UNIT -4: HYDRAULIC TURBUINES

Short answer questions

1. What do you mean by gross head, net head and efficiency of turbine?

1. Gross head: The gross (total) head is the difference between the water level at the reservoir (also
known as the headrace) and the water level at the tail race. It is denoted by H g .
2. Net or effective head: The head available at the inlet of the turbine is known as net or effective
head. It is denoted by H and is given by

where hf = total loss of head between the head race and entrance of the turbine,

3. Efficiencies: The following are the important efficiencies of a turbine:

(1) Hydraulic efficiency ( h ): It is defined as the ratio of power developed by the runner to the power
supplied by the jet at entrance to the turbine. Mathematically,
 2. How will you classify the turbines? What is the basis for classification?

According to action of water on the moving blades

According to the head and quantity of water available

(a)High head &low discharge .Ex: Pelton wheel.
(b)Medium head &medium discharge. Ex: Francis turbine.
(c)Low head & high discharge. Ex: Kaplan turbine.

According to direction of flow of water in the runner

(i) Tangential flow turbines (Pelton turbine)
(ii) Radial flow turbine (no more used)
(Hi)Axial flow turbine (Kaplan turbine)
(iv) Mixed (radial and axial) flow turbine (Francis turbine)
In a tangential flow turbine of the Pelton type the water strikes the runner tangential to the path
of rotation.
In an axial flow turbine water flows parallel to the axis of the turbine shaft. The Kaplan turbine
is an axial flow turbine. In the Kaplan turbine the runner blades are adjustable and can be rotated
about pivots fixed to the boss of runner. If the runner blades of the axial flow turbines are fixed, these
are called "propeller turbines."
In mixed flow turbines the water enters the blades radially and comes out axially, parallel to the
turbine shaft. Modern Francis turbines have mixed flow runners.
According to the disposition of the turbine shaft
A turbine shaft may be either vertical or horizontal. In modern practice, Pelton turbines usually have
horizontal shafts whereas the rest, especially the large units, have vertical shafts.
According to specific speed
The specific speed of a turbine is defined as the speed of a geometrically similar turbine that would
develop 1 kW under 1 m head. All geometrically similar turbines (irrespective of the sizes) will have
the same specific speeds when operating under the same head.

Specific speed

Where N = the normal working speed, P = power output of the turbine, and H = the net or effective
head in metres.
Turbines with low specific speeds work under a high head and low discharge conditions, while high
specific speed turbines work under a low head and high discharge conditions.
3) Differentiate the impulse and reaction turbines.
 4) What is a draft tube? What are the functions of a draft tube?
The tube connecting the outlet of a reaction turbine runner or casing with the tail race is called the
draft tube. It is made of cast steel, fabricated steel plate or concrete. It should be submerged below
the water level in the tail race by at least one metre.
Functions of Draff tubes
Here are the two functions of a draft tube:
(1) Increase in efficiency: Most of the kinetic energy rejected at the outlet of a runner can be
gradually converted to the pressure energy in the tube. The turbine thus will give more power and
hence, the efficiency of turbine will increase.
(2) Negative head: It creates a negative or suction head at the exit of the runner. It is thus possible
to install the turbine above the tail race without loss of head. It enables easy inspection and
maintenance of the turbine
Types of Draft Tubes
As shown in Figure 5.23, the draft tubes are of the following three types:
(1) Conical or divergent draft tube
(2) Elbow type draft tube
(3) Hydracone or Moody spreading draft tube

Conical or Divergent Simple Elbow Elbow Tube Having Circular c/s Hydracone or
Moody

at inlet and rectangular at Outlet

5).Define unit speed, unit power and specific speed as used in connection with the
operation of a hydraulic machine.

Unit Quantities
The dimensionless constants can also be used to predict the performance of a given machine under
different operating conditions. As the linear dimension will be the same, the same will not be taken into
account in the calculation. Thus Head coefficient will now be
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. Explain cavitation and Cavitation factor.

Draft Tube Theory-Cavitation

Let us consider a vertical conical draft tube as shown in Figure . After neglecting frictional losses in
the draft tube, we apply the Bernoulli equation between points (2) and (4) to get

where h s is the height of the runner outlet above the tail race level. The two terms within parenthesis

in the Equation are called static suction head, h, and dynamic suction head,

Therefore, it is clear from the Equation that the static pressure at the runner outlet is less than
the atmospheric pressure by an amount equal to the static and dynamic suction head. That is, by
providing a draft tube we can install the turbine above the tail race level without any loss in the static
head and the draft tube recovers a part of the kinetic energy that was going as a waste, into pressure
energy. It should be mentioned here, that the pressure at any point inside the turbine cannot be less
than the vapour pressure, otherwise, vapours will be formed and it will lead to a phenomenon called
cavitation. We know that the boiling temperature of a liquid depends directly upon the pressure and
whenever the pressure in any part of the turbine falls below the evaporation pressure, the liquid water
will boil and a large number of small bubbles of vapour and gases, which were dissolved in the liquid,
will be formed. These bubbles will be carried away by the flowing stream to higher pressure zones and
there they will suddenly collapse. This will result in the formation of a cavity where liquid particles will
rush in with a very high velocity. Over a period of time, this will cause the eating away of the metallic
surface of the runner blades or near the side walls of the draft tube and will lead to the formation of
cavities. This pitting or erosion is often aided by chemical action between impure water and the
material. This phenomenon is called "Cavitation".

Prof. Thoma of Germany has suggested a critical value for the cavitation factor, a, which
identifies the zone where a turbine can work without being affected by cavitation. The critical value

where ha is the average atmospheric pressure, h v is the vapour pressure, hs is the suction head
(height of the runner outlet above the tail race lvel), and His the working head of the turbine, all
expressed in metres of water. According to Prof. Thoma, cavitation can be avoided if the turbine is
installed in such a way that the cavitation factor a is always greater than critical s .

From Equation ,

Hence the maximum length of the draft tube = 4.35 + 1.0 = 5.35 m

Specific speed of turbines is defined as the speed of geometrically similar turbines

which would develop 1Kw of power when working under a head of 1m.
What do you mean by characteristic curves of a turbine? Discuss about different operating
characteristics of a turbine with neat figures. (or) What are the characteristic curves of a hydraulic
turbine? How are they useful to Practical Engineer? (or) What do you mean by characteristic curves of
turbines?

PERFORMANCE CURVES FOR TURBINES

Turbines are always designed and fabricated for a given set of specifications containing variables, like
speed, power output, head and discharge. And the efficiency of the unit is maximum when it operates
under designed conditions. But in practice, it operates under varying conditions because the level and
quantity of water in a storage reservoir does not remain constant throughout the year, and also the
load on the turbine is variable. Thus, it is essential that the exact behaviour of the unit under varying
working conditions are pre-determined. These are obtained by manufacturers by conducting
experiments on models in a laboratory and by doing field tests on the site. The physical parameters
controlling the performance of a turbine are speed N, power output P, head H, discharge Q, the
position of gate opening (nozzle opening or guide blade opening) G, and the efficiency of the turbine.
The behaviour of the units are represented by curves called turbine characteristics.
The characteristics of turbines are obtained under three different categories-'
(a) Main characteristics (Head constant)
(b) Operating characteristics (Speed constant)
(c) Muschel curves (Efficiency constant)

A. Main characteristics: In this case, the head is kept constant and the speed is varied by varying
the load on the turbine. The governing mechanism is disconnected from the system so that the
experiments are performed at constant gate openings. Three set of curves: speed-discharge, speed-
power and speed-efficiency, each for Pelton, Francis and Kaplan turbines, have been shown in Figure
5.26 (a), (b) and (c).
Fig. 5.26: (a) Main characteristics of a Pelton turbine (b) Francis turbine (c) For Kaplan
turbine

Speed vs discharge curve: For a given area of flow, the discharge depends upon H1/2 for a Pelton
turbine. Since His constant, the peripheral speed of the turbine is constant and therefore, the
discharge is independent of speed. In reaction turbines, discharge depends upon the velocity of flow.
The peripheral speed of the turbine varies with the speed and the blade angles (that is constant for a
Francis turbine), the velocity of flow will decrease with increasing speed. Thus, discharge decreases
with the increase in speed. In Kaplan turbines, the reverse is true and therefore, discharge increases
with the increase in speed.
Speed vs power curve: Power is proportional to angular speed. When N is zero, the angular speed is
zero and when N equals runaway speed, the output power is again zero. Thus, the speed-power
curves for turbines are parabolic in nature.
Speed vs efficiency curve: The speed-efficiency curves for turbines are similar to speed-power
Curves

B. Operating Characteristics: In a hydroelectric power station, turbines are coupled with electrical
alternators for producing electricity at a constant frequency and therefore, they must run at constant
speed. The head and discharge depends upon their availability in the storage reservoir. The power
output depends upon the demand from the locality, and the power output-efficiency, discharge-power
and efficiency curves are important and have been shown in Figure 5.27 (a)
and (b).

C. Constant efficiency curve: It is evident from speed-efficiency and speed-power curves that there
are two values of speed for the same power-output and efficiency, except for the point of maximum
efficiency occurring at the designed speed. Thus, we should locate the region of constant efficiency so
that the turbines are operated with maximum efficiency. The efficiency curves are plotted in Figure
5.28.
Fig. 5.28: Constant efficiency cure for a turbine

1. Derive an expression for force exerted by fluid jet on flat plate?

A Pelton wheel has semi-circular buckets and it is working under a head of 150 m. The
discharge through the nozzle is 55 lps and the diameter of the wheel is 60 cm. If the wheel
is running at 600 r.p.m,, calculate (1) power available at nozzle and (2) hydraulic efficiency
of the wheel. Assume Cv =0.98.
Solution:
(1) Power available at nozzle:
P = Power available at nozzle

(2) Hydraulic efficiency:

A Pelton wheel is working under a head of 45 m and the discharge is 0.8 nf/s. The mean
bucket speed is 14 m/s. Find the overall efficiency and the power produced if the jet is
deflected by the baldes through an angle of 165. Assume the coefficient of velocity =
0.985 and mechanical efficiency = 0.95.
Solution:
Power delivered to shaft

Overall efficiency =

A Francis turbine produces 6750 kW at 300 rpm under a net head of 45 m with an overall
efficiency of 85%. What would be the revolutions per minute, discharge and brake power
of the same turbine under a net head of 60 m under homologous conditions ?
Solution: Power developed