Land Management Training Center

Senior Survey Training

2068/69

Hydropower Survey

Lekha Nath Dahal

Instructor, Land Management Training Centre
Visiting Faculty, Kathmandu University
rameshdahal2008@gmail.com

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 Hydropower Survey
Some terms used in hydropower survey
Intake
Catchment area
Canal
Alignment
Grading
Surge tank
Aqueduct
Fore bay/Reservoir
Penstock
Power house
Tailrace
Transmission line

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Hydropower Survey

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 Hydropower Survey
Introduction

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 Hydropower Survey
Intake
The area across the river where water is collected and
sent to the reservoir or for bay through canal is intake
area. A place where water enters a canal in this contest is
intake.
It is also called Dam site. The height difference between
intake area and power house should be as more as
possible for increasing capacity of power station. We
should perform detail topographical survey of upstream
and downstream of intake area.

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 Hydropower Survey
Dam
A massive wall across a flowing stream or river
to hold water at the up stream side .
Dam is used as a reservoir, when a dam is built
across a river to hold back the water and form
a reservoir .
Dam is also used to prevent flooding.

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 Hydropower Survey
Catchment area
Drainage area or gathering ground to feed
water to a reservoir or lake etc . Or It is an area
from which rain flows into a particular river,
lake, reservoir etc. Simply, it is an area drained
by a water course.

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 Hydropower Survey
Canal
A channel cut through land for boats or ships to travel
along (eg. the Suez canal joins the Mediterranean and
red sea ) or a channel cut through land to carry water
to the fields for crops known as an irrigations canal or
a channel cut through land for water to be supplied
from intake area to the for bay tank for generation of
current in the power house using penstock pipes.
Types of Canal
• Open canal
• Underground canal
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 Hydropower Survey
While surveying for canal , depth of canal,
curvature , gradient, position for desalting basin
etc. should be kept in mind.

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 Hydropower Survey
Grading
It is the ratio of horizontal distance and vertical
distance between any two points in canal.
Gradient should be carefully adjusted because
more gradient can cause cutting of bed and may
damage fore bay where as less gradient may
deposit sediments in canal bed.

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 Hydropower Survey
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable
channel constructed to convey water. In
modern engineering, the term is used for any
system of pipes, canals, tunnels, and other
structures used for this purpose.

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 Hydropower Survey
Surge tank
A surge tank (or surge drum) is a standpipe or
storage reservoir at the downstream end of a
closed aqueduct or feeder pipe to absorb
sudden rises of pressure, as well as to quickly
provide extra water during a brief drop in
pressure.

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 Hydropower Survey
For hydroelectric power uses, a surge tank is
an additional storage space or reservoir fitted
between the main storage reservoir and the
power house (as close to the power house as
possible). Surge tanks are usually provided in
high or medium-head plants when there is a
considerable distance between the water
source and the power unit, necessitating a
long penstock.
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 Hydropower Survey
The main functions of the surge tank are:
When the load decreases, the water moves
backwards and gets stored in it. 2. When the
load increases, additional supply of water will
be provided by surge tank.
In short, the surge tank mitigates pressure
variations due to rapid changes in velocity of
water.

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 Hydropower Survey

Spillway
A spillway is located at the top of
the reservoir pool. Dams may
also have bottom outlets with
valves or gates which may be
operated to release flood flow,
and a few dams lack overflow
spillways and rely entirely on
bottom outlets. 15
 Hydropower Survey
Forebay

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 Hydropower Survey
Forebay
“A reservoir from which water is taken to
run equipment (as a waterwheel or turbine)”
A fore bay is a human-made pool of a larger
body of water. The capacity of fore bay depends
up on the volume of water that deposits in
intake area.

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 Hydropower Survey
Another purpose of a fore bay is to trap
sediment and debris. This keeps the larger body
of water cleaner and clearer.
A fore bay can also act as a natural habitat. Fore
bays may be appealing to fish, aquatic plants,
and other members of the natural world.

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 Hydropower Survey
Penstoke

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 Hydropower Survey
A penstock is a intake structure that controls water flow,
or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydraulic
turbines . It is a term that has been inherited from the
technology of wooden watermills.
Penstocks for hydroelectric installations are normally
equipped with a gate system and a surge tank. Flow is
regulated by turbine operation and is nil when turbines
are not in service. Their slope is generally kept at 45
degree. They are made up of strong structures like metal
or concrete. There may be single or multiple pipes
depending up on water volume.

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 Hydropower Survey
Power house

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 Hydropower Survey
Power house
Powerhouse is a point of hydro power generation from
water. Generally in such powerhouses the water falls with
force on the turbines and give them continuous
momentum which in turn converts this energy into
electricity. The amount of electricity generation in power
house depends on the capacity of for bay and height
difference between for bay and power house(head
difference).
A power station (also referred to as a generating station,
power plant, or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for
the generation of electric energy.

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 Hydropower Survey
Power house
At the center of nearly all power stations is a
generator, a rotating machine that converts
mechanical energy into electrical energy by
creating relative motion between a magnetic
field and a conductor.

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 Hydropower Survey
Tailrace

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 Hydropower Survey
Tailrace
The part below the water wheel through which the
spent water flows.
A channel that carries water away from a water
wheel, turbine, etc.
The tailrace is the downstream part of a dam where
the water re-enters the river. During construction,
it is usually the lowest point on the project and is
used as the collection point for construction debris.
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 Hydropower Survey
Transmission line
Transmission lines are used to carry produced
electricity to the targeted settlement.
Transformer near the power station are used
to deliver electricity in different areas.

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 Formula
A simple formula for approximating electric power
production at a hydroelectric plant is: P=dhrgk
where
P= Power in watts,
d= the density of water (~1000 kg/m3),
h= height in meters(head)
r= flow rate in cubic meters per second,
g=is acceleration due to gravity of 9.8 m/s2,
k=is a coefficient of efficiency ranging from 0 to 1.
(Efficiency is often higher (that is, closer to 1) with
larger and more modern turbines.) 28
How can we get electricity from
water?
The theory is to build a dam on a large river
that has a large drop in elevation. The dam
stores lots of water behind it in the reservoir.
Near the bottom of the dam wall there is the
water intake. Gravity causes it to fall through
the penstock inside the dam. At the end of the
penstock there is a turbine , which is turned
by the moving water.

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How can we get electricity from
water?
The shaft from the turbine goes up into the
generator, which produces the power. Power
lines are connected to the generator that carry
electricity to your home and mine.

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 How does turbine works?
A hydraulic turbine converts the energy of flowing
water into mechanical energy. A hydroelectric
generator converts this mechanical energy into
electricity. The operation of a generator is based on
the principles discovered by Faraday. He found that
when a magnet is moved past a conductor, it causes
electricity to flow. In a large generator,
electromagnets are made by circulating direct
current through loops of wire wound around stacks
of magnetic steel laminations.

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Energy consumption in Nepal

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33
 Field Procedure
OFFICE
Planning

FIELD Reconnaissance
Preliminary survey
OFFICE Computation, Plotting & Drawing

Designing/Paper location
FIELD Location Survey
Construction
What does hydropower surveyor do?
As a surveyor our task is to perform control
survey and detail survey for intake area to
transmission line and to prepare detailed
topomap of that area. Hydropower engineers
designs on that base and we locate different
points on the ground to perform construction
survey.
We have to distribute control points around
intake area,canal ,forebay,power house and
for transmission line as well. 35
What does hydropower surveyor
do?
while doing detail survey, topomap of intake
area should be prepared. Upstream and down
stream survey should be performed. For canal
area strip map should be prepared. In forbay
area, again we have to take detail around it
and for penstoke ,we should take detail in
strip. For power house area we should take
detail around it. And for tailrace and
transmission line we must take details in strip.
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THE END

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