Sand trap

2.2.4 Fine trash rack

2.2.5 Surge tank

2.2.6 Surge shaft

2.2.8 Penstock isolating valve

2.2.9 Air vessel

2.3 Hydropower turbine

2.3.1 Turbine inlet valve

2.3.3 Cavitation and sand erosion

2.3.4 Closing valve

2.5 System outlet

2.5.1 Draft tube

2.5.2 Draft tube gate

2.5.3 Outlet surge shaft

2.5.4 Outlet tunnel

pa + pres,1 = pres,2 (3.1)

pres,1 = pst,res = ρ ghres (t) (3.2)

The mass balance of the dam:

the reservoir model can be reduced to:

3.2 Inlet race

Figure 3.3: Schematic representation of the model for inlet race

The forces acting in the inlet race:

FP = FP,p + FP,g − FP,f (3.12)

HP K 000 P AP,w fP,D

3.5 Surge tank

The pressure balance of the surge tank can be represented as:

pST,1 − ∆pST = pST,2 (3.15)

FST = FST,p − FST,g − FP,f (3.18)

HST K 000 ST AST,w fST,D

3.6 Stability criterion

Assume a steady energy balance across the guide vane. So that:

K̇ p + Ṗp,2 + p p,2V̇p = K̇tr,2 + Ṗtr,2 + ptr,2V̇p − Ẇts − Ẇ f ,t (3.26)

Assume the following [29]:

Assume the following [29]: