Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Effect of blade thickness on the hydraulic performance of a Francis

hydro turbine model
Seung-Jun Kim a, b, Young-Seok Choi a, b, Yong Cho c, Jong-Woong Choi c,
Jin-Hyuk Kim a, b, *
a
Green Process and Energy System Engineering, Korea University of Science & Technology, 217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea
b
Thermal & Fluid System R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 89 Yangdaegiro-gil, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si,
Chungcheongnam-do, 31056, Republic of Korea
c
K-water Convergence Institute, Korea Water Resources Corporation, 125, Yuseong-daero 1689beon-gil, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34045, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Francis turbines are the most commonly used turbines for hydroelectric power generation. Preliminary
Received 18 June 2018 studies to verify turbine designs are often performed with small-scale models; however, when the
Received in revised form runner blade of a full-size turbine is geometrically scaled down to prepare a model for evaluating the
5 November 2018
design variables and performance characteristics, the blades become very thin and difficult to manu-
Accepted 15 November 2018
facture. Hence, the blockage effect of the runner blade should be considered to find a suitable blade
Available online 20 November 2018
thickness that satisfies the required hydraulic performance. Furthermore, a clear understanding of the
blockage ratio at the highest efficiency point and off-design condition is required to investigate different
Keywords:
Francis hydro turbine
blade thicknesses and performance characteristics. Here, the blockage effect of the runner blade on the
Blockage effect hydraulic performance and internal flow characteristics of a 300-class Francis hydro turbine was
Blade thickness investigated. Three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged NaviereStokes calculations were performed with a
Hydraulic performance shear stress transport turbulence model to analyze the internal flow characteristics near the runner blade
Internal flow characteristics and compare the blockage effect with various blade thicknesses on major performance parameters such
as the hydraulic efficiency. Flow analyses for the off-design conditions were also performed with various
blade thicknesses. The obtained results indicated that the power and efficiency gradually decreased with
increasing blockage ratio. The runner head loss increased due to the mismatches between the flow angle
and blade angle with changing the inlet velocity triangle components according to blockage ratio.
Especially the efficiency of approximate 3.4% decreased as the blockage ratio increased with 12.5%,
compared to the reference model. It was verified that the blockage effect significantly affects the design
of Francis turbine models.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction dynamic similarities as actual Francis hydro turbines are used to

Francis turbines are extensively studied as they are the most
common turbine technology used in hydroelectric power genera-
tion. Preliminary tests to verify the design variables and perfor-
mance characteristics of large-scale Francis hydro turbines are
required before installation. However, tests using full-scale turbines
are prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Therefore, usually
scaled-down models with the same geometric, kinematic, and
* Corresponding author. Thermal & Fluid System R&D Group, Korea Institute of
Industrial Technology, 89 Yangdaegiro-gil, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si,
Chungcheongnam-do, 31056, Republic of Korea
E-mail address: jinhyuk@kitech.re.kr (J.-H. Kim).
evaluate the design variables and performance characteristics.
When the runner blade of a Francis hydro turbine is scaled down to
a model with geometric similarity, the runner blades become very
thin, which makes manufacturing of the model blades difficult. The
blockage ratio, defined as the ratio of the blocked area by the
runner blade thickness to and flow passage area, is used to describe
the flow around the runner blade. To find a suitable runner thick-
ness while satisfying the requirements of hydraulic performance
and structural strength, the blockage effect as a function of runner
blade thickness should be considered. The IEC 60193 standard [1]
suggests a permissible maximum blade thickness deviation for the
Francis hydro turbine runner as acceptable ratio of an individual
value to an average value at the actual scale and a model. However,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.11.066
0960-1481/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
808 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817
Nomenclature
N Rotational speed for a specific speed
n Rotational speed
P Power
H Head
g Gravitational acceleration
D2 Runner outlet diameter
Q Discharge
Δt Blade thickness on the inlet section
r1 Runner inlet radius
b Blade relative flow angle
p Pressure
r Density
T Torques
u Angular speed
ƞ Efficiency
this standard is relevant for manufacturing runner blades of small-
scale model and indicates the extent to which the thickness affects
performance. In addition to the issue of geometric similarity, the
minimum thickness of the runner blade can depend on the material
used for manufacturing the model. Therefore, understanding the
influence of variations in the thickness is necessary to investigate
the hydrodynamic performance and characteristics of models with
various blockage ratios.
In a related study of blade thickness, Samad and Kim [2] applied
surrogate modeling to compressor blade shape optimization for
modifying the blade stacking line and airfoil thickness to simulta-
neously enhance the adiabatic efficiency and total pressure ratio.
Mu et al. [3] studied numerically the effect of blade thickness on
hydraulic performance with six types of impellers, which had
different blade thickness and were assembled in the same pump for
comparing head and efficiency under design condition. Shigemitsu
et al. [4] investigated the effect of blade outlet angle and blade
thickness on the performance and internal flow condition of a mini
centrifugal pump with experimental and numerical analysis. They
obtained the results that the head of the mini centrifugal pump
increased according to the decrease of the blade thickness. Tao et al.
[5] investigated the influence of blade thickness on the transient
flow characteristics of a centrifugal slurry pump with a semi-open
impeller. They also manufactured a specimen and conducted
experimental tests of the hydraulic performance to verify the
simulation results. Yang et al. [6] performed experimental and
numerical studies of the influence of the blade thickness on a pump
as turbine system, which had three different specific speeds with
different blade thicknesses. Sarraf et al. [7] studied two fans that
differed only in the thickness of their blades to highlight the effects
of blade thickness on the overall performance and pressure and
velocity fluctuations. In this way, studies of the effect of the blade
thickness on the fluid mechanics were performed. However,
studies considering the performance characteristics at both the off-
design and best efficiency point (BEP) conditions as a function of
blade thickness are lacking.
In addition, many studies related to Francis hydro turbine
models have been performed considering various issues. Chen et al.
[8] conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses to
predict the effect of runner blade loading on the performance and
internal flow of a Francis turbine model with three different blade
loadings. Kocak et al. [9] performed both analytical calculations and
numerical simulations to design a Francis turbine runner blade. The
single blade was designed using the Bovet method which uses
empirical equations to obtain the parameters of the turbine runner.
Kassanos et al. [10] numerically studied the effect of the splitter
blade geometry on the draft tube vortex rope. Two different splitter
blade designs were compared to the case of the initial runner
without splitter blades at two different operating conditions. Chen
et al. [11] developed a new method on basis of the port area and
loss analysis to design a Francis turbine runner. The port area was
defined as the minimum blade passage area at the exit of the blade
passage and adjusted to correct the outflow angle at the runner
exit. Chirkov et al. [12] presented the multi-discipline optimization
of the hydraulic turbine runner shape with a new parameterization
of the blade thickness function. They suggested an objective func-
tion as the weighted sum of maximal stress and the blade volume
to account for both the strength and weight of the runner. However,
studies considering the effect of the blade thickness on the per-
formance and internal flow characteristics at wide operating con-
ditions of a Francis hydro turbine model have not been undertaken.
Among the design components of runner, the blade thickness is an
important and sensitive geometrical factor and then it is deter-
mined the performance characteristics of runner with flow chan-
nel. The satisfied design and manufacturing of runner blade for safe
and sustainable generation of turbine are required and should be
studied. Therefore, the effect of the blockage ratio as a function of
runner blade thickness is needed to observe the hydraulic charac-
teristics at wide operating conditions as BEP and off-design
conditions.
This study focused on the blockage effect of a runner blade on
the hydraulic performance and internal flow characteristics of a
Francis hydro turbine model with a specific speed of 300-class
[rpm, kW, m]. Three-dimensional (3D) steady-state Reynolds-
averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) calculations were conducted with a
keu based shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model to analyze
the hydraulic performance of the Francis hydro turbine model.
Major performance parameters, such as the efficiency and power,
were investigated to determine the internal flow characteristics
near the runner blade and compare the blockage effect using
various blade thicknesses. In addition, in order to investigate the
flow behavior in the Francis hydro turbine model with various
blade thicknesses at the off-design conditions, steady flow analyses
of the off-designs were performed.
2. Specification of the Francis hydro turbine model
In this study, a 3D numerical analysis was conducted on a
Francis hydro turbine with a specific speed of 300-class [rpm, kW,
m]. The specific speed of the Francis hydro turbine was calculated
with Eq. (1). Fig. 1 shows the 3D modeling and overall geometry
with respect to the main flow region, such as the spiral casing, stay
vane, guide vane, runner and draft tube. The head, discharge and
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram showing the 3D model of the Francis hydro turbine, where
the main components are defined.
 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817 809

rotational speed at the BEP of the actual-scale Francis hydro turbine

are represented by Eqs. (2)e(4), which yield the head coefficient,
discharge coefficient, and speed factor according to IEC 60193 [1].
The Francis hydro turbine model was scaled down from the actual-
scale so that the speed factor, head, and discharge coefficients
would have the same values, as given in Table 1. Main specifications
are listed in Table 1. The performance and internal characteristics
were investigated at the BEP and the off-design conditions of the
Francis hydro turbine model.
pffiffiffi
N P
Ns ¼ 5
(1)
H4

gH
HnD ¼ (2)
n2 D2

Q
QnD ¼ (3)
nD3

nD
nED ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi (4)
gH

3. Definition of the blockage ratio

In the Francis hydro turbine, the blades made blocked by the

stacked spans in the runner channel and their thickness decreases
Fig. 2. Definition of blockage at the inlet.
the annulus passage area over the entire blade zone. This decrease
in area can be accurately quantified by the blockage ratio, which is
defined as the ratio of the blocked to the unobstructed sections. The To compare the effect of various blockage ratios, the thickness of
blade thickness s1 has a blockage ratio r1, as described below [13]: the runner blade was varied by increasing or decreasing the
thickness ratio according to the camber line of the runner. Fig. 3
Dt1 Dt
r1 ¼ ¼ 2pr1 (5) shows blade cross-sections at the mid-span for the reference
t1 1
blockage ratio of 5% and one of 7.5%. The flow passage decreased as
z1
the blockage ratio increased. Fig. 4 shows the flow passage area
Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram defining the blockage, where
normalized using the maximum flow passage area of the runner
all the relevant variables are defined. Here, t1 is the circumference
blade through the meridional length. The flow passage areas along
of the runner divided by the number of runner blades, r1 is the inlet
the line from the leading edge (LE) to the trailing edge (TE) by the
radius of the runner blade, and Δt1 is the blade thickness in the inlet
meridional length were different for the various blockage ratios as
section. The reference thickness s1, which is based on the hydro-
the different thickness was applied to the same camber line of the
dynamic flow through the runner, is the thickness measured in the
runner blade as shown in Fig. 3.
direction normal to the blade contour from the stream surface. If b1
is the relative flow angle of the inlet, then Δt1 can be written as
4. Numerical analysis
follows [13]:

s1 In this study, the internal flow field of the Francis hydro turbine
Dt1 ¼ (6)
sinb1 model was analyzed in the steady state using the ANSYS CFX-17.1
commercial software [14]. The numerical grids for the blade and
In this study, a Francis hydro turbine model was numerically other parts were generated using the Turbo-Grid and ICEM-CFD
analyzed with various blockage ratios from 2.5% to 12.5%. The packages, respectively. ANSYS CFX-Pre, CFX-Solver, and CFX-Post
reference blockage ratio was 5%, and five cases were analyzed to were used to define the boundary conditions, solve governing
compare the overall performance and internal flow characteristics. equations, and post-process the results, respectively. The governing
equations used for the steady-state numerical analysis were dis-
cretized using the finite volume method. The working fluid of the
Table 1
Specification of the Francis hydro turbine. Francis hydro turbine model was water at 25  C. The area-averaged
total pressure and static pressure were set at the inlet and outlet of
Specifications Real size Model
the turbine, respectively. The same head condition and various
Specific speed, Ns (m, kW, min1) 310 310 blockage ratios were applied for the numerical analysis of the
Runner outlet diameter, D2 (m) 4.34 0.32
Francis hydro turbine model. Additionally, for numerical analysis of
Head coefficient, HnD () 3.16 3.16
Discharge coefficient, QED () 0.59 0.59 the off-design conditions, different guide vane openings were
Speed factor, nED () 0.56 0.56 applied to investigate the off-design conditions at constant head
Runner blade number (ea) 12 12 and various discharge conditions for various blockage ratios. When
Stay vane number (ea) 20 20 modeling fluid machinery, in order to decrease the computational
Guide vane number (ea) 20 20
time and improve convergence, numerical analysis usually applies
810 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817

turbulence model to accurately predict the flow separation under

an adverse pressure gradient [15,16]. This model uses the keu and
keε models in the near-wall region and freestream area, respec-
tively, and a blending function ensures smooth transitions between
these two models [17].
Fig. 5 shows the numerical grid construction of the Francis
hydro turbine model. A structured grid system was constructed in
the computational domain with O-type grids near the surfaces of
the runner blade, stay vanes, and guide vanes and H-type girds in
other regions, such as the spiral casing and draft tube. In order to
apply the low-Reynolds shear transport model near the wall of the
Francis hydro turbine model runner during numerical analysis, the
first grid point was kept at yþ  2. The numerical grid dependency
test was performed, and the results were expressed as the
normalized efficiency values along the node numbers, which were
in the range of 3.7e14.3  106. The optimum node number of 8.17 
106 was selected, as shown in Fig. 6.

5. Results and discussion

5.1. Validation of the numerical analysis results

In order to evaluate the accuracy of the numerical analysis, the

results of the flow analysis should be validated with experimental
results. The steady-state numerical results for an actual Francis
hydro turbine were validated by comparison with experimental
results from a previous study, as shown in Fig. 7 [18,19]. The per-
formance curves show that the trends of the numerical and
experimental results were generally consistent. In particular, the
performance at the maximum efficiency point (MEP) was relatively
Fig. 3. Schematic diagrams of mid-span cross-sections of blades of the Francis hydro
accurate at a guide vane opening of 75%; hence, this condition was
turbine model with different blockage ratios.
chosen as the BEP for this model. Thus, the numerical analysis of
the Francis hydro turbine model is considered valid. In the perfor-
mance curves, the power (P), efficiency (h), and mass flowrate were
normalized by the maximum value in order to express dimen-
sionless values. The power and efficiency were calculated using Eqs.
(7) and (8), respectively.

P ¼ Tu (7)

P
h¼ (8)
rgHQ

Fig. 4. Normalized flow passage area in runner blade with various blockage ratios
along the meridional length from the leading edge (LE) to the trailing edge (TE).

periodic conditions to one passage, where the flow field between

two adjacent blades forms regularly with respect to the direction of
rotation. However, the flow field in a Francis hydro turbine cannot
be assumed to be regular due to interactions between the internal
flow generated at the stay vanes, guide vanes, and expanded spiral
casing. Therefore, the analysis was conducted for the entire area,
including all runner blades, stay vanes, and guide vanes. The
frozen-rotor method was applied to connect the rotating runner
and stationary domains such as guide vanes and draft tubes for Fig. 5. Schematic diagram defining the numerical grids of the Francis hydro turbine
steady-state analysis. The keu-based SST model was used as a model.
 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817 811

Fig. 6. Efficiency curve from the grid dependency test.

Fig. 8. Performance curves with various blockage ratios of Francis hydro turbine model
at BEP condition.

hydraulic performance, especially the power, as shown in Fig. 8.

Dptotal T u
Q
Hloss ¼ (9)
runner
rg
Fig. 10 shows the velocity vector distributions on the blade
surface at the mid-span of the runner blade under the BEP condi-
tion. The analyzed runner blades were located near the tongue of
the spiral casing, which demonstrated complex flows, as shown in
Fig. 10(a). As shown in Fig. 10(b) and (c), the flow passage area
between runner blades more decreased with a blockage ratio of
12.5% than the blockage ratio of 5%. Even though the same
boundary condition for both blockage ratios of 5% and 12.5% is
given for the analysis, the flow characteristics and flow angle are
changed totally because of different annulus flow passage area.
Thus, the detailed comparison for the flow characteristic analyses
Fig. 7. Performance curves of modeled (CFD) and experimental (EXP) results for a real- can be observed clearly with velocity triangle distributions as
scale Francis hydro turbine [18,19]. shown in Fig. 11. Vector triangles of the velocity are indicated near
the leading edge at the mid-span of runner for both blockage ratios
(5% and 12.5%) for investigating the internal flow characteristics at
5.2. Influence of the blockage effect at the BEP condition
the runner inlet. Here, U is the runner peripheral velocity, W is the
relative velocity, and Cm is the meridional velocity, which indicates
To investigate the blockage effect on the performance and in-
ternal flow characteristics of a Francis hydro turbine model, steady-
state 3D analyses were performed at the BEP condition. Fig. 8 shows
the numerical results (normalized P and h) for the Francis hydro
turbine model at the BEP condition with various blockage ratios;
the same effective head condition and guide vane opening was
used for all cases. The P and h values decreased as the blockage ratio
increased. In addition, the power at a blockage ratio of 2.5% (thin
blade) was slightly higher than of the reference model (blockage
ratio of 5%), while the efficiency was lower slightly. Although the
power was the highest at a blockage ratio of 2.5%, it can be seen that
the efficiency decreased due to the higher flowrate with the thinner
runner blade. For blockage ratios higher than the reference, the
power decreased with increasing blockage ratio due to a narrower
flow passage. Hence, both the output torque and input flowrate
decreased with increasing blockage ratio, where the output torque
was more sensitive to the blockage ratio.
Head loss calculations of the runner blade were performed at
the BEP condition for different blockage ratios (runner blade
thicknesses), as calculated using Eq. (9) [11]. The normalized head
losses are shown in Fig. 9. The loss distribution confirmed that the
runner head loss increased with increasing blockage ratio. Conse-
Fig. 9. Normalized head loss of the runner blades with various blockage ratios at the
quently the runner head loss had an adverse effect on the entire BEP condition.
812 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817

(a) Locations on the studied runner blade where vector distributions were analyzed (A, B, and C).

(b) Vector distributions for 5% blockage ratio (reference thickness)

(c) Vector distributions for 12.5% blockage ratio

Fig. 10. (a) Locations on the studied runner blade where vector distributions were analyzed (A, B, and C). Vector distributions for (b) 5% blockage ratio (reference thickness) and (c)
12.5% blockage ratio showing blade views of the Francis hydro turbine model at mid-span at BEP conditions.
 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817
the flow rate at the runner inlet position. The reference model with
a blockage ratio of 5% showed that the angle of the relative velocity
component matched the blade angle in the velocity triangle well, as
shown in Fig. 11(a). While the blockage ratio of 12.5% narrowed the
flow passage area between blades, the Cm component decreased
with decreasing flow rate. Thus, the relative velocity component
depended on Cm. Consequently, the incidence angle between the
flow angle and blade angle did not match, as shown in Fig. 11(b).
This flow phenomenon explains the considerable increase in the
runner head loss with increasing blockage ratio, as shown in Fig. 9.
The values of the normalized pressure surrounding the blade
pressure and suction sides along the streamwise direction were
compared quantitatively at the BEP condition, as shown in Fig. 12, at
the hub-, mid- and shroud-span of the runners with blockage ratios
of 5% and 12.5%. Position A was analyzed, as defined in Fig. 10(a).
(a) Velocity triangle for 5% blockage ratio (reference thickness)
(b) Velocity triangle for 12.5% blockage ratio
Fig. 11. Velocity triangle for (a) 5% blockage ratio (reference thickness) and (b) 12.5%
blockage ratio showing blade views of the Francis hydro turbine model at mid-span at
BEP conditions.
813
The areas of the pressure distribution denote the pressure differ-
ence between the pressure and suction sides. As shown in Fig. 12,
the streamwise direction along the abscissa represents the length
from the leading edge (0) to the trailing edge (1) of the runner
blade. Examining the normalized pressure distribution,
Fig. 12(a)e(c) show that the pressure curves for a blade with a
blockage ratio of 5% showed a smooth curve between the pressure
and suction sides for the three observed spans. However, the
pressure curves for a blade with a blockage ratio of 12.5% showed
that the areas between the pressure and suction sides were not
clear, and irregular pressure distribution curves were observed for
all three spans. In particular, comparing the pressure distribution at
mid-span for blockage ratios of 5% and 12.5% (Fig. 12(b)), the suc-
tion side was reversed to the pressure side at the near leading edge
and the pressure distribution at the suction side with a blockage
ratio of 12.5% showed a pressure pulsation. This is because the
angle of the flow matched the blade angle at a blockage ratio of 5%,
as confirmed by the vector distribution at the mid-span. Smooth
flow along the pressure and suction surfaces was observed,
resulting in a clear pressure difference between the pressure and
suction sides of the blade. On the other hand, at a blockage ratio of
12.5%, the flow angle did not match the blade angle, and irregular
flow occurred at the near leading edge of the runner and the suc-
tion pressure surface, which affected the pressure distribution on
the suction side surface.
5.3. Influence of the blockage effect at off-design conditions
To investigate the blockage effect on the performance and in-
ternal flow characteristics of a Francis hydro turbine model at off-
design conditions, steady-state 3D analysis was performed.
Fig. 13(a) shows the numerical results of the efficiency as a function
of the normalized mass flowrate for each blockage ratio at guide
vane opening values of 35%, 53%, 67%, 75%, and 84% for a Francis
hydro turbine model with off-design conditions. The efficiency and
mass flowrate were normalized by the respective values at the BEP
condition (guide vane opening of 75%). For the same guide vane
opening, when the blockage ratio increased, the flowrate
decreased, and the efficiency increased clearly at guide vane
openings of 35% and 53%, as shown in Fig. 13(a). In addition, the
MEP for each blockage ratio changed significantly compared to the
flow rate of the model with the reference blockage ratio of 5%. It
was confirmed that the flowrate characteristics depended on the
blockage ratio and hence, flow passage between the blades.
Furthermore, the hydraulic characteristics and suitable operating
conditions (hence, overall performance of the turbine) depended
on the blockage ratio.
Fig. 13(b) shows an expanded view of the efficiency curves
shown in Fig. 13(a) (as indicated by the dashed rectangle) to
investigate changes in MEP. Among the five blockage ratios, values
of 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% showed MEPs at a guide vane opening of 75%,
i.e., the BEP condition. Compared to the efficiency curve of the
reference blockage ratio, the general efficiency curve trends for
blockage ratios of 2.5% and 7.5% were generally similar. Hence, the
blockage effects were not large enough to significantly change the
MEP for different guide vane openings. On the other hand, when
the blockage ratio increased further to 10% and 12.5%, the flow rate
decreased further due to the narrower flow passage, resulting in
the maximum efficiency being observed at a guide vane opening of
67%. Compared with the reference blockage ratio, the guide vane
opening condition resulting in the MEP changed from 75% to 67%
with a higher blockage ratio. This efficiency difference can be un-
derstood considering the blockage effects; when the blockage ratio
changed with the thickness of the runner blade, the performance of
the Francis hydro turbine changed remarkably.
814 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817

(a) Hub span

(b) Mid span

(c) Shroud span

Fig. 12. Pressure distributions along the streamwise direction of the runner with a blockage ratio of 5% at the (a) hub span, (b) mid span, and (c) shroud span for runner An under
BEP conditions.
 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817
(a) Overall view of Efficiency curves with various blockage ratios
(b) Expanded view of the efficiency curves in (a)
Fig. 13. Efficiency curves with various blockage ratios of (a) overall view and (b)
Expanded view for Francis hydro turbine models at off-design conditions.
To qualitatively confirm the performance characteristics, the
streamline distributions were compared on the pressure side of
runner at guide vane openings of 75% and 67%, corresponding to
the BEP condition for the reference model and MEP for a blockage
ratio of 10%, respectively, as shown in Fig. 14. The observed location
of the runner was that labelled A in Fig. 10(a). The streamline dis-
tribution on the pressure side at a guide vane opening of 75%
showed relatively more irregular and secondary flows than the
pressure side at a guide vane opening of 67%, where this irregular
flow contributed to a lower hydraulic performance. For the
blockage ratio of 10% of runner as relatively thick runner, the flow
characteristics for good performance conditions were changed to
lower flowrate condition, from guide vane opening of 75% to 67%.
Hence, the hydraulic characteristics of the runner blade with a
blockage ratio of 10% changed to lower flowrate conditions,
resulting in improved performance.
Fig. 15 shows the pressure distribution on the meridional sur-
face of a runner under the same conditions as shown in Fig. 14. The
pressure values were normalized by the maximum pressure.
Fig. 15(a) shows data for the guide vane opening of 75%, where it
can be seen that the pressure passing through the runner from the
leading edge to trailing edge showed irregular distribution at the
near trailing edge of the hub and shroud. However, the pressure
815
(a) At guide vane openings of 75%
(b) At guide vane openings of 67%
Fig. 14. Streamline distributions on the pressure surface of a runner blade with a
blockage ratio of 10% at guide vane openings of (a) 75% and (b) 67% under conditions of
BEP and MEP, respectively, at location A.
contour changed gradually and smoothly at the near trailing edge
for a guide vane opening of 67% (MEP condition), as shown in
Fig. 15(b). This showed that the qualitative characteristics depen-
ded on the blockage ratio, along with the streamline distributions
on the surface of runner blade in Fig. 14.
In order to investigate the performance characteristics at the
MEP, Fig. 16 compares the specific speed (which is an index of the
performance characteristics and specifications of the Francis hydro
turbine model) as a function of the blockage ratio. This figure shows
that the specific speed at MEP conditions decreased as the blockage
ratio increased as the flowrate and output power decreased.
Therefore, the specific speed change of the Francis hydro turbine
model at MEP depended on the blockage ratio, i.e., the thickness of
the runner blade. Hence, these factors should be considered as
816 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817

important design criteria for the manufacture and design of Francis

hydro turbines.

6. Conclusions

Steady-state 3D RANS analysis was conducted to investigate the

influence of the blockage effect resulting from runner blades with
different thicknesses on the hydraulic performance of a Francis
hydro turbine model at the BEP and off-design conditions. The main
conclusions from this work are summarized as follows.
Firstly, when analyzing the BEP condition, the power and effi-
ciency gradually decreased with increasing blockage ratio. Both the
output torque and input flowrate decreased with increasing
blockage ratio due to the narrowed flow passage. The blockage
effect on the hydraulic performance was confirmed by analyzing
the loss distribution at various blockage ratios and comparing in-
ternal flow characteristics as velocity vectors, velocity triangle and
pressure distribution on the blade surface at the mid-span of the
(a) At guide vane openings of 75% runner. The results indicated that considerable enhancement of the
runner head loss with increasing blockage ratio was due to mis-
matches between the flow angle and blade angle. Hence, we
concluded that increasing the blockage ratio had adverse effects on
the hydraulic performance and internal flow characteristics of a
Francis hydro turbine model.
Secondly, when analyzing the off-design conditions, the MEP for
each blockage ratio depended on the flow rate accompanying the
blockage ratio. The flow rate decreased as the blockage ratio
increased, resulting in changes in the performance characteristics
of the turbine. In addition, by comparing the efficiency at the BEP
and MEP conditions for various blockage ratios, it was confirmed
that the flow characteristics as flow rate condition for higher per-
formance were changed according to blockage ratio. Qualitative
comparisons were conducted for confirming flow characteristics
changing with streamline and pressure distributions. Finally, it
confirmed that the specific speed of the MEP (an indicator of the
(b) At guide vane openings of 67% general turbine performance) depended on the blockage ratio.
Therefore, when the runner blade design is scaled down from the
actual scale to a model, the effect of the blockage ratio (runner
blade thickness) on the hydraulic performance characteristics
should be considered as an important factor when manufacturing
and designing the runner blades.
Fig. 15. Pressure distributions on the meridional surface of a runner with blockage
ratio of 10% at guide vane openings of (a) 75% and (b) 67%, corresponding to BEP and
MEP conditions, respectively, at location A. Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Korea Agency for Infrastructure

Technology Advancement under the Ministry of Land, Infrastruc-
ture and Transport grant number 18IFIP-B128598-02; and partly
the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology under the Ministry of
Science and ICT grant number UR180019.

References

[1] International Electrotechnical Commission, Hydraulic Turbines, Storage

Pumps and Pump-turbines e Model Acceptance Tests, Standard No. IEC
60193, 1999.
[2] A. Samad, K.Y. Kim, Application of surrogate modeling to design of a
compressor blade to optimize stacking and thickness, Int J Fluid Mach Syst 2
(1) (2009) 1e12.
[3] J.G. Mu, B. Zhu, S.H. Zheng, J.J. Gan, Response of blade thickness to hydraulic
performance of stamping and welding multistage centrifugal pump, Appl.
Mech. Mater. 299 (2012) 351e356.
[4] T. Shigemitsu, J. Fukutomi, K. Kaji, Influence of blade outlet angle and blade
thickness on performance and internal flow conditions of mini centrifugal
pump, Int J Fluid Mach Syst 4 (3) (2011) 317e323.
[5] Y. Tao, S. Yuan, J. Liu, F. Zhang, J. Tao, Influence of blade thickness on transient
flow characteristics of centrifugal slurry pump with semi-open impeller, Chin.
J. Mech. Eng. 29 (6) (2016) 1209e1217.
[6] S. S. Yang, C. Wang, K. Chen, X. Yuan, Research on blade thickness influencing
Fig. 16. Specific speed of MEP with each blockage ratio. pump as turbine, Adv. Mech. Eng., 6 (2014) 190530, 8 pages.
 S.-J. Kim et al. / Renewable Energy 134 (2019) 807e817
[7] C. Sarraf, H. Nouri, F. Ravelet, F. Bakir, Experimental study of blade thickness
effects on the overall and local performances of a controlled vortex designed
axial-flow fan, 35(4) (2011) 684-693.
[8] Z. Chen, P.M. Singh, Y.D. Choi, The effect of runner blade loading on the
performance and internal flow of a Francis hydro turbine model, J. Mech. Sci.
Technol. 30 (4) (2016) 1617e1623.
[9] E. Kocak, S. Karaaslan, N. Yucel, F. Arundas, A numerical case study: Bovet
approach to design a Francis turbine runner, Energy Procedia 111 (2017)
885e894.
[10] I. Kassanos, J. Anagnostopoulos, D. Papantonis, Numerical investigation of
draft tube pressure pulsations in a Francis turbine with splitter blades, J. Phys.
Conf. 813 (1) (2017) 012049.
[11] Z. Chen, P.M. Singh, Y.D. Choi, Francis turbine blade design on the basis of port
area and loss analysis, Energies 9 (3) (2016) 164.
[12] D.V. Chirkov, A.S. Ankudinova, A.E. Kryukov, S.G. Cherny, V.A. Skorospelov,
Multi-objective Shape Optimization of a Hydraulic Turbine Runner Using Ef-
ficiency, Strength and Weight Criteria, Structural and Multidisciplinary
817
Optimization, 2018, pp. 1e14.
[13] M. Teodor, Impeller design using CAD techniques and conformal mapping
method, in: D. Papantonis (Ed.), Centrifugal Pumps, InTech, 2012.
[14] ANSYS CFX-17.1, ANSYS CFX-solver Theory Guide, ANSYS Inc, 2017.
[15] F.R. Menter, Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering
application, AIAA J. 32 (8) (1994) 1598e1605.
[16] J.E. Bardina, P.G. Huang, T. Coakley, Turbulence modeling validation, in: Proc.
28th Fluid Dynamics Conference, Snowmass Village, CO, 1997, p. 2121.
[17] M.W. Heo, J.H. Kim, T.W. Seo, K.Y. Kim, Aerodynamic and aeroacoustic opti-
mization for design of a forward-curved blades centrifugal fan, Proc. Inst.
Mech. Eng. Part A: J Power Energy 230 (2) (2016) 154e174.
[18] S.J. Kim, Y.I. Kim, Y.S. Choi, K.Y. Lee, I.S. Ahn, J. Cho, J.H. Kim, Effect of a leakage
wall on hydraulic performance of spiral casing tongue in a Francis hydro
turbine, KSFM J. Fluid Mach. 21 (2018) 5-11 (in Korean).
[19] Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement. reportDevelop-
ment of Construction Technology for Medium Sized Hydropower Plant (1st
Year Report) (2017), Report No. 17IFIP-B128598-01.