UNIT –II

REACTION WATER
TURBINE
(Energy available at inlet of turbine is
kinetic and pressure energy.)
 Classification of Reaction Turbine
• Based on Direction of Flow of Water in Runner
• A)Radial Flow Turbines-
– 1.Radially Inward
– 2.Radially Outward
• B)Axial Flow Turbines-
• C) Mixed Flow Turbines.
 UNIT –II
REACTION WATER TURBINE
(Energy available at inlet turbine is kinetic and pressure energy.)

a) FRANCIS TURBINE
b) KAPLAN TURBINE
 FRANCIS TURBINE
• Main parts of Francis Turbine are
a. Penstock
b. Spiral/Scroll casing
c. Guide vanes / Wicket Gates
d. Governing Mechanism
e. Runner and Runner Blades
f. Draft Tube.
 • COMPONENTS OF FRANCIS TURBINE
• Pen stoke: –
• It is a large sized shaped; where the water is provided to the turbine
runner from the dam.
• Scroll casing: –
• Penstocks connected to and feeds water directly into an annular
channel surrounding the turbine runner. The channel is spiral in its
layout. The runner is completely enclosed in an air-tight spiral
casing. The casing and runner are always full of water.
• Guide vanes: –
• A series of airfoil shaped vanes called the guide vanes are arranged
inside the casing to form a number of flow passages between the
casing and the runner blades. Guide vanes are fixed in position (they
do not rotate with rotating runner).
• Guide wheel and governing mechanism: –
• It changes the position of guide blades to affect variation in the
water flow rate in the wake of changing load conditions on the
turbine. When the load changes, the governing mechanism rotates
all the guide blades about their axis through the same angle so that
the water flow rate to the runner.
• GUIDE MECHANISM
• It consists of a circular wheel all round the runner of the turbine. The
stationary guide vanes are fixed on the guide wheel. The guide vanes allow the
water to strike the vanes fixed on the runner without shock at inlet. Also width
between the two adjacent vanes can be altered

• Runner and runner blades: –

• Runner of the Francis turbine is a rotor which has passages formed between
the drat tube and scroll casing. It is a circular wheel on which a series of Radial
Curved Vanes are fixed. The vanes are so shaped that the water enters and
leaves the runner with out shock
• Draft tube: –
• After passing through the runner, the water is discharged to the tail race
through a gradually expanding tube.
• The pressure at the exit of the runner of Reaction Turbine is generally less
than atmospheric pressure. The water at exit cannot be directly
discharged to the tail race. A tube or pipe of gradually increasing area is
used for discharging water from the exit of turbine to the tail race. This
tube of increasing area is called Draft Tube. One end of the tube is
connected to the outlet of runner while the other end is sub-merged
below the level of water in the tail-race.
Mega Civil Works for Mechanical Power Generation
SCROLL CASING
Francis Runner
Anatomy of A Francis Turbine
 Stay Vanes & Guide Vanes
• The basic Purpose of the stay vanes & guide vanes is to convert
a part of pressure energy of the fluid at its entrance to the
kinetic energy and then to direct the fluid on to the runner
blades at the angle appropriate to the design.
• Moreover, the guide vanes are pivoted and can be turned by a
suitable governing mechanism to regulate the flow while the
load changes.
• The guide vanes are also known as wicket gates.
• The guide vanes impart a tangential velocity and hence an
angular momentum to the water before its entry to the runner.
• The guide vanes are constructed using an optimal aerofoil
shape, in order to optimize off-design performance.
 Water
particle

Water from
spiral casing

R a d i a l v i e w
R guide
runner a d ivanes
a l v i stay
and e wvanes
runner guide vanes and stay vanes
VIDEO –WORKING OF FRANCIS TURBINE
 INWARD FLOW
OUTWARD FLOW
REACTION TURBINE
REACTION TURBINE
Velocity Triangles for Inward flow reaction turbine
Velocity Triangles for outward flow reaction turbine
Velocity Triangles for Francis Turbine
Design of Francis Turbine
R = 1-[(v22-v12)/2g Ht]
TYPES OF DRAFT TUBES
• (1) Conical Draft Tubes—
• This is known as tapered draft tube and used in all reaction
turbines where conditions permit. It is preferred for low specific
speed and Francis turbine. The maximum cone angle is 8° (a =
40°). The hydraulic efficiency is 90%.
• (2) Simple Elbow Tubes-
• The elbow type draft tube is often preferred in most of the
power plants. If the tube is large in diameter; ‘it may be
necessary to make the horizontal portion of some other section.
A common form of section used is over or rectangular. It has low
efficiency around 60%.
• (3) Moody Spreading Tubes-
• This tube is used to reduce the whirling action of discharge
water when turbine runs at high speed under low head
conditions. The draft tube has efficiency around 85%.
• (4) Elbow with circular inlet and rectangular outlet—
• This tube has circular cross- section at inlet and rectangular
section at outlet. The change from circular section to rectangular
section take place in the bend from vertical leg to the horizontal
leg. The efficiency is about 85%.
 CAVITATION
• Cavitation occurs especially at spots where the pressure is low.
• In the case of a Kaplan turbine, the inlet of the runner is quite
susceptible to it.
• At parts with a high water flow velocity cavitation might also
arise.
• The major design criteria for blades is : Avoid Cavitation.
• First it decreases the efficiency and causes crackling noises.
• The main problem is the wear or rather the damage of the
turbine’s parts such as the blades.
• Cavitation does not just destroy the parts, chemical properties
are also lost.
 The suction head

• The suction head Hs is the head where the turbine is installed;

• if the suction head is positive, the turbine is located above the trail
water;
• if it is negative, the turbine is located under the trail water.
• To avoid cavitation, the range of the suction head is limited.
• The maximum allowed suction head can be calculated using the
following equation:
patm  pvap V 2
Hs    H net
de
g 2g
2
V
  1.5241 N 1.46
s  de
2 gH net
Thomas Cavitation Factor
Effects & Methods to prevent Cavitation