Chapter 9

Hydraulic turbines
Contents
• Introduction
• Pelton wheel
• Francis turbine
• Kaplan turbine
• Cavitation
 Introduction
• Hydraulic machine: is a device that converts the hydraulic energy to mechanical
energy or vice versa using water as a working fluid. It can be turbine or pump

• Pump: Hydraulic machine that converts mechanical energy (rotation of shaft or

rotor) to hydraulic energy (develop head). It is work absorbing type of HM.

• Turbine: Hydraulic machine that converts hydraulic energy to mechanical energy.

The water imparts energy for the rotor and it is power delivering type of
Hydraulic machine or Power machine. Turbines can be steam, gas or hydraulic
turbine based on working fluid.
 Cont…
Hydraulic turbine is the main element of hydropower plant.
Hydropower plant is one of the most cost effective and reliable energy technologies to be
considered for providing clean electricity generation.
Feature of hydropower plants
Advantages Disadvantages
 Relatively simple technology  High capital (initial) cost
 High efficiency(70-90%)
 Limited number of favorable site
 High level of predictability
 Long use full life  Ecological degradation of downstream
areas (loss of arable land and
 Eco friendly (no air pollution)
displacement of population)
 High capacity factor(>50%)
 Sedimentation in upstream and erosion in
 Lower operation and maintenance cost
downstream.
 High reliability
 Fishing in reservoirs
Working principle of hydropower plant
 Cont…

Hg = Hn – Hf
Hg Gross head, Hn Net head, and Hf Friction and leakage
loss
 Components of hydropower plant
Dam
• The dam is the most important component of hydroelectric power plant.
• The dam is built on a large river that has abundant quantity of water throughout the year.
• It should be built at a location where the height of the river is sufficient to get the maximum
possible potential energy from water.
Reservoir
• It is the place where the water rests before the dam.
• It has a higher elevation above the dam structure.
Intake or Control gates
• These are the gates built on the inside of the dam.
• The water from reservoir is released and controlled through these gates.
• These are called inlet gates because water enters the power generation unit through these gates.
• Flow can be controlled by partially closing the inlet gates.
 Cont…
Penstock
• Penstock is pipe or channel that leads the water from the intake gate to the
turbine.
• Losses through penstock should be minimized to get maximum energy from the
water.
Turbine
• Water flowing from the penstock is allowed to enter the power generation unit,
which houses the turbine and the generator.
• When water falls on the blades of the turbine the kinetic and potential energy of
water is converted into the rotational motion of the blades of the turbine.
• The rotating blades causes the shaft of the turbine to also rotate.
• The turbine shaft is enclosed inside the generator. In most hydroelectric power
plants there is more than one power generation unit.
 Cont…
Generator
• It is in the generator where the electricity is produced.
• The shaft of the water turbine rotates in the generator, which produces alternating current in the
coils of the generator.
• It is the rotation of the shaft inside the generator that produces magnetic field which is converted
into electricity by electromagnetic field induction.
• Hence the rotation of the shaft of the turbine is crucial for the production of electricity and this is
achieved by the kinetic and potential energy of water.
• Thus in hydroelectricity power plants potential energy of water is converted into electricity.
Transformer
• The transformer inside the powerhouse takes the AC and converts it to higher-voltage current
Power lines
• Out of every power plant come four wires: the three phases of power being produced
simultaneously plus a neutral or ground common to all three
Tail race
• Used water is carried through pipelines, called tailraces, and re-enters the river downstream.
 Classification of Hydraulic Turbines
1. Based on way of energy transfer
- Impulse: Energy available at turbine inlet is KE,
Pressure = Patm
Examples: Pelton, Turgo, Cross flow, …
- Reaction: Energy in the form of both KE and PE at turbine inlet
Examples: Francis, Kaplan, Propeller, Bulb, …
2. Based on flow direction through the runner
o Tangential flow: (water flow along tangent of runner) pelton
o Axial flow : Kaplan, Propeller, Bulb
o Radial flow: this can be inward or outward flow radial turbine, Francis turbine
o Mixed flow : water in radially and leaves axially, Francis
 Cont…
3. Based on head at the inlet of turbine
- High head (350-1800m): example, Pelton
- Medium head (50-250m): example, Francis
- Low head (less than 50): example, Kaplan and propeller
4. According to the specific speed of the turbine
• It is defined as the speed of geometrically similar turbine which would produce one
unit of power while working under unit head.
-low specific speed turbine (<50) example, Pelton wheel
-medium specific speed (50<Ns<250) Example, Francis
-High specific speed (>250) Example, Kaplan and propeller
 Cont…
Table: Classification of hydraulic turbines
 Pictures of Turgo and Cross – flow turbines
A Turgo Wheel is a variation on the
Pelton. The Turgo runner is a cast
wheel whose shape resembles a fan
blade that is closed on the outer
edges. The water stream is applied
on one side, goes across the blades
and exits on the other side.

Cross – flow Turbine is a

drum-shaped.
The water hits the turbine
twice(in to out, then out to in)
as shown in the red dotted
line. Accommodate larger
water flows and lower heads
than the Pelton.
 Hydropower plant schemes for different heads

Fig: Types of hydroelectric installation

 Pelton Wheel Turbine
• Invented around 1880 by Lester Pelton used for high head applications
• It is pure impulse turbine
• A jet of fluid leaving the nozzle strikes the buckets fixed to the periphery of a rotating wheel.
• Energy available @inlet of the turbine is only KE,
• The Pressure at inlet and exit of the turbine
is atmospheric
• It is applicable in high head (150 to 2000 m)
and low discharge flows.
 Components of Pelton wheel
• Runner : rotating wheel or circular disk in
which on the periphery number of buckets
evenly spaced and fixed.
• Bucket: double hemispherical cup or bowl.
Each bucket divided in to two symmetrical
parts by splitter.
The jet of water strikes the splitter. The
splitter then divides the jet in to two equal
parts and the water comes out at the outer
edge of the bucket
• It is circumferentially mounted on the
periphery of the wheel.
Cont…
• Nozzle: It is the component which creates a high velocity water jet, which
will strike the buckets.
• Spear rod: It is a rod with a conical shaped head concentric in the nozzle
which regulates the flow rate with a linear movement.
• Deflector plate: It is used to divert the jet away from the Pelton runner to
stop the rotation of the turbine.
• Brake nozzle: Due to high inertia of the rotating Pelton runner, simply
deflecting the jet will not quickly stop the turbine from rotating.
• A water jet from the brake nozzle applies impulse opposite to the rotating
direction which helps to quickly slows down the speed.
 Cont…
• Housing: It is useful for structural rigidity and directing the exit water away from the
runner. But doesn’t role in power generation.
• Distributor: It is necessary in multi jet Pelton turbines to distribute the water to each
nozzle with uniform velocity.
• Shaft and Bearings: are mechanical parts for power transmission.

Splitter

Cut out to prevent obstruction of

jet by the incoming bucket
 Multi jet Pelton wheel turbine
• It increases the torque on the shaft but speed remains the same.

Horizontal shaft: Number of nozzles Vertical Shaft: Up to six nozzles is applicable

not more than two
 Working principle and velocity triangle of Impulse
turbine
Working principle of Pelton wheel

• Water supplied from a constant head reservoir.

• The nozzle at pen stoke end, converts total head at inlet to nozzle to water jet
with velocity C1.
• High speed water jets are ejected through the nozzle to strike the buckets at
splitter.
• The bucket deflects the jet through an angle b/n 160-165 degree.
• Due to this deflection of jet, the momentum of the fluid changes (direction
as well as speed) reacting on the bucket.
• The bucket is therefore pushed away by the jet, hence the wheel will rotate
with the shaft.
 Velocity triangle
• over the bucket surface.
 Cont…
Specific work
but is in opposite direction

• From the velocity triangle ,

• Theoretically the relative velocity remains constant inside the bucket since it is an impulse
turbine there is no static pressure change in the bucket.
(applies for all rotor)
• Since for impulse turbine, then .
• But in actual situation the relative velocity reduces due to friction.
A coefficient is introduce to account for it. .
 Cont…
• Converting the specific work into head form

• As we see from the equation to get maximum work transfer needs to be 0.

• But this is not practical because such flow will directly face an incoming bucket and
exerts a negative impulse opposite to the rotating direction.
• The practical range of value is between 100 to 200.
• Further manipulation can be done on the specific work done
 Heads and efficiencies
• Head
The net head from the reservoir to the Pelton nozzle is the available head. It is the
difference between the gross static head and the losses (friction, elbow, valve and
cross-section change losses) in the penstock. Thus the available head
- gross head - friction head - elbow, valve,… losses
• Efficiencies
1. Hydraulic efficiency.
2. Nozzle efficiency
3. Mechanical efficiency.
4. Overall efficiency
Cont…
 Hydraulic efficiency
• Hydraulic Efficiency of the Pelton turbine can be defined as

• Differentiating the efficiency with respect to keeping other parameters constant, we get the optimum blade
speed that gives the maximum efficiency.
 Nozzle efficiency is defined since the nozzle does not completely convert the incoming net head into the
kinetic energy of the jet.

Nozzle velocity coefficient

Thus
 Cont…
 Pipe line transmission efficiency
, Hg is the gross head
 Mechanical efficiency

 Overall efficiency
=
 Number of buckets
• The most important consideration in Pelton turbine design is the number of blades/ buckets.
• As it is demonstrated in the figure, when the number of blades is less, only part of or none of the
water jet will be intercepted by the bucket, which leads to a huge loss of the water jet kinetic
energy.
• A cut out is provided at the tip of the bucket in order to prevent obstruction of the jet by the
incoming bucket so that the full jet can reach the bucket.
cut out

• Number of buckets on the runner is given by:

N=15+ where D= the pitch diameter of the Pelton
d= the diameter of the jet
The ratio is called jet ratio.
 Reaction Turbines: Francis and Kaplan
• Water at the inlet of the turbine posses both KE and PE.
• As the water flow through the runner part of the energy is converted to KE.(water through
runner is under pressure unlike pelton)
• Unlike impulse turbines, reaction turbines need to be fully immersed into water.
• Francis and Kaplan are the most common hydraulic reaction turbines which needs
separate treatment.
 Francis Turbine
• Francis turbine is a reaction type which is the most popular and widely used hydraulic
turbine.
• It is capable of working with wide range of flow conditions (head and discharge) with
acceptable performance. Heads between 60 to 300m.
• Francis turbine was first developed as a purely radial flow turbine by James B. Francis, an
American engineer in 1849. But the design has gradually changed into a mixed flow
turbine of today.
• It has adjustable guide vanes which
allows the turbine to operate with off
design flow conditions with good
performance.
 Schematic of Francis turbine assembly
• Francis turbine components
 Components
• Runner: It is a circular wheel on which a series of radial curve vanes are fixed.
• The water passes into the rotor radially through rotor vanes and leaves the rotor blades at
smaller diameter. Then turns through 90 degree in to draft tube
• Volute casing (spiral casing): water from penstock enter to casing which surrounds the
runner of the turbine.
• cross-sectional area goes on decreasing gradually, to facilitate water flow at constant velocity
through the circumference of the runner
• Guide vanes: allow the water to strike vanes fixed on runner without shock at inlet.
Stationary are followed by adjustable guide vanes to control the flow and thus the
power output of the turbine.
• Stay Vanes: carry the pressure loads in the spiral case and turbine head cover and also
directs the flow towards the adjustable guide vanes with an optimal incidence angle
• Draft Tube: It is a diffuser downstream of the runner used to convert the KE of water at
turbine exit to pressure energy, (because the pressure at the exit of the rotor is less than
atmospheric pressure)
Picture of Francis runner

Adjustable
Guide Vanes
 Velocity triangle
• The water enters the turbine radially but the exit is essentially axial exit.
• Water enters runner from inlet guide vanes (@ r1) with C1, is inlet blade angle for shock
free entry.
• In hydraulic machines it is customary to use the tangential axis as reference axis
(from which angles are measured).
for max work, Cw2=0
 Heads and efficiencies
• Gross head (): It is the static head difference between the reservoir and the tail race.
• Net head (H): is the difference between the gross head and different head losses (Penstock
friction loss, exit velocity head).

• Hydraulic efficiency,

w/h is maximum hydraulic efficiency

• Mechanical efficiency,
 Cont…
Volumetric efficiency
• It is possible some water flows out through the clearance between the runner
and casing without passing through the runner.
• Volumetric efficiency is defined as the ratio between the volume of water
flowing through the runner and the total volume of water supplied to the
turbine.
• , , is the effective volume flow rate that strikes the blades of the runner. is
the volume flow rate from the penstock.
• Overall efficiency,
Kaplan Turbine (axial flow turbine)
 Kaplan Turbine (axial flow turbine)
• Kaplan turbine is an axial reaction turbine, with vertical shaft.

• It is a low head, high discharge turbine with adjustable runner blades. As a result Kaplan
turbine has an excellent performance in part load or off – design flow operation.

• Lower end of the shaft is made larger known as hub or boss, which act as runner and vanes
are fixed to it.

• Propeller is another type of axial turbine in which the vanes are fixed to the hub and are not
adjustable.

• But in case of Kaplan vanes are adjustable.

• A propeller turbine generally has a runner with three to six blades.

 Cont…
• Kaplan turbine has usually an axial exit which maximizes the specific energy transfer.
• The velocity triangles are usually drawn at the mean radius, since conditions change from
hub to tip.
• The flow velocity is axial at inlet and outlet

• All the head and efficiency

definitions are similar for both Francis
and Kaplan turbines can then be adapted
from the previous definitions.
Comparison of turbines
Cont…
Cont…
 Performance curves
 The performance of each turbine can be accomplished by its
• Specific speed
• Power produced
• Efficiency
• Head of the turbine
• The speed ratio φ = u/ (2gH)1/2 .
• Performance curves in turbines have huge importance in prediction of an actual
operation performance. In addition, it also gives the full picture of the
performance of the turbine for various off – design conditions.
• Selection of best suitable turbine for some specific flow condition is solely done
by referring the already documented characteristics curves of various turbines.
 Selection of Hydraulic turbines
• Selection of turbine is a highly technical job and requires great experience.

• Turbine for specific application can be selected on the bases of specific speed (which is a
scientific method and gives a precise information).

• Specific speed Type of turbine

5-35 Pelton with single jet

35-70 Pelton with 2 or more jets

70-450 Francis

450-1000 Kaplan
• Selection can also be based on head (this method is based on experience and observation
factor only).
 Cavitation
• Cavitation is a critical phenomenon that affects hydraulic machines’ performance.

• It is the phenomenon in which vapor bubbles form rapidly and collapse within a liquid.

• It mainly occurs when the static pressure becomes smaller than the liquid’s vapor
pressure.

• Its impacts on hydropowe turbines are;

Excessive vibrations

Material surface damage

Machine performance loss and etc.

 Cont…
• The concept of cavitation that has been discussed in centrifugal pumps is the same for
turbines also.
• Thomas coefficient is usually used as a cavitation parameter in hydraulic turbines.

• Each turbine has its critical value of Thomas coefficient.

• Therefore, for safe operation .

Critical Thoma coefficient for different specific speeds

 Cavitation regions in reaction turbines
• Leading edge cavitation: attached cavity on the suction side of the runner blades due
to higher than nominal heads.

• Travelling bubble cavitation: separated bubbles attached to blade suction side near
mid-chord next to the trailing edge.

• Draft tube swirl cavitation: cavitation vortex-core flow that is formed just below the
runner cone in the center of the draft tube.

• Inter blade vortex cavitation: due to the flow separation provoked by the incidence
variation from the hub to the band.
Example 1
Cont…
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