Water Turbines

What is Turbine?
A ‘Turbine’ is a rotary engine that extracts energy from the fluid flow and converts it into the
useful work.
The simplest turbines have one moving part a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with
blades attached. Moving fluid act on the blades or the blades react to the flow, so that they move
and impart the rotational energy to the rotor.
Reference: http://www.idc-
online.com/technical_references/pdfs/mechanical_engineering/Turbines_and_its_types.pdf
What is Water Turbine?
The water turbine is a mechanical device that converts potential energy contained in the elevated
body of water (river or reservoir) into the rotational mechanical energy.
Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power
prior to electrical grids. Now they are mostly used for electric power generation. Water turbines
are mostly found in dams to generate electric power from water kinetic energy.
Ref.: 1) Modern_Hydroelectric_Engineering_Practice_Prof_OD_Thapar/Volume_I/Chapter-
3_Hydraulic_Turbine_Classification_and_Selection.pdf.
2) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water turbine, Types of water turbines.
Classification of Hydraulic Turbines:
For liquids, we call turbines as hydraulic turbine or hydroturbine.
According to major classification of turbines are divided into two categories:
1) Impulse Turbines
2) Reaction Turbines
Impulse Turbines:
These turbines convert the available water head into the kinetic energy in a nozzle. These
turbines are above the ground. There are many types of impulse turbines. But here we discuss
only one example of impulse turbine and its performance parameters that is given below…..
 Pelton Turbines……
Reference: 1) Lectures notes, 2) Energy system course lecture notes of university of Rome,
Industrial dept

Reaction Turbines:
 In reaction turbines the flow of water takes place in a closed pipe system. A part of potential
energy converted into kinetic energy and other part into the pressure energy. Water flows in a
closed system and turbines are dipped in the water. Water flows through a pipe in reaction
turbine. The examples of reaction turbines are too many but here we discuss only these given
below….
 Radial flow: Francis Turbine
 Axial flow: propeller (fixed blades) or Kaplan (variable pitch blades)
Reference: 1) Lectures notes, 2) Energy system course lecture notes of university of Rome,
Industrial dept.
Reference: 1) Lectures notes, 2) Energy system course lecture notes of university of Rome,
Industrial dept.
Now we discuss the impulse turbines in detail….
As I told earlier that I will discuss only Pelton turbines….
Pelton Turbines:
A Pelton turbine essentially consists of one or more injectors for generating high speed jet
and a wheel with buckets for receiving the jet energy. An injector must primarily perform two
tasks. Firstly, the injector nozzle converts the pressure energy of the water into the kinetic energy
of high speed jet. Secondly the injector relates the flow rate via a built-in needle which is driven
by the servomotor. The power exchange is finally achieved by the interaction between the jet and
Pelton buckets. Because of the rotation of the Pelton wheel, both of the centrifugal and Coriolis
forces are influencing the flow. The form of flow and its distribution within the bucket therefore
differ fundamentally from those in the straight-moving bucket.
Working operation of Pelton Turbine:
In Pelton turbines, the available hydraulic energy exists as potential energy, which is
measured in the form of geodetic height difference between the upper level of water in the
reservoir and the turbines in the machine house of a lower altitude. The height difference is
denoted as hydraulic head in the terminology of hydropower. The conversion of the potential
energy into the usable mechanical energy is completed by first converting the potential energy
into kinetic energy in the form of high-speed jets at the altitude of the turbine wheel. For the
energy conversion, one or many injectors can be used. By neglecting the friction losses in the
injector, the jet speed is calculated according to the Bernoulli equation by…

𝐶𝑜 = √2𝑔𝐻

With H as the net pressure head at the inlet of the injector. This equation is generally called the
Torricelli formula.
As second step, the conversion of the kinetic energy of the jet into the mechanical energy is
accomplished by the interaction between the jet and the rotating buckets of the Pelton turbine. As
a working principle for simplicity, a straight translating bucket of constant speed U is first
considered in figure. This assumption of straight movement means that during the interaction
between the jet and the bucket, only the impulsive force is effective.
The interaction between the water jet and the bucket is considered directly in the relative
moving system. For the flow at the bucket entry and with 𝐶1 =𝐶0 , the relative velocity between
the jet and moving bucket is given by….
𝑊1 = 𝐶1 + U …………………… (1)
Once the water flow reaches and then leaves the bucket exit at an angle β2, it is again subjected
to atmospheric pressure. The relative velocity of the total water flow is then reset to its initial
value according to according to equation (1) i.e. 𝑊1 = 𝑊2 =𝑊, the absolute velocity is thus
given by…
𝐶22 = 𝑈 2 + 𝑊 2 + 2WU Cos𝛽2 ……………….. (2)
The component of the total force in the direction of the bucket motion is calculated by the
following momentum balance equation…
𝐹𝑏𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚𝑤 (𝑊1 -𝑊2 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝛽2) = 𝑚𝑤 W (1-cos𝛽2).... (3)
As 𝑚𝑐 = ρ𝐶𝑜 𝐴𝑗𝑒𝑡
𝑚𝑤=𝑊⁄ . 𝑚𝑐 ………………….... (4)
𝐶𝑜

The impulsive force exerted on the bucket, as given in (3) may be rewritten as,
𝑚𝑐 𝑊 2
𝐹𝑏𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 = ∗(1-cos𝛽2 )……………. (5)
𝐶𝑜

The power received by the bucket is….

𝑚𝑐 𝑊 2
𝑃=𝐹𝑏𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 *U= ∗(1-cos𝛽2)*U……….. (6)
𝐶𝑜

The specific work done by the mass flow interaction with the moving bucket is given by….
e=P. 𝑡𝑐 . 𝑘 …………………………….......... (7)
As k=Co/W and 𝑀𝑐 . 𝑡𝑐 =1 thus obtained……
e= WU (1-cos𝛽2)…………………………… (8)
𝑑𝑒⁄ = 0 and W=Co-U, it follows…
𝑑𝑢
U/Co = 0.5

e= 1⁄4 . 𝐶𝑜2 (1-cos𝛽2)……………………….. (9)

𝐶22 = 1⁄2 . 𝐶𝑜2 (1+cos𝛽2)…………………… (10)

The maximum speed work is at β2=180,

e= 1⁄2 . 𝐶𝑜2 …………………………… (11)

The maximum hydraulic efficiency is ….
𝜂ℎ,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 0.5 (1-cos𝛽2)………………….. (12)

References: /www.springer.com/978-3-319-31908-7
Francis Turbines:
The most common and preferred type of turbine is the Francis turbine, invented by James Francis
in Lowell, MA in 1848.Francis turbines are used to generate about 60 of the global hydro-power
in the world, making them the most widely used type of of turbine. This type of turbine receives
water at high pressure and causes the water exiting the turbine to leave at a much lower pressure.
This change in momentum is transferred to the blades and causes the shaft to rotate at a much
greater frequency. This causes the Francis turbine to be capable of much greater power output
and therefore higher efficiency than other types of turbines.
\subsection{Components of Francis Turbines and working operation}

The main components of a Francis Turbine are the runner, runner blades, guide/stay vanes, spiral
casing, and draft tube. The runner blades are the component of the turbine which the water
strikes. The impact force of the water on the blades causes rotation of the runner, which causes
the shaft to rotate as well. The guide or stay vanes are fixed in place at the entrance, and control
the angle of the flow of water towards the runner blades. They also cause the pressure energy
created by the water to convert to kinetic energy and momentum and reduce whirling caused by
water entering the turbine at high pressures. Since these guide vanes control the flow of water
impacting the runner, they indirectly can affect the power production of the generator. This is
important, since the power demand changes on a daily basis. The guide vanes can be controlled
and synchronized as best as possible with the power demand in that local area. The runner itself
is placed inside of the spiral casing, which allows the water that enters the runner region during
the process to remain at a relatively constant velocity. This is achieved due to the decrease in
spiral diameter as the fluid flows through. The water exits the turbine through the draft tube. This
is one of the most crucial aspects of the Francis turbine when it comes to design. This is due to
the possibility of cavitation, meaning the pressure drops so drastically that at the exit,
the local pressure drops below the vapor pressure of water. This causes the water to boil and
form bubbles, and after the water exits this region it rapidly increases in pressure and causes the
bubbles to burst. This can cause severe damage to equipment or the environment, so is very
crucial to avoid. The draft tube can prevent this from happening due to its very large increase in
cross sectional area. The velocity decreases due to continuity, and all of the velocity head gets
reduced.
References: Rachael Haas, Michael Hiebert, Evan Hoatson
Colorado State University, CIVE 401
Expressions:
V_r1=Q/2\pi r_1B
N_st=N_p^{1/2}/H^{5/4}
\alpha_1=arccot(r_1\omega/V_r1 + cot\beta_1)

P=\gamma\enspace Q H \eta_k
References: Noelle Fillo, Kimberly Fridsma, Callen
Hecker
Colorado St
ate University, CIVE 401