ABSTRACT

In the recent years, high penetration of the intermittent power, generated using solar and wind energy
sources, has disrupted the power grid frequently. This has raised significant concern about the grid
stability and reliability. On the other hand, electricity demand is never consistent and varies with time
which causes further disruption in the grid. Since hydropower is a major source of continual renewable
energy with operating flexibility, it is widely accepted and used to meet the real time electricity demand.
Thus, hydraulic turbines are needed to operate at wide range and vary power generation frequently
irrespective of the efficiency. Consequently, the hydraulic turbines experience critical transient
operating conditions, load acceptance, load rejection, startup, shutdown, emergency shutdown and total
load rejection. This has resulted in increased damage to the turbines as they are not specifically designed
to operate under such critical conditions.
Power output from the turbine is dependent on the discharge (volumetric quantity of water per unit
time) passing through the turbine runner. The discharge is regulated by the guide vanes angular
movement and the position. The guide vanes are generally operated by a governing mechanism
conjunction with the electricity demand. The guide vanes may need to constantly change the discharge
to meet the demand and balance the grid parameters. The guide vane operating scheme plays a
significant role as the transient loading of water pressure to the runner blades is primarily dependent on
the rate of guide vanes angular movement. Transient loading develops unsteady forces on the runner and
may result in additional damage. Thus the main objective of the present work is to investigate the
pressure loading on the turbine during transient operating conditions by accommodating the
requirements for the grid stability. Further, attempts have been made to study the transient pressure
loading on the blades by changing the rate of the guide vanes angular movement for different operating
conditions.
The presented research work has been carried out with the cooperation of three universities, Indian
Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) in India, Lule University of Technology (LTU) in
Sweden, and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Norway. Extensive
measurements have been performed on the model Francis turbine considering the present trend of the
turbine operation. The measurements include both steady state and transient operating conditions of the
turbine. The steady state measurements include performance analysis during normal and runaway
operating conditions. The transient measurements include pressure measurement during load
acceptance, load rejection, startup, shutdown, emergency shutdown with transition into total load
rejection, no load runner acceleration and deceleration. Numerical simulations have also been carried
out for steady state operating conditions for more insight of the flow field.
The measurements have been carried out at NTNU using the available test facility of the high head
model Francis turbine. The turbine is a 1:5.1 scale down model of a prototype operating at the Tokke
Power Plant, Norway. The model runner diameter, net head, and discharge at the best efficiency point
vii

(BEP) were 0.349 m, 12 m, and 0.2 m3 s-1, respectively. The Dimensionless specific speed of the turbine
is 0.27. Two acquisition systems have been used, one to require the data for preparing the constant
efficiency hill diagram and other to acquire the signal from the pressure sensors mounted in the turbine.
Total eight sensors were mounted at the locations turbine inlet, vaneless space, runner, and draft tube.
The data from the runner sensors were acquired using a wireless telemetry system. The determined total
uncertainty in the measurement of hydraulic efficiency was 0.15% at BEP.
A constant efficiency hill diagram was prepared over the operating range of the model turbine and a
total of 150 operating points were selected. The angular position of the guide vanes was varied by
approximately one degree from 3.9 to 14. BEP of the model turbine was observed at the guide vanes
angular position of 9.9, a speed factor of 0.18, and a discharge factor of 0.15 at the hydraulic efficiency
of 93.4%. During the measurement, significant torque fluctuations were observed at specific operating
range of the turbine. The torque fluctuations were attributed to the unsteady pressure fluctuations
developed in the vaneless space due to rotor stator interaction. Numerical simulations of the model
turbine were carried out at five of the operating points. The simulations were performed using two
turbulence models, standard k- and SST k-, with high resolution advection scheme. Comparison of
the numerical and experimental values of hydraulic efficiencies showed the lowest difference at BEP as
0.85% and 1.58% for standard k- and SST k-, respectively. The maximum difference was observed at
a part load operating condition which was 11.44% and 14.05% for standard k- and SST k-,
respectively.
The steady state measurements of runaway operating conditions were carried out at six operating
points. The guide vanes angular positions were 3.9, 6.7, 8.1, 9.9, 12.4, and 14. During runaway
operating condition at 14 guide vanes position, pressure fluctuations of significantly high amplitude
were observed. The amplitudes in the vaneless space, runner, and draft tube were about 2.4, 2.6, and 1.6
times of that of BEP condition.
Transient measurements were carried out considering load acceptance, load rejection, startup,
shutdown, and emergency shutdown with transition into total load rejection, runner acceleration and
deceleration at no load. During transients of load rejection, high amplitude pressure fluctuations in the
runner were observed about 1.2 times higher than that of the load acceptance. The measurements on the
turbine startup and shutdown showed that the instantaneous pressure amplitudes on the runner blades
were almost two times of that of BEP. During total load rejection, load to the turbine was brought to
zero instantly consequently the runner accelerated to the runaway speed within 3 s. At the runaway
speed the pressure amplitudes in the runner at a frequency of rotor stator interaction were about 2.6 and
1.6 times of that of BEP on the pressure side and trailing edge of the blade, respectively. This was one
of the most damaging transient conditions of the turbine since the turbine runner was operating at
critical conditions.

viii