HYDRO 2015 - ADVANCING POLICY AND PRACTICE - 26 to 28 October 2015 ~ Bordeaux, France

New trends in operation and maintenance challenges

for Pelton turbines

E. Parkinson, N. Gervais S. Lais, A. Karakolcu, Th. Weiss

ANDRITZ Hydro Ltd ANDRITZ Hydro Ltd
Rue des 2 Gares, 6 Obernauerstrasse, 4
1800 Vevey 6010 Kriens
Switzerland Switzerland

Introduction
With the current trend in energy prices, the hydro-market is changing rapidly in some areas and costs savings
measures are applied more and more severely. And it also applies to Pelton turbines. However, Pelton turbines
components, especially the runner, have a given life duration and special care is needed. Depending on the utilities,
there are different approaches possible to minimize maintenance costs and optimize production, e.g. revenues,
calling for specific operation and maintenance measures because of aging equipment. It leads to new design and
operation paradigms that are described from recent research developments, including predictive maintenance
activities.

1. Background
The best revenue operation scheme for a given utility or grid operator is not necessarily anymore a standard full
load operation. On one side, the extreme flexibility of Pelton turbines which can be operated for a large range of
flows and respond very fast to grid requests is an asset that can be valorised. On the other side, the current trends in
the energy market are pushing to minimize investments and extend components operation as much as possible. This
is somehow contradictory and extreme care must be taken in all cases.

Saving costs by extending the life of all components

and delaying as much as possible any replacement of
components is a first option. This can be done only if
some boundary conditions are fulfilled, with a
combination of residual life assessment and follow-up
of operation and maintenance to prevent any
operational risks.
A second option is to reassess the full plant operation
and its costs drivers to evaluate whether new
components specifically adapted both in
performances and design would not be beneficial to
production. It is not sufficient to consider the sole
revenue drivers output / efficiency. The maintenance
costs drivers must also be addressed, as those can be
high. Figure 1: Pelton units
The entire Pelton system, Figure 1, must therefore
be considered.

2. Operation changes
When a new Pelton turbine or replacement runner is delivered, its operation is pre-defined by the weighted
performances specified per contract. The design is adapted to those specifications, including inspection intervals for
example. However, effective operation can differ considerably, as shown from examples in Figure 2, Figure 3 and
Figure 4. These figures display with dots the weighted outputs and a yearly production histogram of example plants.

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 HYDRO 2015 - ADVANCING POLICY AND PRACTICE - 26 to 28 October 2015 ~ Bordeaux, France

Figure 2: Annual production versus weighted performances (28 MW, 1045 m)

Figure 3: Annual production versus weighted performances (160 MW, 542 m)

Figure 4: Annual production versus weighted performances (16 MW, 218 m)

While in Figure 4 effective and specified operations agree to each other, it is not the case for both Figure 2 and
Figure 3. These discrepancies can change depending on production requirements. Maintenance and inspection cannot
be established for once and have to be adapted to the real operation. Pelton runners are subject to cyclic loading, see
Figure 5, and have therefore defined life duration. Inspections and their intervals, compulsory for runner and

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componennts safety, deppend on this eeffective operaation. And resuulting maintennance works hhave to be integgrated in the
operation planning of thhe plant.

Figure 5: Cyyclic loading off a Pelton buckett

3. Safe operation
o d
drivers
Followingg the responssibility structuure displayed in Figure 6, it is the taskk of the suppplier to designn the new /
refurbisheed / replaced turbine components with adequate
a toolss and methodss [Karakolcu, 2010, 2012], [Parkinson,
2008, 20110, 2012]. Mannufacturing must
m also be acchieved by thee supplier withh advanced manufacturing
m ttechnologies
[Weiss, 22009], [Bissel,, 2006] to enssure the reliabbility and safeety of the turbbine. Last but not least, higghest quality
controls aalong the entiree production pprocess are reqquired from thhe supplier.
The turbiines task is to deliver thhe expected ooutput when needed. Hennce, its reliability is the m most critical
performannce indicator, without endanngering its saffety. It is the rresponsibility of the plant ooperator not onnly to do the
required iinspections buut also to perfoorm all identifiied repairs witth required quuality, see Figuure 6.

Q
Quality control dduring productioon stages

A
Advanced manuufacturing technnologies

M
Modern design tools
t using anallytic and
numerrical methods

F
Figure 6: Main drivers of a saffe and reliable P
Pelton runner ddesign to operattion

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Wear andd damages in P Pelton turbiness can be of muultiple sourcess, which can bee accelerated bbecause of hydro-abrasive
erosion, see
s Figure 7. A proper inspeection plan muust consider all a components of the turbinne within the m maintenance
planning. The same appplies when peerforming a reesidual life annalysis of a givven componennt, runner for example, or
part / entiire of the Peltoon turbine. Suuch a study cann be initiated bbecause a refuurbishment / rehabilitation oof the Pelton
turbine is planned and iits scope mustt be defined.
It can alsoo be launched from the sim mple questionn of how long a given compponent can be still operated without any
risks on availability, reliability andd safety. Thee latter occurrs more and more with tthe decision to postpone
replacemeent of componnents, especiallly runners.
As shownn from the field, with occurrrence of som me accidents, e.g.
e flying buuckets, extrem me care is neeeded in such
evaluationns and when taaking the deciision to indeedd extend operaational life of rrunners.

Erodeed needle Eroded bucket

Figure 7: Damages in Peelton turbines

4. Pelton turbine aassessment

Most critiical areas of a Pelton turbiine can be strructured as shhown in Figurre 8 with labels varying frrom A to F.
Typical damages, with potential conssequences on rreliability and safety, e.g. avvailability, aree discussed bellow.

Figure 8: Crritical areas in P

Pelton turbiness

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Area A: Nozzle seat ring and Needle tip

Abrasion damages and consequent deviation from the hydraulic profile can occur. Such damages evolve fast
and induce loss of efficiency because of the disturbed water jet. It can also generate cavitation damages.
The nozzle seat ring is not necessarily an expensive component and keeping it in proper condition can only
protect the runner.
New solutions of nozzle head designs allow fast exchange of nozzle seat ring and needle tip, respectively.

Area B: Deflector
Deflector can be damaged from erosion. The resulting shape deviation can harm the deflector operation and
be detrimental to the turbine safety. Cracks can be initiated because of incorrect design or intense operation.

Area C: Buckets
A Pelton runner can undergo various degradations during its lifetime that range from cavitation pitting,
erosion, stone impact, corrosion fatigue, grinding or welding repairs, etc. The effects of profile deformation,
and minor thickness reduction or so are part of the normal ageing of the runner and affect efficiency or can
amplify the damaging effect, but safety is not directly impacted.
The main safety concern for a Pelton runner is the initiation and growth of cracks, as these tend to follow
highest stress gradients and eventually cause the separation of parts of the runner. The root cause of crack
initiation and growth are alternating local stresses due to jet impingement.
Inspections are compulsory to detect cracks due to fatigue and / or welding defects which can lead to an
endangerment of the unit.
There may be also shape deviations due to cavitation and / or sand abrasion. Such damages are mainly
detrimental to efficiency performances.
Local grinding repair can be implemented at site if those damages are not too extensive. If not the case,
rebuilding of the hydraulic profile of the Pelton buckets by means of a complete welding repair, including
heat treatment must be anticipated as they call for transfer to a fully welding equipped workshop.
Extreme care is needed when welding in buckets and specific instructions must be followed which are
specific to the related area. Qualified workshops must be selected as not only the safety of the runner but the
entire unit is at stake.

Area D: Flange, Coupling and Bolts

Fretting corrosion damages and cracks can also occur in flanges. Cracks may be initiated on the coupling
surface resulting from inadequate pre-stressing, e.g. fitted bolt connection. Other typical experienced
damages have been found in keyways and / or on the small transition radii at spigots

Area E: Shaft and Flange

Fatigue cracks, mainly at wetted notches, are the main concern, together with possible corrosion of wetted
surfaces. Special attention shall be paid to horizontal units which are more prone to alternating bending
stresses compared to vertical units.

Area F: Bearing
Foundation settlements are to be considered, with the slackening of anchor bolts.

Making such a survey of all potential damages and risks in a Pelton turbine requires experience and cannot be
performed without any solid rehabilitation background and adequate tools and methods [Weiss, 2006]. Consequences
at stake are too important.

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5. Residual life assessment

It is worthwhile mentioning how much special attention is needed when assessing the residual life of Pelton runners.
Indeed, many parameters must be considered and the results are therefore highly dependent on these input
parameters.
Fatigue is the first issue and is the evaluation of life expectancy of a body undergoing cyclic loading. The only cause
of fatigue failure evaluated is the initiation of a surface crack due to local stress. This is the main criterion used for
the definition of admissible stress and design of the runner, which implies that fatigue failure of a runner is not
expected before 50 years or so; it is a long term issue.
The stress computation and distribution, or measurement, is first needed. The profile of the runner is thus needed in
case of simulation.

A full operation history of the runner is also compulsory, with output, number of active nozzles and number of starts
and stops. All extraordinary events such as emergency shut down and runaway must be documented. The number of
braking cycles, and how they are applied, and operating hours at synchronous condenser, if any.
All periodic inspection procedures and reports, together with maintenance activities are absolutely necessary. It gives
access to the possible description of failures by cracking and their related repair reports.
Up to date Whler curves and Haigh diagram are applied in the analysis and all unknown risk factors, which could
endanger the life of the runners must be included in the study.

Experience shows that this somehow extensive, but not limited, list of data is not so obvious to document:
The runner geometry may be different after multiple repairs from the theoretical shape. A recapture of the
actual profile can be hence required for the latter numerical analysis.
Operating history of the runner can be long and be only partially documented. It can come from change of
maintenance processes, ownership of plant for example.
The load spectrum is also often unclear with only partial documentation of operation with even no available
recordings in some cases.
Inspection and repair reports are also often missing, especially when repairs where outsourced out of the
utility.
The level of residual stresses is in most cases unknown.
The material is also often an issue with old cast runners leading to uncertain fatigue behaviour.

Residual life assessment has also some limitations and can be delicate to perform with runners operated more than
1010 cycles. And, last but not least, the future operating conditions must be considered.
Such an assessment represents indeed a reference status at a given date. The residual life, i.e. remaining life, can then
be followed based on the real operation of the Pelton unit by recording and taking into account all parameters
mentioned above. Adequate inspection intervals can also be derived from this follow-up.

6. Perspectives
In a difficult energy market, all utilities need to save costs while maximizing revenues. Saving costs measures can be
made from extending operational life of components, especially the runner. However, it can be in strong
contradiction with the far more flexible operation requirements arising from the energy market. Extreme care is
required when deciding to extend operational life of runners and when changing the operation mode of old runners.
Extending operational life of runners can only be decided from an extensive so called residual life assessment.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to perform properly such assessments. They call for an extensive knowledge
of the existing components in order to get proper and reliable results. Loading and repair history is of vital
importance. And the highest uncertainty lies usually with the material and its properties. Results are usually to be
considered as conservative, to cover all uncertainties while future operating conditions are not known.

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In all cases, such theoretical studies cannot and must not replace regular and diligent inspections of the components,
again especially important for Pelton runners, which are the basis for a long-term safe and reliable operation of the
power plant.
The most adequate scenario is to use such a residual life assessment as a Point Zero and to monitor carefully the
operation of the unit to follow real-time the aging of the components with so called predictive maintenance methods
and tools as developed with ANDRITZ Hydro.

References
1. Bissel C., Geppert L., Parkinson E., Richard P., Miranda-Guttierez O. and Charapaqui L., Replacement of the
MANTARO plant runners using improved technology, HYDROVISION Conference, Portland, USA, 2006
2. Karakolcu A., Geppert L. and Marongiu J.C., Performance prediction in Pelton rehabilitation projects, Seminar on
Hydropower Plants, Proceedings, Vienna, Austria, 2010
3. Karakolcu A., Erhard J. and Wittwer B., Best practice in rehabilitation of Pelton turbines as applied at
VERMUNTWERK M5, Proceedings, Vienna Hydro 2012, Austria
4. Parkinson E., Vullioud G., Richard P., Heimann A., Keck H., Hauser H.P., Keiser W. and Rothenfluh M., Systematic
approach of Pelton rehabilitation projects - Practical experience from case studies, Proceedings, HYDROVISION
Conference, Sacramento, USA, 2008
5. Parkinson E., Marongiu J.C., Garcin H. and Bissel C., From classical to novel flow simulation methods applied to
Pelton rehabilitation projects, Proceedings, HYDRO Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 2010.
6. Parkinson E., Karakolcu A., Gervais N. and Perusset C.A., A review of Pelton hydraulic development, Proceedings,
HYDRO Asia Conference, Thailand, 2012
7. Weiss T. and Ravicini L., Safety and Life Cycle Aspects in Modernization and Upgrading Projects, HYDRO Asia
Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 2006
8. Weiss Th., Hauser Hp., Parkinson E. and Keck H., Modern manufacturing technologies of Pelton runners in the
framework of an integrated design process, Hydropower & Dams, Issue 5, 2009

The Authors

Nicolas Gervais graduated in Fluid Engineering at the Hydraulic and Mechanical Engineering school of Grenoble (France) in
2006 and worked since by ANDRITZ Hydro on various R&D and design projects, mostly applied to Pelton turbines. He is now
responsible for hydraulic development of Pelton turbines
Adem Karakolcu graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Vienna University of Technology. He joined ANDRITZ Hydro in
2006 as development and project engineer for Pelton turbines focusing on cavitation prediction, loss analysis, hydraulic layout
and hydraulic engineering. Since 2010 he is responsible of hydraulic layout for Pelton turbines.
Stefan Lais graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Applied Science of Konstanz (Germany) in 2001. In 2003
he joined the ANDRITZ Hydro R&D-department in Zurich as a development engineer focusing on mechanical analyses for
hydraulic machinery. Since then he has been working a number of years in R&D projects and later joined the Engineering
department in Kriens where he worked as project engineer in several hydro rehabilitation and modernization projects. Today he
leads the Pelton Engineering centre of ANDRITZ Hydro.
Etienne Parkinson graduated in Fluid Engineering at the Hydraulic and Mechanical Engineering school of Grenoble (France) in
1987. Following a PhD work on Navier-Stokes modelling at Ecole Centrale de Lyon (France), he worked as a research assistant in
hydraulic machinery at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland) until 1995. Moving to ANDRITZ
Hydro, he worked actively on numerous R&D issues. He is now responsible for technology management of Pelton turbines for
ANDRITZ Hydro.
Thomas Weiss graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Applied Science of Regensburg (Germany) in 1995. He
worked 6 years as project engineer in several hydro rehabilitation and modernization projects. Since 2001 he was working as
Mechanical Engineer in the field of safety engineering and finite element analysis at the research & development mechanical
department. He is responsible for the manufacturing of Pelton turbines within ANDRITZ Hydro.

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