SILT DAMAGE CONTROL MEASURES FOR UNDERWATER PARTS - POWER STATION - NATHPA JHAKRI HYDRO CASE STUDY OF A SUCCESS STORY R.P. SINGH ‘Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd, India -ABSTRACT Hydro power plants located on the Himalayan Rivers, typically, have had to endure high silt content in the water passing through the turbines causing enormous damages to the under-water parts of the turbine. The hydro power generating companies are engaged in mitigating this menace and optimizing generation and profits. The Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station (NJHPS) - the flagship power station of the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) — bore the brunt of heavily silt laden water, consisting of highly erosive Quartz particles, in the first few years of operation after commissioning in 2003-04. Through a series of silt control measures, based on expert advice and experience gained by SJVN over the years, SJVN is close to finding a lasting solution to the problem towards achieving an optimum interval between successive repairs. In this paper, | will share the engineering and operation and maintenance experiences of SVN and contrast the condition of critical underwater parts before and after implementing the measures. 1. INTRODUCTION TO NATHPA JHAKRI HYDRO POWER STATION The 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station (NJHPS) on the river Satlujis the largest hydroelectric power project in India and the first to be executed by SJVN. The first unit of the NJHPS was synchronized in September, 2003 and the remaining units were synchronized by March, 2004. The following are the major components of the project: * A 62.50 m high concrete Dam on Satluj River at Nathpa to divert 486 cumecs of water through four intakes. * Anunderground de-silting complex, comprising four chambers, each 525 mong, 16.31 m wide and 27.5 m deep, which is one of the largest underground complex inthe world for generation of hydro-power. * 410.15 mdia and 27.394 km long Head Race Tunnel, which is one of the longest hydro power tunnels in the world, terminating in a surge shaft which is of 21.60 m/ 10.20 m dia and 301 m depth Vol 66, No. 1, January-March, 2000 36 © Three circular steel lined Pressure Shafts, each of 4.90 m dia and 571 m to 622 m length, each bifurcating into two near the Power House, to feed six generating units. * An underground Power House with a cavern size of 222 mx 20 mx 49 m having six Francis Turbine Units of 250 MW each, to utilize a design discharge of 405 cumecs and a design head of 428 m. A 10.15 m dia and 982 m long Tail Race Tunnel to discharge the water back into the river Satluj 2. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SILT EROSION PHENOMENA Silt in the water passing through the turbine causes an erosive wear on the underwater parts, i.e., guide vanes, runners, labyrinth seals, top cover and bottom ting ete. in case of Francis turbines of NJHPS. The erosion phenomenon is highly complex and cannot be simulated in models and laboratories. It is governed by the hydraulic, and mechanical design, choice of materials etc. It has been observed that the rate of material removal due to silt erosion is a function of :Silt characteristics (concentration, size, shape and hardness) Base material characteristics Striking angle of silt particles on metal surface (relative velocity)®; where n = 3-4 in case of Francis turbine Anunderstanding of the above causes points to the possible solutions for minimizing erosion. 3. SILT CONTENT OF RIVER SATLUJ ‘The river Satluj enters Indian territory near Shipki-La after traveling about 300 km in Tibet. {ts main tributary, the river PER ION Deposits on the banks of river Spiti (Tributary) Spit, joins it at Khab after traveling a distance of 130 kmin the cold desert of Spiti. The total catchment area of Satluj River till Nathpa Dam is about 49,820 sq.km, out of which 6,900 sq.km (74%) is in Tibet and the rest 12,920 ‘sq. km (26%) is in India. Glacial deposits on the banks of river Sati Heavy silt load in the river water was anticipated at the investigation and design stage. The tender specifications, based on the observation for a period of 20 years (1970-90), had specified the average silt concentration for the high inflow months of June, July & August as 932 ppm after desittation through desilting chambers $$ $—<—<—$__$_—_$_—_—_— The following table depicts that the silt load observed in the river has been on the rise over the years No. of days in a year when sit concentration was “Waor to > S000 ppm 5000 pom _ | | 2001 6 4000 ppm "22.33 7577 1806 erage) [1987-2008 average) 7.85 age) | 28.75 | Typical mineral contents of water sample of river Satluj as specified in the technical specification vis-a-vis actually observed contents are compared in Table 1 68.9} Tourmaline [ro7s [3.98% a Gamet 651075 | 4.4% | 1.26% | {zircon 75. 27% | 2.te% | eee 1 [Total constivens of hardness 6.5 & above | 45.9% 76.24% | In the successive monsoon seasons of 2004, 2005 and 2006, a significant variation in the actual silt concentration vis-a-vis the envisaged quantity was observed due to which heavy damages occurred to the underwater parts of turbines. The second monsoon, i.e. year 2005, encountered by the generating units of project was catastrophic as regards the flow rate and silt due to the breach of fake formed on the Parechu River and the ensuing flood on 26.06.2005. The silt concentration recorded on. 26.06.2005 was 1,51,000 ppm. 4. DAMAGES IN TURBINE UNDERWATER PARTS: Due to a significantly high quantity of silt passing through. the hydraulic passages of the turbine, the following underwater parts have suffered acute damages: © Bronze bushes (Upper & Lower) © Wear rings © Guide vane seating rings This resulted in outages and longer downtime of machines which caused huge generation and revenue loss. 37 Vol. 66, No. 1, January-March, 2009© Labyrinth seals (Upper & Lower) 5. REMEDIAL MEASURES The remedial measures for mitigating the damages suffered can be divided into two categories: For Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station (NJHPS) © For future projects 6. FOR NATHPA JHAKRI HYDRO POWER STATION (NJHPS) () Design Measures The following design measures were taken in anticipation of silt in water: (@) Largest underground desilting structure was provided to eliminate coarse and medium silt particles (b) Lower rotational speed was adopted to reduce the relative velocity (c)_ Provision of removal of runner from bottom was made to reduce downtime. Vol. 65, No. 1, January-March, 2008 38 PEEL h a LL Ue Cheek plates (Upper & Lower) (@) Martenistic stainless steel having good workability and weldability was used for turbine components (e) Closed loop secondary cooling water arrangement was provided i The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling has been carried out by GE Hydro to check the soundness of design against silt erosion. On the basis of the studies, cut backs of calculated dimensions have been made on vanes of four runners. (i A CAT plan amounting to Rs. 29.57 crores is under implementation by HP Forest Department, funded by SJVN, which shall be completed by 2010-11. Three nallahs and three slide zones upstream of Nathpa Dam have been taken up for treatment under CAT plan. Apart from the works included in the CAT plan, four major tributaries/nallahs have been identified as major contributors of detrimental silt to Optimizing the Hydraulic Passages CAT PlanREET) Lae the river and stabilization and treatment of these has also been planned. Restoration of NH-22 at 13 locations upstream of Nathpa Dam upto Khab, where protection works are required, has also been planned, (iv) HP-HVOF Hard Coating Initia trials: Due to the ingress of significantly high quantity of silt in the turbine, extensive damage occurs to the underwater parts of the turbine. The experts of GE Hydro, which supplied the turbines, suggested that the parts prone to damage by silt be coated with tougher materials to reduce damage to underwater parts. Initially, underwater parts of two turbines were coated using plasma nitriding and few guide vanes were coated on experimental basis with tungsten carbide manually and also with robotic arm to compare the results. Atter the first monsoon, excessive damages were observed on underwater parts of turbine such as cheek plates, guide vanes, runners, labyrinth sealing rings, bottom rings etc. coated with Plasma nitride. Deep cavities were formed in runners and guide vanes. As a result of the damages, the spiral was not getting pressurized and operation engineers faced problems in running the units, particularly when units were to be restarted after shutdown. Soft coating was also carried out on one runner, but was not found successful as the soft coated runner vanes were found eroded within a few days of operation, Hard coating: Since the repairs to the eroded parts did not sustain, hard coating of these parts was resorted to since it had been noted that a number of coating technologies and different coating powders were available in the international market. ‘SJVNL explored the vendors from local market (India) for repair, refurbishment and hard coating of all the underwater parts so that the project could be operated at full capacity during the peak generation season from May 15 to September, 15. Tungsten Carbide hard coating with HP-High Velocity Oxyfuel (HVOF) thermal spray process with robotic arm has been carried out for a thickness of 300 microns on guide vanes, cheek plates, wear ring, sealing rings, lower labyrinth seals to protect, these parts from erosion due to silt. The range of composition of tried hard coating powder is - cobalt (9.5%- 10.5%), Chromium (3.5%-4.5%) and tungsten carbide (85%-87%). Over the years different coating powders available in the market and different coating thickness upto 500/600 microns (on cheek plates) have been tried with very good results. The micro-hardness of the coated material has gone up substantially with decreased porosity. The results of hard coating thus have been very encouraging, Table 2 depicts the improvement in running hours and the silt load passed through the turbines: Table 2 Tit] After 1* refurbishment] After 2* refurbishment | After 3* refurbishment | After 4* refurbishment io. | 2008-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 “s" Running Silt load Running ‘Silt load | Running ‘Silt load Running Silt load hours | passed | hours passed | hours | passed | hours passed 7) 1940 334 2667 659° 4364 79" 2874 730" 2_| 1986 328 2682 736° 4798 Tar 2872 7a 3. 1387 3.80 2767 7.30° 3761 7.05" 3549 7.36" [a | 1933 734 2764 7.46" Taare | 7.42 4280 7.58" 5. 1970 8.26" 2757 7.33" 5946 7.34" 3620 ~| 7.64 6. 1694 8.10" | 2747 670 —~*| 8365 6.54" 3605 759° Sit load passed is in Lakhs Tonnes * Indicates performance with hard coated underwater parts, $- Stil undergoing 39 Vol. 66, No. 1, January-March, 2009ANE an LGD eae ‘Some of the major repair and refurbishment works carried out on runners, guide vanes, cheek plates etc. during annual plant maintenance are: © Inspection/ assessment of damages ¢ UT/DP to detect invisible cracks ‘© Removal of hard coating, where applicable and surface preparation for welding by machining/ grinding Welding on damages/ eroded areas Rough grinding’ mac checking ing, measurement, profile ¢ Final grinding’ polishing ‘© Radiographical/ ultrasound testing, balancing in case ofrunner. © Hard coating As a result of hard coating, timely inspections and preventive maintenance, and adherence to limits of maximum silt to be allowed to pass through the machines, the condition of the machines after monsoorvhigh silt season of 2008 is much better. SJVN has acquired hard coating facility, which shall be commissioned shortly to acquire in- house hard coating capability. (V) Unit Operation Management In view of the problems being faced at NJHPS due to silt erosion, the unit operation management of major power plants in Norther region, viz. Salal, Baira Siul, Chamera- ll, Girl, was studied. In view of the high head and high relative velocity of water in the runner in comparison to these plants, it was felt desirable to have a relatively lower limit of permissible silt load (ppm) Accordingly, an upper limit of 4000 ppm for water drawn at intake and an upper limit of 2000 ppm in the draft tube has been fixed for optimizing the operation of the units. The units are stopped when the silt load exceeds the above limit. Vol. 66, No. 1, January-March, 2009 40 During high silt period, fortnightly reservoir silt flushing is resorted to in order to flush out the sediments settled in the reservoir. (vi) Raising of Nathpa Dam Height ‘The Nathpa Dam height has been increased so as to enable raising of reservoir level to EL 1495m. Consequently, the reservoir length has increased from 1.1 km to 2.5 km. The sedimentation in reservoir has significantly improved due to stilling effect and the amount of silt finding its way i the turbines has reduced. (vii) Innovation: Metallurgy From the experience of operating NJHPS, it was felt that for the generating units to be able to generate throughout the monsoon period, certain innovative steps will have to be taken to minimize erosion due to silt. In this direction, a few steps being contemplated are: For the turbine components of NJHPS, martensitic stainless steels, 13Cr-4Ni and 16 Cr-SNi have been used by the turbine manufacturers. These are the most suitable materials against erosion, abrasion, and corrosion having good workability and weldability. However, R&D work for development of Nitronic steel for hydro-turbine underwater parts has been carried out with the help of IIT, Roorkee. Nitronic steel is claimed to be resistant to erosion in high silt conditions. The. initially high cost of development shall be offset by the increased component life and maintenance interval and reduction in downtime. @ A research scheme in collaboration with CPRI, Bangalore, is underway to carry out simulated laboratory studies using silt samples from the river on hard-coated samples and experimental silt resistant cladding.DN Taat ah aA 7. COMPARISON OF UNDERWATER PARTS AFTER SILT CONTROL MEASURES ‘SOFT COATED RUNNER 2005 ERODED GUIDE VANE IN 2005 GUIDE VANE DISMANTLED IN 2008, UNCOATED ERODED CHEEK PLATE IN 2005 CHEEK PLATE DISMANTLED IN 2008 a Vol. 66, No. 1, January-March, 2009WATER & ENERGY MANU 8. ERODED LOWER LABYRINTH (COATED) IN 2005 COATED LOWER LABYRINTH DISMANTLED IN 2008 8.1 For Future Projects (i) Accurate Silt Data The problem of erosion damage to underwater parts is perennial to all hydro projects located in the Himalayan region due to high silt content containing quartz particles. Therefore, during investigation stage, itis imperative that complete silt data (coarse, medium and fine) and the corresponding river discharge may be collected on regular basis. Petrographic analysis of silt is essential to analyze silt characteristics. The above information can be useful to devise an effective strategy for combating the menace of silt during operation of the project. (cat Catchment Area Treatment acquires prime importance in mitigating sit problems in future projects because it aims at checking the pollution of the rivers with harmful silt Adequate and comprehensive CAT plan should be formulated and implemented with required promptness. CAT plan works need to be commenced alongwith the construction of the projects and completed before their completion in order to acquire full benefits. The downstream projects should invest in upstream catchment area treatment and the implementation responsibilities and its cost should be shared by all potential beneficiaries. Measures like building check dams, wire crating, rock bolting, plantation, and pasture development etc. in catchment area are effective in reducing the silt load in rivers. Slip stabilization on the banks of rivers by check walls & development of benches should be adopted, wherever possible. (iii) Design/specification parameters © Optimizing Hydraulic Design Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis can be an effective tool to check the soundness of design against silt erosion thus ensuring optimum design of turbine underwater components, ie., runner blade profile and velocities, quide and stay vanes. The measures taken for reducing the relative velocity, which has a predominant effect on silt erosion, result in a drop in the efficiency of turbines. Vol. 66, No. 1, January-Hareh, 2009 42 © Lower rotational speed It has been observed that the rate of removal of material due to silt erosion in underwater parts is a function of silt characteristics; striking angle; base material characteristics and; predominantly, cube of relative velocity. Therefore, all efforts should be made to reduce the relative velocity in conditions of high silt. By choosing the turbine rotational speed one or two steps below the standard value as per empirical calculations, the erosive effect can be reduced. * Bottom Removal of Runner It is now a common practice to provide for features for removal of runner from the bottom as it reduces the dismantling time and, consequently, the downtime of machines for repairs. © Coatings Since the rate of removal of material due to silt erosion in underwater parts is a function of base material characteristics, therefore, the most obvious means of minimizing erosion is the use of materials having highest possible erosion resistance. Coating of vulnerable underwater parts by Tungsten Carbide powder based hard coating with HP-HVOF process with robotic arm has shown good results. © Adequate Spares Even after adopting all the aforesaid measutes, the erosion of turbine underwater partsis inevitable. Adequate inventory of turbine components prone to erosion shall enable lesser times for repair and, consequently, lesser downtimes and maximum availability of machines for generation. 9, CONCLUSION SJVN was a trendsetter in the direction of adopting various silt control measures and other major hydro-power producers are following suit. NTPC for Kol Dam Project, NHPC for Baira Siul and Salal Projects and Malana Power Company for Malana stage II are getting the underwater parts hard coated. SJVN has tried out different combinations of coating powders, coating technologies and coating thicknesses to optimize the best technologies available. We will keep on innovating & improvising for the benefit of the stakeholders and the Nation.