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Help for calculating pipe friction loss for any

Newtonian fluid
Applets are programs based on the java language that are designed to run on your computer using the Java Run
Time environment.

The following is an excerpt of the afore mentioned book. This java applet does friction head loss calculations for
any Newtonian fluid for which the viscosity is known in the turbulent flow regime only which is most cases. The
applet provides data on pipe roughness the source of which can be obtained in a pdf file at the bottom of this
page.

PIPE FRICTION HEAD DIFFERENCE FOR NEWTONIAN FLUIDS

The Friction Head is the friction due to the movement of fluid in a piping system and is proportional to flow rate,
pipe diameter and viscosity. Tables of values for Friction Head are available in references 1 & 8.

The Friction Head, as defined here, is made up of the friction loss due to the fluid movement and the friction loss
due to the effect of pipe fittings (for example, 90° elbows, 45° bends, tees, etc.):

the subscript FP refers to pipe friction loss and the subscript FF to fittings friction loss.

NEWTONIAN FLUIDS

Newtonian fluids are a large class of fluids, whose essential property VISCOSITY, was first defined by Newton
(see Appendix A for a list of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids). Viscosity is the relationship between the
velocity of a given layer of fluid and the force required to maintain that velocity. Newton theorized that for most
pure fluids, there is a direct relationship between force required to move a layer and its velocity. Therefore, to
move a layer at twice the velocity, required twice the force. His hypothesis could not be tested at the time, but
later the French researcher, Poiseuille, demonstrated its validity. This resulted in a very practical definition for
viscosity.

The Darcy-Weisbach formula expresses the resistance to movement of any fluid in a pipe:

where f is a non dimensional friction factor. Often, the tables give values for friction loss in terms of ft of fluid per
100 ft of pipe. When the appropriate units are used (Imperial system), the Darcy-Weisbach equation becomes:

[3-16a]

The friction factor is proportional to the Reynolds number which is defined as:
[3-17a]

The Reynolds number is proportional to the kinematic viscosity, the average velocity, and the pipe inside
diameter. It is a non dimensional number. The kinematic viscosity is the ratio of the absolute viscosity to the
fluid specific gravity SG.

Viscosity data of common liquids can also be found int the Goulds pump catalogue.

Laminar flow - RE < 2000

Distinct flow regimes can be observed as the Reynolds number is varied. In the range of 0 to 2000, the flow is
uniform and is said to be laminar. The term laminar refers to successive layers of fluid immediately adjacent to
one another, or laminated. Looking at a longitudinal section of the pipe, the velocity of individual fluid particles is
zero close to the wall and increases to a maximum value at the center of the pipe with every particle moving
parallel to its neighbor. If we inject dye into the stream, we would notice that the dye particles maintain their
cohesion for long distances from the injection point.

Figure 3-16 Laminar and turbulent flow velocity profiles.

The friction loss is generated within the fluid itself. Figure 3-16 shows that each layer (in this case each ring) of
fluid is moving progressively faster as we get closer to the center. The difference in velocity between each fluid
layer causes the friction loss.

The friction factor f is given by:

[3-18]

For viscous fluids (i.e.: n > 50 SSU), the combination of velocity and viscosity usually produces a low Reynolds
number and therefore laminar flow. Pumping viscous fluids at a faster rate may cause the fluid to become
turbulent resulting in high friction losses. The tables for viscous fluid friction loss given in references 1 & 8 are
based on the equation for laminar flow, equation [3-18]. This equation can be theoretically derived and is found in
most fluid dynamic volumes (see reference 11). An interesting aspect of laminar flow is that pipe roughness is not
a factor in determining friction loss.

Unstable flow - 2000 <RE <4000

The flow is pulsing and unstable and appears to possess characteristics of both laminar and turbulent flow.

Turbulent flow - RE > 4000

At Reynolds number larger than 4000, it is very difficult to predict the behavior of the fluid particles, as they are
moving in many directions at once. If dye is injected into the stream, the dye particles are rapidly dispersed,
demonstrating the complex nature of this type of flow. Reynolds, who originally did this experiment, used it to
demonstrate the usefulness of a non-dimensional number (the Reynolds number) related to velocity and viscosity.
Most industrial applications involve fluids in turbulent flow. The geometry of the wall (pipe roughness) becomes
an important factor in predicting the friction loss.

Many empirical formulas for turbulent flow have been developed. Colebrook's equation is the one most widely
accepted:

[3-19]

where is the average height of protuberances (absolute roughness) of the pipe wall surface (for example,
0.00015 ft for smooth steel pipe). The term /D is called the pipe roughness parameter or the relative roughness.
Since it is not possible to derive an explicit solution for f, L.F. Moody (see Figure 3-18) developed a graphical
solution. The diagram shows the linear relationship of the friction factor (f) with the Reynolds number (Re) for
the laminar flow regime. For Reynolds numbers in the medium range (4,000 to 1,000,000, turbulent flow), the
friction factor is dependent on the Reynolds number and the pipe roughness parameter, which is known as the
transition zone. For high Reynolds numbers (1,000,000 and higher, fully turbulent), the friction factor is
independent of the Reynolds number and is proportional only to the pipe roughness parameter. This is the zone of
complete turbulence.

Some typical values for the absolute roughness :

PIPE MATERIAL Absolute roughness


Steel or wrought iron 0.00015 ft
sphalt-dipped cast iron 0.0004 ft
Galvanized iron 0.0005 ft

Another equation developed by Swamee and Jain, gives an explicit result for f and agrees with the Colebrook
equation within 1%, this is the equation used for this applet.

[3-20]
The pressure head loss per 100 feet of pipe is obtained using equation [3-16]. You can get the total head loss by
multiplying by the length of the pipe and dividing by 100. Then to convert to pressure loss, use equation [3-21].

[3-21]

A table of roughness values is available here.

MICRO-HYDRO INSTALLATION SIZING CALCULATIONS

Download a pdf version of this web page.

Calculations for micro-hydro turbine jet impact velocity are based on the same sort of calculations done for pump
systems, except there is no pump. The energy is provided by the difference in elevation between the inlet and
outlet of the system (see Figure 1). The inlet (point 1) is defined as the surface elevation of the water source and
the outlet is at the nozzle outlet (point 2).

Figure 1

The general equation for fluid flow between two points is:
(1)

where z1 and z2 are respectively the elevation at points 1 and 2. We also have velocity and pressure head at points
1 and 2.

Calculating velocity from flow rate

The flow rate in a pipe depends on velocity and surface area:

since the surface area for a pipe is pd2/4. Using consistent units in the Imperial system we obtain:

and after simplification:

` (2)

or

(3-1)

Metric units

Calculating nozzle velocity v2

The velocity v1 is the velocity of fluid particles at the water source surface (see Figure 1), this velocity will be
quite small and negligible, v1 =0. The velocity v2 is the velocity of the water jet at the nozzle; this is the quantity
we are looking for. The pressure head H1 corresponds to any external pressure that might be imposed at point 1,
in this case it is zero, H1 = 0. The pressure head H2 is the pressure at the outlet of the nozzle, since the water jet
comes out in the free atmosphere H2 = 0. HF is the friction loss between points 1 and 2, it is comprised of the pipe
friction loss, filter intake loss, fittings and manual valve losses. g is the acceleration due to gravity, g = 32.17
ft/s2. If we replace these values into equation (1) we obtain:

(4)

v2 becomes:
(5-1)

Metric units

Solving equation (5) is an iterative process, first we give a trial value to the flow rate q and then calculate HF
based on the applet found at this link:

http://www.lightmypump.com/applets.htm#applets13
and from this result we then calculate v2 again based on equation (5). If the values are different we modify the
value of v2 and try again until are trial value is the same as the calculated value.

Or you can use the ste of formulas that are explained on this page to do direct calculations:

http://www.lightmypump.com/help14.html
or you use this spreadsheet that has these formulas already programmed:
micro-hydro_power.xls

Calculating available power

The design of the Pelton turbine is such that it is at it's most efficient when its peripheral speed is half the speed of
the incoming water jet. See this web page for a good explanation of how power is derived for a Pelton turbine:

http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/fluids/turbine.htm
The power in the water jet is equal to γhq where γ gamma is the specific weight of water, h is the available head
and q the flow rate. If we know the velocity, the power can be expressed as 1/2ρv2q where ρ rho is the water
density and v the water jet nozzle velocity. Either one of these expressions gives the theoretical power available
from the water jet.

The Pelton turbine is designed to produce maximum power when the peripheral speed is 1/2 of the water jet
speed. The power transmitted to the turbine wheel is 0.5γhq. The 50% is theoretical and is based on the fact that
the water jet is reversed due to the wheel cup design 180 degrees back towards its source. The reversed water jet
is not exactly in line so that the wheel itself has a real world efficiency of 90% or better. Therefore that power at
the turbine wheel is:

0.9 x 0.5 x γ x h x q

or in metric units:

which simplifies to:

(6-1)
Metric units

If we use the formula using nozzle velocity:

(7)

where ρ is the density and q the volumetric flow rate. To make all the units consistent in the Imperial system the
power P in equation (7) must be divided by the constant gc, using the proper units with their conversion factors
and the water density of 62.34 lbm/ft3, we obtain:

or in metric units

which simplifies to:

(8-1)

Calculating turbine speed

The turbine peripheral velocity will be half the water jet velocity.

(9)

The equation for rotational vs. peripheral velocity is:

(10)

where ω omega is the rotational velocity in radians/second and d the diameter of the turbine wheel. We would like
to use the units of rpm for ω and inch for d. Therefore equation (10) becomes:

(11-1)

Metric units

and after simplification equation (11) becomes:

(12)

or in metric units
(12-1)

by replacing the value of vturb in equation (9) into equation (11) we obtain:

or in metric units

(13-1)

therefore the rotational velocity of the turbine is:

or in metric units

(14-1)
MICRO-HYDRO INSTALLATION SIZING (PELTON AND TURGO WHEEL TURBINES)

A friend of mine asked me to help size a micro-hydro installation that he was thinking of installing at his cottage.
Specifically he wanted to know how to calculate the flow rate of water through a pipe with a given vertical drop.
This is a simple pump-sizing problem without a pump, so I thought I would give him a hand. It turned out to be a
very interesting topic and I hope you will find it helpful in understanding the concept.

A micro turbine is a wonderful way to generate you own electricity because it is so ecologically friendly. It has
little or no impact on the environment and will provide continuous energy year round at low cost. Unfortunately,
not many of us can access this resource since it usually requires a large track of land with a stream. For those of
us who live in the country, it is possible that you could have a stream nearby on public land that you could access.
In this case it may require a longer line (or penstock) to get the water from its source to your land where you will
put your micro-turbine. This article is about how you can figure out how much energy will be available
considering your terrain and water availability.

This link will provide you with a pdf version of this web page.
source of image:http://www.sustainabletimes.ca/articles/microhydro.htm

What is HEAD and why is it used?

The difference in height between the water source and the turbine location is the key to generating power. This
height is known as head or more precisely static head. Head is expressed in feet just like height; the difference is
when we use the term head, we are actually talking about energy per pound of liquid displaced. So head is just
another term for energy, specifically energy per unit weight of liquid displaced. How is this possible? Energy, or
useful work can be expressed as pound-feet or lbf-ft in the Imperial system. If I divide this term by lbf, I obtain
lbf-ft/lbf or feet (ft) and this is what is known as head.

If I know how many pounds of liquid are displaced per unit time (this is proportional to flow rate in gallons per
minute for example) then I know how much power is required since by multiplying head in lbf-ft/lbf by lbf/min, I
get a unit of power in lbf-ft/min or foot-pounds per minute.
We know there are 550 lbf-ft/s in a horsepower and 1.34 horsepower in a kilowatt. Therefore, when we know the
height difference, or static head, we can immediately get a good idea of how much energy will be available
however the analysis is not complete without the flow rate.

Typical micro-hydro installation

The following image shows a typical system that I have seen and which I am familiar with. The stream is located
on a hill or incline. The riverbed is accessible and you require some sort of structure that will hold your intake
pipe solidly. Remember that heavy rains bring, high water levels and lots of activity within the stream, including
the movement of large boulders that could disrupt, or destroy your intake if it is not built robustly enough.

Intake design
The intake structure shown could also be called a caisson and it is built of re-enforced concrete approximately 3
feet by 3 feet by 2.5 feet high with 6-inch walls. It is basically a thick frame with 4 concrete walls. This is robust
enough to stay put in the stream even when the heavy waters come and provides a stable structure to which you
can attach your intake pipe. You should provide some sort of filtration device at your pipe intake to prevent
branches and other detritus from entering the pipe. A heavy screen mesh is suitable and if you provide holes on
the side of the pipe there will be more area for the water to enter the pipe, which causes less pressure drop.

Your pipe intake should be sufficiently submerged to prevent a vortex forming at the surface that would allow air
to enter the pipe and reduce the flow. The height required to avoid vortex formation depends on the size of the
pipe and the flow rate, which has yet to be determined. For those of you who would like to calculate the

submergence height see this applet: http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/applets.htm#applets10 . Typically for


the flow rates that concern us an intake pipe end submergence of 2 feet is sufficient. Also you have to consider
that the water level in the stream will vary throughout the year.

It's important that the intake pipe be smoothly laid out from start to finish avoiding upward runs as much as
possible. It may be impossible to avoid this but keep vertical excursions as small as possible. In particular near the
intake you must avoid going above the water level prior to going downwards to the turbine. This is to avoid the
possibility of getting an air lock (i.e. trapped air in the intake pipe) that could prevent water reaching the turbine.

If you are in the northern latitudes you will have to consider what to do about freezing temperatures. Small
streams on a sharp incline flow throughout the year no matter the temperature. If you keep flow running through
your line, you will experience the same effect, and will not get a frozen and possibly damaged line. This is
something you should consider in your set up. The alternatives are to bury the line or use heat tracing both of
which are expensive and time consuming.

Let's get right to it and figure out what size pipe is suitable for our stream, what flow rate we can expect and how
much power can be generated?
Intake pipe size

The intake pipe is the key to the whole installation and it will determine how much power can be generated. The
other critical factor is the height or static head available between the surface of the stream and your turbine
location. If the head is small, say 1 to 5 ft, then the amount of energy available will be very small and not worth
the trouble.

The other consideration is how much water is in the stream, and how much can you take without building a major
infrastructure at the intake. This can be hard to evaluate, and sometimes you just have to take a stab at it, and use
this as a basis for calculating your power availability. You can then determine how this impacts the size of your
intake structure, versus the size of the streambed.

All streams are different and the shape of the streambed varies considerably from one location to another.
However, as a guideline use this table as a starting point for sizing your intake pipe.

Stream width (ft) Stream depth (ft) Pipe dia. (in)


4 1 1/2 - 3/4
12 4 3-4
Table 1. Intake pipe size recommendation

Here's an example based on a 3 in pipe intake; the length of the pipe will be 100 ft, the static head is 10 ft. Once
you have been through this you will be able to change these numbers and adapt them to your situation.

The first thing to do is determine the flow rate through the pipe knowing the pipe length and static head.

From the flow rate q, we can determine the velocity in the pipe with this equation:

(1)

Note: the units are indicated for each term within the equation. For those of you who wish to know how this
equation is derived, see this web page: http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro-hydro_formulas.htm
The velocity in the pipe is related to the friction loss in the system and the energy (static head) that is available to
drive the water from the upper stream bed to the turbine (those of you who want to know the origin of this
formula, go to this link: http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro-hydro_formulas.htm

or

The units for all of these terms are feet. The term v2/2g works out to feet if you use ft/s as the velocity unit.

z1 -z2 is the head and equals 10 ft, and v2 is the outlet velocity of the pipe at point 2 which we want to determine,
and g is the acceleration due to gravity 32.17 ft/s2. HF is the friction loss in the pipe and depends on the velocity.

We would like to solve this equation for v2 by transferring the term HF to the other side like this:

and then taking the square root to find v2.

(2)

The problem is that HF depends on the velocity in the pipe, which depends on the flow rate. v2 also depends on the
flow rate, so that we have to do an iteration to solve this equation. An iteration in this case means that we must
suppose a value for the flow rate q, calculate v2 using equation (1) , calculate HF using one of several methods,
then put this value back into equation (2) and see if we get the same value of v2. If not, we make a small
modification to q and try again; it will likely take about 3 to 4 trials (or iterations) to get a fairly accurate value for
v2.

The term HF is the friction in the system between points 1 and 2 or between the water level and the nozzle outlet.
This includes:

- intake filter loss (negligible)

- fittings including valve loss (negligible)

- pipe length loss (to determine) = HF

- nozzle loss (negligible)


The intake filter friction loss depends on the mesh size, the open area, etc. If we make a very tight screen we will
have a high pressure drop and therefore high friction loss. It is possible to build an acceptable filter with a low
friction loss, say 1 ft or less. You are probably wondering why I am expressing the filter loss in feet and not in psi
for example. While it is possible and often done, it is simpler to use feet everywhere so that all the units are
compatible. For those of you who want to know what the correspondence between feet and psi is, go to this link:
http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/pump_glossary.htm#gl39

The fittings (i.e. elbows, tees, y's, etc.) friction loss in this case will be quite low and negligible, I don't expect we
will have more than 2-3 elbows and this will offer very little resistance, less than 1 ft. The same applies to the
valve that is located near the turbine; the resistance it offers when it is fully open is negligible.

The pipe friction loss HF can be determined in several ways. You can use the applet that I have on my web site,
which is what I will use in this example, or you can use tables or equations. For more information see this link:
http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/help14.html.

Calculations

In this section you can do your own calculations using a couple of equations and an applet on my web site. If you
just need to get an idea of how much power you could generate with typical installation with 100, 500 or 1000
feet, see the charts that summarizes these calculations in Appendix A.

To calculate the pipe friction loss using the pipe friction loss applet, go to this link

http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/applets.htm . You must have Java Run Time installed on your computer
for this applet to work as is explained at the top of the web page, there are also instructions how to obtain if you
do not have it installed. On the menu titled "Applets on this page", select applet no. 13, you should see a screen
like this:
Figure 6

You can put any pipe diameter size you wish for the calculation. Normally you want to use the inside diameter of
the pipe as the pipe diameter. Depending on the construction and the pipe material, the inside diameter can be
slightly smaller than the nominal size. So that a 3" pipe will vary between 2.9 to 3". I have used the nominal size
as the inside diameter in all the calculations.

Let's start with a value of 200 gpm, 3" pipe diameter, 10 feet of head and a pipe length of 100 feet. We will
assume that the piping will be made of steel, polyethylene or PVC or something equivalent. The type of material
determines the roughness, the rougher the pipe the higher the friction. The materials mentioned all have a low
roughness of approximately the same value, so leave the default values for roughness as in the applet.

Make sure you have 200 gpm in the flow rate text box and that all the other values are as shown in Figure 6 and
then press the Calculate button. You will get a value for total friction loss HF of 9.92 ft.

Using 200 gpm we can calculate the velocity in the pipe based on the pipe diameter using equation (1), or we get
directly from the applet 9.1 ft/s.

This is the velocity in the pipe, the velocity v2 is at the outlet of the nozzle which has a 1.5 in diameter outlet.
Therefore we use equation (1) to calculate v2:
So now we put these values into equation (2)

We calculate v2 to be 2.3 ft/s and our assumption based on 200 gpm is 36.3 ft/s so that means that our assumption
is wrong and we need to decrease the flow rate to get a better match.

The following table shows a series of calculations that converge on the correct value:

HF from Pipe velocity v2 based on HF v2 based on equation


q (USgpm)
applet (ft) (ft/s) value (ft/s) 1 (ft/s)
200 9.92 9.1 2.3 36.3
100 2.65 4.5 21.7 18.1
114 3.4 5.2 20.6 20.7
Table 2. Flow rate calculation for 10 ft of
head and a 3" pipe.

As you can see from the results in the above table the velocity in the pipe is quite low. This means that we may
have a larger pipe than we need considering the available head. What would happen if we repeated this exercise
with a smaller pipe size, say a 2" keeping the length the same at 100 feet. Also this time we will look at the
amount of power provided by each of these scenarios. We will discuss later how power is calculated.

Pipe v2 based on
H static HF from Pipe v2 based on Power
q (USgpm) velocity HF value
head (ft) applet (ft) dia. (in) equation 1 (ft/s) (watts)
(ft/s) (ft/s)
114 10 9.92 3 9.1 20.6 20.7 64
61 10 7.99 2 6.23 11.38 11.07 10
Table 3. Flow rate calculation for
different pipe sizes at 10 ft of
head.

As you can see, we can save money on the pipe purchase due to the smaller diameter, but the power produced is
also going down significantly. The 2" diameter pipe would not be a viable proposition.
The results of these calculations have been plotted and presented in three charts in Appendix A.

Power available

Now that we know the velocity and the flow rate at the end of the nozzle, we can calculate the energy available,
and therefore the power that is energy per unit time, or Watts. There are two possible ways to calculate the power
at the turbine wheel; one is with the water jet velocity and the flow with equation (3); the other with the head and
the flow using equation (4). Both will give the same results. The head h in equation (4) is the difference between
the static head (z1 - z2), and the friction loss, so that it is the net head at the water jet. Rather than interrupt this
article if you want to know where these equations come from see this pdf document .

(3)

The power available is:

(4)

The Pelton turbine is designed to produce maximum power when the peripheral speed is 1/2 of the water jet
speed. Therefore the power transmitted to the turbine wheel is 50% of the incoming water jet power. This is
because the water jet is reversed by the wheel cup design 180 degrees back towards its source. The reversed water
jet is not exactly in line so that the wheel itself has a real world efficiency of 90% or better. For a detail
explanation of the power available at the turbine wheel see this link:

for those of you who want to see where this equation comes from see this link:

http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/fluids/turbine.htm

and also this link:

http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro-hydro_formulas.htm

and in our case

Our available power is 0.064 kilowatt or 64 watts.


The effect of static head

As you can see 10 feet of head does not provide a lot of energy. With more head, we can increase the flow rate
through the pipe, and increase the velocity at the nozzle outlet, and thus provide more power. Of course the
topography of the land must lend itself to this, the steeper the stream the better, so that you can get maximum
elevation drop, for the shortest length of pipe.

The following table looks at these scenarios for different heads using a 4" pipe with static head varying between
25 and 150 feet and a pipe length of 500 feet with a nozzle diameter of 1.5":

Pipe
Flow rate Friction Nozzle Water jet Turbine wheel
Static Head (ft) velocity
(USgpm) loss (ft) velocity (ft/s) power (W) power (W)
(ft/s)
25 175 9 4.5 31.8 517 233
50 250 11.7 6.4 45.4 1509 679
75 306 26.1 7.8 55.5 2756 1245
100 355 34.7 9.1 64.4 4319 1944
150 437 51.8 11.1 79.4 8057 3626
Table 4. Head available vs.
power generated for a 4" pipe.

KiloWatt-hours

It is interesting to know how much power you are producing and this is useful information to size the turbine,
generator, and the electric cable. What is this power worth? The utility company charges vary but in my area they
charge $0.07 per kW-h. In the scenario we studied you will be producing 64 watts on a constant basis. This means
that every 24 hours, you are producing 64 X 24 = 1.54 kW-hours or in a 30 day month 46.1 kW-h. This would
cost you $3.23 per month.

Table 5 gives a calculation for the power that your installation could produce at the generator shaft. It is based on
the power of the water jet due to its mass flow rate, velocity and, the turbine wheel design, with its losses. This
does not include the power loss at the generator or the normally negligible transmission loss through electrical
cables (if sized correctly).

Pipe Nozzle Water jet Turbine Power cost $ @


Flow rate Friction
Static Head (ft) velocity velocity power wheel power $0.07 per kW-h
(USgpm) loss (ft)
(ft/s) (ft/s) (W) (W) per month
25 175 9 4.5 31.8 517 233 $11.74
50 250 11.7 6.4 45.4 1509 679 $34.21
75 306 26.1 7.8 55.5 2756 1245 $62.74
100 355 34.7 9.1 64.4 4319 1944 $97.96
150 437 51.8 11.1 79.4 8057 3626 $182.74
Table 5. Power
generated for a 4" pipe
vs static head available.

Turbines are available with a number of nozzles varying from 1 to 4. The nozzle diameter determines the jet
velocity. The main advantage of multiple nozzles is to reduce the velocity through each nozzle since there are
many to share the total flow rate thereby diminishing wear due to high-velocity induced erosion. The power
generated remains about the same.

Turbine speed

As explained earlier the Pelton turbine wheel is designed to run at half the water jet velocity, as this is where it
will generate its maximum power. The turbine diameter must be matched to the jet velocity to achieve the proper
rotational speed of the turbine wheel that turns the generator.

Based on the jet velocity the turbine rpm will be given by:

where d is the turbine diameter. In this case the turbine speed is:

Assuming the turbine diameter is 6 in, the turbine will turn at 1230 rpm with 100 feet of static head, 4" pipe and
355 gpm. This is a suitable speed for a permanent magnet generator. See this link
http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro-hydro_formulas.htm to see how this equation was determined.

Turbine wheels come in different sizes and it is important to choose the right combination of diameter with the
number of nozzles to obtain a suitable rpm for the generator to operate efficiently.
All these calculations have been pre-programmed in an Excel spreadsheet that you can download at this address:
http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro-hydro_power.xls

The equation used for calculating friction loss is the Swamee-Jain formula and you can find out about it at this
web address: http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/help14.html.

All these calculations have been pre-programmed in an Excel spreadsheet that you can download at this address:
micro-hydro_power.xls.

and in metric

micro-hydro_power-metric.xls.

You can also use this applet to do the complete calculations:

http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro/micro.html.

and in metric: http://www.pumpfundamentals.com/micro/micro-metric.html.

and for those of you interested about how the applet solves for flow using the Newton-Raphson iteration
technique, see this document: Solving the gravity flow equation for flow rate using The Newton-Raphson
iteration technique

Turbine discharge

The water coming out of the turbine casing needs to be returned to the stream. It is in your interest to have a short
distance, as this will reduce the pipe size required and minimize cost. This should be considered in you choice of
location of the turbine. Again make sure that the pipe is layed out with a continuous slope towards the discharge
and generously sized to avoid water build up in the turbine casing. You can use similar calculations to determine
this pipe size, with the difference that there is no nozzle to consider.
Turgo wheel turbine

The Turgo wheel turbine is a variation on the Pelton turbine. The wheel looks like the Pelton wheel cut in half.
Because the water jet interferes less with the wheel than the Pelton design it can handle more flow. They typically
have 1 or 2 nozzles that are inclined at an angle with the plane (perpendicular to the shaft) of the wheel. Because
the blade design is less complicated to manufacture it can be less expensive than the Pelton design. The
application range is somewhere between 90 and 600 feet of head at the turbine.

Pipe pressure rating

This is a topic where there are some misconceptions. On many web sites the amount of power available is
compared to the pressure at the bottom of the pipe due to the static head. This does not occur during the operation
of a micro-hydro system because all the pressure energy due to height is converted to velocity (kinetic) energy, or
friction loss. If you put a pressure gauge just ahead of the nozzle, you will read the pressure drop that occurs
across the nozzle, since one end of the nozzle is at zero pressure. Depending on the design of this nozzle, the
pressure drop can be negligible and there will be very little pressure at the bottom of the pipe, while the turbine is
in operation.

However, if you close the turbine intake valve then the pipe will be under pressure due to the static head, and this
produces the maximum pressure at the bottom. For 100 feet of head the pressure will be 100/2.31 = 43 psi.
Therefore you should verify the pipe material maximum working pressure if the head of your system is above 100
feet. The pressure rating of the pipe should be at least the static head converted to pressure plus a reasonable
safety factor.

Manufacturers of micro-hydro turbines

The Pelton turbine is one of the designs that is suitable for this type of application. The following images show
the products offered by two manufacturers Harris and Hydro Power. Harris offers a range of turbine generators
between 700 and 2500 watts.

Harris Hydroelectric is one manufacturer, see this web site http://www.nooutage.com/harris.htm


Figure 7. Harris turbine.

Figure 8. Harris turbine view of the Pelton turbine wheel from below.
Figure 9. Hydro Power turbine view of the Pelton turbine wheel from below.

source: http://mve.energetika.cz/primotlaketurbiny/pelton.htm

Figure 10. Hydro Power installation.

http://www.hipowerhydro.com/Hydro%20Installation%20Pictures.htm
Figure 11. Turgo turbine.

Figure 12a. Turgo water jet nozzle position vs. wheel.

source: http://mve.energetika.cz/primotlaketurbiny/turgo.htm
Figure 12b. Turgo water jet nozzle position vs. wheel.

source: http://mve.energetika.cz/primotlaketurbiny/turgo.htm

Figure 13. Turgo wheel.

Appendix A

Analysis of the graphs of Power vs. Pipe diameter

The plots of power vs. pipe diameter are split into 4 graphs for systems that can be built with 100, 500, 1000 and
2000 feet of pipe. Single nozzles were used in the analysis and their diameter was optimized to give the maximum
power for each static head and pipe size. The maximum nozzle diameter used was 1.5 inch.
Figure 14. Power vs, pipe diameter at 10-50 feet of head and 100 feet of pipe.
Figure 15. Power vs, pipe diameter at 25-150 feet of head and 500 feet of pipe.
Figure 16. Power vs, pipe diameter at 50-150 feet of head and 1000 feet of pipe.
Figure 17. Power vs, pipe diameter at 50-150 feet of head and 2000 feet of pipe.

TURBINE SELECTION CHARTS


I consider the following turbine selection charts to be very important since the different turbine designs are built
for particular power ranges and some are more suitable to the terrain than others especially where the larger
turbines are considered. So start your selection process by considering these charts. A list of turbine
manufacturers can be found here.

This first chart considers the application of pumps as turbines (PAT) compared to Pelton and cross-flow turbines.
It comes from a book titled "Pumps as Turbines - A User's Guide" by Arthur Williams published by ITDG and
available on amazon.com. The author states the following advantages of PAT's as compared to other turbines:

Integral pump and motor can be purchased for use as a turbine and generator set;

Available for a wide range of head and flows;

Available in a large number of standard sizes;

Low cost;

Short delivery time;

Spare parts such as seals and bearings are readily available;

Easy installation - uses standard pipe fittings;

The author cautions that for high head low flow applications, the Pelton turbine is likely to be more efficient than
a pump, and no more expensive. See this web page for more infornmmation on PAT's.
This turbine selection chart

is the work of the late John Curzon-Siggers an architect with a passion for renewable energy and a wonderful
man.

The Tamar turgo turbine mentioned in the chart is manufactured by Tamar Designs of Tasmania, Australia.
The other turgo turbine manufacturer is Platypus Power also from Australia.

This next turbine selection chart is suitable for larger turbines and
is well known and shown in many publications and across the web. Unfortunately, it is usually unclear and of low
resolution, this is the best example of it that I could find in the "Layman's Guide on how to design a small micro-
hydro site".

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