Government Polytechnic Pune.

Mechanical department.
Course Name: Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Machinery (ME3103)
Guide: A.A.Gadhikar
Semester: 4th Semester
Student names: 1. Purva Chalindrawar 1904019
2. Shravani Gogawale 1904042.
Division: D2.
Sediment Erosion
In hydraulic turbine and it’s effects.

•Hydropower is one of the cleanest forms of energy and has been used in
many countries as a principle source of electricity.
•Despite the future prospects in hydropower development in this region,
the geological problem seems to be a major obstacle. It has been studied
that out of 20 billion tons of global sediment flux from rivers to the
oceans per year, around 6 billion tons is contributed by Asian rivers,
particularly from Indian subcontinent. The problem of sediment handling,
maintenance and operation of the power plants has become a serious
issue.

• Sediment erosion problems

Sediment erosion problem is a global operation and maintenance
problem of hydropower plants.
This wear not only reduces efficiency and life of the turbine but also
causes problems in operation and maintenance, and ultimately leads to
economic losses.
• Examples.
Many hydropower plants built on sediment‐loaded rivers have faced
serious problems of sediment erosion during the first years of operation
itself. The 12 MW Jhimruk hydropower plant (JHP) built in Nepal is the
one example of it.
These photographs shows the destruction of guide vanes and turbine
runner at Jhimruk.
Similarly, 22 MW Cahua hydropower plant built in Peru can be taken as
another example of excessive sediment erosion. The photographs
presented in Figure 1‐2, also illustrate the extent of sediment erosion in
guide vanes and turbine runner.

The sediment study conducted in this power plant indicated that, the
sediment concentration exceeded 120,000 tons of sediment only after six
weeks of operation.

The high sediment concentration combined with high percentage of

quartz and feldspar, which are harder than the turbine material (hardness
6‐7 in Moh’s scale), was the main causes of excessive sediment erosion in
the hydraulic machinery operating in these power plants. During
monsoon season, a large amount of sediment (as high as 50,000 ppm) is
carried by Rivers and it becomes difficult to remove all these sediments
before passing through the turbine, and causes severe damage to the
turbine components.

(Note- meaning of PPM: This is an abbreviation for "parts per million" and
it also can be expressed as milligrams per liter (mg/L). This measurement
is the mass of a chemical or contaminate per unit volume of water.)

• Erosion wear or erosion

Erosive wear or erosion is one form of wear caused by the impacts of
solid or liquid particles on a solid surface. The flow medium contains
particles that possess enough kinetic energy to damage metallic
surface.. The erosive wear is accompanied with relatively small
particles with several number of wear mechanisms. These
mechanisms are differentiated based on the impingement angle,
size, shape and speed of the particles and mechanical properties of
the base material.

The figure shows various forms of erosion wear mechanisms.

• Erosion in Pelton turbine.

•In the case of Pelton turbine, all the hydraulic energy of water is
converted into kinetic energy before runner inlet. Because of the high
head application of Pelton turbines, the velocity of water in the jets is
usually higher than 100 m/s.
•Since velocity is the dominant factor for erosion (erosion ∝ velocity3),
the rise in velocity make the flow more turbulent, increasing the erosion
rate.
This erosion takes place in turbine at 4 parts-
1. Inlet valve
2. Nozzles
3. Runner
4. Wheel pit.
The photographer shows erosion in Pelton turbine.
• Erosion in Fransis turbine.
Francis turbines are also one of the seriously affected turbines due to
sand erosion.
This erosion happens in several components of this turbines which
includes
1. The inlet valve system.
2. The spiral casing
3. The pressure relief or by pass system
4. The guide vane system
5. The runner and runner seals
6. LThe draft tube
7. The shaft seal.
Figure shows Erosion in Francis turbines.

• Conclusion:
Sediment content of water can no more be overlooked in any phase of
hydropower project implementation. This includes all the phases like,
investigation, design, operation and maintenance, and refurbishment
and upgrading.
Due consideration of the problem at every stage, would affect
economies on one hand and long-term solutions would emerge on the
other hand.
However, one solution in order to decrease the sediment erosion is to
increase the size of the turbine, thereby increases the hydraulic radius
of curvature,
and thus decreases the accelerations. Furthermore, while it is possible
to design a Francis turbine to be more resistant against sediment
erosion, this may adversely, affect other aspects of the turbine. It
should be understood that every hydraulic turbine is a compromise
between several requirements.

• References
• https://www.intechopen.com/books/sedimentation-engineering/a-
review-on-sediment-erosion-challenges-in-hydraulic-turbines
• https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/52098065.pdf