CAPITOL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Cagayan De Oro City

POWER PLANT ENGINEERING

ME 24

Hydro Power Theory and Calculation

TITLE

Plate No.4

EVALUATION RATING:

DATE PERFORMED: Criteria for Rating (100 pts.)

March 17, 2021
Criteria Actual
DATE DUE: Score
March 18, 2021
▪ Promptness (20 pts.)

SUBMITTED BY: ▪ Neatness (10 pts.)

ROLAND A. QUIAO ▪ Computations/Answers/

Student Data Analysis and Sketches (40
pts.)
SUBMITTED TO:
▪ Conclusion and
Dr. Rogelio C. Golez, Jr Recommendation
Professor (30 pts.)

Remarks: ❑
100
Total Score

2nd SEMESTER School Year:2020-2021

 Plate No. 4
Hydro Power Theory and Calculation

Objectives:  To be able to;

1. Familiarize with the concepts of Hydro power and computations 
2. Understand the basic concepts of Water power and its energy involved.
3. Understand about the different hydro turbines and its characteristics.

A. Discuss the following terms: 

1. Reservoir
- A reservoir is, most commonly, an enlarged natural or artificial lake,
pond, or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water.

2. Spillway
- A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of
flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically the riverbed of the
dammed river itself.

3. Dam
- A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of water or
underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also
provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use,
aquaculture, and navigability.

4. Silt Sluice
- A sluice is a water channel controlled at its head by a gate. A mill
race, leet, flume, penstock or lade is a sluice channeling water toward a water mill. 

5. Trash Rack
- A trash rack is a wooden or metal structure, frequently supported
by masonry, that prevents water-borne debris (such as logs, boats, animals, masses of
cut waterweed, etc.) from entering the intake of a water mill, pumping station or water
control

6. Valve
- device for controlling the flow of fluids (liquids, gases, slurries) in a
pipe or other enclosure. Control is by means of a movable element that opens, shuts, or
partially obstructs an opening in a passageway.

7. Surge Chamber
- is a large pressurized underground chamber creating a free surface
in the waterway to improve the dynamic abilities of the power plant waterways. It is
generally used for long waterways when a surge shaft cannot be created to fulfill the
same purpose.

8. Penstock
- A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water
flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems.
The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills.

9. Turbine
- is a device that harnesses the kinetic energy of some fluid - such as
water, steam, air, or combustion gases - and turns this into the rotational motion of the
device itself. These devices are generally used in electrical generation, engines, and
propulsion systems and are classified as a type of engine.

10. Generator
- is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) into
electrical power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include
steam turbines, gas turbines, water turbines, internal combustion engines, wind turbines
and even hand cranks.

11. Draft Tube

- is a diverging tube fitted at the exit of runner of turbine and used to
utilize the kinetic energy available with water at the exit of runner. This draft tube at the
end of the turbine increases the pressure of the exiting fluid at the expense of its
velocity.

12. Tailrace
- a race for conveying water away from a point of industrial
application (such as a waterwheel or turbine) after use.

13. Undershot wheel

- An undershot wheel is a vertically mounted water wheel with a
horizontal axle that is rotated by the water from a low weir striking the wheel in the
bottom quarter.

14. Breast shot wheel

- The word breast shot is used in a variety of ways. Some authors
restrict the term to wheels where the water enters at about the 10 o’clock position,
others 9 o’clock, and others for a range of heights. In this article it is used for wheels
where the water entry is significantly above the bottom and significantly below the top,
typically the middle half.
15. Over shot wheel
- A vertically mounted water wheel that is rotated by water entering
buckets just past the top of the wheel is said to be overshot. The term is sometimes,
erroneously, applied to backshot wheels, where the water goes down behind the wheel.

B. Three categories of Dams based on head levels

1. High-head: ________328.084______ feet

2. Medium-head: __32.8084 and_328.084 feet
3. Low-head: ______32.8084________ feet

C. Scale of Hydropower in Watts:

1. Large-hydro: more than 1000 kW

2. Medium-hydro: 15 - 100 MW
3. Small-hydro: from 1 - 15 MW
4. Mini-hydro: Capacity between 100 - 500 kW
5. Micro-hydro:  5 - 100 kW
6. Pico-hydro: from a few hundred watts up to 5kW

D: Discuss the following types of Turbine Designs and show illustrations.

1. Francis Turbine
- Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today. "The
Francis design has been used with head heights of from 30 to 600 m, but it
delivers its best performance between 100 and 300 m" and are used primarily
for electrical power production. The electric generators that most often use
this type of turbine have a power output that generally ranges from just a few
kilowatts up to 1000 MW, though mini-hydro installations may be lower. 

2. Kaplan Turbine

- 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. Power is recovered from both the hydrostatic head and from
the kinetic energy of the flowing water.

3. Pelton Turbine

- The operation of a Pelton turbine is fairly simple. In this type of turbine,

high speed jets of water emerge from the nozzles that surround the turbine.
 These nozzles are arranged so the water jet will hit the buckets at splitters,
the center of the bucket where the water jet is divided into two streams.

4. Turgo Turbine

-  is an impulse water turbine designed for medium head applications.

Operational Turgo Turbines achieve efficiencies of about 87%. In factory and
lab tests Turgo Turbines perform with efficiencies of up to 90%. It works with
net heads between 15 and 300 m.

5. Tesla Turbine

- In a wind turbine, the wind (the fluid) causes the blades to rotate. The
blades in turn rotate a generator, which converts the rotational energy into
electricity. In the Tesla turbine, the smooth disks spin to generate energy

6. Archimedes Hydro Turbine

- Archimedes' screw, also known as the water screw, screw pump or

Egyptian screw, is a machine used for transferring water from a low-lying
body of water into irrigation ditches. Water is pumped by turning a screw-
shaped surface inside a pipe. Archimedes screws are also used for materials
such as powders and grains.

7. Whirlpool Turbine

- Whirlpool turbine is a low-pressure turbine fitted with a submersible

generator, which generates electricity that is sufficient to power up to 60
houses 24/7 without harming the environment. Whirlpool turbine installation
requires a 1.5 m height difference in water level.
E. Problem solving:
1. A pelton type turbine was installed 30 m below the head gate of the penstock. The
head loss due to friction is     15% of the given elevation. The length of the penstock is
80 m and the coefficient of friction is 0.00093.     
Determine the following:
  a) the diameter of the penstock in mm. (421.6 mm)           
  b) the power output in KW (781.234 KW)
2. A Francis turbine is installed with a vertical draft tube. The pressure gauge located at
the penstock leading to the turbine casing reads 372.6 KPa and velocity of water at inlet
is 6 m/sec. The discharge is 2.5 m /sec. The hydraulic efficiency is 85%, and the overall
3

efficiency is 82%. The top of the draft tube is 1.5 m below the centerline of the spiral
casing, while the tailrace level is 2.5 m from the top of the draft tube. There is
no velocity of whirl at the top or bottom of the draft tube and leakage losses are
negligible. 
Calculate the following:      
a) the net effective head in meters (43.817 m)
b) the brake power in kw. (881.2 kw)
c) the plant output for a generator efficiency of 92%. (810.7 kw)
d) the mechanical efficiency (96.550%)
3. A hydroelectric power plant using a Francis type turbine has the following data:
Headwater elevation - 190 m
Tailwater elevation - 50 m
Head loss due to friction - 3.5% of gross head
Turbine discharge at full gate opening - 6 m /sec
3

Turbine – Generator Speed – 600 RPM

Turbine efficiency at rated capacity - 90%
Turbine is to be direct connected to a 60 hertz a-c generator.
Determine the following: 
a) the brake power in kw (7156.8 kw)
b)  the electrical power output of the generator if the efficiency is 94% (6727.4 kw)
c) the torque developed in N-m (102 925.31 N-m)
d) the approximate length of the penstock, if the diameter is 1.5 m and friction factor f is
0.018.  (693 m)

Conclusion/Recommendation:

I conclude that in this activity I was able to familiarize the concepts of Hydro
power with computations and understand the basic concepts of water power and its
energy involved. And also, I understand about the different hydro turbines and its
characteristics. It is very recommended topics specially with those have interest in
hydro power plant theories and calculations. As a mechanical engineering study, it is
very helpful to us to have learned with the theories and calculations in the field of
hydro power plant.