IJIRST –International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 2 | Issue 11 | April 2016

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan

Turbine Blade
Pankaj P. Amonkar Abhay U. Naik
Student Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar, Karnataka, India SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar, Karnataka, India

Sagar Devashetty Vinod Kolar

Student Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering
SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar, Karnataka, India SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar, Karnataka, India

Karthik .A.S
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar, Karnataka, India

Abstract
As the world energy demands are increasing, there is a huge potential for the need of Micro hydro Kaplan turbine power plants.
For ages, humans have been constructing dams to run the turbines. The major drawbacks of these dams are, that it can’t be used
throughout the year. As in this scenario, Micro Hydro Kaplan Turbine can be used for Domestic purposes. Generation of
electricity using water from the municipality tank present on the Multi-storey Buildings and Houses can be used for small
purposes at lower cost. This can be used to generate electricity up to 3Kw to 40Kw. This paper discusses with review of analysis
and Design work performed on Micro Hydro Kaplan Turbine. The Kaplan turbine runner was modelled in a 3-D model of blade
of Kaplan turbine in Solid Edge software. After calculating the blade operating conditions from municipality overhead tank of a
building, the hydrodynamics analysis properties were performed on runner blade in ANSYS 14.5 software. This paper deals with
an effective study of different profiles of turbine blade for maximum efficiency.
Keywords: Micro Hydro Kaplan Turbine, ANSYS 14.5, Stress relieving grooves
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
Hydropower or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water or fast running water, which may be harnessed for
useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydropower from many kinds of watermills has been used as a renewable energy source for
irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices. Micro hydro is one of the most environmentally friendly energy
technologies available. Micro hydro is a type of hydroelectric power that typically produces from 5 kW to 100 kW of electricity
using the flow of water. Turbines are the most important component of any hydro power plant. They cover about 15-35 percent
of the total project cost. Kaplan micro hydro turbine can produce power with as little as 1ft of water head level. At 10ft of head
the turbine will produce 1000 watts of power and use 1000gpm of flow. The Kaplan turbine is a reaction turbine, which means
that it is completely submerged in water during operation and can be as high as 20ft above the outlet. Water enters the through
the turbine's multi-bladed wicket gate and spirals on to a propeller shaped runner, causing it to spin. The outlet is a specially
shaped draft tube that helps decelerate the water and recover kinetic energy. The rotational energy of the shaft turns the generator
which produces electricity. The Kaplan's blades are adjustable for pitch and will handle a great variation of flow very efficiently.
They are 90% or better in efficiency and are used in place of the old (but great) Francis types in many places of installations.
The aim of project work is to design and develop small size turbine concept to utilize and generate electricity using water stored
in the overhead tanks present in urban areas. This also deals with the failure analysis of blade and design is checked and then
proper solutions are given to improve the effectiveness of turbine.

II. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Demands are increasing for generating electricity in the past few years using small hydroelectric power plants by using cost
effective method. The effort here is to design a machine which can produce electricity from 3KW to 40KW. One of the major
objectives is to use the potential energy of the overhead tank .The Head of the tank is taken as 50feet.Using different hole profile
on Blade, the concentration of stress will be determined and studied. Here using a new hole profile (counter bore) the level of
stress was calculated for different parameters.

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 Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan Turbine Blade
(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 11/ 061)

III. DESIGN OF BLADE

Velocity Triangles [Axial Inlet and Axial Outlet]:

Inlet Triangle Outlet Triangle

U=Tangential Velocity W=Relative Velocity

C=Absolute Velocity
D=0.27m Q=0.308m/s
d=0.09m H1=13.43m
H=15m H2=13.57m
Hn=13.5m n=51rad/sec
Tangential Velocity:
U= π*n*D
U= 43.52m/s.
Absolute Velocity at Inlet:
Cu1= (H1*g)/U
=3.04m/s.
Absolute Velocity at outlet:
Cu2= (H2*g)/U
=3.07m/s.
Relative Velocity at inlet
Wu1= (Cu1-U)
= -40.21m/s.
Relative Velocity at outlet
Wu2= (Cu2-U)
=-40.18m/s.
Wm=Q/A∞
A∞= π*(D2-d2)/4
= 0.05m2.
Wm= 6.05m/s.
W1= √(-40.212+6.052)
W1= 40.66m/s.
W2= √(-40.182+6.052)
= 40.63m/s.
Table – 1
Different Values of parameters for changing Diameter of Runner
D 0.27m 0.24m 0.20m 0.18m 0.15m 0.09m
U 43.25m/s 38.04m/s 31.83m/s 26.43m/s 20.62m/s 14.47m/s
Cu1 3.04m/s 3.45m/s 3.82m/s 4.20m/s 4.63m/s 5.12m/s
Cu2 3.07m/s 3.51m/s 3.95m/s 4.25m/s 4.69m/s 5.18m/s
Wu1 -40.21m/s -33.94m/s -28.23m/s -21.65m/s -16.58m/s -9.75m/s
Wu2 -40.18m/s -33.89m/s -28.19m/s -21.59m/s -16.51m/s -9.69m/s
Wm 6.05m/s 6.05m/s 6.05m/s 6.05m/s 6.05m/s 6.05m/s
W1 40.66m/s 33.58m/s 28.54m/s 21.72m/s 16.23m/s 9.68m/s
W2 40.63m/s 33.54m/s 28.51m/s 21.64m/s 13.18m/s 9.57m/s

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 Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan Turbine Blade
(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 11/ 061)

IV. CALCULATION OF THE FORCES

Fig. 2: Schematic Representation of Forces acting on Kaplan Turbine

Tangential Force
Tangential force is defined as:
Ft = P/(2*π*n*z*rcp)
P = Power [watt]
z = no. of. Blades
n = specific speed [rad/sec]
rcp = radius of center of pressure [m]
rcp = √(.0452+.1352)/2
= 0.1006m.
Ft = 40,000/(2*π*51*4*0.1006)
= 310N.
Axial Force
Assuming that the water is dormant and the blade is a plate, the force Fa, which is caused by the water, can be approximately
calculated with the following equation:

Fig. 3: Calculation of Sweep angle for Turbine Blade

Fa = g*ρ*Hn*Ab

Sweep angle=800
g = gravity [m/s2]
ρ = density of water [kg/m3]
Hn = net head [m]
Ab = Area of the blade [m2]
Area of the blade can be calculated by:
Ab = π*80(0.1352-0.0452)/360
=0.011m2.
Fa = 9.81*1000*13.5*0.011=1456.785N.

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 Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan Turbine Blade
(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 11/ 061)

V. LINEAR STATIC ANALYSIS OF BLADE USING ANSYS

The study is made with the ANSYS workbench software, which offers a wide range of advanced type analysis. Here, in this
study a comparison is made by varying number of Blades in operation and by varying stress relief grooves on flange.
Loads and supports applied on blade:
- Fixed type constraint applied to the flange holes, which imposes 0 values to the translations and rotation to selected entities.
- Axial and Tangential forces are acting on the surface of the Blade.
- Standard Earth gravity is applied.
Mesh generation

Fig. 4: Meshing of Turbine Blade in ANSYS

The blade cannot be generated as a surface with constant thickness, for finite element analyse, only solid mesh (parabolic
tetrahedral solid elements) can be used.
Case 1: In first case we consider four Blades for power generation. Tangential force depends on the number of blades in
operation. For four blades the Resultant force of 1489N is developed.
- Force=1489N.
- Number of Blades=four.
- Stress relieve grooves on flange [5mm Diameter with four holes, Eight holes].
- Stress relieve grooves on flange [7mm Diameter with four holes, Eight holes].
Table - 2
Results for stress relieve grooves for four Blades using counter bore hole profile.
No.of holes 5mm dia 7mm dia
Von-Mises Stress 4 74.127MPa 64.02MPa
8 73.451MPa 74.40MPa
Case 2: In Second case we consider six Blades for power generation. Tangential force depends on the number of blades in
operation. As the number of blades increases the tangential force decreases. Hence, changing the resultant force for four blades,
the Resultant force of 1470 N is developed.
- Force=1470N.
- Number of Blades=six.
- Stress relieve grooves on flange [5mm Diameter with four holes, Eight holes].
- Stress relieve grooves on flange [7mm Diameter with four holes, Eight holes].

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 Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan Turbine Blade
(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 11/ 061)

Fig. 5.1: Stress Analysis Using Blade of 4 holes and 5mm dia in ANSYS Fig.5.2: Stress Analysis Using Blade of 4 holes and 7mm dia
in ANSYS

Fig. 5.3: Stress Analysis Using Blade of Fig. 5.4: Stress Analysis Using Blade of and
8 holes 5mm dia in ANSYS 8 holes and 7mm dia in ANSYS

Table - 3
Results for stress relieve grooves for six Blades using counter bore hole profile.
No.of holes 5mm dia 7mm dia
Von-Mises Stress 4 73.127MPa 63.02MPa
8 72.451MPa 73.41MPa

VI. CONCLUSION
An optimization methodology is developed for the design and development of Micro Hydro Kaplan turbine runner blade using
CAED Solid Edge modelling. The calculations were made as per the generation of 40 kw power using water from an overhead
tank having potential head of 16 meters .The stress analysis done had shown different results using different hole profile on the
blades. The stress (Von-Mises) developed at the runner blades was minimum when counter bore hole profile was used. However,
the safety factor used in the stress analysis should be high enough to avoid any significant malfunction.
As per the results generated in table 2 and table 3 using counter bore hole we can conclude that by increasing the number of
blades there is a huge reduction in stress, approximately upto 20 Mpa. But the material cost increases with increase in number of
blades. Here we have considered two cases where an attempt is made to study the Von-Mises stress behaviour of blades with
increasing diameter and increasing number of holes. There was a slight decrease in stress when the number of blades were
compared to each other .As per the study 7 mm diameter with 4 holes counter bore hole profile gives the least amount of stress in
the blade. Assuming the parameter that the blade to be flat, the calculations were based on static analysis. However, if we
consider the blades to be curved the results obtained will be different.

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 Structural Analysis on Micro-Hydro Kaplan Turbine Blade
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