NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF SEDIMENT

EROSION AND CAVITATION OF FRANCIS

TURBINE
Group Members:
Ram Manandhar – 42164
Bikash Singh – 42174
Ranjeet Twayna – 42175
Introduction
• Large quantities of sediment with hard abrasive particles
in Himalayan rivers of Nepal.
• Quartz as a main constituent (more than 50%), along with
feldspar and other hard minerals having hardness more
than 5 Moh’s scale.
• Erosion is mostly observed around stay vanes, guide
vanes and runner blades.
• Cavitation occurs when the static pressure of the liquid
falls below its vapor pressure, the liquid boils and large
number of small bubbles of vapors are formed Figure 1 Cavitation in Runner [2]
Introduction
• It presents unwanted consequences such as flow instabilities, excessive vibrations,
damage to material surfaces and degradation of machine performance.
• Performance characteristics of sediment and cavitation erosion on a hydraulic
Francis turbine can be investigated using ANSYS-CFX.

Figure 2 Eroded Guide vanes [1] Figure 3 Erosion at Runner outlet [1]
Objectives
• To investigate the cavitation phenomenon in Francis turbine.
• To study sediment erosion in the Francis turbine.
• To propose the optimum design having low cavitation and sediment erosion effect
Francis turbine.
Scope
• This project studies the cavitation effect and sediment erosion effect on low head
and simplified Francis turbine of 14-kilowatt.
• The effects are analyzed through CFD analysis using ANSYS.
• Analysis will be done both in part load and full load conditions.
Limitation
 Numerical analysis in this project is only applicable for the 14-kilowatt low head
Francis turbine.
Methodology
Mechanism of Particle Erosion
• Wear caused by the impacts of solid or liquid particles on a solid surface
• Accompanied with relatively small particles with several number of wear mechanisms

Figure 4 Abrasive erosion Figure 5 Fatigue

Methodology
• Affected by several factors that can be categorized into:
i) Operating conditions: velocity, acceleration, impingement angle, flux rate
or concentration, medium of flow and temperature
ii) Eroding particles properties - size, shape hardness and material
iii) Target material properties - chemistry, elastic property, hardness and
surface morphology

Figure 6 Plastic deformation Figure 7 Erosion by brittle fracture

Methodology
Theory of cavitation
• The phenomenon of formation, growth, travel and sudden collapsing of the vapor
bubbles
• When the vapor bubbles collapse, very high pr. is created
• The metallic surfaces, above which these vapor bubbles collapse, is subjected to
these high pr., which cause pitting action on the surface
• Cavities are formed on the metallic surface and also considerable noise and
vibration are produced
Activities
Literature Review Design Sediment erosion
detection

Cavitation phenomenon
Optimization Analysis
using ANSYS
 Set current design (X1,X2,X3)

CFD solver

Solve Cavitation effect Solve Sediment erosion

Optimization
X1- Runner outlet diameter
Compute objective function Compute objective function X2- Peripheral velocity at inlet
f(X1,X2,X3) g(X1,X2,X3) X3- Blade angle distribution

Stop
Condition

Post Processing
Gantt Chart
Week July August September

Work 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Project selection

Proposal defense

Literature-review

Meshing

Simulation: sediment erosion and

cavitation

Post-Processing

Final presentation

Work Completed

Work Remaining
Outcomes
• To develop a documented procedure for investigating the effect of sediments and
cavitation on 14-kilowatt low head Francis turbine.
• To predict the sediment erosion effect and cavitation effect on the 14-kilowatt low
head Francis turbine which degrade its performance.
• To justify the design of a 14-kilowatt low head Francis turbine with low cavitation
and sediment erosion effect.
References
[1] O. G. D. M. C. Hari Prasad Neopane, "Sediment Erosion in Hydraulic Turbines," Global
Journal of researches in engineering, vol. 11, no. 6, 2011.
[2] R. S. Pankaj Gohil, "Numerical Study of Cavitation in Francis Turbine of a Small Hydro
Power Plant," Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, vol. 9, pp. 357-365, 2016.
[3] S. Chitrakar, "SECONDARY FLOW AND SEDIMENT EROSION IN FRANCIS
TURBINES," 2018.
[4] P. B. S. A. Keshav Kr. Acharya, "Hydraulic and Mechanical Design of Bifurcation for
Hydropower Plants," Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhulikhel, 2015.
[5] K. G. M. E. O. g. D. B. T. Biraj Singh Thapa, "Effect of Turbine Design Parameters on
Sediment Erosion of Francis Runner," 5-7 January 2012.
[6] F. Avellan, "Introduction to Cavitation in Hydraulic Machinery," in The 6th International
Conference on Hydraulic Machines and Hydrodynamics , Timisoara, Romania, 2004 .
References
[7] E. E. M. F. F. A. M. C. Xavier Escaler, "Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 20
(2006) 983-1007," 10 August 2004. [Online]. Available: www.sciencedirect.com.
[8] M. M. a. E. Nobile, "Numerical Predictions of Cavitating Flow around Model Scale
Propellers by CFD and Advanced Model Calibration," International Journal of Rotating
Machinery , vol. 2012, no. 10.1155/2012/618180, 2012.
[9] P. J. Gogstad, "Hydraulic design of Francis turbine," Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, Norway, 2012.
[10] B. S. Thapa, "HYDRAULIC DESIGN OF FRANCIS TURBINE TO MINIMIZE
SEDIMENT EROSION," Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhulikhel, 2012.