Hydropower Engineering II

Credit Hours: 3(2+3) hrs

Prerequisite: Hydropower Engineering I

Instructor: Adelu Yissfa (MSc.)

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 Contents

1. Hydraulic Turbines

2. Hydropower Project investigation and planning

3. Power plant stations: Conventional type of power stations

4. Under ground power house

5. Transmission of electric power

6. Construction features of hydropower projects

7. Mine hydropower project development considerations

8. Environmental, Social & political feasibility of hydropower projects

9. Economic & Financial evaluation of hydropower projects

 References:
1. Novak, Moffat, Nalluri & Narayanan Hydraulic structures.
2. Sharma & Dandaekar, water power engineering..
3. Mosonyi,Vol-I,II, water power
 Tentative Mode of Evaluation
Assignment… .................................................... (30-40%)
Final examination. .................................... (60-70%)
 Attention
 Switch off your cell phone in class
 Please don’t knock at the door if you are late by more than 10
minutes
 80% attendance is mandatory to sit for examinations
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General overview of Hydropower
Development

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Chapter one
Hydraulic Turbines
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 CONTENTS
1. Introduction to hydraulic turbines

2. Classification of Turbines

3. Design of Hydraulic turbines

4. Hydraulic turbine selection

5. Turbine scroll case and Draft tubes

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6. Cavitation and turbine setting
 1. Introduction to hydraulic turbines
Based on the energy transfer and type of action, hydraulic
machines are generally divided in to two:

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 HYDRAULIC TURBINES
 Hydraulic turbines may be considered as hydraulic motors
or prime movers of a water power development, which
convert water energy (hydropower) in to mechanical
energy (shaft power).

 The shaft power developed is used in running electricity

generators directly coupled to the shaft of the turbine,
thus producing electrical power.

How a Hydroelectric Power System Works????? 11

 i. Flowing water is directed at a turbine
(remember turbines are just advanced
waterwheels).
ii. The flowing water causes the turbine
to rotate, converting the water’s
kinetic energy into mechanical energy.

iii. The mechanical energy produced by

the turbine is converted into electric
energy by a turbine generator.

12 iV. Inside the generator, the shaft of the turbine spins a

magnet inside coils of copper wire. it is a fact of nature
that moving a magnet near a conductor causes an electric
current.
 2. Classification of Turbines
Turbines are classified according to several criterias:
i) Based on working principle
a) Impulse turbine b) Reaction turbine
 Classification cont…
Impulse Turbine:
 All the available potential energy is converted in to kinetic
energy with the help of contracting nozzle/s. (eg. Pelton
wheel)
Reaction Turbine:
 The water enters to the turbine in a circumferential
direction in to the scroll case and moves into the runner
through a series of guide vanes, called wicket gates.

 The total energy partly converted to KE & substantial

magnitude remains in the form of PE (e.g. Francis, Kapla1n5 ,
Propeller, Bulb, etc)
 Classification cont…
ii) Based on head
Head is the elevation difference of reservoir water level and D/S
water level.

a) High head turbine (Above 250 m) Pelton Turbine

b) Medium head turbine (60 – 250 m) Francis Turbine

c) Low head turbine (Below 60 m) Kaplan Turbine

iii) Based on specific speed

a) Low specific speed (8.5 – 30) - Pelton Turbine
b) Medium specific speed (50 – 340) - Francis Turbine
c) High specific speed (255 – 860) - Kaplan Turbine 16
 Classification cont…

iv) Based on disposition of turbine main shaft

a) Horizontal shaft
b) Vertical shaft
v) Based on flow through the runner
a) Radial flow - Propeller or Kaplan
b) Axial flow - Kaplan Turbine
c) Mixed flow - Francis Turbine
d) Tangential flow - Pelton Turbine
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 Characteristics of Turbines
a). Specific speed: is defined as the speed at which a
geometrically similar runner would rotate if it were so
proportioned that it would develop 1 KW when operating
under a head of 1m , and expressed as (from dimensional
analysis)
P
Ns  N
5
H 4

Where Ns = Specific speed

N = rotational speed (rpm)
P = Power developed (kw)
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H = effective head (m)
 b). Turbine or synchronous speed: Since turbine & generator are
fixed, the rated speed of the turbine is the same as synchronous speed
of the generator. The speed N, for synchronous running is given by:

N  120 f
p
Where f = frequency cycle/sec (50-60 cycles/sec.)

p = number of poles (divisible by 4 for head up to 200 m)

(Divisible by 2 for head above 200 m)

The speed of a turbine is an important parameter of design. The higher

the speed, the smaller the diameter of the turbine runner & the
cheaper the generator coupled to the turbine. High speed, however,
makes a turbine more susceptible to cavitation. 19
 c). Speed factor or peripheral coefficient, : The ratio
of the peripheral speed, u, of the bucket or vanes at the
nominal diameter, D, to the theoretical velocity of water
under the effective head, H, acting on the turbine is
called the speed factor or peripheral coefficient, .

u r 2N
  
But ω in rad/sec;   and r  D / 2
2gH 2gH 60

DN DN
 
Therefore, 60 2gH 84.6 H

Where, D and H in m; N in rpm 20

The following table suggests appropriate values of , which
give the highest efficiencies for any turbine, the head &
specific speed ranges & the efficiencies of the three main
types of turbine.

Type of runner  Ns H (m) Efficiency (%)

8-17 85-90
Impulse 17 90
0.43 – 0.48 17-30 >250 90-82
40-130 90-94
Francis 130-350 94
0.6 – 0.9 350-452 25-450 94-93
380-600 94
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Propeller 1.4 – 2.0 600-902 <60 94-85
22
d). Runaway Speed: If the external load on the machine
suddenly drops to zero (sudden rejection) and the governing
mechanism fails at the same time, the turbine will tend to race up
to the maximum possible speed, known as runaway speed. This
limiting speed under no-load, maximum-flow must be considered
for safe design.

Type of Runaway speed Acceptable head variation (% of design head)

runner ( % of normal
speed ) Minimum Maximum
Impulse
(Pelton) 170 - 190 65 125

Francis 200 - 220 50 150

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Propeller 250 - 300 50 150
3. Design of hydraulic turbines
Design of Pelton Turbine
 It has a circular disk with cup shaped blades/buckets,
 Water jet emerging from a nozzle is tangential to the circumference
of the wheel.

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 Description of Pelton Turbine Installation
 Pelton turbine is an impulse turbine and the flow is axial,
 Water supplied is from a high head through a long conduit called
penstock.
 The water is accelerated in the nozzle and the head is converted into
velocity and discharges at high speed in the form of a jet at
atmospheric pressure.
 The kinetic energy of the jet is lost to the buckets and water
discharged at relatively low speed falls into lower reservoir or tail
race. The tail race is set to avoid submerging the wheel during
flooded conditions.

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Pelton wheel with single jet

Pelton Wheel with 2 jets.

1. Velocity of jet: The theoretical velocity of the Jet

where CV is the coefficient of velocity of the jet which

varies from 0.98 to 0.99.
2. Power available to the Turbine

P= η𝛾QH
where η in efficiency of the turbine, 𝛾 is the specific
weight of water, in N/m3, Q is the flow rate in m3/S, H hea27d
in meters.
3. Angle ∅ is the splitter angle which varies from 10 to 20o

and relation between ∅ and exit angle 𝜃 is 𝜃 = 𝜋 - ∅

4. Diameter of the Jet (d): The diameter of the jet is

obtained if flow rate is known.

Flow rate Q = area of the jet x velocity of jet x no. of jets

a
For a single jet

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5. Speed ratio ( u/vj): The speed ratio is the ratio of
the velocity (u) of the wheel at pitch circle to
theoretical velocity of the jet.

In practice the value is between 0.44 and 0.46 and

average is 0.45.

6. Mean Diameter of the Wheel (D): It is the diameter

between centre of the buckets. The diameter can be
obtained from peripheral velocity (u)

where N = speed of the

wheel in revolutions/min. 29
7. Jet ratio (m): The ratio of mean diameter of the wheel to
diameter of the jet. m = D/d

The Jet ratio varies between 10 to 14 and average value of

m is 12.

8. Size of the buckets: The length, width and depth of

buckets in terms of diameter of jet 'd' is shown in Fig. below.

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9. Number of Jets (n): Pelton wlteels are single jet or multiple jets.
When large power is required the flow rate required also increases and
then multiple jets required. The jet should have sufficient spacing so
that jet strikes one bucket at a time. Ordinarily not more than four
jets are provided for horizontal turbine. A vertical Pelton turbine with
six jets can be used.

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10. Number of buckets (z): The number of buckets is

usually obtained from the following empirical formula

given by Taygun:

where m is jet ratio

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 Regulation of Pelton Wheel
 Turbines are usually coupled to an electric generator and the
generator must run at constant speed to maintain frequency of
supply constant.
 It is also desirable to run turbine at maximum efficiency and
therefore speed ratio u/Vj must remain same which means the
jet velocity must not change.
 The only way to adjust the load is to change hydraulic power
input given by
p= γQH
 Thus flow rate will change by changing the area of the jet or
more closely the diameter of the jet. This is accomplished by 3a3
spear valve and deflector plate shown in Fig. below.
34
Examples 1. A Pelton turbine develops 8 MW under a
head of 130 m at a speed of 200 rev/min. The following are
the particulars of Pelton wheel.
–Coefficient of velocity (C) of the nozzle 0.98
–Speed ratio 0.46
–jet diameter 1/9 of diameter of the wheel
–overall efficiency 87%
Determine:
–flow required –diameter of the wheel
–diameter of the jet –number of jets
35
–number of buckets
Solution to Example 1.

a
37
 ii. Design of Francise turbine
 Francise Turbine It is a reaction turbine developed by an
English born American Engineer, Sir J.B. Francis.

 It is a reaction turbine and therefore only a part of the

available head is converted into the velocity head before
water enters the runner.

 The water enters the turbine through the outer periphery

of the runner in the radial direction and leaves the runner
in the axial direction, and hence it is called ‘mixed flow
turbine’.
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 The interaction between the fluid and runner blades results in
torque applied to the runner. The runner is connected to the driving
shaft to drive an electric generator.

 The water after doing the work leaves through the draft tube.
Essentially a diffuser type whose area increases in the direction of
the fluid flow. As area increases velocity decreases.

 A Francis turbine is suitable for medium heads (45 to 400 m) and

requires a relatively large quantity of water.

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40
PARTS OF A FRANCIS
TURBINE
 Water particle

Water from
spiral casing

R a d i a l v i ee w
w
R guide
runner a d i a l
vanes v i stay
and e w vanes
runner guide vanes and stay vanes
 Symbols: B breadth/width of runner vane
D diameter of runner
z number of runner vanes
t thickness of runner vane
n ratio of width to diameter of runner
X Flow ratio
ø speed ratio
Vf flow velocity

 The number of runner vanes varies from 16 to 24. The

number of runner vanes should be either one more or less
than the number of guide vanes to avoid periodic impact.
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 Regulation of Francis Turbine
 Francis turbine usually drives an electric generator, and hence the
speed must remain constant. Since the total head available is
constant it is not desirable to control flow rate by a valve due to
hydraulic losses.

 The flow rate in Francis turbine is controlled by varying the flow

area in between the adjustable guide vanes. The guide vanes are
hinged at the center to a circular ring. The area in between the
vanes is varied by varying the guide vane angle u

•The regulation of guide vanes is done by servo mechanism. As load

on the turbine decreases the piston of servo mechanism Ir,l>ves to
the right and this causes the movement necessary to close the 45

gates.
 Guide vane at closed position
Guide vane at Max. open
Position = 18° .

Operation of
Guide Vanes
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 Runner inlet
(Φ 0.870m)

Guide vane outlet for designα)

(Φ 0.913m)

Closed
Max. Opening
Position

Guide
Guidevanes
vanes
 iii. Design of Kaplan & propeller turbine

It was developed in 1913 by the

Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan

Propeller and Kaplan turbines are axial flow reaction

type turbines, suitable for low head and high
discharge.

In the propeller type only guide vanes are adjustable

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with fixed runner blades while The Kaplan turbine is
fitted with adjustable runner blades and both guide
vanes and runner blades act simultaneously.
 The Kaplan turbine is an inward flow reaction turbine, which means
that the working fluid changes pressure as it moves through the
turbine and gives up its energy. The design combines radial and axial
features.
 The inlet is a scroll-shaped tube that wraps around the turbine's
wicket gate. Water is directed tangentially through the wicket gate
and spirals on to a propeller shaped runner, causing it to spin.

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The Kaplan turbine was an evolution of the Francis turbine. Its invention
allowed efficient power production in low-head applications that was not
possible with Francis turbines.
Kaplan turbines are now widely used throughout the world in high-flow,
low-head power production.
Flow rate is given by the equation

Q = area x Velocity of flow

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 5. Hydraulic turbine selection
 In practice, different selection procedures are used.

 Engineering firms or agency engineering staffs do the selection using

experience curves based on data from units that have already been
built and installed or tested in laboratories

 Another approach that is preferred by manufacturers is that they be

provided with the basic data on head, water discharge, turbine setting
possibilities, and load characteristics. The selection is then based on
hill curves from model performance data that are proprietary in nature.
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 Criteria for selection of appropriate type of
turbine
1. Net head

2. Range of discharges through the turbine

3.Rotational speed

4. Over all cost

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1. Net head
 The first criterion to take into account in the turbine's
selection is the net head.
 Table: range of operating heads for each type of turbine.
 2. Range of discharge
 The range of discharge is an important factor for
selecting the appropriate type of turbine. It is necessary
to know the flow regime, commonly represented by the
Flow Duration Curve (FDC)
Range of discharge and head of a turbine
 3. Specific speed

Range of specific speed for each turbine type

 5. Turbine scroll case and Draft tubes

1 Turbine Scroll Case

 A scroll casing/volute is the conduit directing the water from the
intake or penstock to the runner in reaction type turbine
installation.

 A spiral shaped scroll case of the correct geometry ensures even

distribution of water around the periphery of the runner with the
minimum possible eddy formations.

 The cross-sectional area of this casing decreases uniformly along

the circumference to keep the fluid velocity constant in
magnitude along its path towards the stay vane/guide vane. 59
 60

Recommended dimensions of scroll casings

 2. Draft tubes
 A draft tube is a conduit discharging water from the turbine runner to
the tailrace.

 Draft tube has two basic functions/purposes:

 To recover as much as possible of the velocity energy of the water

leaving the runner, which otherwise would have gone to waste as an
exit loss, thus increasing the dynamic draft head.

 To utilize the vertical distance between the turbine exit and the tail-
water level, called the static draft head. In other words, to allow the
turbine to be set at higher elevation without losing the advantage of
elevation difference. 61
The most common is elbow type which minimizes the depth of
substructure compared to vertical cone; it also has a desirable effect in
directing the flow in the direction of the tail water.

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 Elbow-type
1 draft tube
3

63
Straight conical draft tube
64
 65

Recommended dimension of an elbow-type draft tube (Mosonyi, 1988)

 Tail Race
 Draft tube discharges water in the tail race, which may lead it to the
same stream or to another.

 The channel into which the water is discharge after passing through
the turbines is known as the Tailrace.

 If the power house is close to the stream the outflow may be

discharged directly into the stream. But, when the stream is far off
from the power house, construction of tailrace channel or tunnel is
necessary.

 The tailrace must be designed properly and should not be neglected.

 Proper design and maintenance is necessary so as to avoid excessive

aggradations (i.e. silting) or degradation (i.e. scouring) of the bed. 66
 6. Cavitation and turbine setting

 When the hydrodynamic pressure in a liquid flow falls below

the vapour pressure of the liquid, there is a formation of the

vapour phase.

 Such phenomenon induces the formation of small individual

bubbles that are carried out of the low-pressure region by

the flow and collapse in regions of higher pressure.

 The formation of these bubbles and their subsequent collapse

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gives rise to what is called cavitation.

 Cavitation and turbine setting cont…
 Experience shows that these collapsing bubbles create very high
impulse pressures accompanied by substantial noise (in fact a turbine
undergoing cavitation sounds as though gravel is passing through it).
The repetitive action of such collapse in a reaction turbine close to
the runner blades or hub for instance results in pitting of the
material.

 Cavitation results in pitting, vibration and reduction in efficiency and

is certainly undesirable.

 In a relatively short time the turbine is severely damaged and will

need to be shut-off and repaired – if possible. 68

 The cavitation characteristic of a hydraulic machine is defined as the
cavitation coefficient or plant sigma (σ), Ha  Hv  Ys 
   
given by  H 
 where Ha – Hv = Hb, is the barometric pressure head (at sea level and
20°C, Hb =10.1 m), and H is the effective head on the runner.

From the above equation the maximum permissible turbine setting

Ys, max (elevation above tail water to the centre line of the propeller
runners, or to the bottom of the Francis runners) can be written as
(Thoma’s formula)
Ys, max = Hb - σ c H

where σc is the minimum (critical) value of at which cavitation

occurs(usually determined by experiments). 69
 Cavitation may be avoided by suitably designing, installing and
operating the turbine in such a way that the pressures within the unit
are above the vapour pressure of the water.

Turbine setting or draft head “Ys” is the most critical factor in the
installation of the reaction turbines.

 If Ys is negative or positive the runner must beset below or above the

tail water respectively.

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LOCATION OF TURBINE SETTING

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 Typical values of σc for reaction turbines, versus their
specific speeds, are shown in Table below.

Francis runners Propeller runners

Ns 75 150 225 300 375 600 750

0.025 0.10 0.23 0.40 0.64 0.8 1.5

σc

The above recommended limiting values of may also be approximated by

σc = 0.0432(Ns/100)2 for Francis runners and
σc = 0.280.0024(Ns/100)3 for propeller runners
with an increase of c by 10% for Kaplan turbines (Mosonyi, 1987).
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 The preliminary calculations of the elevation of the distributor above

the tail water level (Yt) suggest the following empirical relationships

(based on knowledge of the existing plants (Doland, 1957)):

Yt = Ys + 0.025DNs0.34 for Francis runners and

Yt = Ys + 0.41D for propeller runners

where D is the nominal diameter of the runner.

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