Conveyance System

 Water conveyance structures or waterways

are intended to carry water from one point to
another
 It can be open or closed; man-made/natural
water courses; flowing either free or under
pressure
Depending upon the topography of the terrain,
the conveyance system can take the shape of
tunnels, canals, flumes, or pipes
 Conveyance System
 Structurally, waterways are divided into
1. canals, i.e. artificial open waterways of a regular
shape constructed in a cut-and-fill manner;
2. flumes, i.e. artificial open channels constructed
from various materials (wood, steel, concrete,
reinforced-concrete) and carried on or above the
ground surface;
3. pipelines, i.e. artificial closed (closed-conduit) water
conveying works made of different materials. They
can be exposed, i.e. laid on the ground surface or
buried (laid) in a dig-and-cover manner;
4. hydraulic tunnels, i.e. man-made closed water
courses constructed within the earth's crust without
removing the overlying mass of rock.
Water Conveyances
 Canals (headrace/power canals)
 The head race is a conveyance for water from the
source (reservoir or river) to the power plant in the
form of a canal (open waterway), tunnel (low-pressure
conveyance)or penstock (high-pressure conveyance).

 The open waterway usually terminates in a forebay

which is an enlarged body of water from which the
penstocks convey the water to the turbines in the
power house.
Head race (power canal/ low-pressure tunnel)
 Power Canals
 Canals are appropriate choice when the general
topography of the terrain is moderate with gentle slopes.
 However, when the ground is very steep and rugged, it
becomes uneconomical to construct canals as it follows
longer distances and/or needs provision of cross-
drainage works and deep cuts and fills at a number of
appropriate locations.
 In such cases, it is advisable to go for tunnels or pipes.
 The choice, in fact, has to be made based on economic
analysis.
 The tracing of a power canal should closely follow the
contour lines of the terrain.

 Based on the topographic conditions, a canal may be

constructed through cuts, over fills, and in cuts-and-fills as
shown in Figure below.

 A very important feature of an open canal is its vulnerability

to damage from such sources as landslide and rock falls,
and from storm water runoff crossing its path.

 The cost of protection from these eventualities and their

associated repair costs must be included in an estimation of
the canal cost.
 Canal Sections
 On rugged mountain slopes it may not be possible to
follow the irregular contour lines: deep valleys have to
be bridged by aqueducts (such as elevated flumes or
canal bridges).
 It should also be kept in mind that geological conditions
of the terrain decisively influence locations of the canal.
 In order to establish a reliable bases for the alignment
and determining the cross-sections,
othe geological formation,
othe dip of layers,
 o the quality of rock (degree of fissuring, permeability,
strength, tendency of weathering, etc.)
should be explored very thoroughly over sections
in cut and fill.

 The proper solution will be governed by

o the permissible slope of banks and
embankments,
o the depth the cut, and the height of the fill,
o the extent and quality of lining.
 Canal Lining
 Power canals may be lined or unlined.
 The lined canals are usually lined with impervious
material such as concrete, masonry, or clay. Canal lining
might be carried out to:
o Reduce seepage losses
o Reduce canal surface roughness
o Prevent the growth of weeds
o Reduce damage caused by erosion, rodents,
and livestock
o Permits the use of rectangular x-section
 Concrete is the most extensively used material in power
canal lining.
 Design and dimensioning
 Canal design involves determination of the carrying capacity,
velocity of water in the canal, canal slopes & roughness
coefficient of the canal surface.
 The flow conveyed by a canal is a function of its cross-
sectional profile, its slope, and its roughness.
 Natural channels are normally very irregular in shape, and
their surface roughness changes with distance and time.
 The application of hydraulic theory to natural channels is
more complex than for artificial channels where the cross-
section is regular in shape and the surface roughness of the
construction materials - earth, concrete, steel or wood – is
well known, so that the application of hydraulic theories
yields reasonably accurate results.
 The manning formula is widely used to compute the capacity
of conveyances

S is the hydraulic gradient, which normally is the bed slope.

Manning’s Equation shows that for the same cross-sectional

area A, and channel slope S, the channel with a larger hydraulic
radius R, delivers a larger discharge.
That means that for a given cross-sectional area, the section
with the least wetted perimeter is the most efficient hydraulically.
Semicircular sections are consequently the most efficient
 A semicircular section however, unless built with prefabricated
materials, is expensive to build and difficult to maintain.
 The most efficient trapezoidal section is the half hexagon;
whose side slope is 1 V: 0.577 H
 Actual dimensions have to include a certain freeboard (vertical
distance between the designed water surface and the top of
the channel bank) to prevent water level fluctuations over
spilling the banks.
 Minimum freeboard for lined canals is about 10 cm, and for
unlined canals this should be about one third of the designed
water depth with a minimum of fifteen centimeters.
 One way to prevent overflow of the canal is to provide
spillways at appropriate intervals; any excess water is
conveyed, via the spillway, to an existing streambed or to a
The following table defines for the most common canal
sections the optimum profile as a function of the water depth
y, together with the parameters identifying the profile.

Once the canal profile has been selected it is easy to

compute its maximum discharge.
 Apart from the hydraulic computations (e.g. capacities), the
flow velocities in the canal or other water conduits in general
are determined based on economic considerations
(investments, head losses, wear and tear of material, danger
of erosion and silting).
 The velocity must be high enough to prevent sedimentation.
 It has to be low enough to prevent bed erosion for unlined and
wear by abrasion for lined-canals.
 Lowering the velocity keeps the head loss over the length of
the canal to a minimum; however, it increases the cost
necessary to construct the canal as the cross-sectional area
increases when the velocity lowers.
Permissible velocity
 In unlined canals flow velocities are limited by the resistance of the
bed material to erosion.

 In lined canals flow velocities are limited by resistance against wear.

 There are various recommendations for non silting and non-

scouring velocity
1) According to Ludin

 If Vmin >0.3 m/sec, there will be no silting (for silty sediments)

 Vmin >0.3 to 0.5 m/sec, there will be no silting (for sandy sediments)

2) According to R.C. Kennedy

 Non-scouring and non silting velocity is given by: V = Ch0.64

 Where h is depth of water in meters and C is coefficient varying from

0.54 to 0.7, depending on silt load.
Forebay
 A forebay, also called a head pond, is a basin located at
the end of a power canal just before the entrance to the
penstock or pressure shaft.

 It acts as a transition section between the power canal and

the penstock.

 It is formed simply by widening the power canal at the end

as shown in Figure below
 Its main function is to store, temporarily, the water
rejected by the plant when the load is reduced and to
meet the instantaneous increased demand when the
load is instantaneously increased.

 It acts as a sort of regulating reservoir.

 Thus, the forebay absorbs the short internal variations of

intake of water into the turbines in accordance with the
fluctuating load.
Following are the parts of a typical forebay;
o The basin (in case of smaller dimensions the entrance bay), in
some installations with a submerged (or skimmer) wall,
o The spillway (sometimes a siphon type), with the waterway,
the chute and stilling basin,
o The bottom outlet which, at the same time, used for sediment
flushing sluice,
o The sill equipped with screens,
o The gate (valve) chamber, and
o Conduit or penstock inlet with air vent
 The forebay can also serve as a final settling basin where any
water borne debris which either passed through the intake or
was swept into the power canal can be removed before the
water passes into the turbine.

 In this case, the forebay must be large enough to reduce flow

velocities sufficiently for settling to occur and to accommodate
the sediment which accumulates between cleanings.

 It can serve to distribute evenly the water conveyed by the

power canal among the penstocks, where two or more
penstocks are provided.
 Tunnels
 Tunnels are underground conveyance structures constructed
by special tunneling methods without disturbing the natural
surface of the ground.
 Tunneling is always much more expensive than canals and
decision should be carefully analyzed.
 In general for a tunnel to be economical the designer must
establish that;
1. The geologic formation through which the tunnel will
pass is stable,
2. The tunnel would be much shorter than alternative canal,
3. The construction of a canal would be prohibitively
expensive because of nearly vertical canyon walls,
unstable soils, or other natural barriers.
 Tunneling is popular because of the following reasons:
i. It provides a direct and short route for the water passage thus
resulting in considerable saving in cost
ii. Tunneling work can be started simultaneously at many points
thus leading to quicker completion
iii. Natural landscape is not disturbed
iv. Tunneling work has become easier with development in
techniques of drilling and blasting and new mechanical
equipment (Tunnel Boring Machines)
v. Development of rock mechanics and experimental stress
analysis has given greater confidence to engineers regarding
stability of tunnels.
 Tunnels of hydropower projects fall into three categories:
o free-flow tunnels,
o service tunnels, and
o pressure tunnels.
 Free-flow tunnels
o Design, lining and stress analysis in connection with the external
forces to be resisted are governed by principles established for
conventional highway tunnels, railway tunnels and mining cuts.
o On the other hand, in contrast to ‘dry tunnels’ the water load in the
free-flow tunnel may influence the design and selection of the type of
lining.
 Service tunnels
o the principles of design do not differ from those for dry tunnels.
o Dimensions and shaping of their cross section depend naturally on
requirements about measures and placing of pipes.
 Service tunnels

Pressure tunnels
may further be classified according to the head above the
soffit of the tunnel as,
oLow-pressure tunnels,
with H less than about 5m;
oMedium-pressure tunnels,
with H approximately 5 to 100 m;
oHigh-head tunnels,
with H higher than about 100 m.
 According to another classification tunnels may be
o Unlined, or
o Lined either for structural reasons, or for purposes of
water sealing.
 Structural linings are called upon to carry rock pressure and
to offer protection against rock splitting from the tunnel roof.
 Full linings, in addition to being capable of resisting external
loads, are suitable
o To take internal water pressure,
o To prevent water losses
o To protect, if required, the rock against the
aggressiveness of the conveyed water.
 In the case of low-pressure tunnels the tunnel surface may
frequently be left unlined except for visible fissures which
may have to be sealed with concrete or cement mortar..

 A watertight lining is usually required for tunnels operating

under medium and high heads.

 Seepage is more likely to occur as the head increases,

water may leak through the smallest fissures and cracks.

 under high-pressure it may penetrate the watertight rock

and render it permeable.
 If the tunnel is unlined, or if the lining serves only water
sealing purposes, i.e., carries no load, the permissible
internal water pressure is determined by the depth of
overburden and by the quantity of rock.

 The vertical rock pressure is estimated as

[kg/cm2]

 Where hr is depth of overburden (in meters)

 gr is the specific weight of the rock (in tons/m3)

 And using a safety factor n, the permissible internal water

pressure is
 Since the internal water pressure is
[kg/cm2]
 the permissible head (static plus dynamic), may be
written thus:

 Nevertheless, where a steep valley sides constitutes the

overburden above the tunnel, this criterion has to be
modified into

Where L is the shortest distance between the ground surface and the
studied point of the tunnel (or shaft) and β is the average inclination of
the valley slope in the surroundings. For horizontal terrain, L = hr and
cos β = 1.
 Fig. Overburden requirement in a steep valley side

 Another design criterion for establishing the safe

overburden is based on the constraint that the internal
water pressure shall nowhere exceed the minor principal
stress in the surrounding rock
 The requirements for constructing medium-head or high-head
unlined tunnels or shafts are:

o Extremely low permeability of rock materials and of the

joints and fissures.

o High rock stresses to the extent that the internal water

pressure cannot cause opening of the joints and fractures
(hydraulic splitting). Hard and stable rock masses and
sufficient overburden are the relevant conditions.

o Foreseeable durability of the rock masses for life time of

the project.
 The stability of rock around an unlined pressure
tunnel/shaft is obviously affected by any transient
pressure phenomenon, and, therefore, it is advisable to
estimate the ‘radius of effect’ of possible water hammer
shocks.

 Practicable values for safety factor n are from 4 to 6.

 The lower limit should be used for greater depth of

overburden and for sound rock, whereas in case of a
shallow cover and poor rock the use of upper limit is
expedient.
 Consequently, with the unit weight of rock varying from 2.4 to
3.2 tons/m3, the permissible head, in meters, related to the
overburden above the soffit, yields

H = (0.4 to 0.8) hr

 If dynamic overpressure owing to water hammer can develop

in the tunnel, this has to be superimposed on the piezometric
static head in any calculation.

 This situation occurs when either no surge tank is inserted into

the power flow conveyance system (possibly in case of very
short tunnels), or the surge tank permits noticeable
transmission of transient surges.
 On the basis of a more accurate rock mechanics and
engineering geology investigation the n safety factor can
considerably be reduced.

 In deep tunnels, where under the thick rock cover stress

conditions approach hydrostatic stress distribution, the
condition is less severe.

 Theoretically the stability of the rock is not endangered

while the internal load remains below the rock pressure:

P ≤ Pv.
 The Water carrying tunnels include head race or power
tunnels, tail race tunnels and diversion tunnels.
 Flows in water tunnels are usually under pressure (pipe
flow), but sometimes free-flow (open channel flow) can be
experienced, especially, in tailrace tunnels.
 The design of free-flow tunnels follows the same principles
as used in the design of open canals.
 The shape of a tunnel can be circular, D-shaped and
horseshoe shaped.
 Circular tunnels are most stable structurally.
 Tunnels are aligned nearly horizontal when used as head
race, access and tailrace tunnel.
 Shaft and pressurized tunnels are steep with vertical
alignment or steeply inclined to the horizontal.

 It is very crucial to investigate in detail the geology of the

strata through which a tunnel would be passing.
 Sound, homogenous, isotropic, and solid rock formations are
the most ideal ones for tunneling work.

 However, such ideal conditions are rarely present, and rather

the rock mass exhibits various peculiarities.
 There may be folds, faults, joint planes dipping in a particular
direction, weak strata alternating with good strata, etc.
 Lining of tunnel can be done with plain concrete, fiber
reinforced concrete, R.C. or steel in the case of pressure
shafts.

Lining of tunnels is required:

 For structural reasons to resist external forces particularly when
the tunnel is empty and when the strata is of very low strength.

 When the internal pressure is high

 When reduction in frictional resistance and therefore the head

loss is required for increasing capacity

 For prevention or reduction of seepage losses

 For protection of rock against aggressive water

 Tunnel Design Features
 Tunnel design features such as alignment, geometric shape,
longitudinal slope, flow velocity, head loss, rock cover
(overburden), lining requirements and economic x-section are
most important.
 Alignment
 In aligning water tunnels, the following points should be taken
into account:
 Length of the tunnel: as much as possible short route
should be followed
 Location of surge tanks : the alignment should provide
convenient points for surge tanks.
 Rock cover (overburden): sufficient rock cover should be
available along the alignment
  Discontinuities: the alignment should, if possible, avoid
crossing of weak zones, joint planes, etc. If crossing of
these features is unavoidable, suitable direction of
crossing should be considered.
 Rock quality: good quality of rock mass should be sought
in aligning the tunnel
 Geometrical Shape
 The choice of the cross-sectional profile of a tunnel depends
on:
o Hydraulic considerations: Circular is preferable
o Stability considerations: Circular is preferable
o Convenience for construction: Horseshoe is preferable
o Available tunneling equipment
 Longitudinal Slope
 The minimum slope for a pressure tunnel is limited on the
basis of dewatering requirements.
 And also the longitudinal profile of the tunnel should be such
that the roof remains below the hydraulic pressure line by 1
to 2 m.
 Likewise, the tunneling method and the equipment employed
for transportation of the excavated material (rail or wheel
transport) can limit the maximum slope possible to provide.
 The usual practice is to keep the slope of power tunnel gentle
till the surge tank and then steeper (even vertical) for the
pressure shaft.
 Flow Velocity
 The allowable velocities in tunnels depend upon whether it
is lined or unlined.
 In unlined tunnels, a velocity of 2 to 2.5 m/s is the upper
limit, while in concrete lined tunnels 4 to 5 m/s is often in
use.
 The velocities for the pressure shafts, which are generally
steel lined, are usually higher than that in the power
tunnel.
 The normal range of velocities is between 5 to 8 m/s.
 Head Loss
 Head losses in tunnels can be computed using
Manning’s, Darcy-Weisbach, or Hazen-Williams formulas.
 Rock Cover (overburden)
 For pressure tunnels, it is obvious that the overburden on the roof
of the tunnel serves to balance the effect of upward force due to
internal pressure.
 The required depth of overburden may vary for lined and unlined
tunnels.
 In the case of unlined tunnels, the entire internal water
pressure is resisted by the overburden rock pressure.
 Where a steep valley side constitutes the overburden above the
tunnel, the rule of thumb equation, H= (0.4 to 0.8)hr has to be
modified and given by: Where L is the shortest distance between
the ground surface and the studied point of
the tunnel (or shaft) and β is the average
inclination of the valley side with the
horizontal (see previous figure).
 Overburden requirement in a steep valley side

 In the case of concrete or steel lined tunnels, the linings are usually
designed to carry part or full load of the internal water pressure, and the
above equations, given for unlined tunnels, are modified accordingly in
determining the required overburden depth.
 The optimum/economic x-section of a tunnel or a shaft is
one for which the sum of tunnel construction cost and the
economic loss due to head loss is minimum.

 However, for a quick initial estimate of the diameter of

pressure tunnels, the empirical formula suggested by
Fahlbusch can be used: