CHAPTER –7

HYDRAULIC
TURBINES1
 Introduction about Hydraulic Turbine
• The hydraulic turbine has a long period of development, its oldest and simplest
form being the waterwheel, first used in ancient Greece and subsequently adopted
throughout medieval Europe for the grinding of grain, etc. The American engineer
James B. Francis designed the first radial-inflow hydraulic turbine which became
widely used, gave excellent results and was highly regarded. In its original form it
was used for heads of between 10 and 100 m.
• The Pelton wheel turbine, named after its American inventor Lester A. Pelton,
was brought into use in the second half of the nineteenth century. This is an
impulse turbine in which water is piped at high pressure to a nozzle where it
expands completely to atmospheric pressure. The emerging jet impacts onto the
blades (or buckets) of the turbine producing the required torque and power output.
It was in 1913 that Viktor Kaplan revealed his idea of the propeller (or Kaplan)
turbine, see Figure 1.1e, which acts like a ship’s propeller but in reverse at a later
date Kaplan improved his turbine by means of swivel able blades which improved
the efficiency of the turbine in accordance with the prevailing conditions.
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 Pelton Turbine
• Pelton turbine is an impulse turbine as there is no
pressure drop across the buckets. The flow is axial, i.e.,
there is no change in peripheral velocity and water enters
and leaves the buckets at the same radius.
• Water supplied is from a high head through a long
conduit called penstock. The water is accelerated in the
nozzle and the head is converted into velocity and
discharges at high speed in the form of a jet at
atmospheric pressure. The jet strikes deflecting buckets
attached to the rim of a rotating wheel (runner).
• The kinetic energy of the jet is lost to the buckets and
water discharged at relatively low speed falls into lower Diagrammatic arrangement of a
reservoir or tail race. The tail race is set to avoid Pelton wheel
submerging the wheel during flooded conditions. When
large amount of water is available the power can be
obtained by connecting two wheels to a single shaft or by
arranging two or more jets to a single wheel. 3
 Velocity diagram
•• Since
  the angle of entry of the jet is nearly zero, the inlet
velocity triangle is a straight line. If the bucket is brought to rest,
then the relative fluid velocity, , is given by

 The angle turned through by the jet in the horizontal plane

during its passage over the bucket surface is a and the
relative velocity at exit is . The absolute velocity, , at exit can
be obtained by adding bucket speed vector and relative
velocity, , at exit. Velocity triangles for a Pelton
wheel.
Now using Euler’s turbine
 Since in this case is in the negative x direction

 Neglecting loss due to friction across the bucket surface, that is,
Then 4
 Cont.…………………..
• Therefore [7.1]
The units of ‘E’ being Watts per Newton per second weight of flow. The above Eq. 7.1 can be
optimized by differentiating with respect to U, and equating it to zero. Therefore:

Then [7.2]
Substituting Eq. (7.2) into Eq. (7.1) we get

 In practice, surface friction is always present and , then Eq. (7.1) becomes
[7.3]

[7.4]

 if , the maximum hydraulic efficiency is . In practice, deflection angle is in the order of .
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 Francis Turbine
• A sketch of a Francis turbine is shown in Fig. 6.1. The
flow is contained in a spiral casing called volute that
channel the water into the runner. The volute has
decreasing area to maintain uniform velocity, to the row
of stationary vanes.
• The water passes through row of fixed guide vanes
followed by adjustable guide vanes. The flow can be
varied when the turbine is working at partial loads by
changing the cross sectional area between the guide
vanes.
• The water then passes through the runner with radial
vanes. The water enters the runner at large radius and
leaves the runner blades at a smaller radius. The
interaction between the fluid and runner blades results
in torque applied to the runner. The runner is connected
to the driving shaft to drive an electric generator. 6
 Cont.………………..
• The radial flow or Francis turbine is a reaction machine. In a reaction turbine, the
runner is enclosed in a casing and therefore, the water is always at a pressure other
than atmosphere. As the water flows over the curved blades, the pressure head is
transformed into velocity head. Thus, water leaving the blade has a large relative
velocity but small absolute velocity. Therefore, most of the initial energy of water
is given to the runner. In reaction turbines, water leaves the runner at atmospheric
pressure. The pressure difference between entrance and exit points of the runner is
known as reaction pressure.
• The essential difference between the reaction rotor and impulse rotor is that in the
former, the water, under a high station head, has its pressure energy converted into
kinetic energy in a nozzle. Therefore, part of the work done by the fluid on the
rotor is due to reaction from the pressure drop, and part is due to a change in
kinetic energy, which represents an impulse function. In reaction turbine, water
from the reservoir enters the turbine casing through penstocks.
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 Cont.………………..
•  Hence, the total head is equal to pressure head plus velocity head. Thus, the water
enters the runner or passes through the stationary vanes, which are fixed around
the periphery of runners. The water then passes immediately into the rotor where it
moves radially through the rotor vanes and exits from the rotor blades at a smaller
diameter, after which it turns through 90 into the draft tube. The draft tube is a
gradually increasing cross-sectional area passage. It helps in increasing the work
done by the turbine by reducing pressure at the exit. The penstock is a waterway,
which carries water from the reservoir to the turbine casing.

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 Cont.………………..
Francis turbine runner and
velocity triangles for inward
flow reaction turbine.

Let

 Euler’s turbine equation and E is

maximum when (whirl velocity
at outlet) is zero that is when the
absolute and flow velocities are
equal at the outlet.
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 Cont.………………..
• Turbine losses [7.5]
Let
 Leakage power loss is due to leakage in flow rate, ,
past the runner and therefore not being handled by
the runner. Thus the total discharge flow rate is:
[7.6]
 If
is the head across the runner, the leakage power loss
becomes
[7.7]
 Casing power loss, , is due to friction, eddy, and flow
separation losses in the casing and draft tube. If is the
 Runner
head loss in casing then
power loss is due to
friction, shock at impeller entry, [7.8]
and flow separation. If is the head
loss associated with a flow rate
through the runner of , then 10
 Cont.………………..
Eq. (7.10) is the theoretical energy transfer
per unit weight of fluid. Therefore the
maximum efficiency is

[7.11]

[7.9]

[7.10]
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 Kaplan Turbine
• The propeller type consists of axial flow runner with 4 to
6 blades of an aero-foil shape as shown in Fig. The spiral
casing and guide vanes are similar to Francis turbine.
The flow enters the runner through guide vanes which
can be set to any desired angle (within limit) to
accommodate changes in power output demand.
• The runner blades are fixed and cannot change their
position. The guide vanes ring is in a plane perpendicular
to the shaft so that flow is radial. The runner is situated
further downstream so that between guide vanes and the
runner the fluid turns through a right angle into axial
direction. The runner blades are long in order to
accommodate large flow rate and therefore pitch/chord
ratio of runner blades is 1 to 1.5 and hence number of
blades is small. The propeller type has low head between
5-80m.
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 Velocity Diagram
• The runner blades are long and there is large difference in radii between the hub
and tip of the blades. Therefore velocity diagrams are drawn at the mean radius of
the blade. The axial flow velocity is constant as inlet and exit and hence
 

For maximum efficiency the whirl component at exit

must be zero because velocity axial and also
Writing Euler's’ equation as
as

For inlet diagram, we have

Substitute the value of

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 Cavitation
• In hydraulic turbines, where reliability, long life, and efficiency are all very
important, the effects of cavitation must be considered. Two types of cavitation may
be in evidence:
• Cavitation in hydraulic turbines can occur on the suction surfaces of the runner
blades where the dynamic action of the blades acting on the fluid creates low-
pressure zones in a region where the static pressure is already low. Hydraulic
turbines are designed to run for many years with very little maintenance. However, if
cavitation does occur, then pitting of the surfaces, fatigue cracking, and partial
collapse of the blades will reduce performance.
• Cavitation will commence when the local static pressure is less than the vapor
pressure of the water, i.e., where the head is low, the velocity is high and the
elevation, z, of the turbine is set too high above the tailrace. For a turbine with a
horizontal shaft, the lowest pressure will be located in the upper part of the runner,
which could be of major significance in large machines. Fortunately, the runners of
large machines are, in general, made so that their shafts are orientated vertically,
lessening the problem of cavitation occurrence. 14
 Causes of Cavitation

• The liquid enters hydraulic turbines at high pressure; this pressure is a

combination of static and dynamic components. Dynamic pressure of the liquid is
by the virtue of flow velocity and the other component, static pressure, is the
actual fluid pressure which the fluid applies and which is acted upon it. Static
pressure governs the process of vapor bubble formation or boiling. Thus,
Cavitation can occur near the fast moving blades of the turbine where local
dynamic head increases due to action of blades which causes static pressure to
fall.
• Cavitation also occurs at the exit of the turbine as the liquid has lost major part of
its pressure heads and any increase in dynamic head will lead to fall in static
pressure causing Cavitation.

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 Detrimental Effects of Cavitation
• The formation of vapor bubbles in cavitation is not a major problem in itself but
the collapse of these bubbles generates pressure waves, which can be of very high
frequencies, causing damage to the machinery. The bubbles collapsing near the
machine surface are more damaging and cause erosion on the surfaces called as
cavitation erosion. The collapses of smaller bubbles create higher frequency
waves than larger bubbles. So, smaller bubbles are more detrimental to the
hydraulic machines.
• Smaller bubbles may be more detrimental to the hydraulic machine body but they
do not cause any significant reduction in the efficiency of the machine. With
further decrease in static pressure more number of bubbles is formed and their size
also increases. These bubbles coalesce with each other to form larger bubbles and
eventually pockets of vapor. This disturbs the liquid flow and causes flow
separation which reduces the machine performance sharply. Cavitation is an
important factor to be considered while designing Hydraulic Turbines.
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 Avoiding Cavitation
• To avoid cavitation while operating Hydraulic Turbines parameters should be set
such that at any point of flow static pressure may not fall below the vapor pressure
of the liquid. These parameters to control cavitation are pressure head, flow rate
and exit pressure of the liquid.
• The control parameters for cavitation free operation of hydraulic turbines can be
obtained by conducting tests on model of the turbine under consideration. The
parameters beyond which cavitation starts and turbine efficiency falls significantly
should be avoided while operation of hydraulic turbines.
• Flow separation at the exit of the turbine in the draft tube causes vibrations which
can damage the draft tube. To dampen the vibration and stabilize the flow air is
injected in the draft tube. To totally avoid the flow separation and cavitation in the
draft tube it is submerged below the level of the water in tailrace.

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 Examples
•   The speed of Pelton turbine is 14 m/s. The water is supplied at the rate of 820 L/s against a
1.
head of 45 m. If the jet is deflected by the buckets at an angle of 1608, find theand the
efficiency of the turbine.
Solution:
Velocity of jet

Assuming From outlet velocity triangle,

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 Cont.……………………..
• Work done per weight mass of water per sec

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 Cont.……………………..
2. An inward radial flow turbine develops 130 kW under a head of 5 m. The flow velocity is 4
m/s and the runner tangential velocity at inlet is 9.6 m/s. The runner rotates at 230 rpm while
hydraulic losses accounting for 20% of the energy available. Calculate the inlet guide vane
exit angle, the inlet angle to the runner vane, the runner diameter at the inlet, and the height of
the runner at inlet. Assume radial discharge, and overall efficiency equal to 72%.
Solution:
Hydraulic efficiency is

 Sinceflow is radial at outlet, then

and therefore

 , 20
Cont.……………………..

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