Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance improvement of a 500-kW Francis turbine based on CFD

Leonel Alveyro Teran a, Francisco Jose Larrahondo b, Sara Aida Rodríguez a, *
a
Research Group of Fatigue and Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering School, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
b
EPSA E.S.P.A CELSIA Company, Cali, Colombia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this work, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was performed to obtain a new geometry
Received 3 October 2015 that provides increased efficiency in a 500-kW Francis turbine. This analysis was developed in two parts:
Received in revised form The first stage of the work was focused on the elements of the turbine that are not related to the runner’s
11 May 2016
blade profile, such as the covers, the stay vanes/guide vanes and certain zones of the runner. The second
Accepted 11 May 2016
Available online 25 May 2016
stage of the work was focused on improving the blade profile. To this end, due to the complexity of the
geometry, a methodology that combines factorial experiments, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and
optimizations based on Genetic Algorithms (GA) was implemented. In the first stage of the process, the
Keywords:
Francis turbine
modifications increased the efficiency by six points. In the second stage, the recirculation of fluid and the
Computational fluid dynamics cavitation phenomenon in the runner blade were reduced, the latter being the main cause of wear in the
Geometry optimization current runner. The final geometry was simulated in a CFD solver, which predicted an increase of 14.77%
Artificial neural networks in the efficiency of the current point for the highest power. Finally, static strength, fatigue and resonance
Genetic algorithm were verified in turbine components affected by the modifications.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction on the development of efficient codes to solve the flow problem as

The practice of hydroelectric power generation began at the end
of the 19th century at Niagara Falls and later spread around the
world. In Colombia, this technology arrived in the early 20th cen-
tury, and some power plants from that epoch remain in operation.
This is the case with the small hydroelectric plant Rio Cali I, which is
more than 100 years old. Over the past few years, the efficiency of
the turbines that operate in this power plant has decreased because
of wear and repairs that have modified the geometry of their
components. Currently, the efficiency of these machine is approx-
imately 70%, which is vastly inferior to the values near 90% achieved
by modern turbines [1]. This difference in efficiency is due to
technological developments in areas such as design and
manufacturing that have been achieved due to the advance of
computers. Today, those computers are used as a principal tool in
the design process; in the case of the design of hydromachinery, a
very helpful tool is computational fluid dynamics (CFD) [2]. Initially,
the development of CFD in hydromachinery studies was focused on
reproducing real flow phenomenon, which cannot be analyzed
through analytical methods. Therefore, efforts were concentrated
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sara.rodriguez@correounivalle.edu.co (S.A. Rodríguez).
accurately as possible. This process began in the late 1970s with
quasi-3D Euler solutions; over the years, the analysis became
increasingly complex to the point of achieving solutions to the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in transient
multiphasic turbulent flows with fluid-structure interaction [2].
During this process, many investigators performed simulations of
hydromachinery with the objective of analyzing the flow behavior
inside the machine. In the case of Francis turbines, researchers have
conducted studies of performance, cavitation, sand erosion, and
transient phenomena [3e8], which have been the basis of in-
vestigations designed to improve the performance of this type of
equipment. These studies have also helped with the design of de-
vices for investigating the resistance of materials to sand and
cavitation erosion used in the manufacturing of hydromachinery
[9,10].
Several methodologies for obtaining performance improve-
ments have been employed; one of the most popular of such
methodologies has been the use of optimization algorithms. One of
the first studies on optimization using CDF was developed by
Pierret and Van den Braembussche [11]. In that study, a Simulated
Annealing (SA) algorithm and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)
were used to optimize the two-dimensional curves that define the
sections of a three-dimensional blade profile. They obtained
approximate computational solutions to the RANS equations in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.05.044
0960-1481/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
978 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
two-dimensional models of previous designs stored in a database
with the goal of training the ANN. The methodology used increases
the design process velocity by reducing the computational effort
and operator intervention. Einsigier and Ruprecht [12] used several
mathematical optimization algorithms to investigate the best way
to improve the efficiency of a Francis turbine’s draft tube. They
found that an algorithm based on search directions (approximation
of the gradients) was the fastest in terms of employed time; how-
ever, they established that it can lead to the detection of a local
minimum instead of a global minimum. Derakhshan and Mustafavi
[13] applied a multi-objective optimization procedure based on
ANN and GA coupled to CFD code with the goal of improving the
efficiency of a Francis turbine at the best efficiency point (BEP) by
optimizing the runner geometry. The efficiency was eventually
increased by almost 2 points.
Choi el al. [1] numerically and experimentally evaluated the
performance of an optimized 500-kW Francis turbine. As a prin-
cipal result, they obtained an increase in peak efficiency of 9.93%.
Similarly, Yang and Shu [14] optimized the hydrofoil of a helical
vertical axis turbine for power generation from marine current
using traditional GA. The experimental validation of the optimized
geometry showed improvements in the efficiency of the device.
Thapa et al. [8] optimized the runner blade’s profile by changing the
blade angle distribution using five shapes, with the objective of
reducing the relative velocities that cause erosion wear on the
blade’s profile. The final CFD analysis shows that the changes in the
velocity distribution lead to a decreased erosion index up to 33%.
Flores et al. [15] showed in their work how a high-capacity Francis
turbine can be designed using specific methods that include local
and global optimization. The designs of the spiral case, the stay and
guide vanes, the runner and the draft tube were developed with
optimization loops that use blade design tools, automatic meshing
software and CFD code driven by a GA.
In this work, a methodology based on experiment design,
Artificial Neural Networks, a Genetic Algorithm and the experience
of the people who work for the owner of the machines was used to
improve the geometry of several components of a Francis turbine.
The mechanical strength of the new geometries was also evaluated
with the objective of ensuring the quality of results.
2. Methodology
The process used to improve the turbine’s performance was
undertaken in two main parts. First, a numerical model of the
Fig. 1. 3D digitalization of the runner blade’s geometry.
current turbine was developed to obtain information about the
problems facing the turbine. This model was validated with
experimental data acquired in performance tests developed in the
power plant facilities. The obtained results were used to conduct a
first improvement based on a full factorial experiment design of the
geometries that are not related to the runner blade profile, such as
the covers, the guide vanes and certain zones of the runner. In the
second part, an optimization process based on ANN and GA was
used to improve the runner blade profile. A more detailed expla-
nation of each step of this process is presented in the following
subsections.
2.1. Flow simulation definition and experimental validation
To validate the output CFD results, a first simulation of the
complete current Francis turbine was conducted. Due to the
complexity of the runner blade’s geometry, it was necessary to
obtain a plaster model profile, which was followed by a 3D scan-
ning process (Fig. 1). The scanner used in the process has a
dimensional accuracy of 0.38 mm, and comparisons with the real
model results in differences of 0.8 mm. Due to the severe wear
facing the runner blades, it was necessary to use the specialized
turbo-machinery software ANSYS Bladegen to rebuild the missing
section of the blade’s geometry. This software helped to complete
the blade’s geometry using the information obtained from the
scanning process. After this procedure, all geometry domains were
separately drawn in a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system
following the recommendations presented in Ref. [6], with the goal
of obtaining a simple means of discretizing the turbine’s domains.
Each part of the domain was discretized with a structured mesh
and hexahedral elements using the software ANSYS ICEM CFD; the
complete domain was represented by 2,276,000 elements. The
mesh was refined to improve the accuracy and the numerical
convergence of the analysis. The independence between the results
and the mesh size was guaranteed with five simulations, by taking
the torque as the reference variable, as shown in Fig. 2, where the
difference between the last three results is less than 3%. Therefore,
the third mesh size was used in additional analysis in order to
minimize computational cost. Other authors [6] and tests results
showed that torque results are sufficiently accurate to perform this
type of comparison. The average value of the dimensionless
parameter yþ obtained in the runner and in the guide vanes was
44.5 and 64.5, respectively. The recommended values are between
20 and 200 if iterative design like the one used in this work is
 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
Fig. 2. Mesh Independence study.
carried out [16,17]. Moreover, the CFD code has implemented the
Automatic Near-Wall Treatment approach [18] which helps to
reduce mesh sensitivity in zones were Reynolds number is low.
The next step was to assemble each meshed domain in the full
turbine. This process was conducted using the ANSYS CFX software,
where the simulation settings and the boundary conditions were
also defined. Fig. 3 shows the mesh and the assembled domains of
the turbine.
Three domains were used to establish the simulation settings:
the first domain is composed of the stationary parts that are before
the runner in the flow path, such as the spiral case and guide vanes;
the second domain is a rotating domain composed of the runner;
and the third domain is a stationary domain composed of the draft
tube. Between the adjacent faces of the assembled parts, a general
grid interface (GGI) [19] boundary condition was established to
permit fluid flow through these faces. The rotation of the runner
was considered using the Frozen Rotor frame change model, in
which the frame of reference changes but the relative position of
the components across the interface is fixed [20]. This permits a
steady-state simulation to be performed. The disadvantages of this
model are that the transient effects at the frame change interface
Fig. 3. Meshed domain assembly.
979
are not modeled; however, the computational cost is significantly
lower than that of a transient simulation. Moreover, the experi-
mental tests demonstrated that the results obtained with the
frozen rotor are sufficiently accurate to be used in the optimization
process.
The simulation was defined as a steady-state simulation and
was performed using the ANSYS CFX solver. This Finite Volume
Method-based solver solves the incompressible Reynolds-Averaged
Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations in their conservative form. The
turbulence model used to close the system of equations is the two-
equation eddy-viscosity Shear Stress Transport k-u (SST k-u) tur-
bulence model [21]. In the discretization of the equations, a high-
resolution scheme for the advection terms was employed.
With the objective of building a graph of performance, five
simulations containing information about five operation points
were developed. The guide vane openings change those points,
resulting in different mass flows and simultaneously in different
energy production and efficiencies. The simulated points were
established in 19.4%, 41.2%, 57.3%, 68.6% and 100% of the maximum
guide vane opening. For each point, it was necessary to change the
guide vane geometry and corresponding mesh, therein maintaining
the similarities in regard to size and yþ to ensure the quality of the
results. The boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet of the
turbine were set depending of the operation conditions at each
point. A mass flow at the inlet and an opening pressure at the outlet
define these boundary conditions. The variables pressure and mass
flow were obtained from the experimental efficiency test devel-
oped at the power plant facilities. A non-slip condition was estab-
lished at the solid walls, ducts and runner blades. Fig. 4 shows the
locations of the inlet and outlet boundary conditions.
During the efficiency test, the variables were measured using
sensors that acquired current or voltage signals, which were
transformed to the corresponding variables in a signal processor.
Table 1 indicates the measured variables with the sensor used to
capture the respective signal. The data were captured with a fre-
quency of 1 Hz for 30 min, where 15 min were taken as a stabili-
zation time and the other 15 min were used in data analysis. This
procedure was repeated for the five operation points defined for
the simulation. The measured standard deviation corresponds to
the maximum value between the five points.
980 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

selected after an analysis of the flow simulation of the actual tur-

Fig. 4. Boundary conditions in Francis turbine.
2.2. Improvement of the turbine via experiment design
The first improvement of the turbine was based on four factors
that strongly influence machine performance. Those factors were
bine (Section 3.1), which identified the most relevant geometrical
configurations that affect the performance of the turbine and that
are different from the configurations of more efficient turbines
manufactured in recent years. Each factor has two levels arranged
in such a way that the output response was obtained through a 2n
full factorial experiment design [22]. In this case, the number 2
represents the level of each factor, and the n value represents the
number of factors. Varying these variables results in 16 simulations
that can be run. Each simulation was configured in the same way
described in the last section only for the best operation point (68.6%
of the maximum guide vane opening).
The analyzed factors were as follows.
Runner perforations: The current runner includes three large
perforations, which are located at the rear of the runner and allow
the evacuation of a large amount of water that is lost through the
gaps between the covers and the runner (Section 3.1). Recent de-
signs have smaller perforations in the same zone; moreover, even
more recent designs do not include perforations. Hence, in this
case, a low level, identified as 1, is considered as being without
perforations, and a high level, identified as þ1, is considered as
being with perforations (Fig. 5).
Gaps between covers and runner: These gaps are present to allow
the runner to spin relative to the covers and, depending of the size
of the gap, will produce greater or smaller volumetric losses. In
recent designs, labyrinth seals are used, thus providing an intricate
path to help reduce leakage. In this case, a low level, identified by
1, is considered as being without Labyrinth seals (current
configuration), and a high level, identified as þ1, is considered as
being with Labyrinth seals (Fig. 6).

Table 1
Measured variables in the experimental test.

Variable Sensor Location Signal Measure units Sensor standard Measured

deviation standard
deviation

Level in the upper reservoir Ultrasonic sensor Upper reservoir Current (4e20 mA) Meters above sea level ±2 mm ±13 mm
Level in the discharge Ultrasonic sensor Discharge channel Current (4e20 mA) Meters above sea level ±2 mm ±3.3 mm
Inlet pressure Digital pressure sensor Turbine inlet Current (4e20 mA) kPa ±0.4% ±0.1%
Torque Strain gage Turbine shaft Voltage (0e10 V) N-m ±0.25% ±0.28%
Axial force Strain gage Turbine shaft Voltage (0e10 V) N ±0.25% ±2.3%
Flow rate Ultrasonic flow rate sensor Penstock Current (4e20 mA) m3/s ±1% ±1.2%
Electric power Power sensor Electric board Current (4e20 mA) kW ±0.25% ±0.46%
Angular velocity Tachometer Turbine shaft Current (4e20 mA) rpm e ±0.07%

Guide vane opening LVDT sensor Servomotor Voltage (0e10 V) e ±0.25%

Fig. 5. (a) Runner without perforations (b) Runner with perforations.

 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992 981

Fig. 6. Gap between covers and runner. (a) Modified geometry with Labyrinth (b) Current geometry without Labyrinth.

Stay vanes: In the current configuration of the turbine, the stay
vanes are simply cylinders that apparently serve as structural
support. The turbine simulation results allowed us to identify flow
recirculation behind the cylinders that could generate energy losses
(Section 3.2, Fig. 18). A blade profile with the correct attack angle
redirects the flow and simultaneously reduces flow recirculation
and drag, which would provide reduced energy losses. Based on
this fact, a blade profile similar to recent turbine constructions was
chosen as a candidate to replace the current configuration. Thus,
the current configuration is considered as being a low level, iden-
tified by 1, and a modified configuration with blade profiles is
considered as being a high level, identified by þ1 (Fig. 7).
Guide vanes: Currently, these elements have a protuberance that
fills much of the blade profile’s area; in the simulation of the actual
turbine, it was identified that these protuberances affect the fluid
flow, thereby causing flow recirculation, which travels downstream
and degrades the turbine’s performance. On the other hand, it has
been identified thatrecent designs do not include these pro-
tuberances. Hence, the modified guide vanes are denoted as þ1,
and the current guide vanes are denoted as 1 (Fig. 8).
2.3. Runner blade optimization
The runner blade optimization was developed using a new
methodology based on the work of Derakhshan et al. [13] and
Kostrewa et al. [23], which combines Experiment Design (ED), ANN
and GA optimization. Fig. 9 shows the schematic procedure
implemented in the optimization.
The optimization process began by obtaining the geometry of
the runner blade as explained in Section 2.1. In the next step, the
Objective Function (OF) was defined based on the requirements on
power, efficiency or cavitation. The geometry was then parame-
terized using the software ANSYS Bladegen, which is specialized for
turbomachinery, and a mathematical function that describes the

Fig. 7. (a) Blade profile stay vane (b) Current configuration with cylinders.

Fig. 8. (a) Modified guide vane profile (b) Current geometry.

982 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

Fig. 9. Schematic procedure of runner blade optimization.

mean surface of a blade. The OF was directly related to these pa- solved during the optimization process.
rameters. The obtained geometry was meshed using the software
ANSYS Turbogrid, which is coupled to Bladegen and allows the
generation of an automatic structured mesh of the domain around 2.3.1. Artificial neural networks
the blade’s complex geometry. With the mesh available, a simula- The search for the global optimum that the GA performs re-
tion was conducted using the ANSYS CFX code. The obtained results quires the minimization of an OF, which, in this work, depends of
(performance) were compared to the requirements fixed in the OF; the solution of the flow equations obtained through CFD simula-
if the requirements were not satisfied, the optimization process tions. Such a simulation process utilizes significant computational
was to continue with database generation. This database should resources. Because the GA evaluates a large number of geometries
have a defined number of geometries based on the maximum in- that are associated with an OF value, this would require a large
formation about the available design space [24]. The database number of solutions obtained through CFD, and the process would
contains information generated by CFD about the performance be excessively costly in terms of computational resources.
related to several parameters that define the blade’s geometry. The To solve this problem, researchers such as Derakhshan et al. [13],
database was obtained through a full factorial experiment design Kostrewa, et al. [23] and Pierret et al. [11] have used ANN. In this
based on the work of Kostrewa et al. [23]. This information was case, the ANN is used in the calculation mechanism to obtain
used to train the ANN [25], which predicts the performance of a approximated solutions to the flow equations. This mechanism is
new geometry without using a CFD code, reducing the processing significantly faster than CFD; therefore, the evaluations that the GA
time from several minutes to seconds. The trained ANN was used as requires are going to be performed faster, and the process will be
the function to be minimized in the MATLAB code to find the more efficient.
optimal values of the parameters that define the blade’s geometry. An ANN is a computational model that imitates some
To accomplish this, an optimization GA [26] was used until the
global minimum was obtained. This minimum had a set of pa-
rameters that could be loaded into Bladegen to obtain a new
optimal geometry, which was meshed and simulated. The obtained
results in this new simulation were compared to the requirements;
if they did not fulfill them, the geometry was added to the database,
and a new ANN training and GA optimization process began. This
process was repeated until the requirements were met. The
convergence evolution of the OF in the runner blade’s optimization
process is presented in Fig. 10. It is observed that, as long as the
iterations continue, the difference in the OF between the ANN and
CFD decrease, which means that the ANN predictions are more
accurate. A total of 120 iterations were necessary to reach an
acceptable convergence, where the difference in the OF between
the CFD and ANN was 5%. Finally, additional modifications based on
the work of Billdal [27] were made to the obtained geometry to
correct cavitation problems at the leading edge that were not
Fig. 10. Convergence history of the optimization process.
 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
Fig. 11. ANN scheme [24].
capabilities of animal brains, among which is learning. This makes
it useful in several applications, including function mappings that
have multiple inlets and outlets. In this work, the ANN is used to
obtain data of an OF that are related to a geometry. To this end,
information contained in a database is required. The database is
obtained from several CFD simulations of different geometries
defined by several parameters. The database information is used in
the ANN’s training process in such a way that can predict the values
of the OF as an output variable from the inlet parameters of the
geometry.
Fig. 11 shows a scheme of an ANN [24]. This network consists of
elementary process units called neurons or nodes, which are
organized in interconnected layers that form a parallel structure.
The connections between layers are created with different in-
tensities, known as connection weights (W). In each node, a sum-
mation of all inlet signals with a bias (b) and the signal
transformation obtained through a transfer function (FT), which
generally is defined by a sigmoidal function, is conducted.
The training of this network is performed to find the weight and
bias coefficients; then, the trained ANN is used to find geometries
that remain unknown.
2.3.2. Geometry parameterization
The software ANSYS Bladegen allows the blade geometry to be
controlled using two-dimensional sections that are transformed
into a three-dimensional geometry. One section controls the
camber lines of the blade, defined by cubic splines, at different
equally spaced positions along the span between the hub and
shroud. The camber lines include several points, which can also be
Fig. 12. Graphical representation of the variables that define the blade’s mean surface.
983
equally spaced, and all camber lines together form the mean sur-
face of the blade. The other section controls the thickness of the
blade to define the suction and pressure sides. In this case, the
thickness of the blade was held constant.
The points’ position in the camber line is defined by an angle,
and the span and the blade’s length are divided into five parts,
resulting in 25 parameters to control in the optimization process,
which is highly costly to the optimizer. Thus, based on the current
actual blade’s geometry and a methodology proposed by Kostrewa
et al. [23], a function that defines the mean surface of the camber
was built. The function is defined by



z ¼ Að1  yÞ3 þ B  Cx2 ð1  yÞ2 þ ð1  yÞ D  Ex3 þ 16:2
(1)
where the constant values A, B, C, D and E are the parameters to be
varied by the GA to find the optimal geometry. The variable x is
non-dimensional and represents the position of the camber line
with respect to the total span, y is the non-dimensional position
along the blade length, and z represents the angular position of a
point in the blade’s mean surface defined by the camber lines (see
Fig. 12). Each of the constants in the function (factors) has a high
and low value (levels of factor) in the database construction pro-
cess. These values were selected in a trial-and-error process by
varying the values in ranges that contained the major quantity of
information about the design space without including odd
geometries.
2.3.3. Simplified CFD models
Given five parameters with two factor levels, many simulations
were necessary. The simulation of a full turbine takes approxi-
mately 11 h, which is too time consuming to complete the simu-
lations required to build the database and finish the optimization
process.
To minimize the time of the simulation, it was necessary to
simplify the turbine simulation. In most of the cases, the flow
around the runner could be considered as periodic to obtain
satisfactory results; however, in this case, the shaft crosses the draft
tube, which is uncommon, and periodic supposition is not valid
because is necessary to consider the section of the draft tube where
the fluid flows around the shaft. Due to the low pressures in the
draft tube, the shaft could be exposed to cavitation, which could
lead to cavitation erosion and further fatigue failure. In the opti-
mization process, the cavitation (monitored as absolute pressure)
in this zone was controlled because, in some simulated geometries,
cavitation appears around the shaft.
984 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
Fig. 13 shows the simplified geometry used in the blade opti-
mization process. The domains used are composed of the guide
vanes, the runner and a section of the draft tube. The settings of the
simulation are the same as those defined in the full turbine simu-
lation (Section 2.1), and the inlet and outlet boundary conditions
are taken from the results of the best operation point in the full
turbine simulation.
2.3.4. Objective function
The OF is directly related to the requirements imposed in the
design or redesign stages. In this case, the principal requirement is
to increase the efficiency. To achieve this, the optimization process
is used to minimize the OF. This function includes the variables to
be increased; however, the change in the geometries necessary to
increase the efficiency could cause other problems that could affect
the overall turbine performance. For example, testing of the first
optimization showed an increase in efficiency; however, the pos-
sibility of cavitation erosion appears in some zones of the runner
and the shaft. To solve this problem, penalty terms were added.
First, a height penalty was added to avoid exceeding the available
height. Moreover, it was necessary to add a pressure penalty in the
runner and the shaft to avoid cavitation. The axial force, which
could be an important variable in the optimization process, was no
longer considered in the OF because the results obtained in the first
stage (Section 3.2) showed a significant variation of this variable
with the runner perforations, and tests showed that the variation
with the blade’s geometry was small. Section 3.3 shows how the
axial force is addressed. The OF used is based on the work devel-
oped by Derakhshan [13] and is given by the following expression.
!2   !2
hreq  h Ht  H 2 ptshaft  pshaft
OF ¼ wh þ wh þ wshaft
hreq Ht ptshaft
 2
ptrunn  prunn
þ wprunn
ptrunn
(2)
where h is the efficiency result from the simulation; hreq is the
required efficiency (100%); H is the net height result; Ht is the limit
net height (35 m); pshaft is the simulated absolute pressure
Fig. 13. Simplified geometry used in the optimization process.
measured at a point near the shaft sensitive to cavitation emer-
gence, which was selected based on previous simulations; ptshaft is
the desired absolute pressure around the shaft (80 kPa); prunn is the
absolute pressure measured on a point sensitive to cavitation
emergence at the runner’s outlet; and ptrunn is the desired absolute
pressure at the runner’s outlet (60 kPa). The constants wh, wh, wshaft,
wprunn are weight factors that set the relative variable’s importance
in the optimization process and take on values of 10, 1, 5, and 5,
respectively.
2.4. Verification simulations
After completing the optimization process, verification simula-
tions of the optimal geometry were performed. First, cavitation
verification was performed. To accomplish this, full turbine tran-
sient simulations with the Rayleigh Plesset [19] cavitation model
were developed at full and partial load (19.4% of the maximum
guide vane opening). The boundary conditions, spatial discretiza-
tion, and turbulence model of these simulations are the same as
those applied in the steady simulation defined in Section 2.1. The
time discretization was performed with the implicit second-order
Backward-Euler Scheme, the convergence criteria were estab-
lished as 105 RMS, the time step was defined by considering the
time required to rotate the runner 1 (1.851  104 s), and the total
time simulated was 0.2 s, where the monitored variables, such as
pressure and power, were stabilized. The results of these simula-
tions were used to analyze transient phenomena, such as the vortex
rope or rotor-stator interactions, in combination with Finite
Element structural simulations to verify fatigue, resonance and
structural strength.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. CFD model validation
The first results of the full turbine simulation are helpful in
validating the turbine model. The variables used to validate the
model are power and efficiency, which are defined in Eqs. (3) and
(4), respectively.
Pmech ¼ T u (3)
where Pmech is the mechanical power in the shaft; T is the torque,
which is measured in the shaft and is an output variable in CFD
calculations; and u is the angular velocity, in rad/s, given by the
electrical generator.
 
Pmech
h¼ (4)
Q rgH
where h is the turbine’s efficiency, Pmech is the mechanical power, Q
is the flow rate, r is the water density, g is the standard earth
gravity, and H is the net height, which is given by Eq. (5).
!
2  V2
p  pout Vin out
H ¼ in þ ðhin  hout Þ þ (5)
rg 2g
where pin is the inlet pressure, pout is the outlet pressure, hin e hout is
the height difference between the inlet and outlet, Vin is the inlet
velocity, and Vout is the outlet velocity. The pressure variables are
measured with pressure sensors installed in the turbine.
Table 2 and Fig. 14 show a comparison between the experi-
mental and numerical results at different operation points. In both
Table 2 and Fig. 14, it can be seen that the differences between the
numerical and experimental results are small for guide vane
 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
Table 2
Comparison of experimental and numerical results of Francis turbine.
Guide vane opening Flow rate Actual mechanical power Simulated mechanical power Difference
(%) (m3/s) (kW) (kW) (%)
100 1.77 536.95 525.60
68.57 1.43 474.65 484.05
57.28 1.26 414.43 431.96
41.23 0.92 272.23 292.52
19.43 0.48 90.11 122.53
openings greater than 50%. The differences in the results at low
flow rates are due to the effects of transient phenomena, which are
not considered in a steady-state simulation and are more relevant
outside of the BEPs. Further, it is possible that modeling errors,
discretization errors and rounding errors affected the results of the
simulations at those points [3].
The results lead to the conclusion that the steady-state simu-
lation provides accurate results at the point of operation of 68.57%
of the maximum guide vane opening, which is the closest to the
BEP; therefore, the optimization process was performed at that
point.
Fig. 15 shows the streamlines around the runner blades corre-
sponding to the operation point closest to the BEP using two
different views. Two situations can be observed: First, there is a
large recirculation zone in the blade caused by the geometry
configuration of the blade and by the fact that its attack angle is
deflected off the flow direction. Second, it is noticeable that there is
excessive flow at the rear of the runner, which is due to the large
space in the gap between the runner and the covers where the
water can flow without restriction.
The first problem leads to energy losses, which produce effi-
ciency reductions; the second problem leads to volumetric losses,
which also affect the machine’s efficiency. Based on these results, it
can be concluded that the efficiency could be improved by
addressing these two problems by applying geometric variations.
Fig. 16 shows the absolute pressure contours in the runner
compared to the real runner. In this case, a large amount of material
has been lost in the real runner, which, according to the simulation
and the description presented in Ref. [28], is due to cavitation
erosion. The simulation shows pressures lower than the vapor
pressure in the worn zone, which means that, in these zones, the
emergence of cavitation bubbles occurs, causing further collapse
Fig. 14. Power comparison between the numerical and experimental results vs. flow rate.
985
Actual inlet pressure Simulated inlet pressure Difference
(kPa) (kPa) (%)
2.11 392.29 386.658 1.44
1.98 407.96 400.345 1.87
4.23 414.55 413.691 0.21
7.45 423.5 420.165 0.79
35.98 434.4 432.622 0.41
and thus material erosion. This is another problem that can be
solved with geometric modifications.
3.2. First improvement results
The experiment design approach to improving the turbine’s
performance described in Section 2.2 provided the first results
related to geometric modifications, as shown in Figs. 5e8. Fig. 17
shows the principal effects of the analyzed factors concerning the
turbine’s efficiency. It is clear that the major effect on the efficiency
is related to the runner perforations. The graph shows that, if the
perforations are eliminated, the mean efficiency will be increased
by 4.7%. In addition, it is noted that, by modifying the guide vanes
and adding a labyrinth, the efficiency can be further increased.
Moreover, the modification of stay vanes leads to decreased effi-
ciency. This could be contradictory because a blade profile generally
behaves better than does a cylinder. However, analyzing the flow
inside the turbine in Fig. 18, it can be observed that, at the inlet zone
of the flow, the blade profile generates excessive flow recirculation,
which is in contrast to the situation with the cylinders; in other
zones, the blade profiles perform well, but the efficiency decreases,
which suggests that the problem at the inlet zone is relevant and
that the current configuration should therefore not be changed. In
addition, in further analysis, it was found that the mutual effects of
combining stay vanes modifications do not significantly impact
efficiency. It is estimated that, with the proposed modifications,
when there are no perforations in the runner and when there are
modified guide vanes and labyrinths with the current cylinders as
stay vanes (Section 3.2), the efficiency will increase by 6 points.
Another important response variable that should be analyzed is
the axial force because an excessive increase in this force can cause
the bearing to fail. Moreover, the perforations at the rear of the
986 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

Fig. 15. Streamlines around the runner blades at 68.6% of the maximum guide vane opening.

runner have the function of reducing the axial thrust in the shaft. In
Fig. 19, it is shown that, when eliminating the perforations, the axial
force increases. This increase is above the design value (30 kN),
which means that the force should be decreased. In Section 3.3, it is
demonstrated that, by changing the position of the perforations,
the axial thrust can be reduced without significantly affecting the
efficiency. It is also observed that the other factors and their com-
binations do not have a significant effect on the axial force.
3.3. Effect of the modifications on the overall performance of the
turbine
Fig. 20 shows the evolution of the blade’s shape during the
optimization process defined by the normalized blade angle dis-
tribution relative to the inlet angle defined in Eqn. (6) at span 0.5.
b  b@in
bN ¼
b@out  b@in
where bN is the normalized blade distribution, b is the angle at a
specific point of the blade’s middle surface, b@in is the angle at the
blade’s leading edge, and b@out is the angle at the blade’s trailing
edge.
The presented efficiency is measured in the simplified model’s
geometry. During the initial tests, a high efficiency was obtained;
however, during the verification process (Section 3.4), it was found
that this geometry promotes cavitation in the shaft and runner
(Fig. 28), which can lead to major problems, whereas the geome-
tries obtained following the final optimization presented less
cavitation and high efficiency.
Fig. 21 shows the evolution of geometries in a cross section. It
can be observed that the geometry becomes more complex with
the evolution of the optimization process.
The final runner blade’s geometry obtained through the opti-
mization process and the modifications obtained through the
experiment design process were combined to conduct a full turbine
(6)
simulation with the objective of providing a comparison with the
current turbine.

Fig. 16. Cavitation computed by CFD compared to the actual runner.

 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992 987

Fig. 17. Principal effects of the turbine’s efficiency.

Fig. 18. Flow behavior around the stay vanes in a) Current geometry and b) Proposed geometry.

Fig. 19. Principal effects of the turbine’s axial thrust.

988 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

Fig. 22. Power vs. flow rate comparison of improved and current turbine. Full
simulation.

around the design point, where the runner blade’s optimization

Fig. 20. Comparison of blade angle distribution shapes during the optimization pro-
cess. Efficiency was measured using the simplified model.
Fig. 22 shows the results of power vs. flow rate for the improved
turbine simulation, the current turbine simulation and the exper-
imental results. Increased power for the improved turbine can be
noted in most of the operational ranges, especially the ranges
was performed. The power increase at the current maximum flow
rate is approximately 11%. In addition, a reduction in the blade’s
thickness enabled the possibility of increasing the flow rate due to
the increase in the cross sectional area in the channel formed be-
tween two blades in the runner, which could lead to a power in-
crease of 16.4% over the current production.
Fig. 23 shows the efficiency increase of the improved turbine
regarding the experimental results and the current simulated

Fig. 21. Evolution of blade geometry. The efficiency was measured using the simplified model.
 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992
Fig. 23. Efficiency vs. flow rate comparison of improved and current turbine. Full
simulation.
turbine’s results. In the figure, it can be seen that the efficiency only
marginally increases at low flow rates; however, at the BEP, where
the difference between the simulated and actual efficiency values is
less than 5%, the increase is greater than 6% regarding the simulated
results. In addition, at the current point of maximum power, the
efficiency increases by 14.77%. This allows one to believe that,
during real operation of the modified turbine at operation points
near the BEP, an improvement in the performance of the turbine
will be noted.
Fig. 24 shows the axial force of the improved turbine, which,
compared to the simulated and experimental results of the current
turbine, is too high; the force is greater than the design value of
30 kN. The figure also shows the result of a proposed solution at the
point near the BEP. This solution is based on recent constructions of
this type of turbine, where, instead of having the perforations in the
runner, the perforations are located in the turbine’s rear cover, and
a valve controls the flow rate through them. It is shown that this
modification performs very well, reducing the axial force to below
the limits of the design. Additionally, it is verified that the efficiency
is only slightly reduced (approximately 0.1%). The proposed
modification is shown in Fig. 25.
Fig. 26 shows a comparison of the streamlines around the
runner blades for the closest point to the BEP. It is clearly seen that
the recirculation of the fluid has decreased, which indicates
reduced energy losses and increased turbine efficiency. In Fig. 27,
the significant change in the blade’s geometry after the optimiza-
tion process and the final modifications can be observed.
Fig. 24. Axial force vs. flow rate comparison of the improved turbine, the current
turbine and the improved turbine with cover perforations. Full simulation.
989
Fig. 25. Proposed modification to reduce axial thrust.
3.4. Verification results
After performing the optimization process, the first verification
was cavitation. Fig. 28 shows the vapor volume fraction in a first
geometry obtained after the initial blade optimization compared to
the geometry obtained after the final optimization under similar
operating conditions. In Fig. 28a, a large zone of cavitation bubbles
in the runner and the shaft can be noted. The bubbles can cause
surface damage to the elements and lead to further component
failure. The most strongly affected element would be the shaft
because it is subjected to fluctuating stress, and surface damage can
lead to fatigue failure. With the final blade’s geometry (Fig. 28b),
cavitation is minimized, indicating that the optimization process
worked well.
Transient simulation results enabled the verification of the fa-
tigue performance. The most significant result of this transient
simulation is the fluctuation of the pressure coefficient Cp (Fig. 29),
defined as
pp
Cp ¼ 1 rU
(7)
1
2
where p is the pressure value at a point located between the guide
vane outlet and the runner inlet, p is the mean pressure in the
analyzed interval, r is the fluid density, and U1 is the runner’s
tangential velocity. It is easy to understand that the fluctuations
appear due to the rotorestator interaction. These pressure fluctu-
ations cause stress fluctuations on the runner, which can lead to
fatigue failure; the frequency of this fluctuation is 225 Hz, which is
obtained by multiplying the blade number by the rotational fre-
quency. To evaluate the risk of fatigue damage, the modified
Goodman criterion was used. The fluctuating stress was found us-
ing the results of the CFD transient simulation at the time where
there is a valley and a peak in the graph of Fig. 29. These results
were used in a structural simulation of the runner to find the Von
Mises stress, as shown in Fig. 30, where the maximum stress is
located in places sensitive to fatigue damage [29]. The difference
between the peak and valley at the point of maximum stress was
used to calculate the fatigue safety factor. The material assigned to
this component was ASTM CA6NM steel, whose fatigue properties
are described in Ref. [30]. The fatigue limit was corrected with
factors that consider the effect of the environment [31], the surface
finish and the geometry. In the end, the obtained safety factor was
4.56 if the turbine operates for more than 100 years.
A similar procedure to that used for the runner was used for the
990 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

Fig. 26. Streamlines around runner blades. a) Current geometry b) Optimized geometry.

Fig. 27. Comparison of the blade’s geometry. a) Current b) Optimized.

Fig. 28. Cavitation verification. a) First runner blade’s optimization result. b) Final runner blade’s geometry.

covers to obtain a minimum fatigue safety factor value of 1.8, taking

Fig. 29. Pressure coefficient behavior vs. time.
as reference the fatigue limit of ASTM A36 steel. Fig. 31 shows the
Von Mises stress distribution in the turbine’s covers. The rear cover
has the highest stress value because this element has the largest
area exposed to fluid pressure.
Finally, from the CFD transient simulation, a Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) analysis was performed to obtain the graph in
Fig. 32, which provides information about the peak frequencies in
the operation point at maximum and minimum power. The data
were measured at a point located between the guide vane outlet
and the runner inlet. It is clear that the highest peaks are at the
same frequencies, and this was used for comparison with the
resonance frequencies computed by FEM in a modal analysis. The
 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992 991

verification was performed in the rotating system (Fig. 33) and in

the stationary system, which is composed of the spiral case
covering the guide vanes and the draft tube. No coincidences of
resonance frequencies with those computed with the FFT analysis
were found, which indicates that the new design of the modified
elements would provide good performance during the turbine’s
operation.

4. Conclusion

A new methodology based on computational fluid dynamics

Fig. 30. Von Mises stress distribution in the runner.
(CFD), experiment design, ANN, GA and the experience of people
who work for the owner of the machine was developed to improve
the performance of a Francis turbine. In the end, the turbine’s ef-
ficiency was increased by 14.77% at the point of maximum power,
and the energy production could be increased by 16.4% over the
current production if a sufficient flow rate is provided. During this
process, cavitation production and axial force were minimized. The
mechanical verification of the newly obtained geometries provided

Fig. 31. Von Mises stress distribution in turbine’s covers. a) Rear cover b) Front cover.

Fig. 32. Frequency spectrum of the fluctuations at the rotorestator interaction.

992 L.A. Teran et al. / Renewable Energy 96 (2016) 977e992

Fig. 33. Frequency modes of the rotating system.

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