Libya Stat

Misurata university
College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Report about:

The Hydraulic Turbines

By:
Basem Mohammed Rajab
Doctor :
Jamal Yassin

2016 -2015

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. CLASIIFICATION OF HYDRAULIC TURBINE.
- Impulse Turbine
PELTON TURBINE.
- Reaction Turbine
KAPLAN OR PROPELLER TURBINE.
FRANCIS TURBINE.
3. Specific Speed NS of a Hydraulic Turbine
4. Euler Head and Efficiencies of a Hydraulic Turbine.

5. The Impulse Turbine Theorem.

Hydraulic Turbines
1. Introduction :
A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid
flow and converts it into useful work, namely electricity. Machines which
convert hydraulic energy(energy possessed by water) into mechanical
energy are hydraulic machines.
So A hydraulic machine is a device in which mechanical energy is
transferred from the liquid flowing through the machine to its
operating

member

(runner,

piston

and

others)

or

from

the

operating member of the machine to the liquid flowing through it.

the

hydraulic

machines

that

convert

hydraulic

energy

into

mechanical energy is called Hydraulic Turbine.

Fig (1) : The Turbine

A hydraulic turbine uses potential energy and kinetic energy of water and
converts it into usable mechanical energy. The mechanical energy made
available at the turbine shaft is used to run an electric power generator

which is directly coupled to the turbine shaft, The electric power which is
obtained from the hydraulic energy is known as Hydroelectric energy.
Hydraulic turbines belong to the category of roto- dynamic machinery.
Now

they

are

mostly

used

for electric

power generation.

water turbines are mostly found in Embankment dams to generate electric

power from water kinetic energy.

Fig (2) : Generate electricity by The hydraulic Turbine

2. Classification Of Hydraulic Turbine:

The hydraulic turbines are classified according to type of energy available
at the inlet of turbine, direction of flow through vanes, head at the inlet of
the turbines and specific speed of the turbines.
There are two main types of hydro turbines: impulse and reaction. The
type of hydropower turbine selected for a project is based on the height
of standing waterreferred to as "head" and the flow, or volume of
water, at the site. Other deciding factors include how deep the turbine
must be set, efficiency, and cost.

Turbine
Reaction
Turbine

Francis
Turbine

Impulse
Turbine

Kaplan or
Propeller Turbine

Pelton
Turbine

Fig (3) : Classification Of Hydraulic Turbine

1. Impulse Turbine
The impulse turbine generally uses the velocity of the water to move the
runner and discharges to atmospheric pressure. The water stream hits
each bucket on the runner. There is no suction on the down side of the
turbine, and the water flows out the bottom of the turbine housing after
hitting the runner. An impulse turbine is generally suitable for high head,
low flow applications.

Fig (4) : Impulse Turbine

The Pelton wheel is a classical example of an impulse turbines.

 Pelton wheel :
This turbine is named after Lester A. Pelton (1829 1908) an American
Engineer who developed it in the year 1880, In this type of turbines the
Water is blasted at these cups by one or more jets mounted in the
surrounding casing. Momentum is transferred from water to cups, and a
torque is created, causing the wheel to rotate. And it have horizontal
shaft.

Fig (5) : Horizontal axis 1-jet Pelton turbine

Fig (6) : Horizontal axis multiple -jet Pelton turbine

this type of turbine is have highly efficient. The following table shows
that :
Head
Pelton type
Specific Speed
Efficiency
(in meter)
Single Nozzle

12- 30

89%

2000

2 nozzle

17-50

89%

1500

4 nozzle

24- 70

89%

500

- The Main Parts of a Pelton Wheel is :

1. Nozzle: It controls the amount of water striking the vanes of the
runner.

2. Casing: It is used to prevent splashing of water and plays no part

in power generation.
3. Runner with buckets: Runner is a circular disc on the
periphery of which a number of evenly spaced buckets are fixed.
4. Breaking Jet: To stop the runner in short time breaking jet is
used.

2. Reaction Turbine
A reaction turbine develops power from the combined action of pressure
and moving water. The runner is placed directly in the water stream
flowing over the blades rather than striking each individually. Reaction
turbines are generally used for sites with lower head and higher flows
than compared with the impulse turbines.
The Most water turbines in use are reaction turbines and are used in low
(<30m/98 ft) and medium (30-300m/98984 ft) head applications. In
reaction turbine pressure drop occurs in both fixed and moving blades. It
is largely used in dam and large power plants.
The Propeller or Kaplan, and Francis are a classical examples of an
reaction turbines.

Fig (7) : a- Francis turbine

b-Kaplan turbine.

Kaplan (Propeller) turbine :

Kaplan turbine is a type of propeller turbine which was developed during
1900s by the Austrian engineer Victor Kaplan (1876 1934), the Kaplan
turbine is a low head turbine and used for heads of less than 80 metres.
The runner of a kaplan turbine resembles with propeller of a ship. That is
why, a Kaplan turbine is also called as propeller turbine.
A Kaplan turbine generally has a runner with three to six blades in which
the water contacts all of the blades constantly. Picture a boat propeller
running in a pipe. Through the pipe, the pressure is constant; if it isn't, the
runner would be out of balance. The pitch of the blades may be fixed or
adjustable. The major components besides the runner are a scroll case,
wicket gates, and a draft tube.

Fig (8) : Kaplan (Propeller) turbine

this type of turbine is have highly efficient. The following table shows
that :
Type
Propeller&
Kaplan

Specific speed(in
rpm)
340-1000

Efficiency

Head (in meters)

93%

10-60

Francis turbine :
It is named after James B. Francis (1815 1892) an English born inventor
who developed the turbine in the year 1849. It is used when the head is
between 80 to 500 meters. i.e. it is a medium head turbine. and It is a
mixed flow reaction turbine.
A Francis turbine has a runner with fixed buckets (vanes), usually nine or
more. Water is introduced just above the runner and all around it and then
falls through, causing it to spin. Besides the runner, the other major
components are the scroll case, wicket gates, and draft tube.

This type of turbine is have highly efficient. The following table shows
that :
Specific Speed(in
Head
Francis type
Efficiency
rpm)
(in meter)
Low

250-400

93%

30-60

Medium

150-250

93%

50-150

High

80-150

93%

500

- The Main Parts of a Francis turbine is :

- CASING: The runner is completely enclosed in an air-tight spiral
casing. The casing and runner are always full of water.
- GUIDE MECHANISM: Water is fall down to the turbine and
passed through the nos of stationary orifices fixed all around the
circumference of the runner , this is called guide vanes . The guide
vanes allow the water to strike the vanes of the runner without
shock at inlet
- RUNNER: It is a circular wheel on which a series of curved radial
guide vanes are fixed.
- DRAFT TUBE: It is used for discharging water from the outlet of
the runner to the tail race.

Fig (9) : The Main Parts of a Francis turbine

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Fig (10) : The Francis turbine

In addition to electrical production, The Francis turbine may also be used for
pumped storage, where a reservoir is filled by the turbine (acting as a pump)
during low power demand, and then reversed and used to generate power
during peak demand .
The following table shows the difference between the three types Hydraulic
Turbine :

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The following table shows the difference between the main two types of
Hydraulic Turbine :

3. Specific Speed NS of a Hydraulic Turbine :

Speed of a turbine, identical in shape, geometrical dimensions, blade angles
etc., with actual turbine but with such a size that itll developed unit horse
power when working under unit head. Where Specific Speed :
NS = (N P )/ H5/4
Where:
N= Normal working Speed in rpm
P= Power output of the turbine
H= net or effective heads in meters

4. Euler Head and Efficiencies of a Hydraulic Turbine :

1. Euler's Head: It is defined as energy transfer per unit weight.

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2.Efficiencies of a Hydraulic Turbine: The efficiencies of a Hydraulic

Turbine depending on the considerations of input and output, the
efficiencies can be classified as :
(i) Hydraulic Efficiency
(ii) Mechanical Efficiency
(iii) Volumetric efficiency
(iv) Overall efficiency
Hydraulic efficiency: is ratio of power developed by the runner of
a turbine to the power supplied by the water at the inlet.

Mechanical efficiency: is ratio of power available at the shaft to

power developed at the runner.

Volumetric efficiency: is ratio of volume of the water actually

striking the runner to the volume of water supplied to the turbine.
Overall efficiency: is ratio of power available at the shaft of the
turbine to the power supplied by the water at the inlet of the turbine.

Or

5. The Impulse Turbine Theorem :

The power available from falling water can be calculated from the
flow rate and density of water, the height of fall, and the local
acceleration due to gravity :

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For an impulse turbine of a Pelton-wheel type, the mechanical power can be

changed by means of changing h , Q, and H inputs because r and g are
constant.
The force exerted by the water jet on buckets (vanes) of the runner in the
direction of motion is given as:

Fig (11) : Velocity triangles for the jet striking the bucket

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Work done per second by the jet on the vane is given by the product of
Force exerted on the vane and the distance moved by the vane in one
Second:

Here, u = Tangential linear velocity of the bucket wheel at pitch circle in

m/s.
The energy supplied to the jet is in the form of kinetic energy which is given
as 1/ 2mv2 .
Now, Kinetic Energy (K.E.) of the jet per second is given as:

Hydraulic Efficiency = h h Work done by jet per second K.E. of jet per
second.

From inlet velocity triangle, Vw1 = V1

Assuming no shock and ignoring frictional losses through the vane, we
have Vr1 = Vr2 = (V1 u1 )
In case of Pelton wheel, the inlet and outlet are located at the same radial
distance from the center of runner and hence u1 = u2 = u
From outlet velocity triangle, we have :

AND :

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Substituting these values in the above equation for efficiency, we have:

The above equation gives the efficiency of the jet striking the vane in
case of Pelton wheel.
To obtain the maximum efficiency for a given jet velocity and vane angle,
from maxima-minima, we have :

i.e. When the bucket speed is maintained at half the velocity of the jet,
the efficiency of a Pelton wheel will be maximum. Substituting we get:

From the above it can be seen that more the value of cos , more will be

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the efficiency. Form maximum efficiency, the value of cos should be 1

and the value of should be 00 . This condition makes the jet to completely
deviate by 1800 and this, forces the jet striking the bucket to strike the
successive bucket on the back of it acting like a breaking jet. Hence to avoid
this situation, at least a small angle of =50 should be provided.

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