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Renewable Energy 79 (2015) 96e102
Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Turbine material is heavily eroded when operated in sediment-laden rivers. Erosion reduces the ef-
Received 9 May 2014 ciency and increases operational risk. Therefore, welding repair is chosen in Nepal due to low cost to
Accepted 16 October 2014 build up the eroded surface. Welding repair of hydraulic turbine does not impair the material property
Available online 8 November 2014
but, it can be catastrophic when carried out improperly. Such problem has been observed in Khimti
Hydro-Power (KHP) in Nepal. The Pelton runner at KHP had operated without any major defects for
Keywords:
22,000 h before repair. But, root cracks extending up to 110 mm deep was revealed during inspection of
Quality control
welding repaired runner after 11,000 h of operation. Therefore, quality control during repair of runner is
Welding repair
Sediment erosion
essential to achieve the desired properties and avoid catastrophic failures. Various factors like quality of
Pelton runner weld deposit, preheating and post weld heat treatment conditions, and design changes during repair
cause failure. The paper presents the possible causes of failure of Runner 1, 3 and 4 with reference to the
operation and maintenance history, and quality control measures used in repair of Runner 7 of KHP.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The stress caused by the hydraulic load becomes catastrophic when
bucket size near root is heavily reduced [5]. The fracture of the
Hydropower plants are the economic source of sustainable en- bucket from runner disc causes economic losses due to require-
ergy with its operating duration of 50e100 years and turbine ment for rehabilitation and plant shut down along with the in-
design life of 20 years [1e3]. However, in extreme sediment erosive crease in risk of human life.
environments, the runner material erodes which reduces the ef- Regular inspection and repair is recommended to avoid such
ciency and increases the risk of operation. The relation between the catastrophic failure [5]. However, the ultimate solution to maintain
sediment erosion, operational challenges and ultimate solution is the efciency and decrease the risk of operation is either replacement
shown in Fig. 1. The sediment erosion in hydraulic turbines is with new runner or repair and operation. The cost of welding repair
usually caused by sediments of size smaller than 0.2 mm, which of 12 MW Pelton runner with 1400 mm PCD in Nepal is approxi-
passes through the settling basins into the turbine units. Such mately 45,000 USD while a new runner of same size costs approxi-
problems are observed in both the Francis turbine, installed in mately 310,000 USD. The welding repair does not impair the material
Jhimruk Hydropower, and the Pelton turbine installed in Khimti property if carried out properly [7]. Therefore, welding repair is
and Chilime Hydropower in Nepal [4e6]. chosen as the best alternative in hydropower plants in Nepal.
Bucket is the most affected part of the Pelton runner. The
erosion in bucket causes change in ow direction and back hitting 2. Maintenance approach
which reduces the efciency [4]. The erosion in the splitter de-
creases the efciency by approximately 1% upon increase in splitter The periodic inspection during operation to identify the pres-
thickness by 1% of bucket width [4]. Similarly, there is 1% efciency ence of any defect is a preliminary activity carried out at hydro-
loss in Pelton turbine after operation for approximately 1150 h in power stations to decide the requirements for maintenance of
sediment-laden water [6]. hydraulic turbines operated in sediment erosive environment.
Pelton turbines experience maximum amplitude of load at Usually, the runner is inspected using Non Destructive Test (NDT)
single bucket during rotation in the turbine unit with one nozzle. methods like Dye Penetrant Test (DPT) and Magnetic Particle Test
(MPT) at KHP after 2000 h of operation.
Depending upon the degree of erosion in the bucket and need of
* Corresponding author. correction of bucket prole to maintain the efciency and to avoid
E-mail addresses: amodpanthi@gmail.com, amodpanthi@ku.edu.np (A. Panthee). excessive wear in the eroded regions, the runner is grinded [8]. The
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.10.042
0960-1481/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Panthee et al. / Renewable Energy 79 (2015) 96e102 97
5. Welding repair
controlled by controlling the speed of the weld pass which is 6. Post weld heat treatment
calculated by (1) [12]. The maximum heat input was limited to
15 kJ/cm during repair of Runner 7. Welding deposits, which is in molten state at high temperature
and expanded form, is applied to the cooler base metal with which
Voltage V Current A it is bonded. Weld material is rapidly cooled and it attempts to
Heat Input (1)
Weld Speed cm 1000 shrink. However, the bonded weld and base material resists the
s
shrinkage phenomenon and residual tensile stresses is induced.
The left and right half of the bucket in Fig. 9 shows excessive The stress level in the weld zone after cooling can be as high as yield
weld deposit in bucket and prole correction by grinding respec- strength of the base material and these stress may exceed the
tively. The measured excessive weld deposit was up to 4 mm which design stress when combined with the normal stress during
was removed by grinding. The total weight of the welding deposit operation which causes failure. Metal shows volatile nature at
before and after nal polishing was measured 340 kg and 130 kg higher temperature and residual stresses caused by welding are
respectively. Excessive welding deposit increases both the welding able to relieve themselves. A higher temperature and longer
stress and cost and fatigue failure of the runner occurs if welding holding time helps in relieving higher residual stress. Therefore, it
residual stress is not removed. Therefore, the welding stress was is necessary to relieve the residual stresses due to welding by
removed by post weld heat treatment. PWHT. In addition, hydrogen present in the weld zone are diffused
The wet part of Pelton bucket can be divided into 5 different at higher temperature during PWHT which reduces the risk of
sections in general, shown in Fig. 10. The visual inspection of the corrosion cracking and hydrogen induced cracking.
Pelton runner of Khimti hydropower shows excessive erosion in The operation and maintenance history of Runner 3 and Runner
Section S2 and S4. The root section of the runner Section S3 shows 4 of KHP also showed root cracks after repair despite maintaining
lower erosion. This is supported by Ref. [13] which shows relatively the design geometry with llet between the trailing edge of splitter
higher pressure distribution in Section S2 and the peak pressure and bucket root. NDT's revealed rst surface crack in Runner 3 and
represents the location of maximum erosion damage in the bucket. Runner 4 after operating 2038 h and 383 h respectively. Several
Besides, the visual inspection in Pelton runner of KHP also shows porosities were also present in the runner which indicate poor
excessive erosion in Section S4 which is numerically identied as welding quality or PWHT.
the region of low-pressure peaks in Ref. [13]. The requirements of The temperature of the Runner 7 was logged during PWHT at
number of layers of welding deposit in Pelton bucket should be four different locations. The average temperature plot of heat
increased in order S3 < S1 < S5 < S4 < S2. This will minimize both the treatment of the runner and prescribed heat treatment conditions
stress induced by welding in the bucket and the cost. is shown in Fig. 11. In general heating rate is not much important.
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