Energy Engineering

(18ME81)
[As per Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) Scheme]

Module – 4 Lecture – 4

Faculty In-charge:
Mr. Girish B.
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engg.
Bangalore Institute of Technology
Bangalore

1
 Learning Objectives

❑ Hydroelectric Power Plant

▪ Numerical problems on Hydrograph, Flow duration curve
and Mass curve

2
 Numerical problem 2
2. The mean monthly discharge for 12 months at a particular site of river is
tabulated below:

Month Discharge in millions of Month Discharge in millions of

cubic meter / month cubic meter / month
April 500 October 2000
May 200 November 1500
June 1500 December 1500
July 2500 January 1000
August 3000 February 800
September 2400 March 600

i. Draw hydrograph and the flow duration curve on the graph sheet and find the
average monthly flow.
ii. Determine the power available at mean flow of water if available head is 80 m
Solution: at the site and overall efficiency of generation is 80%. Take 30 days in a month.
Data: Available head, H = 80 m; Overall efficiency, o = 80 %

3
 Numerical problem 2 (continued)

Solution: i). To draw Hydrograph Hydrograph

Data:
Discharge in
millions of
Month
cubic meter
per month
April 500
May 200
June 1500
July 2500
August 3000
September 2400
October 2000
November 1500
December 1500
January 1000
February 800
March 600

4
 Numerical problem 2 (continued)

Solution: i). To determine Average discharge for the flow

Hydrograph

Average discharge for the flow

Qav = (500+200+1500+2500
+3000+2400+2000+1500+
1500+1000+800+600) / 12

Qav = 1458.33 x 106 m3 / month

Qav = 1458.33 x106/(30x24x3600)

Qav = 562.63 m3 /s

5
 Numerical problem 2 (continued)

Solution: i). To draw Flow duration curve

Hydrograph Discharge in Total number of Percentage
millions of cubic months during time
meter / month which flow is (= n*100/12)
available (n)
200 12 100
500 11 91.7
600 10 83.3
800 9 75
1000 8 66.7
1500 7 58.3
2000 4 33.3
2400 3 25
2500 2 16.7
3000 1 8.3

6
 Numerical problem 2 (continued)

Solution: i). To draw Flow duration curve Flow duration curve

Flow duration curve
Discharge in Total number of Percentage 3000
*
millions of cubic months during time 2800

meter / month which flow is (= n*100/12) 2600

available (n) 2400 *

Discharge in millions of cubic meter / month

200 12 100 2200

500 11 91.7 2000 *

1800
600 10 83.3
1600
800 9 75 1400 *
1000 8 66.7 1200

1500 7 58.3 1000 *

800
2000 4 33.3 *
600
2400 3 25 *
400 *
2500 2 16.7 200 *
0
3000 1 8.3 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time ( % )

7
 Numerical problem 2 (continued)

Solution: ii). To determine Power developed in MW

Power developed in MW

P = o g Qav H /106

P = 0.80 x 1000 x 9.81x 562.63 x 80 / 106

P = 353.24 MW

8
 Numerical problem 3
3. For a particular site of the river, the following run off data was recorded for
ten months. Find the minimum flow available throughout the year, if the
storage capacity at the site is 100 million m3

Month Discharge in millions of cubic meter / month

1 200
2 100
3 20
4 20
5 260
6 180
7 40
8 280
9 60
10 120

9
 Numerical problem 3 (continued)
Solution: i). To draw Mass curve Mass curve

Month Discharge in Cumulative

c
millions of cubic volume in
meter / month millions of cu-
m
1 200 200
2 100 300
3 20 320
4 20 340
5 260 600
6 180 780
7 40 820
8 280 1100
9 60 1160
10 120 1280

10
 Numerical problem 3 (continued)
Solution: To find minimum available flow rate throughout the period
Draw tangents at points ‘a’ , ‘b’ and ‘c’
such that the distance x = 100 millions
c
of m3.
The flow rates are calculated by
measuring the slopes at points ‘a’ , ‘b’
and ‘c
At point ‘a’,
flow rate = 72.6 millions of m3
At point ‘b’,
flow rate = 166.4 millions of m3

At point ‘c’,
flow rate = 137.6 millions of m3

The lowest value of flow rate i.e., 72.6

millions of m3 is the minimum available
Mass curve flow rate throughout the period

11
 Numerical problem 4

4. The data for twelve months flow at a particular site is given below:

Month Discharge in millions of Month Discharge in millions of

cubic meter / month cubic meter / month
1 100 7 190
2 50 8 40
3 20 9 30
4 80 10 200
5 10 11 170
6 10 12 80

Find
i. The required reservoir capacity for the uniform flow of 50 million
cu-m per month throughout the year.
ii. Spill way capacity.
iii. Average flow capacity if whole water is used and required
capacity of the reservoir for this condition.

12
 Numerical problem 4 (continued)
Solution: To draw Mass curve Mass curve

Mont Discharge in Cumulative

h millions of cubic volume in
meter / month millions of cu-m
1 100 100
2 50 150
3 20 170
4 80 250
5 10 260 g
6 10 270 f
7 190 460
8 40 500 e
9 30 530
10 200 730
11 170 900
12 80 980

13
 Numerical problem 4 (continued)
Solution: To find i). Storage capacity and ii). Spill way capacity
Mass curve From the graph,
i). Storage capacity
For finding the capacity of the reservoir for
uniform flow of 50 million cu-m per month
throughout the year, draw triangle xyz in
which xy represents one month and yz
represents 50 million cu-m
Draw parallel lines to the line xz through the
points ‘e’ and ‘g’ which are the apexes of
g mass curve.
The greatest departure of the mass curve
f from these lines represents the storage
e capacity.
∴ Storage capacity = 82 x 106 m3

ii). Spill way capacity required = 86 x 106 m3

(vertical height between points ‘f’ and ‘g’)

14
 Numerical problem 4 (continued)
Solution: To find iii). Average flow capacity
Mass curve From the graph,
iii). Average flow capacity
Join the points ‘a’ and ‘b’ then the slope of
the line ab represents the uniform
discharge throughout the year.
= 980 / 12 x 106 = 81.7 x 106 m3 / month

Draw the line cd parallel to ab which

touches the mass curve to its lowest point.
g
The maximum departure of the line cd from
f the mass curve represents the required
e storage capacity for the uniform supply of
81.7 x 106 m3 / month.

In this case,
storage capacity required = 230 x 106 m3

15
 Summary

❑ Hydroelectric Power Plant

▪ Numerical problems on Hydrograph, Flow duration curve
and Mass curve

16
 References & Suggested Readings

1. S.C. Arora, S. Domkundwar, A.V. Domkundwar, Power Plant Engineering, Dhanpat

Rai & Co. (P) Ltd

2. R. K. Rajput, A Textbook of Power Plant Engineering, Laxmi Publishers

3. R. K. Jain, Power Plant Technology, Khanna Publishers

4. P. B. Nagaraj, Energy Engineering, Sudha Publications

17