Special Address HYDRAULIC DESIGN FOR LARGE UNDERGROUND DESILTING ARRANGEMENT FOR 1500 MW HYDRO-ELECTRIC STATION RANJODH SINGH R.S. CHAUHAN RAVI UPPAL Executive Director ‘Superintending Engineer Asstt. Executive Engineer (Designs) (Designs) (Designs) Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation, Shimla, India SYNOPSIS \Nathpa Jhakri Project currently under an advanced stage of construction utilizes water of river ‘Sutlej for power generation. As is true about most rivers in the Himalayan region, Suttle carries heavy sediment load during snowmelt and monsoons. Therefore, elaborate desing arrange- ‘ment has been planned to exclude sediment particles upto 0.2 mm size, so that minimum ‘damage is caused to the Francis runners of the six, 250 MW capacity generating units of this project. As the size of generating units is large, special care is essential to eliminate silt. The desiting arrangement of Nathpa Jhakri Project, comprising four desilting chambers, each 525 m long, 16.31 m wide and 27.5 m deep will be the largest of its kind in the world. The silt setting in these chambers shall be flushed out through flushing conduits and a free flow flushing tunnel back to river Sutlej. Care has been taken to design intake in such a manner that least quantity of silt finds entry. Further, the sediments setting in the reservoir shail also be flushed out each year through low level dam sluices, so that dead storage is not encroached upon and least quantity of silt enters the intakes. In this paper the elaborate desitting arrange- ‘ment of this project, which is so vital for ensuring long life and efficiency of the turbines has been discussed. 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Nathpa Jhakri Project is a run of river scheme on river Sutlej with an installed capacity of 1500 MW (6 x 250 MW). The project envisages construction of a 60.5 m high concrete dam, an underground desilting complex comprising four chambers, each 525 m long, 16.31 m wide and 27.5 m deep to exclude particles down to 0.2 mm size, a 10.15 m diameter and 27.30 km. long Head Race Tunnel terminating in a 301m deep Surge Shaft having diameter of 10.2 m and 21.6 m; three pressure shafts 4.90 m dia, steel lined, with lengths varying between 571m and 622m and underground power house with machine hall cavern of size 220 m x 20 m x 49 m and transformer hall cavern of size 196 m x 17.5 m x 27.4 m and a tailrace tunnel of 10.15 m dia and 982 m long. The Francis turbines for the Power House shall operate under a design head of 425 m utilizing a design discharge of 405 cumecs. The runners shall be cast in 16/5 chromium nickle material. Two units, however, shall be further hardened by plasma nitriding on trial basis for extra safety against damage due to silt abrasion. Depending upon the performance of these units in two years after commissioning the provision of plasma nitriding shall be extended to other Units also. The project will generate 6700 MU of electrical energy in a 90% dependable year and 7447 MU in an average year. Power shall be evacuated to Northern Grid through 400 kV transmission system. Project layout is shown-in Figure 1. ‘The project is being executed by NJPC, a joint venture of Govt. of India and Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, both sharing cost of the project in the ratio of 3:1 respectively. ‘The World Bank has provided a loan of 437 million dollars through Govt. of india for the generation component of this project. u-14tpoford preur edyreu yo wed nofey : 4 aunbig2.0 HYDRAULIC DESIGN Studies were made for alternative proposals for the desilting arrangement for the chambers in parallel, varying from two to six in number and of different widths, depths and lengths. ‘An arrangement comprising four parallel chambers each of size 15 m width, 27.5 m depth and 525 m length fed by four independent intakes was decided based on these studies and also referred for model studies. Later on, however, a slight curvature was given to the walls and the chambers as adopted for construction have the same cross-sectional area, are 27.5 m deep and §25 m long but with some curvature in the walls such that width in the center is 16.31 m. Flow area i.e. the width and the depth of the chamber has been so fixed as to arrive at a flow through velocity of about 0.30 m/sec for removal of sediment coarser than 0.20 mm. The length of the chamber has been arrived at by the horizontal distance travelled by the particle within the time needed for the particle to fall from the top layer of the flow to the bed of the desilting basin. For the section of the chamber adopted, the length of the chamber works out to 525 m and the theoretical setting efficiency 92%, as indicated below Design discharge at outlet of each chamber, Q, = 405 / 4 101.25 cumecs 20.25 cumecs Flushing discharge @ 20% Inlet discharge for each chamber, Q, 4121.50 cumecs Flow area = 358 sq. m. Depth of flow, h 275m Particle size to be settled 0.20 mm 0.024, misec 1.033 im? from Sudry’s curve) a. (A402 (121.50+101.25y2 Settling velocity, W (for density Average discharge, Q = 222.7512 11.375 cumecs ‘Average flow through velocity, V 111.375) 358 0.311 m/sec 0.132 Reduction in setting velocity, W" =— Vv vh : = 0.0078 misec Length of chamber,L = hv (WW), 27.8 x 0.311 "0.024 - 0.0078 = 525 m eve (h- 0.2) Also settling length of chamber, L = 7.51 We 1-16where = {(w), w is ratio of settled sediments to sediment load entering with the flow 7.51 LW? ve( h- 02% 7.51 x 525 x (0.024) (0.311)? ( 27.5 - 0.2) = 0.961 92% Settling efficiency (for A = 0.961) (rom Velikanov’s curve) 3.0 MODEL STUDIES Hydraulic model studies for a single desilting chamber were carried out at CWPRS, Pune for assessing the settling efficiency of the chamber, optimizing the length of chamber and inlet transition and adequacy of flushing system. Studies were conducted in 1/30 scale geometrically similar model in transparent perspex sheets representing one unit of desilting chamber from inlet before the upstream transition to outlet from the chamber for Head Rlace Tunnel with flushing tunnels at its bottom. Different size openings as shown in Table-4 were provided at variable spacing in the slab separating flushing conduits from the desilting basin. Table 1 : Details of openings between settling trench and flushing conduits Reach Location Size Spacing 010175 m First opening 0.60 m wide x | — (1st tunnel) 4.20 m long Next 6 openings 0.36 m dia 6 mole Next 4 openings 0.36 m dia 7 mele Next 12 openings 0.30 m dia amok 175 to 350 m First opening 0.60 m wide x | | —— (2nd tunnel) 1.20 m tong Next 6 openings 0.36 m dia 6 mole Next 4 openings 0.35 m gia 7 mole Next 6 openings 0.30 m dia ame Next 6 openings 0.24 m dia 9 mele 350 to 525 m First opening 0.60 m wide x ||| — (8rd tunnel) 1.20 m long Next 5 openings 0.30 m dia 6 mole ‘ Next 4 openings 0.30 m dia 7 mole Next 12 openings 0.24 m dia 9 mole Opening at the end | 0.36 m dia — For simulation of suspended sediment, crushed and sieved walnut shell powder having specific gravity of 1.40 was used for determining settling efficiency. The opening in the trash rack at the intake is proposed to be kept as 68 mm clear and coarse sediments upto 60 mm diameter could find entry into the desiting chambers. To examine the efficacy of the flushing arrangement with coarse sediments entering the chamber, sand alone and sand mixed with walnut shell power was used on the model. u-17Based on model studies, it was found that, () 525 mlong, 27.5 m high desilting chamber was adequate for settlement of sediment coarser than 0.20 mm diameter with an efficiency of more than 90%. (i) Increase in length of inlet transition from 25 m to 50 m and flattening the slope from 1 in 1.07 to 1 in 2.732 ensured that the deposition in the transition reduced considerably and full Iength of flushing tunnel was in operation. (ii) With 20.25 cumecs discharge (20% of outlet discharge) for flushing through each chamber, the velocities in the flushing tunnel vary from 3.00 mvs at the upstream to 3.75 m/sec at the end and the same is capable of transporting efficiently the size upto 6 mm diameter. (iv) 56.70 % of the expected settlement of sediment takes place in the reach covered by the first flushing tunnel with 25.90% and 17.40 % respectively in case of second and third tunnels. (¥) With inlet concentration of 5000 ppm, the concentration in the first, second and third flushing tunnels would be about 18500, 8500 and 5700 ppm respectively. (vi) Provision of cross strips near the exit end of desilting chamber did not indicate any significant increase in the settling efficiency for exclusion of more sediments. The tlushing tunnels for the chamber are, however, capable of transporting sediments satisfactorily even when sediment concentration of in-coming flow is upto 10000 ppm. ‘The efficiency of the silt flushing tunnel for transport of sediments from all the four chambers has. also been tested at CWPRS, Pune on a separate model. 4,0 DESILTING CHAMBERS DETAILS ‘The water from the intakes shall be conveyed by means of 6.0 m dia horse shoe tunnels and '50 m long transition to the four underground desilting chambers located on the left bank of river Sutle). Each of the chambers are 525 m long, 27.5 m high including a 5 m hopper portion and 16.31 m wide at the center. The chambers are egg shaped and have circular roof and curved walls and spaced ‘45.6 m from center to center leaving a rock pillar of about 29 m between two adjacent chambers. At the top of hoppers, inspection paths have been provided on both sides. At the bottom of hoppers are the settling trench and flushing conduits. The root of the chambers slopes upwards at 1:600 and the flushing conduits downwards at a slope of 1:400. The layout of desilting complex including the approach and construction adits is depicted in Figure 2. : (On the upstream end access into the chambers has been provided from Adit 1, through a 4m D- shaped access tunnel, stair well shaft and manhole at the springing level. This area is connected to top of hoppers by means of vertical rung ladders. Similarly on the downstream, chambers can be accessed with the help of stair case and lift well shafts from the gate cum ventilation gallery. These accesses are, one at springing level and éhe other at the top of hoppers. ‘The hopper portion and the inlet transition shall be RCC lined but the roof arch and side walls of main chamber will be lined with steel fibre reinforced shotcrete. 5.0 SILT FLUSHING ARRANGEMENT The silt setting at the bottom of hoppers shall be flushed by three flushing conduits running at the bottom of each chamber, one each for coarse, medium and fine particles at a velocity varying between 3.0 to 3.75 mis. The flushing discharge shall be controlled on the downstream of chamber by installation W-18 ‘naa. janeof bonnet type silt flushing gates on individual conduits. Each conduit has been provided with opening of varying sizes to draw silt from the settiing trench. The detail of these openings is given in para 3.0. Size of each flushing conduit varies from 0.7 m x 1.8 m to 1.0 m x 1.8 m. The particle size in each of the fractions of coarse, medium and fine sediments will be varying between 60 mm and 0.2 mm, 0.2 mm and 0.075 mm, 0.075 mm and 0.001 mm respectively Downstream of the flushing gate the discharge shall pass into free flow flushing tunnel through a carefully designed transition and flushing tunnel branches. There shall be high velocity downstream of the gates and weak hydraulic jump is expected to be formed below the last junction in the flushing tunnel. ‘The reaches where super critical flow occurs are planned to be provided with abrasion resistant lining. In the remaining length of flushing tunnel silt shall be transported at the velocity of 3.5 m/s . The main flushing tunnel is 5.88 m x 7.44 m D-shaped and 1580 m long. It is connected to the outfall into the river Sutlej by a cut and cover section, 30 m long and open channel, 130 m long. The layout of the flushing arrangement is indicated in Figure 3. 6.0 GATES FOR OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE The location of sit flushing gates is indicated in Figure 3. All the three conduits emerging from each chamber shall be controlled by individual flushing gate of size 0.7 x 1.8 m operating under a partial ‘opening depending upon the water level in the reservoir. The size has been decided as per minimum requirement during silt clearing operation and maintenance of conduits. These gates shall be subjected to heavy wear and tear by the siltladen water at high velocity. Therefore, guard gatos have been provided on each conduit to facilitate maintenance of the service gates. The guard gates shall be kept either fully open or fully closed, The six bonnet type gates for each desilting chamber shall be housed in a 12m x7 mx8.5 m chamber provided with an EOT crane. The vent pipes of these gates shall be routed through shafts above the FRL. As indicated in Figure 3, the flushing gate chambers shall be accessed from the gate cum ventilation gallery at El, 1496 through two staircase cum lift well shafts. Also a 4m D-shaped access to the chambers shall be provided from construction Adit-II, serving the purpose of an emergency exit. Downstream of the service gates at the end of transition a maintenance gate is also proposed to facilitate repair and maintenance work, without effecting operation of other chambers. ‘Whenever required a desilting chamber can be isolated and drained for maintenance, by lowering the gate at the intake and gate at the outlet tunnel (Figure 2). The intake gates are of size 6 m x 5.25 m. The gates at the outlet tunnel are of size 3.96m x 5.04m, All these are fixed wheel vertical lit gates. A stop log arrangement shall also. be provided near the exit of the flushing tunnel, so that, river water entry can be prevented during inspection and maintenance of the flusbing tunnel. 7.0 CONSTRUCTION STATUS ‘The civil construction started in late 1993 with the award of civil works worth As. 2040 crores to three international joint venture consortia contractors. The Electro- mechanical contract of Generating units and associated equipment has been awarded to M/s EUCONA, a European consortium and M/s. BHEL with Mis. ABB as the leader at a €ost of Fis.452.60 crores. The contract for supply and erection af Gates and Hoists has been awarded to M/s. Kvaemer Bobing Ltd., UK at a cost of Ris.78.0 crores. Excavation in dam foundation and slope stabilising measure has been completed. Dam concreting to the tune of 36000 cum has been completed upto the end of last working season. The excavation and supporting system in the desiling chamber is in progress and is in different stages of benching and almost 50% work has been completed. Only 300 metre flushing tunnel remains to be excavated out of 1580 metra. Excavation of gate-cum ventilation gallery has been completed. Excavation work is in progress for the gate shat in the desiting complex. Excavation for head race tunnel has been completed except in 419 m length. Concrete lining is in progress. Excavation for surge shaft has been completed and lining 1-20 Wed amas els mca ace aa ees hasBSIMN3HLO O3NOLLNSN 5S3Wn MW Ni SHY SNOISNSRIG (oosexooos Jwouebueve Buysny Jo syeeG : ¢ eun6 Ly NOTH ons “BAN OF STANNAL DIT ONS PuNan woo 31v9 oosrKoox s3iv9 Taweno 1N3d0" oosbxoose LivHs WIA WN'LNA OL $83990 err Uys WBA ‘O34VHS-a 0OOb UZEMVHD SMVO ONS OL $$309¥ ee ORR Oa Daa s3Lve duun9 ooaixoo., 713m 147 0, 21carried out in a height of 210 m. Excavation for valve chamber, power house and tall race has been completed. Erection of steel liner for pressure shaft and draft tubes is nearly complete. Concrete lining for tail race tunnel is also completed. 8.0 OPERATION CRITERIA The concentration of suspended sediment in river Sutlej is quite high during flood seasons and some- times it goes beyond 5000 ppm. For the period 1971 to 1996 , on an average suspended sediment load exceeded 5000 ppm for 5 days in a year (Table 2). Percentage of coarse, medium and fine fractions. in suspended sediment is shown in Table 3. As can be seen from the Table the river water contains about 16% of coarse, 22% of medium and 62% of fine sediment. Table 2: Suspended sediment load (ppm range for the number of days) Year 900 to 1000 to 2000 to ‘4000to Above 1000 ppm 2000 ppm —_—-4000 ppm _—5000 ppm __ 5000 ppm 1972 49 7 7 7 . 1973 28 35 n 7 4 1974 rn 43 6 : : 1975 52 7 u 5 5 1976 a 26 16 2 - 197 a7 25. 15 3 2 1978 a at 7 1 3 1979 3 EA 20 12 dl 1980 31 31 8 2 10 1981 40 2 14 5 dl 1982 “4 2 28 268 24 1983 14 24 51 2 : 1984 48 3 1 - : 1985 52 3 6 - : 1986 12 5 7 1" i 1987 a4 22 5 : - 1988 % 40 19 a 1989 13 3 6 iu 3 1990 16 74, 39 5 : 1991 3 28 66 12 13 1992 18 51 23 : 4 1993, a 15 : - 2 1994 6 16 51 18 24 1995 3 59 35 2 3 1996 ° a7 49 9 6 Average days in a-year 31 a7 25 5 5 Note : Data for 1971 was inconsistent and hence deleted. m-22Table 3 : Percentage of coarse, medium and fine fractions in suspended sediment Year Coarse % Medium % Fine % 1970 17.40 227 55.33 1972 19.85 33.35 46.80 1973 16.40 24.17 62.43 1974 17.87 21.99 60.14 1975 17.20 22.85 59.95 1976 16.07 2052 63.41 197 957 18.03 724 1978 18.87 2523 55.90 1979 21.96 2600 52.04 1980 22.00 27.40 50.60 1981 ta6t 23.02 58.37 1982 11.07 2521 63.72 1983 2051 18.64 60.85, 1984 17.09 2787 55.04 1985 18.04 2178 55.95 1987 12.44 36.67 50.89 1988 8.00 15.00 7.00 1989 5.00 10.00 85.00 1990 8.00 16.00 76.00 1991 11.00 15.00 74.00 1992 11.00 16.00 73.00 1993 8.00 11.00 81.00 1994 16.00 17.00 . 67.00 1995 16.50 2650 57.00 1996 28,00 30.00 42.00 Max. 28.00 36.67 85.00 Min. ¢ 5.00 10.00 42.00 Aver. 15.72 22.36 61.92 Note : Data for 1971 was inconsistent and hence deleted ‘As per the recommendations of the Panel of Experts itis proposed to draw water for power generation only when silt load in the river is less than 5000 ppm. During the flow season when river Sule} carries high concentration of sediment, there is ample discharge available in the river. Silt flushing tunnel has 1-23been designed to carry 81 cumecs of silt laden water. Design discharge for power generation being 405, cumecs, itis envisaged to have continuous sit flushing when the discharge during flood season exceeds 486 cumecs. During the remaining period intermittent to rare flushing is intended to be resorted to. Table 4 indicates the tentative schedule for sit flushing during a mean year. Table 4 : Tentative schedule for silt flushing from Desilting chambers during the mean year Sr. No.| Discharge Period Silt flushing operation 1 More than 100% 2ist June to 10th.Sept. —_| Continuous 2. () Between 75% & | 1st to 20th June and Intermittent(with 100% and 11th to 30th Sept frequent operation) of silt flushing gates. * (i) Between 50% & | 1st to 20 Oct. and -do- 75%. 11th to 31st May 3. Between 25% & 50%| 21st Oct. to 31st Dec. Intermittent * and 21st March to 10th May| 4 Less than 25% 1st January to 20th March | Rare operation of silt flushing gates. * Intermittent fushing (ath frequent operation) envisages operation of gates for 4 to 6 hours per day with half an hour ‘operation during every 2-3 hours, whereas intormitent flushing anvisages 2-4 hours operation of tha system per day with half an hour operation during avery 3-6 hours. 9.0 MAINTENANCE FACILITIES It required the desilting chambers, one at a time, may be drained during October to March period for inspection and maintenance. The chamber can be isolated by lowering the intake and outlet gates. Accumulation of silt may take place in the hoppers and some openings may get choked with silt. The ‘accesses into the chambers are as described in para 4.0, through which maintenance personnel alongwith light equipment can find entry. The inspection path at top of hoppers serves as the main working platiorm for clearing of silt. 10.0 CONCLUSION Desilting arrangement for Nathpa Jhakri Project catering to a design discharge of 405 cumecs with Particle size of 0.20 mm to be excluded is by far the largest. A settling efficiency of more than 90% as established through model studias is expected during operation. Since sediment concentration of more than 8000 ppm is expected only for 5 days in a year on an average, it is intended to draw water for power generation only when sedithent load in the river is less than 5000 ppm. An elaborate arrangement through a system of gates and approaches for inspection is being provided for a trouble free operation and maintenance of the chambers. Flushing of reservoir behind Nathpa dam is also envisaged once or twice every year, whenever the discharge in the river exceeds 1500 cumecs, through low level sluices in the dam ( which also act as spillway during flood season). Being a short stretch of the reservoir with ‘@ narrow width between the banks an effective flushing has been observed on the model, This operation of flushing out the sediments from the reservoir each year will result in minimum silt entry through the intake, ensure better desilting efficiency and reduce maintenance problems. W-24