Power Plant Design

Hydraulic Turbines
and
Selection Criteria
Hydraulic Turbines
 The purpose of a hydraulic turbine
is to transform the water potential
energy to mechanical rotational
energy.
 Hydraulic turbines can be classified
on the basis of flow regime, specific
speed, direction of water inlet to the
turbine etc.
Classification: On the basis of the flow
regime in the turbine

 The potential energy in the water is

converted into mechanical energy by
one of two fundamental and basically
different mechanisms:
1. The water pressure is converted into
kinetic energy before entering the
runner (impulse turbine).
2. The water pressure can apply a force on
the face of the runner blade, which
decreases as it proceeds through the
turbine (reaction turbine).
Impulse Turbine
1. Pelton Turbine:
 It has one or more
jets which impinge
on a wheel carrying
on its periphery a
large number of
buckets.
 Only used for
relatively high heads
and low flow
 They are provided
with spear valve and
deflector to control
the flow.
Impulse Turbine
2. Turgo Turbines:
 They can operate under
a head in the range of
30-300m.
 Its buckets are shaped
differently and the jet of
water strikes the plane
of its runner at an angle
of 20°.
 The higher speed of the
Turgo makes direct
coupling of turbine and
generator more likely,
improving its overall
efficiency and decreasing
maintenance cost.
Impulse Turbine
3. Cross-Flow Turbine
(Banki-Michell):
 It is used for wider range of
heads overlapping those of
Kaplan, Francis and Pelton.
 Operate with discharge
between 20lps to 10m3/s
and heads between 1 to
200m.
 The runner is built from two
or more parallel disks
connected near their rims
by a series of curve blades.
 Their efficiency lower than
conventional turbines, but
remains at practically the
same level for a wide range
of flows and heads
(typically about 80%)
Reaction Turbine
1. Francis Turbines:
 Radial flow reaction
turbines, with fixed runner
blades and adjustable guide
vanes, used for medium
heads and medium flow.
 Wicket gates are used to
control the discharge
through the turbine and
also to shut off the flow.
 To reduce the K.E. still
remaining in the water
leaving the runner a draft
tube or diffuser stands
between the turbine and
the tail race.
Reaction Turbine
2. Kaplan and Propeller
Turbines:
 Axial flow turbines,
generally used for low
heads.
 Kaplan turbine has
adjustable runner blades
and may or may not have
adjustable guide-vanes.
(Either single-regulated
or double-regulated)
 The flow enters radially
inwards and makes a
right angle turn before
entering the runner in an
axial direction.
Classification: On the basis of the
specific speed
 The speed through with the model runner turns with
a head of 1m and a discharge Q such that the
generated power is 1 kW is known as specific speed.
P
ns  n 5
H 4

 Any turbine, with identical geometric proportions,

even if the sizes are different, will have same specific
speed.
 Once the specific speed is known the fundamental
dimensions of the turbine can be easily estimated.
 In one jet Pelton turbines, the specific speed may
fluctuate between 12, for a 2000m head and 26 for a
100m head.
 By increasing the number of jets the specific speed
increases as the square root of the number of jets.
 In general, the higher the specific speed for
a given head and horsepower output, the
lower is the cost of installation
 Too high a specific speed with a high head
would increase the cost of installation-on
account of the high mechanical strength
required
 Too low a specific speed with a low head
would increase the cost of generator
installation owing to low turbine speed
Specific speed for turbines
 Pelton (1 jet) ns = 85.49/ H0.243
(Siervo and Lugaresi, 1978)
 Francis ns = 3763/ H0.854
(Schweiger and Gregory, 1989)
 Kaplan ns = 2283/ H0.486
(Schweiger and Gregory, 1989)
 Cross-flow ns = 513.25/ H0.505
(Kpordze and Warnick, 1983)
 Propeller ns = 2702/ H0.5 (USBR, 1976)
 Bulb ns = 1520.26/ H0.2837 (Kpordze and
Warnick, 1983)
Specific Speed
 The specific speed constitutes a reliable criterion
for the selection of the turbine, without any
doubt more precise than the conventional
enveloping curves.
 If we wish to produce electricity in a scheme with
100-m net head, using a 800 kW turbine directly
coupled to a standard 1500-rpm generator we
should begin by computing the specific speed
according equation
800
ns  1500 5
 134
100 4

 With this specific speed the only possible

selection is a Francis Turbine. (Refer the graph)
Contd…
Turbine Selection Criteria

1. Net Head
2. Range of discharges through the
turbine
3. Specific Speed
4. Turbine Efficiency
5. Cavitation problem
6. Cost
Net Head
Discharge
 A single value of the flow has no
significance. It is necessary to know the
flow regime, commonly represented by
the Flow Duration Curve (FDC).
 Suitable turbines are those for which the
given rated flow and net head plot within
the operational envelopes.
 All of those turbines are appropriate for
the job, and it will be necessary to
compute installed power and electricity
output against costs before taking a
decision.
Operational Envelopes for turbines
Efficiency
Contd…
Contd…
Rotational Speed
 The rotational speed
of a turbine is a
function of its specific
speed, and of the
scheme power and net
head.
 Since the hydraulic
turbines are directly
coupled with the
generators, turbine
should reach the
synchronous speed.
Cavitation
 When the hydrodynamic pressure in a liquid flow
falls below the vapour pressure of the liquid,
there is a formation of the vapour phase. This
phenomenon induces the formation of small
individual bubbles that are carried out of the low-
pressure region by the flow and collapse in
regions of higher pressure.
 The formation of these bubbles and their
subsequent collapse gives rise to cavitation.
 Experience shows that there is a
coefficient, called Thomaís sigma σT,
which defines precisely enough under
which parameters cavitation takes place.
ALSTOM Turbine Selection Chart
ALSTOM Experience
VOITH Application Chart