MECHANICAL)ENIGNEERING)SCIENCE)9.

)FLUIDS)
VICTORIA)LESLEY)SMITH)
16/12/13)

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FRANCIS(TURBINE(LABORATORY!
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ABSTRACT!
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In! this! experiment! the! specific! speed! and! maximum! operating! efficiency! were!
calculated!from!experimental!results!for!a!Francis!Turbine.!The!average!specific!
speed! was! calculated! to! be! 26.78.! And! the! maximum! operating! efficiency! was!
found!to!be!15.03%!
!
Results!were!concluded!to!be!fairly!inaccurate!as!there!were!significant!errors.!It!
is!very!difficult!to!quantify!though!as!there!are!no!theoretical!efficiency!results!to!
compare!our!findings!with.!
!
Some!suggestions!were!made!to!improve!the!laboratory!experiment!meaning!the!
results!obtained!could!theoretically!be!used!in!‘real!life’!engineering!applications.!!

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CONTENTS!
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1.!INTRODUCTION!............................................................................................................. !5!
2.!THEORY!............................................................................................................................ !6!
2.1!Flow!rate!across!venturimeter!........................................................................................ !6!
2.2!Experimental!operating!efficiency!of!the!turbine!.................................................... !6!
2.3!Method!of!estimating!maximum!possible!operating!efficiency!........................... !7!
2.4!Specific!speed!calculations!............................................................................................... !7!
3.!APPARATUS!..................................................................................................................... !8!
4.!PROCEDURE!................................................................................................................. !10!
5.!RESULTS!........................................................................................................................ !11!
6.!DISCUSSION!.................................................................................................................. !12!
7.!CONCLUSIONS!.............................................................................................................. !13!
8.!REFERENCES!................................................................................................................ !14!
9.!APENDICES!.................................................................................................................... !15!

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TABLE!OF!FIGURES!
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FIGURE!1.!LABORATORY!APPARATUS!.....................................................................................!8!
FIGURE!2.!DIFFERENTIAL!PRESSURE!GAUGE!..........................................................................!9!
FIGURE!3.!GRAPH!OF!RESULTS!.............................................................................................!11!
FIGURE!4.!TABLE!OF!SPECIFIC!SPEEDS!RESULTS!.................................................................!11!
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1.!INTRODUCTION!
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A! turbine! is! a! device,! which! converts! energy! from! a! fluid! into! work.! There!are!
two! main! types! of! turbineN! an! impulse! turbine! and! a! reaction! turbine.! The!
impulse!turbine!uses!the!change!of!momentum!and!the!reaction!one!the!change!
of!pressure.!!!
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In! an! impulse! turbine! almost! all! of! the! turbine! work! is! done! by! the! change! of!
velocity!of!the!jet.!The!pressure!of!the!flowing!of!water!remains!constant!unlike!
in!a!reaction!turbine!where!it!is!reduced!after!flowing!across!the!vanes.! [1]!In!an!
impulse!turbine,!nozzles!cause!the!fluid!to!move!the!vanes!and!therefore!turn!the!
rotor.![2]!
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In!a!reaction!turbine!almost!all!of!the!work!is!done!by!pressure!head!with!a!small!
amount! done! by! the! velocity! head.! There! are! no! nozzles! as! such! in! a! reaction!
turbine!and!instead,!the!blades!project!the!water!and!this!turns!the!rotor.!
!
Examples!of!different!turbines!include!the!impulse!turbine,!the!Pelton!Wheel!and!
reaction!turbines,!the!Francis!and!Kaplin!Turbines.!The!Pelton!Wheel!has!a!high!
head,!the!Francis!Turbine!a!medium!head!and!the!Kaplin!Turbine!a!low!head.!!
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The!results!gained!from!this!laboratory!can!be!used!and!applied!to!engineering!
design!and!industry!in!many!different!ways.!
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Using! dimensional! analysis,! the! results! can! be! used! and! scaled! to! spec.! larger!
turbines!used!in!industry.!!
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Turbines! can! be! used! as! pump! storage! to! store! energy! in! hydroelectric! power!
plants.!!An!example!of!this!is!in!operation!in!Dinorwig!in!North!Wales.!Water!is!
pumped! to! a! reservoir! when! the! demand! for! energy! is! low! (at! night).! It! is! kept!
there! until! there! is! a! high! demand! for! power.! The! gates! holding! it! at! the! high!
reservoir!are!then!opened,!allowing!the!water!to!flow!down!to!the!low!reservoir!
through! turbines! and! pumps.! These! turbines! then! power! the! generators! and!
provide!energy!for!the!surrounding!area.!This!plant!can!provide!1320!MW!in!12!
seconds.![3]!
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2.!THEORY!
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2.1!Flow!rate!across!venturimeter!
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To!predict!the!flow!rate!across!the!venturimeter!Bernoulli’s!Equation!is!used.!
Point!(1)!is!upstream!and!point!(2)!is!downstream.!
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! +!
! ! ! !
! ! ! !
!!! =!! +! !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!1!
! !

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! −!! =!
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!

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!!! !
!

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−!! !!
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! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!2!
!

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∆! =!! !!!! ! 1−! !! !
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!! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!3!
! ! !

!
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Using!continuity!equation!(Equ.!4):!
!
! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!4!
! =!!!!! =!!!!!! !

!
Rearrange:!
!
!
!
=! ! ! ! !
! !
!
! ! ! ! Equ.!5!
! !
! !

!
!!! = !!!!!!!
!
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!6!
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Then!substitute!Equ.!6!into!Equ.!3!to!get:!
!
! !

∆!=!! !! ! 1−! !!
! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!7!
!
!

!
!

!! !
! ! ! !
!!.!

Equ.!8!
!
!=!!! !!!
!!∆! ! 1−! !!

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!

!! !!

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Equ.!8!can!then!be!used!to!work!out!the!flow!rate!across!the!venturimeter!(Q).!
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2.2!Experimental!operating!efficiency!of!the!turbine!
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The!experimental!operating!efficiency!of!the!turbine!can!be!calculated!using!the!
following!equations:!
!
!=!
!"#"$%
−! !
!"#$%&'
! ! ! ! ! Equ.!9! ! !
!"#$

!
!"#$$%"# = !!"ℎ!
! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!10!
!
!"#$%!"# = !"!
! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!11!

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!"#$%!" = !!"ℎ!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!12!
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Using!Equ.!12!to!find!h!and!Equ.!11!to!find!T,!!"#$%!"#!and!!"#$%!"!can!then!be!

found!and!substituted!into!Equ.!13:!
!
! =! !"#$%!"#
!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!13!

!"#$%!"

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2.3!Method!of!estimating!maximum!possible!operating!efficiency!
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To! find! the! maximum! possible! operating! efficiency,! a! graph! can! be! plotted! of!
efficiency!against!!.!The!maximum!value!occurs!at!the!top!of!the!parabola.!!

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2.4!Specific!speed!calculations!!
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To!work!out!the!specific!speed!of!the!machine!Equ.!14!can!be!used.! [4]!
!
!" =! !! !"#$%
!"# ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! Equ.!14!
!!/!

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3.!APPARATUS!
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Figure!1.!Laboratory!Apparatus!

Figure!1!shows!the!apparatus!used!in!the!laboratory.!Label!1!is!the!control!valve!
gate,! label! 2! is! the! inlet! pressure! gauge,! label! 3! is! the! break! drum,! label! 4! the!
outlet!pressure!gauge!and!label!5!shows!where!a!tacometer!was!used!to!measure!
the!rpm!of!the!shaft.!

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Figure!2.!Differential!Pressure!Gauge!
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Figure!2!shows!the!differential!pressure!gauge!of!the!venturimeter.!!!
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4.!PROCEDURE!
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The!following!steps!were!taken!to!carry!out!the!laboratory!experiment:!
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1. Open!the!gate!valve!fully!and!adjust!so!that!the!inlet!pressure!is!equal!to!
36!psi.!!
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2. Take! the! readings! from! the! outlet! pressure! gauge,! differential!
pressure! gauge!and!the!dynamic!load!value!from!the!computer.!!
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3. Using!a!tacometer!measure!the!rpm!of!the!shaft.!!
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4. Decrease!the!value!for!the!inlet!pressure!to!33,!30,!27,!24,!21,!19,!17,!15!
and!13psi!and!repeat!steps!2!and!3.!!
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5. Close!the!gate!valve.!!
!!

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5.!RESULTS!

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Figure!3.!Graph!of!Results!
It!can!be!seen!from!the!Figure!3!the!efficiency!of!the!turbine!against!speed!of!the!
shaft.!These!results!were!obtained!with!the!use!of!Matlab!and!this!code!is!shown!
in! the!Appendices.!The! maximum! efficiency! taken! from! the! graph! was! 15.03%!
but!the!minimum!value!was!12.92%.!
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Specific! speed! for! the! machine! was! calculated! using! the! Matlab! script! in! the!
Appendices.!The!range!of!values!obtained!are!shown!in!Figure!4.!
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Specific!Speed!(Ns)!
28.5676!
26.2502!
27.2750!
27.3772!
27.4046!
28.0661!
27.8671!
25.5861!
25.3710!
24.0829!
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Figure!4.!Table!of!Specific!Speed!Results!
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An!average!value!of!the!specific!speed!can!be!calculated!as!26.7848. !

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6.!DISCUSSION!
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There! were! many! errors! in! the! experiment! and! these! would! have! altered! the!
results!taken!and!therefore!any!calculations!made.!The!main!errors!included:!
!
N Reading!errors!were!one!of!the!most!significant!errors.!To!give!a!more!
precise! result! digital! meters! could! be! added! instead! of! analogue!
gauges.! ! However! this! does! not! mean! the! result! itself! will! be! more!
accurate!but!will!help!to!exclude!the!human!error!in!the!reading!of!it.!
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N The!gauges!may!also!have!not!been!calibrated!properly!so!the!values!
being!read!may!not!have!been!accurate!to!the!real!values.!
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N The!computer!usually!used!in!this!experiment!to!take!a!second!set!of!
results! was! not! working! so! were! unable! to! take! an! average!
value! to! use!in!calculations.!!
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It!can!be!seen!from!the!results!that!the!efficiency!of!the!turbine!is!very!low.!Some!
recommendations!can!be!made!to!improve!the!efficiency:!
!
N T!could!be!increased!as!this!would!increase!Powerout!and!therefore!the! operating! efficiency.! Increasing!!!or!
Rdrum! will! also! have! the! same! effect.!
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N The! head! could! also! be! increased! and! the! flow! rate! decreased!
to! improve!the!efficiency.!
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Improvements!specific!to!the!experimental!set!up!can!be!made:!
!
N The! speed! sensor! in! the! experiment! was! broken! and! this! should!
be! fixed! so! that! more! accurate! results! for! the! rpm! can! be! taken.!
The! tacometer! was! an! inaccurate! way!of! obtaining! this! result!and!
had! to! be!held!still!by!a!person!while!the!experiment!was!taking!place.!
!!
N The! sensors! within! the! experiment! to! measure! the! loads! and!
pressures! could! be! replaced! to! give! more! accurate! results.!
However! this!will!have!a!large!cost!associated!with!it.!!
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N The!computer!could!also!be!used!to!take!a!second!set!of!results.!This!
then!allows!an!averaged!result!to!be!taken!and!used!in!calculations.!
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N The!experiment!could!have!been!completed!several!times!so!average!
values!could!be!taken!and!used!in!calculations.!!
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7.!CONCLUSIONS!
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The!results!in!this!experiment!can!be!used!in!real!world!turbines!to!maximise!the!
efficiency! of! them! under! a! particular! set! of! operating! conditions.! The! results!
obtained!can!be!used!to!find!the!flow!rate!and!power!output!of!a!turbine.!!
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The! experiment! was! not! concluded! to! be! particularly! accurate! and! had!
significant! errors.! It! is! however! very! difficult! to! judge! this,! as! no! theoretical!
values!of!efficiency!of!a!Francis!turbine!are!known!to!compare!our!results.!!
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The!main!suggestions!to!improve!the!accuracy!of!the!experiment!are!as!follows:!
!
N The!computer!is!usually!used!to!gain!a!second!set!of!results!for!inlet!
pressure,!outlet!pressure,!differential!pressure!and!the!rpm!of!the!
shaft.!This!was!not!working!and!should!be!fixed!for!future!
experiments.!!
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N Replace!the!sensors!in!the!set!up!for!more!precise!ones.!!
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N Repeat!the!experiment!multiple!times!and!average!the!results!
obtained.!
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8.!REFERENCES!
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[1]!
http://www.npti.in/Download/Hydro/Difference%20Between%20Impulse%20
Vs%20ReactionTurbine.pdf!
Last!Accessed!16/12/13!
!
[2]! !
http://enginemechanics.tpub.com/14105/css/14105_164.htm!
Last!Accessed!16/12/13!
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[3]! !
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/pumped.htm!
Last!Accessed!16/12/13!
!
[4]!
Mechanical!Engineering!Science!9!NotesN!Pipe!Flow!and!Pumps!
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9.!APENDICES!
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! clc;
clear all;
%Fluids Lab Report

%variables %acceleration due to

g = 9.81
gravity 9.11 %static load
L_static =
R_d = 0.179 %radius of drum
D_up = 0.102 %diameter upstream
r_up = D_up/2 %radius upstream
D_throat = 0.0667 %diameter of throat
r_throat = D_throat/2 %radius of throat
Cv = 0.92 %velocity coefficient
rho = 1000 %density of water
F_static = L_static * g %static force
A_throat = pi*(r_throat^2) %area of throat
A_up = pi*(r_up^2) %area upstream
%experimental data 21 19 17 15 13]
P_in_psi = [36 33 30 27 24
P_out_bar = [-0.10 -0.10 -0.10 -0.10 -0.10 -0.15 -
0.15 -0.15 -0.15 -0.15]
P_diff_bar = [0.6 0.55 0.55 0.51 0.50 0.49 0.46 0.44
0.43 0.42]
N = [1450 1305 1259 1188 1075 995.5 933.1 853.2 781.2
687.1] 4.4 4.6 4.9 4.8 4.6 4.8 5.4 5.5 5.6]
L_d = [4.1

Omega = N*((2*pi)/60)
P_in = (P_in_psi/14.7)*100000
P_out = P_out_bar*100000
F_d = L_d * g
P_diff = P_diff_bar.*100000
%head
H = ((P_in-P_out)/ (g * rho))
%flow
Q = Cv * (sqrt((2*P_diff)/rho)) * (A_throat) *((1 -
((A_throat/A_up)^2))^-0.5)
%power in
rho_g = rho*g

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H_Q = times (H, Q)

Power_in = times (rho_g, H_Q)
%power out
F = (F_static - F_d)
T = (F * R_d)
Power_out = times(T, Omega)
%efficiency
E_dec = rdivide(Power_out, Power_in)
E = E_dec * 100
b_fit= polyfit (N,E,2);
b_fit_value = polyval (b_fit, N);
%graph
plot(N,E,'blue')
ylabel('Efficiency (%)')
xlabel('Speed (rpm)')
title('Turbine Performance')
grid on
pks=findpeaks(E)
%specific speed
Power_out_root=sqrt(Power_out/1000)
NPower_out_root=times (Power_out_root, N)
H54=(H.^(1.25))
Ns=(NPower_out_root)./(H54)
ANS=mean(Ns)
g =
9.8100

L_static =

9.1100

R_d =

0.1790

D_up =

0.1020

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r_up =

0.0510

D_throat =

0.0667

r_throat =

0.0333

Cv =

0.9200

rho =

1000

F_static =

89.3691

A_throat =

0.0035

A_up =

0.0082

P_in_psi =
36 13 33 30 27 24 21 19 17
15

P_out_bar =

17! !
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Columns 1 through 9
-0.1000 -0.1000 -0.1000 -0.1000 -0.1000
-0.1500 -0.1500 -0.1500 -0.1500

Column 10

-0.1500

P_diff_bar =

Columns 1 through 9

0.6000 0.5500 0.5500 0.5100 0.5000

0.4900 0.4600 0.4400 0.4300

Column 10

0.4200

N =

1.0e+003 *

Columns 1 through 9

1.4500 1.3050 1.2590 1.1880 1.0750

0.9955 0.9331 0.8532 0.7812

Column 10

0.6871

L_d =

Columns 1 through 9

4.1000 4.4000 4.6000 4.9000 4.8000

4.6000 4.8000 5.4000 5.5000

Column 10

5.6000

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Omega =

Columns 1 through 9

151.8436 136.6593 131.8422 124.4071 112.5737

104.2485 97.7140 89.3469 81.8071

Column 10

71.9529

P_in =

1.0e+005 *

Columns 1 through 9

2.4490 2.2449 2.0408 1.8367 1.6327

1.4286 1.2925 1.1565 1.0204

Column 10

0.8844

P_out =

Columns 1 through 7

-10000 -10000 -10000 -10000

-10000 -15000 -15000
Columns 8 through 10

-15000 -15000 -15000

F_d =

Columns 1 through 9

40.2210 43.1640 45.1260 48.0690 47.0880

45.1260 47.0880 52.9740 53.9550

Column 10

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54.9360

P_diff =

1.0e+004 *

Columns 1 through 9

6.0000 5.5000 5.5000 5.1000 5.0000

4.9000 4.6000 4.4000 4.3000

Column 10

4.2000

H =

Columns 1 through 9

25.9835 23.9031 21.8228 19.7425 17.6621

16.0915 14.7046 13.3177 11.9308

Column 10

10.5439

Q =

Columns 1 through 9

0.0390 0.0373 0.0373 0.0359 0.0356

0.0352 0.0341 0.0334 0.0330

Column 10

0.0326

rho_g =

9810

H_Q =

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Columns 1 through 9

1.0122 0.8915 0.8139 0.7091 0.6281

0.5665 0.5016 0.4443 0.3935

Column 10

0.3437

Power_in =

1.0e+003 *

Columns 1 through 9

9.9297 8.7458 7.9846 6.9558 6.1616

5.5572 4.9203 4.3583 3.8598

Column 10

3.3712

F =

Columns 1 through 9

49.1481 46.2051 44.2431 41.3001 42.2811

44.2431 42.2811 36.3951 35.4141

Column 10

34.4331

T =

Columns 1 through 9

8.7975 8.2707 7.9195 7.3927 7.5683

7.9195 7.5683 6.5147 6.3391

Column 10

6.1635

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Power_out =

1.0e+003 *

Columns 1 through 9

1.3358 1.1303 1.0441 0.9197 0.8520

0.8256 0.7395 0.5821 0.5186

Column 10

0.4435

E_dec =

Columns 1 through 9

0.1345 0.1292 0.1308 0.1322 0.1383

0.1486 0.1503 0.1336 0.1344

Column 10

0.1315

E =

Columns 1 through 9

13.4530 12.9236 13.0767 13.2221 13.8276

14.8563 15.0301 13.3554 13.4355

Column 10

13.1550

pks =

15.0301 13.4355

Power_out_root =

Columns 1 through 9

1.1558 1.0631 1.0218 0.9590 0.9230

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0.9086 0.8600 0.7629 0.7201

Column 10

0.6659

NPower_out_root =

1.0e+003 *

Columns 1 through 9

1.6759 1.3874 1.2865 1.1393 0.9923

0.9045 0.8024 0.6509 0.5626

Column 10

0.4576

H54 =

Columns 1 through 9

58.6640 52.8529 47.1670 41.6151 36.2079

32.2288 28.7949 25.4410 22.1736

Column 10

18.9998

Ns =

Columns 1 through 9

28.5676 26.2502 27.2750 27.3772 27.4046

28.0661 27.8671 25.5861 25.3710

Column 10

24.0829

ANS =

26.7848

Published! with MATLAB® 7.11!

23! !