Water(Hydraulic) Turbines

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 Introduction
• In a hydraulic turbine, water is used as the source of energy.
• Water or hydraulic turbines convert kinetic and potential
energies of the water into mechanical power.
• The main types of turbines are impulse and reaction turbines.
The predominant type of impulse machine is the Pelton
wheel, which is suitable for a range of heads of about 150-
2000m.
• The reaction turbine is further subdivided into the Francis
type, which is characterized by a radial flow impeller, and the
Kaplan or propeller type, which is an axial-flow machine.

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 Pelton Turbine
• An American Engineer Lester A. Pelton discovered this
turbine in 1880.
• Pelton turbines are pure impulse turbines which operate
under very high heads (up to 1800m.) and requires
comparatively less quantity of water. A jet of fluid is
delivered by the nozzle at a high velocity on the buckets.
• These buckets are fixed on the periphery of a circular wheel
(also known as runner), which is generally mounted on a
horizontal shaft.

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 Pelton Turbine
• An

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• The primary feature of the impulse turbine with respect to
fluid mechanics is the power production as the jet is
deflected by the moving vane(s).
• The impact of water on the buckets causes the runner to
rotate and thus develops mechanical energy.
• The buckets deflect the jet through an angle of about 160o
and 165o in the same plane as the jet.
• After doing work on the buckets water is discharged in the
tailrace, and the whole energy transfer from nozzle outlet
to tailrace takes place at constant pressure.
• The casing of a Pelton wheel does not perform any
hydraulic function.
• But it is necessary to safeguard the runner against accident
and also to prevent the splashing water and lead the water
to the tailrace.
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Impulse Water Turbine (Pelton
Turbine)

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 Typical Pelton turbine bucket dimensions

B/d =3; e/d = 0.35;

T/d =0.8 – 0.95; L/d = 2.5 – 2.8;
E/d = 0.85;
L is Length, B is width, E is depth, d is jet diameter

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 Single and Two jet for
horizontal axis turbines

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 Why use multi-jets ?
➢ Usually Pelton turbine is used at high heads.

➢ With a decrease in head more water is needed to achieve

the same power.

➢ A nozzle with a large area is required. However the

maximum jet diameter is set by the size of the bucket on the
runner being used and it is one-third the width of the bucket.

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The area of a single nozzle can no longer be increased to
maintain the same power output, the next approach is to
increase the effective nozzle area by increasing the number of
jets.

Four-jet vertical shaft Pelton turbine, horizontal section.

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• Regulation of the Pelton Turbine is done by closing the nozzle using
properly shaped ‘spear’.

• The movement of the spear while regulating the water flow has to be
very slow otherwise the deceleration of the water in the often very
long pen-stock becomes too high creating pressure shocks and
burst the pen-stock or the nozzle
• If sudden down regulation is demanded a deflector acts first.

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 Basic Relationships
The pressure at the bottom of the penstock creates a jet of
water with velocity,
C1 = K N 2 gH

Where: C1 = jet velocity (m/s)

K N = nozzle velocity coefficient (are normally

around 0.98 to 0.99).

actual velocityat nozzleexit C1
KN = =
Spoutingvelocityat nozzleexit Co

The spouting (ideal) velocity is given

by(Applying Bernoulli Equation),
Co = 2 gH
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Jet carrying a discharge of Q to deliver a power P(N) is determined by

P = turbine QgH
The jet diameter required can be determined by:
Q d 2 54 Q
= C0  d = 1/ 4
nj 4 H nj
Where:
d (d jet ) = jet diameter (cm)
Q = total flow through turbine (m3/s)
nj = number of nozzles
4Q
=
( n K )
2
d jet if KN is given
j N 2 gH
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 Considering one jet impinging on a bucket, the
appropriate velocity diagram is shown below.

❑ The jet velocity at entry is C1

❑ The blade speed is U = U 1 = U 2

❑ The relative velocity at entry is W1 = C1 − U .

❑The buckets deflect the jet through an angle 160 and 165o in the
same plane as the jet.
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The specific work from Euler’s turbine equation becomes,
Y = W = U 1C1u − U 2C 2u = U1C 1 − U 2C 2

Where:

U 1 ,U 2 = blade speed

C = the velocity component mutually perpendicular to

both the axis of rotation and radius vector r.

For the Pelton turbine,

U1 = U 2 = U , C 1 = C1 and C 2 = (U + W2 cos  2 )
W = U ((U + W1 ) − (U + W2 cos  2 ))
W = U (W1 − W2 cos  2 )
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❑ The effect of friction on the fluid flowing inside the
bucket will cause the relative velocity at outlet to be
less than the value at inlet.
❑ Writing W2 = KW1 , where K  1 , then,

W = U (W1 − W2 cos  2 )
W = UW1 (1 − K cos  2 ) = U (C1 − U )(1 − K cos  2 )
❑ An efficiency of the runner(Wheel)  R can be defined
as the specific work done divided by the incoming
kinetic energy, i.e.
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 1 2
 R = W C1
2
= 2U (C1 − U )(1 − K cos  2 ) C12
 R = 2 (1 −  )(1 − K cos  2 )

❑ Where the blade speed to jet speed ratio, = U C1

❑ In order to find optimum efficiency, differentiate the

above equation with respect to the blade speed ratio,

d R
d
=2
d
d
(
 −  2 )(1 − K cos  2 )

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 = 2(1 − 2 )(1 − K cos  2 ) = 0
Therefore, the maximum efficiency of the runner
occurs when  = 0.5 , i.e. U=
C1 , Hence
2

R = 2 (1 − )(1 − K cos 2 )
 R max = (1 − K cos  2 ) 2

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 Considering the linear velocity ratio to be equal to
0.45, runner speed can therefore be expressed as:
U
= 0.45, where C1 = K N 2 gH
C1

 DN m
Blade speed is given by: U=  s 
60
Where:
N = runner speed (rev/min)
D = runner, pitch circle diameter (m)

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Solving for N using above equation and blade speed ratio
to the jet speed gives,
 DN
60 = 0.45,
K N 2 gH

60  0.45  K N 2 gH
N=
 D taking KN of 0.99 gives:

38 H
N=
D
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 The number of buckets “nb” to ensure efficient operation
can be estimated by the following equation.
m
nb = + 15
2
The equation is expressed in terms of a parameter called the
jet or diameter ratio “m”. This is defined as:
D D=runner diameter
m=
d
➢ To ensure that a runner is large enough to accommodate
the optimum number of buckets, the diameter ratio can be
used.
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 Experimental values of Wheel diameter to jet diameter

Dwheel /djet, 6.5 7.5 10 20

Ns (rpm) 35 32 24 10
turbine 0.82 0.86 0.89 0.90

Higher ratios are preferred for better efficiency.

Modern wheels for high heads use ratios as high as
30!
N wheel P

Ns =
4
(gH )5
 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of
Hydraulic Turbines
• Heads
These are defined as below:

(a) Gross Head: Gross or total head is the difference between the
headrace level and the tail race level when there is no flow.

(b) Net Head: Net head or the effective head is the head available
at the turbine inlet. This is less than the gross head, by an amount,
equal to the friction losses occurring in the flow passage, from the
reservoir to the turbine inlet.
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 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of Hydraulic
Turbines
• Losses
Various types of losses that occur in a power plant are given
below:
(a) Head loss in the penstock: This is the friction loss in the
pipe of a penstock.
(b) Head loss in the nozzle: In case of impulse turbines,
there is head loss due to nozzle friction.
(c) Hydraulic losses: In case of impulse turbines, these
losses occur due to blade friction, eddy formation and
kinetic energy of the leaving water. In a reaction turbine,
apart from above losses, losses due to friction in the draft
tube and disc friction also occur.
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 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of
Hydraulic Turbines
(d) Leakage losses: In case of impulse turbines, whole of the water
may not be striking the buckets and therefore some of the water
power may go waste. In a reaction turbine, some of the water may
be passing through the clearance between the casing and the runner
without striking the blades and thus not doing any work. These
losses are called leakage losses.
(e) Mechanical losses: The power produced by the runner is not
available as useful work of the shaft because some power may be
lost in bearing friction as mechanical losses.
f) Generator losses: Due to generator loss, power produced by the
generator is still lesser than the power obtained at the shaft output.

Wallaga University, Department of Mechanical Engineering 27

 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of
Hydraulic Turbines
• Efficiencies
Various types of efficiencies are defined as under:
(a) Hydraulic efficiency: It is the ratio of the power developed by the
runner to the actual power supplied by water to the runner. It takes
into account the hydraulic losses occurring in the turbine
ηh = Runner output / Actual power supplied to runner
= Runner output / (ρQgH)
Where, Q=Quantity of water actually striking the runner blades
H = Net head available at the turbine inlet

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 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of
Hydraulic Turbines
• Efficiencies
(b) Volumetric efficiency: It is the ratio of the actual quantity
of water striking the runner blades to the quantity supplied to
the turbine. It takes into account the volumetric losses.
Let q=∆Q = Quantity of water leaking or not striking the
runner blades
ηv = Q / (Q+ ∆Q)
(c) Mechanical efficiency: The ratio of the shaft output to the
runner output is called the mechanical efficiency and it
accounts for the mechanical losses.
ηm = Shaft output / Runner output

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 Heads, Losses and Efficiencies of
Hydraulic Turbines
• Efficiencies
(d) Overall efficiency: Ratio of shaft output to the net power
available at the turbine inlet gives overall efficiency of the
turbine
ηm = Shaft output / Net power available
Shaft.output
o =
 (Q + Q) gH
Shaft.output Runner.output Q
o =  
Runner.output QgH (Q + Q )
 o =  m  h  v
Thus all the three types of losses, mechanical, hydraulic and
volumetric have been taken into account.
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Example:
A four jet Pelton runner with a pitch circle diameter of
150mm is to be designed to generate 10kW under a head of
20m. Determine:

a. What jet diameter would be required to generate the

desired power

b. Whether this jet size reasonable

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Solution.
Assume:
✓Turbine efficiency of about 75 %

✓Generator efficiency of about 80 %

✓A coupling efficiency of 90 %

✓An overall efficiency of about 50 %

KN = 1

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 Pactual =    H  Q
P 10  103 m3
Q= = = 0.1
9.81   H   9.81 0.5  20  1000 s

The required jet diameter becomes:

54 Q 54 0.1
d= = 1/ 4 = 4 cm
H 1/ 4 n j 20 4

The diameter ratio, m = D/d = 15/4 = 3.8.

This is much too small, implying a nozzle which is too large.

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 Example 2
A Pelton wheel is supplied with 0.035m3/s of water under a
head of 92m. The wheel rotates at 725rpm and the velocity
coefficient of the nozzle is 0.95. The efficiency of the wheel is
82% and the ratio of bucket speed to jet speed is 0.45.
Determine the following:
1. Speed of the wheel
2. Wheel to jet diameter ratio
3. Dimensionless power specific speed of the wheel

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 Solution

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Wallaga University, Department of Mechanical Engineering 37
 Main Parts of Radial Reaction Turbomachine
(Francis Turbine)
• The main components of a radial turbomachine are:

1. Casing(Volute) : The water from the penstocks enter the casing which is of
spiral shape. The area of cross section of the casing goes on decreasing
gradually.
The casing completely surrounds the runner of the turbine. The casing is
spiral in shape to facilitate water flow at constant velocity
throughout the circumference of the runner. The casing is usually made
of concrete, cast steel or plate steel.
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Parts of A Francis Turbine
2. Guide Vanes: The stationary guide vanes are
fixed on a stationary circular which surrounds the
runner.
The guide vanes allow the water to strike
the vanes fixed on the runner without
shock at the inlet.
This fixed guide vanes are followed by adjustable
guide vanes. The cross-sectional area between the
adjustable vanes can be varied flow control a part
load.

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Reaction Turbines:-
Francis Turbine

Runner inlet
(Φ 0.870m)

Guide vane outlet for designα)

(Φ 0.913m)

Closed
Max. Opening
Position

vanes
Guidevanes
Guide
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 Runner
• Runner: It is a circular wheel on which a series of radial
curved vanes are fixed. The water passes into the rotor
where it moves radially through the rotor vanes and
leaves the rotor blades at a smaller diameter. Later,
the water turns through 900 into the draft tube.

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 Water
Water particle
from
spiral
casing

RR aa dd ii aa ll vv ii ee w
w
runner
runner guide vanes and stay vanes
guide vanes and stay vanes
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 4. Draft Tube

• Although external to the rotating parts of the turbine the draft tube is
an important part of the hydraulic machine.

• The draft tube is a conical diffuser with around 7o divergence which

reduces the exit kinetic energy in the departing fluid and therefore
increases the efficiency of the machine as a whole.
In order to avoid cavitation
(small es) the elbow-type
draft tube has a preference
over straight diverging type
of draft tubes.

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 Draft Tube
• The purpose of this tube, is
1) To permit the turbine to be set above the tail water
level without loss of head.
2) To recover a reasonable amount of the kinetic
energy leaving the runner by diffuser action.
3) To facilitate inspection and maintenance.

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 Example 3:
• A Francis turbine has the following dimensions:
• Impeller flow depth, b= 200 mm (b1 = b2)
• Impeller outer radius, r1 = 1200 mm
• Impeller inner radius, r2 = 600 mm
• Guide vane angle, α1 = 15°
• The volume flow rate is 18 m3/s ; the impeller angular speed,
ω = 30 rad/s
Calculate: (a) the optimum blade angles, β1 and β2.
(b) the torque on the impeller with these blade angles
(c) the power developed

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 Solution
V 1 = V 2 = 18 = 2r1b1C1m = 2r2b2C3m U1 = r1 = 1.2 x30 = 36
C1m = 11.937, C3m = 23.873
(a) the optimum blade angles, β1 and β2

For the optimum design, C2u=0 β1=54.4 degree and β2=53 degree

(b) the torque on the impeller with these blade angles

Tblade = V (r1C1U − r2C2U ) = 1000x18x(1.2 x 44.549 − 0) = 962.3kNm

C) the power developed

N blade = Tblade = Yblade V = 30x962.3 = 28.9MW

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 Radial Flow Turbine Losses
• The losses in terms of energy balance through the turbine is
given by;

P = Pm + Pr + Pc + Pl + Ps
Where: Pm = mechanical power loss
Pr = runner power loss
Pc = casing and draft tube loss
Pl = leakage loss
Ps = shaft power output
P = water power available

Pc + Pl + Pr  HydraulicPower Loss
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• Runner power loss pr is due to friction, shock at the impeller
entry and flow separation. It results in a head loss hr
associated with the flow rate through the runner of Qr.

Pr = gQr hr
• Leakage power loss Pl is caused by a flow rate q leaking past
the runner and therefore not being handled by the runner.
Thus
Q = Qr + q
• And with a total head Hr across the runner, the leakage power
loss becomes

Pl = gqHr

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• Casing power loss Pr is due to the friction eddy and flow
separation losses in the casing and the draft tube.
• If this head loss is hc then
Pc = gQhc
• The total energy balance of the above equation becomes

gQH = ( Pm + g (hr Qr + hcQ + H r q) + Ps )

Shaft output power

Overall eff . =
Fluid power availableat inlet flange
• Thus
PS
0 =
gQH

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 Hydraulic efficiency
 c12   c32 
 g  h1 + + z1  −  g  h 3 + + z 3  − losses
c1u  u1 − c2u  u2 =  2   2 
h =
g  Hn  c12   c32 
 g  h1 + + z1  −  g  h 3 + + z 3 
 2   2 

Hydraulic eff .(h ) =

Power received by runner
Fluid power availableat inlet flange
(P + Pm )
= S
gQH
Hydraulic Efficiency [%] Losses in Francis Turbines

Output Energy

Output [%]
 Home take activity on Francis Turbine
An inward flow Francis turbine, having an overall efficiency of 86
%, hydraulic efficiency of 90%, and radial velocity of flow at
inlet is 0.28 2 gH

The turbine is required to develop 5000kW when operating under

a net head of 30m, The specific speed(metric) is 270, assume
guide vane angle is 30degree, find
1. Rpm of the wheel
2. The diameter and the width of the runner at inlet
3. The volume flow rate Q, and
4. The theoretical inlet angle of the runner vanes,

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End of
CHAPTER

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