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Self-validated calculation of characteristics of a Francis turbine and the

mechanism of the S-shape operational instability

Conference Paper  in  IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science · November 2012
DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

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Self-validated calculation of characteristics of a Francis turbine and the mechanism of the S-

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

Self-validated calculation of characteristics of a Francis

turbine and the mechanism of the S-shape operational
instability

Z Zhang1 and M Titzschkau2

1
Rütschi Fluid Ltd. Brugg, Switzerland
2
Oberhasli Hydroelectric Power Company Ltd, Innertkirchen, Switzerland

E-mail: zhengji.zhang@hotmail.com

Abstract. A calculation method has been presented to accurately estimate the characteristics of
a Francis turbine. Both the shock loss at the impeller inlet and the swirling flow loss at the
Impeller exit have been confirmed to dominantly influence the turbine characteristics and
particularly the hydraulic efficiency. Both together totally govern the through flow of water
through the impeller being at the rest. Calculations have been performed for the flow rate, the
shaft torque and the hydraulic efficiency and compared with the available measurements on a
model turbine. Excellent agreements have been achieved. Some other interesting properties of
the turbine characteristics could also be derived from the calculations and verified by
experiments. For this reason and because of not using any unreliable assumptions the
calculation method has been confirmed to be self-validated. The operational instability in the
upper range of the rotational speed, known as the S-shape instability, is ascribed to the total
flow separation and stagnation at the impeller inlet. In that range of the rotational speed, the
operation of the Francis turbine oscillates between pump and turbine mode.

1. Introduction
Hydraulic characteristics of a Francis turbine are understood as the flow rate and the mechanical
moment in function of the hydraulic head, the guide vane angle and the rotational speed of the turbine.
Because such hydraulic characteristics are strongly related with flow losses of diverse types, especially
at part loads, they could not yet be calculated with sufficient accuracy. Experimental measurements on
a model turbine therefore still remain as the unique method to establish those characteristics. This
circumstance strongly restricts the further estimation of related flow dynamic behaviours of a Francis
turbine while getting started or stopped for instance. It also affects the accurate calculation of the
transient flow that is related to the change of the guide vane angle or/and the rotational speed for the
purpose of regulating the power output.
It seems therefore to be quite indispensable to work out a reliable calculation method to reveal the
complex characteristics of a Francis turbine. In performing this activity, all types of flow losses that
are related to both the flow rate and the rotational speed need to be quantified. These include the shock
loss at the runner inlet (dominant at part flow rate), the exit flow loss associated with the axial and the
tangential velocity component and the mechanical loss related to the rotational speed.
A special phenomenon with the operational instability is the so called S-shape instability, when the
flow rate is close to zero, as in the case of getting started and the case of reaching the runaway speed.

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

Despite of lots of investigations [1-3] the mechanism of such an operational instability could still not
be revealed satisfactorily. The present study tries to make a comprehensible explanation of the
background of such an instability based on a flow mechanical model and the related characteristic
calculations.

2. Flow analysis

2.1. Euler equation for the specific work

According to the Euler equation for describing the energy exchange in a rotating fluid machine the
specific work conducted at a Francis turbine is given by
YSch = η Hyd gH = u1c1u − u 2 c2u (1)

The respective parameters in this equation are, according to figure 1, as follows:

c1 uniform absolute flow velocity at the runner inlet
c1u uniform circumferential component of the velocity vector c1at the runner inlet
c2u circumferential component of the velocity vector c1 at the runner exit
H available hydraulic head
u1 constant circumferential speed of the runner perimeter (inlet)
u2 circumferential speed of the runner trailing edge, in function of the radius
ηHyd hydraulic efficiency of the Francis turbine

Inlet u1 Exit u2
α1 β1 β2
α2 Figure 1. Velocity triangles at
c1m the runner inlet and exit of a
c2 Francis turbine (α1 as the given
c1 w1 c2m w2 flow angle)
(a) (b)
Stream line
d1

a
η
Draft tube

ε
R
λ
d2

s r
c2m
i

Figure 2. Exit flow out of a Francis turbine

The averaged term u2c2u which is related to the exit flow out of the impeller has to be calculated
from the integration of the non-uniform flow distribution along the trailing edge of the impeller vanes
from s=0 to s=S (figure 2):

Q S
1 1
u2c2u =  (u2c2u )dQ =  (u2c2u )2πrc2msin(ε + λ )ds (2)

Q0 Q 0

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

the meridian velocity component at the impeller exit is designated by c2m .

At the normal operation point at which the flow out of the impeller does not possess any
circumferential velocity component, there is u2 c2u = 0 . The flow out of the impeller flow channel can
be considered to be the potential flow. This consideration relies on the approximation of the straight
and uniform flow distribution (potential flow) in the downstream draft tube. For such an outlet flow
the meridian velocity c2m can be calculated in function of the coordinate s along the trailing edge of
the impeller vanes [4]:
G (s ) Q N
c2m, N = (3)
GI d 22

both G(s ) and GΙ are geometrical parameters that are determined from the geometrical layout of the
impeller exit. According to [4] they are calculated in dimensionless form as
s
 ∂ε sin ε  1 
ln G (s ) =   +  cos (ε + λ ) + sin (ε + λ ) ds (4)
0 
∂η r  R 

S
2π
rG (s )sin (λ + ε )ds
d 22 0
GI = (5)

In the first equation, R is the streamline coverture radius, which changes along the trailing edge s and
can be approximated through the linear interpolation between i and a. Also the flow angle ε which
specifies the streamline direction needs to be interpolated. The coordinate η is perpendicular to the
streamline.
Both G(s ) and GI can be calculated by means of the spreadsheet method. The normal flow rate
Q is related to the rotational speed. For changeable rotational speed for instance in the case of
N
changeable hydraulic head, the normal flow rate is also changeable.
The further relationship at the normal operation point, according to figure 1bfor α 2 = 90° , is given
by
c2m,N = u 2 tan β 2 (6)

Obviously the normal flow rate Q N of a Francis turbine, that is proportional to the meridian velocity
c2m, N , is determined by the geometrical inclination angle β 2 of the impeller vanes.
At the part load as well as at the overload operation, the exit flow out of the impeller possesses the
circumferential velocity component so that there is generally u2 c2u ≠ 0 . The meridian velocity
distribution can, however, be still considered to have the similar distribution as in the case under the
normal operational condition. Thus
G (s ) Q
c2m = (7)
GΙ d 22
The similarity of the meridian velocity distribution can be confirmed for instance, where the flow is
almost axial. For the Francis turbine with large specific numbers the similar meridian flow can thus be
assumed.
Thus Eq. (2) can be written as

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

S
1 1
u2c2u =
GΙ d 22  (u2c2u )2πrG(s )sin(ε + λ )ds (8)
0

with respect to c2u = (u2 − c2m tanβ 2 ) and u2 = 2π rn as well as c2m,N u 2,N = tanβ 2
and c2m c2m,N = Q Q N from Eqs. (3) and (7),the above equation is further calculated as

8π 3n 2  nN Q  3
S
u2c2u = 1 −  r G(s )sin(ε + λ )ds (9)
GΙ d 22  n Q N  0

obviously the integration again represents a geometrical parameter. It is denoted by GII in

dimensionless form as
S
2π 3
r G(s )sin(ε + λ )ds
d 24 0
GΙI = (10)

thus one obtains

GΙI  nN Q 
u2c2u = 4(πd 2 n) 1 − 
2
(11)
GΙ  n Q N 

2.2. Hydraulic efficiency

In using u1 = πd1n and c1u = c1m tanα1 , that are related to the impeller inlet, and with respect to Eq.
(11), the hydraulic efficiency is calculated from Eq. (1)to

πd1n c1m 4(πd2 n)2 GII  nN Q 

ηHyd = − 1 −  (12)
gH tanα1 gH GΙ  n Q N 

for further calculations the flow rate number, the rotational speed number and the torque number are
introduced in dimensionless form as
Q πd 2 n M
Q11 = , n11 = , M 11 = (13)
d 22 2 gH 2 gH ρd 23 gH

with d2 as the draft tube diameter.

With respect to Q = A1c1m = πd1b ⋅ c1m it follows then from Eq. (12)

2d 2 1 G  n Q11  2
ηHyd = n11Q11 − 8 II 1 − 11,N n11 (14)
πb tanα1 GΙ  n11 Q11,N 

the normal flow rate number Q11,N is related to the normal flow rate Q N and the currently available
hydraulic head H . The same is applied to n11,N and n11 .

2.3. Estimation of flow losses

The hydraulic efficiency of a Francis turbine can be calculated if all flow losses are known. Because
the exit flow out of the draft tube usually possesses very low speed, the associated loss can be
neglected. The losses in a Francis turbine then are mainly determined by the shock loss at the impeller
inlet, the loss related to the swirling flow at the impeller exit and the mechanical loss. Thus it can be
written in general as

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

η Hyd = 1 − Δη Mech − ΔηShock − ΔηSwirl (15)

the respective losses are considered below.
To be mentioned is the alterative that the mechanical loss and other unknown losses can be
replaced by 1 − η Hyd, N with η Hyd,N as the hydraulic efficiency at the normal operation at which both
ΔηShock and ΔηSwirl vanish. Thus Eq. (15) can also be expressed by
η Hyd = η Hyd,N − ΔηShock − ΔηSwirl (16)
as will be shown, this last equation leads to the calculation simplification.

2.3.1. Mechanical loss. The mechanical loss is usually proportional to the third power of the
rotational speed, so that it can be formulated as
3
ζd 2 ρ (πd 2 n )3  πd 2 n  d 22 2 gH n3
Δη Mech = 2 =ζ  = ζ 11 (17)
2(ρgHQ )  2 gH


 Q Q11

the coefficient ζ can be determined from the normal operational condition, at which the mechanical
loss is given by
3
n11,N
ΔηMech,N = ζ (18)
Q
11,N

for instance for n11,N = 0.56 , Q11,N = 0.18 and Δη Mech,N = 0.05 there is ζ = 0.05 .

2.3.2. Shock Loss. The shock loss is related to the flow at the impeller inlet and arises from the abrupt
change of the flow direction and flow separation there. Usually the impeller vane angle is designed for
normal flow rate Q N . At part loads as well as at the overloads the flow undergoes an abrupt change in
the flow direction while getting into the impeller. In the relative system and by applying the relative
velocity ( w1 ), the shock loss is calculated as
2
sin 2 (β1 − β1S ) w12  1 1  w12
ΔηShock =μ = μ 
 tan β −  sin 2
β (19)
tan β1 
1
sin 2 β1S 2 gH  1S 2 gH

Herein β1S represents the geometrical vane angle at the impeller inlet. Only when the flow angle β1
(see figure 1a) is equal to the vane angle β1S , the shock loss becomes negligible. The coefficient
μ considers the part of the shock loss in the theoretical maximum.
According to the definition of the flow rate number Q the relative velocity w is expressed as
11 1
follows
w12 2
c1m d 24 Q112
= = (20)
2 gH 2 gH sin 2 β1 A12 sin 2 β1

the flow angle β1 at the impeller inlet is further represented as

c1m c1m Q11

tan β1 = = =
u1 − c1u u − c1m d2 b Q (21)
1 π ⋅ n11 12 − 11
tan α1 d 2 d 2 tan α1

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

thus Eq. (19) becomes

2
 1 1  d 22  d 
ΔηShock = μ  +  Q11 − 1 n11  (22)
 tan β1S tan α1  πbd1 d 2 

except for Q11 and n11 all other parameters in this equation are geometrical parameters.
1 1 u
For ΔηShock = 0 there is + = 1 , which indeed can also be directly obtained from the
tan β1S tan α1 c1m
velocity triangle at the impeller inlet (figure 1a), when assuming β1S = β1 as the condition for the inlet
flow without shock loss.

2.3.3. Swirling flow loss at the runner exit. The swirling flow loss is associated with the kinetic
energy involved in the rotational flow at the impeller exit. The specific kinetic energy is given by
2
c2u 2 g . Thus the related efficiency drop is calculated by
2
c2u
ΔηSwirl = (23)
2gH
To the averaged specific kinetic energy the following integration has to be carried out

Q S
1 2  1 2
2
c2u =  c2u dQ =  c2u 2πrc2msin(ε + λ )ds (24)
Q 0 Q 0

Following the same calculation procedure as in Sect. 2.1 one obtains

2
GΙI  nN Q 
= 4(πd 2n) 1 − 
2 2
c2u (25)
GΙ  n Q N 

With respect to Eq. (13) for Q11 and n11 Eq. (23) is then written as
2
G  n Q11  2
ΔηSwirl = 4 ΙI 1 − 11,N n11 (26)
GΙ  n11 Q11,N 

As in Eq. (22) all parameters except Q11 and n11 are known quantities.
It is worth to note that from Eq. (11) and (25) the following relationship generally exists:
2
c2u n Q
=1− N (27)
u2c2u n Q N

2.4. Determination of characteristics of the Francis turbine

2.4.1. Solution with explicit mechanical loss. Combining Eq. (14) and (15) with respect to each
calculated losses one obtains, after a rearrangement
kAQ11
3
+ kBQ112 + kCQ11 + kD = 0 (28)
with

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

2 2
GΙI n11, N  1 1  d 24
kA = 4 + μ 
 tan β +  2
GΙ Q11,
2
N  1S tan α1  A1

 1− μ μ  2d 2
k B =  −  n11
 tanα1 tan β1S  πb

 d2 G  2
kC =  μ 12 − 4 II n11 −1
 d2 GΙ 

3
k D = ζn11

by solving the specific flow rate Q11 for each given guide vane angle and the rotational speed the
characteristics of a Francis turbine in form of Q11 = f (α1, n11 ) have been thus obtained.
At n11 = 0 it deals with a through flow of water through the turbine. The flow rate number is
calculated to
1
Q11,0 = (29)
kA

On the other side this flow rate number can also be directly obtained from Eq. (22) for shock loss
and Eq. (26) for swirling flow loss by setting n11 = 0 and subsequently ΔηShock,0 + ΔηSwirl,0 = 1 . Thus it
is clear that the through flow at n11 = 0 is completely governed by the shock and the swirling flow loss.
Eq. (28) represents an equation of third order and is thus associated with some difficulty in solving
it. An alternative solution is presented below.

2.4.2. Solution with implicit mechanical loss. Combining Eq. (14) and (16) yields
kAQ112 + kBQ11 + kC = 0 (30)
with
2 2
G n N  1 1  d 24
kA = 4 ΙI 11, + μ 
 tan β + 
GΙ Q11,
2
N  1S tan α1  A12

 1− μ μ  2d 2
k B =  −  n11
 tanα1 tan β1S  πb

 d2 G  2
kC =  μ 12 − 4 II n11 − η Hyd,N
 d2 GΙ 

It deals with a polynomial equation of second order, so that it can be solved much easier than Eq.
(28). Both k A and kB are the same as in Eq. (28). There is, however, a small modification in kC .

2.4.3. Mechanical moment. The power output of the Francis turbine can be written as
P = η Hyd ρgHQ (31)

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

on the other hand, the power output is represented by the product of the mechanical torque(moment)
exerted on the shaft and the shaft angular speed:
P = 2πnM (32)
by equalising these two equations and applying Eq. (13) for respective dimensionless numbers one
obtains
ηHyd Q11
M11 = (33)
2 n11

3. Application example
The calculation algorithms presented above has been applied to an existing Francis turbine at the
OberhasliHydroelectric Power Company (KWO). It is a turbine with known characteristics in form of
Q11 = f (α1 ,n11 ) based on the model test (Andritz). Figure3 shows the comparison between
measurements and calculations. To be mentioned is that in the completed calculations an appropriate
coefficient μ = const has been chosen for the best agreement with measurements (here μ =1). Such an
agreement precisely confirms the applicability of the flow mechanical models used in the present
studies for calculating the characteristics of a Francis turbine.
While performing calculations of the turbine characteristics both the hydraulic efficiency and
diverse losses could also be obtained. For the guide vane angle equal to 17.5° for instance the
calculated hydraulic efficiency has been compared with measurements, as shown in figure 4again with
excellent agreement. In figure 5, both the shock and the swirling flow losses from calculations are
shown. Obviously the great deficit in the hydraulic efficiency of a Francis turbine at operation points
out of the design point ( n11 = 0.564 ) mainly arises from the shock loss. The corresponding flow pattern
can be imagined as that with total flow separation at the impeller inlet because of the totally wrong
flow angle. This will be discussed in more details in the paragraph 5.
In applying Eq. (33), the moment exerted on the shaft has also been calculated and compared with
measurements, as this is shown in figure 6. Excellent agreement between calculation and experiments
has been expected because of the excellent agreements both for the flow rate number (figure 3) and the
hydraulic efficiency (figure 4).

Figure 3. Turbine characteristics and Figure 4.Hydraulic efficiency of a Francis

comparison between calculations and turbine (KWO, Gr2)
measurements (KWO)

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

Figure 5. Shock and swirling flow losses of the Figure 6. Torque number of the Francis turbine
Francis turbine (KWO, Gr2) (KWO, Gr2)

4. Self-validation of the calculation model and the Zhang’s equation

Calculations shown above have been validated by comparing the calculation results with experiments
based on the model test. Although the satisfactory agreement has been achieved by choosing the
parameter μ , calculations themselves precisely reveal what happens in a Francis turbine with respect
to the shock, swirling and mechanical losses and how they influence the hydraulic efficiency of the
turbine. In reality, the calculations are self-validated, as shown here by considering figure3 and 4.
According to figure 3 at the starting point n11 = 0 the flow rate number Q11 hardly changes with the
change of the rotational speed number. This circumstance can be confirmed by Eq. (28) with k D = 0
because of the negligible mechanical loss. The equation then becomes a polynomial of second order
from which dQ11 dn11 will be calculated. By subsequently setting n11 = 0 and μ = 1 one obtains:

dQ11 1 d2 1
= (34)
dn11 tan β1S πb kA
with respect to Eq. (29) the above equation can also be expressed as
dQ11 1 d2  2
= Q11,0 (35)
dn11 tan β1S πb
because this property of the turbine characteristics highly agrees to the measurements, it can be
considered to be a kind of self-validation of the calculation models applied in the present study. In the
considered example with α = 17 .5 ° for instance it is obtained dQ11 dn11 = 0.02 . Usually it is of a very
small value.
Figure 4 is again concerned. The hydraulic efficiency, started from n11 = 0 , increases with the
rotational speed number n11 . The slope of this increase can be calculated from Eq. (15) with regard to
respective losses and subsequently by setting n11 = 0 . The following approximation can then be found:
dη Hyd d1
=2 (36)
dn11 d2
It is almost independent of the guide vane angle of the Francis turbine. To the mentioned Francis
turbine with d1=1.71 and d2=1.32 one obtains dη Hyd dn11 = 2.6 . It highly agrees to the measurement,
as shown in figure 4. This incident provides an additional reason of that the flow model used in the
present study is self-validated. According to its finder Eq. (36) is called the Zhang’s equation.

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 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032036 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032036

5. Discussion to the S-shape of turbine characteristics

From figure 4 the hydraulic efficiency of the Francis turbine become zero and negative, as long as the
rotational speed number get beyond the critical value of about n11 = 0.92 in the present example. This
means that for n11 > 0.92 the turbine operates as a pump. No wonder that the operational instability
occurs at n11 about n11 = 0.92 . Beyond this value calculations do not run correctly because the flow
mechanical models used in this study is only for the turbine operation.
From the analysis and the application example, as show above, it has been demonstrated that the
shock loss in the upper range of the rotational speed results in the main efficiency drop in a Francis
turbine. Because the associated flow rate is significantly low, the total flow separation at the impeller
inlet has to be expected. It deals with the non-stationary flow separation. While some vane channels
are totally blocked by the flow separation, some other channels serve as the flow channel. This type of
the flow separation is from the same mechanism as the rotating stalls that are often confirmed at the
pump and compressor flows at the part load. The turbine characteristics in the upper range of the
rotational speed are often confirmed to possess a non-stationary S-shape. In the practical applications,
it is indeed not interesting at all why it is just an S-shape. It is, however, much crucial to know that
because of the non-stationary flow separation the characteristics cannot be determined accurately,
neither experimentally norby calculations. Calculation results shown in figure 3 were obtained by
assuming regular and stationary flow separations.

6. Summary
A flow mechanical model has been introduced to calculate complete characteristics of a Francis
turbine. The flow model accounts for the most sensible and reasonable losses that occur at operation
points out of the design point. These losses are shock loss at the impeller inlet, the swirling flow loss
related to the circumferential velocity component at the impeller exit and the mechanical loss. The
former two losses dominate in influencing the characteristics and the hydraulic efficiency of a Francis
turbine. Both together completely determine the through flow rate of water through the impeller at rest
(n=0). Calculations have been performed for the flow rate number, torque number (shaft torque) and
the hydraulic efficiency and compared with measurements. Excellent agreements have been achieved.
The calculation method has been thus confirmed to be self-validated.
The operational instability in the upper range of the rotational speed, that possesses the S-shape,
arises from the total flow separation and stagnation at the impeller inlet. Because the hydraulic
efficiency tends to be zero, the operation of the Francis turbine oscillates between the pump and the
turbine mode.

References
[1] Hasmatuchi V, Roth S, Botero F, Avellan F and Farhat M 2012 High-speed flow visualization
in a pump-turbine under off-design operating conditions 25th IAHR Symposium on
Hydraulic Machinery and Systems (Timisoara, Romania）
[2] Staubli T, Senn F and Sallaberger S 2008 Instability of Pump-Turbines during Start-up in Tur-
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