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Sand erosion of Pelton turbine nozzles and buckets: A case study of Chilime
Hydropower Plant

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DOI: 10.1016/j.wear.2007.02.021

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Wear 264 (2008) 177–184

Sand erosion of Pelton turbine nozzles and buckets:

A case study of Chilime Hydropower Plant
T.R. Bajracharya a,∗ , B. Acharya a , C.B. Joshi a , R.P. Saini b , O.G. Dahlhaug c
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering,
Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur, Nepal
b Alternate Hydroelectric Centre (AHEC), Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India
c Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

Received 3 March 2006; received in revised form 21 January 2007; accepted 21 February 2007
Available online 19 April 2007

Abstract
Erosion of hydro turbine components through sand laden river water is one of the biggest problems in the Himalayan region. This problem
exists for all kinds of turbines. Apart from erosion of buckets, erosion was also observed in nozzle of the Pelton turbines due to sand particles and
such problem was observed in 22 MW Chilime Hydropower Plant in Nepal. Detailed studies were conducted and erosion analysis was carried out
in this case study. Sieve and mineral content analyses were systematically carried out and sediment load was calculated. By doing this, erosion
rate and efficiency reduction were established using already known methodology and scenario for similar hydropower plants. The flow analysis
through surface of needle was established by drawing flow net diagrams. This detrimental damage led to efficiency reduction of 1.21% consequently
resulting in loss of power generation. A wear rate of 3.4 mm/year was estimated for the needle and the bucket after a systematic analysis.
© 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Erosion; Sand particles; Bucket; Nozzle

1. Introduction water are mixtures of particles with different sizes as presented

Water resource in Nepal is one of the major energy resources
and in fact is a gift of the nature. This is formed by the snow-
capped mountains, glaciers and regular monsoons. An average
annual precipitation of 1503 mm and an annual runoff of about
224 billion cubic meters through more than 6000 large and small
rivers have largely made Nepal rich in hydropower with its
potential of about 83,000 MW. Presently, only 43,000 MW is
techno-economically feasible to tap [1]. However, till date, only
around 600 MW has been harnessed.
The influence of heavy rains during the monsoon period
(June–September) causes wide variation in river flows, land ero-
sion and landslides in Nepal. This produces high sediment in the
rivers due to the fragile geographical composition of the coun-
try. Sediments are formed due to the fragmentation of rock due
to chemical and mechanical weathering. The sediments in river
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +977 1 5542054; fax: +977 1 5525830.
E-mail address: triratna@ioe.edu.np (T.R. Bajracharya).
in Table 1.
It is estimated that the total specific sediment yield of the
country is about 4240 tonnes/km2 /year. Marshyangdi River is
one of the sediment-laden rivers in Nepal [2]. The sedimen-
tological study performed in 1981 has revealed an average
annual load of 26.7 million tonnes and bed load of 2.9 mil-
lion tonnes. Out of this total load, 90% of the sediments are
transported in the river during the monsoon season from May
to October. Similar conditions also prevail in rest of the rivers.
Such excessive sediment in the Himalayan Rivers is also due
to the presence of weak rocks, and extreme relief in the region
apart from heavy monsoon. Hence sediment management has
become primary importance for the safety, reliability and longer
life of infrastructure projects like hydropower, irrigation and
drinking water projects in Nepal. The sediment data collec-
tion was started in Nepal since 1963 in Karnali River basin.
Hydropower projects like Marsyangdi, Jhinuuk and Khimti are
monitoring sediment transport phenomenon regularly. Still there
is a lack of sufficient information of sediment quantity and
property for scientific analysis to investigate its detrimental

0043-1648/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2007.02.021
178 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184
Table 1
Classification of river sediment
Particle Clay Silt
Size (mm) Less than 0.002 0.002–0.06
effects [3]. Fig. 1 shows quartz content in some of the rivers
of Nepal.
The particles causing erosion of turbine components in
hydropower plants are the sediments contained in river water.
These sediments are found in a form of clay, silt, sand and
gravel with the specific gravity of approximately 2.6. In the
river hydraulics, sediment particles are classified into bed-load
and suspended-load based on transport mechanism of sediment.
Fraction of suspended load is settled down in the settling basins
or reservoirs and rest will pass through turbines causing wear of
different components.
2. Chilime Hydro Electric Project (CHEP)
There are 19 hydropower plants in Nepal with generating
capacity of 2 MW and more. Mostly these projects are Run-
off-River (ROR) except Kulekhani Hydropower plant and are
affected by sand erosion. Such kind of erosion has become
a part of the regular activities in most of the hydropower
projects. Under the present study, an analysis for sand par-
ticle led damages of Pelton needle has been carried out for
Chilime Hydropower Plant (CHEP) having total plant capacity
of 22 MW.
The CHEP is a ROR type project with 4 h peak load. It takes
the water from the Chilime River which then flows from the
canal into the desilting basin where the sediments settles down.
Subsequently, the water flows through the siphon into the cut
and cover canal and then into the by-pass canal and into the
fore bay. Then the water through the headrace channel flows
into the penstock and enters in to the nozzle of the turbine. The
turbine is coupled with the generator and thus the electricity is
produced. The water after striking the turbine flows through the
tailrace channel back into the river. The head works consist of
11 m long simple weir, 4 m wide under sluice, and 4 m wide and
1.6 m high two numbers of intake gates to divert the water to the
Fig. 1. Average quartz content in the rivers of Nepal.
Sand Gravel Cobbles Boulders
0.06–2 2–60 60–250 Greater than 250
power canal through 45 m long gravel trap. An overflow spillway
is provided at the end of the gravel trap. Desilting basin is located
on the flat terrace field between Chilime River and the Bengdang
River providing sufficient flushing head. Desilting basin is 315 m
downstream from the gravel trap end. A cut and covered canal is
provided in between the gravel trap and the desilting basin. An
inverted siphon is provided to flush Bengdang River. A cut and
cover canal is provided in between siphon end and the peaking
pondage has a capacity of 44,160 m3 which is sufficient for 4 h
peaking time. Two 11 MW units of double jet Pelton turbines
were installed in this plant. The river supplying water for this
plant is fed by snowmelt in Himalayas [4].
The main source of fine sediments is from the process of sheet
and reel erosion. The glaciers produce some bed load sediments
and are left as end moraines. Land slides and mass wasting are
also the main sources of suspended and bed load sediments.
Those events produce very high sediments load and the bed-
load materials are deposited along the bed and produce high
sediment concentration during the subsequent years.
3. Methodology
Secondary and primary data were collected by personal vis-
its of the CHEP plant site by the study team. Sample of sand
and water, which were taken from the Chilime River, were
brought to the laboratory and sieve and mineral analyses were
carried out. Staff members and technical personnel were inter-
viewed to find out the possible causes of erosion of needle and
seat rings. Data pertaining to erosion observation during main-
tenance and second maintenance were collected. Then eroded
needle and seat rings were bought to the laboratory and wear and
surface texture were studied by measuring wear depth and sur-
face roughness using stylus probe. Sediment load was calculated
using standard relation. By doing this wear rate and efficiency
reduction were established using already known method and
scenario for similar hydropower plants. Then analysis of flow
of water through surface of needle was carried out by drawing
flow net diagrams. Based on the observations, measurements
and analysis, conclusions were drawn.
4. Models of erosion
The most often quoted expression for erosion [5] is:
Erosion ∝ (Velocity)n . (1)
There are several other fundamental studies of erosion
behavior and its prediction. General erosion model given by
researchers is as follows:
Erosion = f (operating conditions, properties of particles,
properties of base material) (2)
 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184
Generally, this expression is given as a function of velocity,
material hardness, particle size, and concentration. The most
general relation for erosion purpose [3,6,7] is:
W = Kmat Kenv cVn f (α) (3)
Here, W is the erosion rate (material removal) in mm/year, Kmat
the material constant, Kenv a constant depending on environment,
c the concentration of particles, f(α) a function of impingement
angle α, V the velocity of particles and n is the exponent of
velocity.
The erosion models are basically developed for specific
purpose or condition. Truscott [5] presented the equation of
Bergeron to predict the erosion rate of pump with simplified
assumptions such as pure sliding of spherical particles over the
surface. He presented equation for erosion as:
V2
Erosion ∝ (ρp − ρ)d 3 pK (4)
D
where V is the characteristic velocity of liquid, D the character-
istic dimension of the machine, ρp the density of particle, d the
diameter of particle, p the number of particles per unit surface
area, ρ the density of liquid and K is the experimental coeffi-
cient depending upon nature of abrasive particles. This equation
is proportional to experimental coefficient, which is dependent
on abrasive nature of particles.
Karelin et al. [8] established the equation for surface erosion
based on impact effect of particles considering kinetic energy of
single particle. They have anticipated deviation on erosion esti-
mated by equation due to uncertainties like non-homogeneous
particles, variable concentration, continuous alteration and pul-
sation of velocities and pressure, non-uniform flow distribution
and so on. On the contrary to laboratory tests, Tsuguo [9] estab-
lished the relationship of factors concerning erosion of turbines
based on 8 years erosion data of 18 hydropower plants. The
repair cycle of turbine is determined according to calculation of
turbine erosion from equation, which gives erosion rate in term
of loss of thickness per unit time (W):
W = βcxayk1 k2 k3 Vn (5)
Fig. 2. Particle size distribution.
179
where β is the turbine coefficient at eroded part, c the concen-
tration of suspended sediment and V is the relative velocity.
The term a is average grain size coefficient on the basis of unit
value for grain size 0.05 mm. The terms k1 and k2 are the shape
and hardness coefficient of sand particles and k3 is the abrasion
resistant coefficient of material. The x, y and n are exponent val-
ues for concentration, size coefficient and velocity, respectively.
The value of x and y are close to the unity and any deviation
of this linear proportionality is determined from plot of wear
versus parameter. The values of n are proposed for different
turbine components based on relation between relative velocity
and erosion. Minimum value of n is proposed as 1.5 for Pelton
bucket and maximum value is 3 for Francis turbine runner. Sim-
ilarly, for Francis turbine guide vanes and Pelton turbine needle,
this value is proposed as 2.5. The equation similar to this for
the purpose of hydraulic turbines has been established in this
study.
5. Analysis
5.1. Sediment analysis
The analysis of water samples collected on different days
from the settling basin area showed a maximum sediment con-
centration of 2037 ppm with the sand break of 79% (which is
79% of total sediment is sand). The particle size distribution
analysis was done by sieve analysis method and visual accu-
mulation tube (VAT) method. The results of sieve analyses are
presented in Fig. 2.
It can be seen from Fig. 2 in VAT method that only 5% of the
total sediment has the particle size less than 60 ␮m and 99% of
the sediment has the particle size less than 4500 ␮m.
Fig. 2 in sieve method shows that only 5% of the sediment
sample has the size less than 62.5 ␮m and the whole sedi-
ment samples have the size less than 1000 ␮m. The settling
basin is designed to trap the sediment particle of size up to
0.2 mm (200 ␮m). From the particle size distribution analysis, it
was found that around 35–40% of the sediment has the par-
ticle size less than 200 ␮m. This indicates that during flood
condition, when the river carries large amount of sediment,
180 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184

Table 2
Distribution of sediment samples
Minerals Percentages (%) by volume Mohr’s Hardness Scale Remarks

<1 mm <1 mm <1 mm Average (%)

Quartz 75 76 77 76 7 Mica content is high

Feldspar 7 6 6 6 6 Other minerals mainly content garnet, tourmaline and rock fragments
Muscovite 5 6 5 15 2–3
Biotite 10 9 9
Others 3 3 3 3 >6

35–40% of sediment will reach up to the turbine, thus caus-
ing severe erosion of the turbine components. As mentioned
earlier, the maximum concentration recorded during the flood
condition to be 2037 ppm. A 35–40% of this value equals to
713–815 ppm, which is very high as compared to the total con-
centration obtained for the samples taken in other normal flow
conditions.
In year 2006, sediment deposition volume in the reservoir was
estimated. On July 10, 2006, the estimated volume was 387 m3 ,
on August 14, 2006, it was 10018.81 m3 and on October 15,
2006, it was 2732.72 m3 . The maximum sediment was deposited
in flood time. This is clearly indicated that only desilting basin
cannot control sediments.
5.2. Mineral content analysis
The mineral content analysis was carried out to determine the
percentage by volume of the minerals in the water being carried
up to the turbine. It was found that the average quartz content
is 76% and feldspar is 6%, amounting to a total of 82%. The
particles are angular to the sub rounded shape. This indicates
that the river water with sand has the high probability for the
erosion of the turbine components. This is due to the very high
hardness of quartz and feldspar, which is 7 and 6, respectively,
in Mohr’s Hardness Scale. The distribution of sediment samples
is present in Table 2.
5.3. Erosion observation
In July 2004, the first maintenance of the power plant was
undertaken. During this period, erosion between the nozzle tip
and the spur needle was observed. Table 3 and Fig. 3 provide
details of erosion and its location in the needle and nozzle tip.
It clearly shows the erosion thickness (gap) between the spur
needle and the nozzle tip. At the same time, it also depicts the
erosion at the tip of the spur needle.
The erosion of turbines due to sand content in water is com-
mon in Nepal and therefore some of them are presented below.
Table 3
Erosion on the needle tip
Region Unit 1 (mm)
(a) Khimti-1 Hydropower Plant
The 5 × I2 MW Khimti-1 Hydropower Plant (KHP-1)
installed in 684 m gross head represents typical high head
power plants in Himalayan Rivers. The horizontal Pelton
turbines of KHP-I have two jets with discharge 2.15 m3 /s.
Khimti River of KHP is also example of rivers with high
gradient, heavy monsoon flow and high sediment concen-
tration of hard minerals. Less than 20% of Khimti Basin
lies in High Himalayas, about 30% in Lesser Himalayas and
50% in the region of middle mountains, which is formed as
a result of local tectonic movements, river down cutting and
sedimentation. Hence the risk of rock falls and landslides
are high and extensive deforestation has led to increased soil
erosion. The average concentration of suspended sediment
at Khimti River in 1994–1995 monsoon seasons varied from
13 to 1244 ppm and maximum-recorded concentration was
8536 ppm [10]. The higher concentration is expected in the
flood situation and hence 20,000 ppm suspended sediment
is used as design value for sediment settling and flushing
capacity. Two parallel sediment settling basins which were
optimized with respect to erosion of turbine are dimensioned
as 90 m × 12 m × 2 m to exclude 85% of all particles with
a fall diameter of 0.13 mm and 95% of all particles with a
fall diameter 0.20 mm [11].
Significant amount of erosion had appeared in turbine
bucket and needles in first year of operation (about 6000 h).
Even though the settling basin with Sediment Sluicing Ser-
pent System (S4) is performing according to design criteria,
large quantity of sediment (may be particles smaller than
design size) pass through turbines especially during mon-
Unit 2 (mm)

A–B 0.30 0.10

B–C 0.48 0.05
C–D 0.31 0.40
D–A 0.10 0.30
Fig. 3. Spur needle and nozzle tip erosion.
 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184
soon. Since this is a high head turbine, even 0.15 mm particle
have high particle impact energy approximately 8.12 ␮J that
cause severe erosion of turbine components [3]. The runner
of this turbine is made up of steel 13Cr4Ni. The thickness
of bucket close to the root is found 11 mm; whereas the
thickness around centre and entrance lip is 12 mm. Hence
it appears at least 1 min thickness is already lost towards
root. From the strength point of view, the thickness towards
to the root should have been more. Runner outer diameter
is 800 mm with 22 buckets. Distinct erosion is observed in
the area towards root and outlet region of the bucket. But
the area on both sides of splitter is smooth and appears as if
there is no erosion.
Both the nozzles and needles of KHP are eroded. The
inner side of nozzle tip have also pattern similar to the
middle section of the needle. This ripple pattern is typi-
cal in the needle with the circular grooves when viewed in
axial direction. Two distinct grooves towards axial direction
can be observed straight ahead of the two webs to support
needle guide. This could be due to vortex formed at the
trailing edge of such webs. These groves are approximately
70 mm length starting from the needle tip and are nearly
10 mm wide. Out of the 150 mm taper length, nearly 70 mm
from tip is affected with relatively higher ripple wavelength
except at tip. The last 30 mm toward the bottom of taper is
smooth and polished and the remaining portion with fine
scales.
(b) Kulekhani-I Hydropower Station
Kulekhani-I is a reservoir type hydropower plant
designed as a peaking power plant with the 60 MW installed
capacity. It annual generation capacity is 211 GWh. The
commercial date of operation is 1982.
It consists of two set of Pelton turbine with the rated
capacity of 30 MW each. The net head is 550 m and
the design discharge is 13.1 m3 /s. The generator is the
vertical shaft, synchronous generator with the capacity
of 35 MVA.
Major problem seen in this hydropower plant since it
generation had started is: in 1993, the unprecedented flood
caused a major damage to the penstock and an unexpected
Fig. 4. Erosion profiles of needle: (a) severely eroded surface and (b) uniformly eroded surface.
181
Fig. 5. Bucket erosion.
inflow of 52 million m3 of water with huge silt was observed.
This caused the filling of the bed level of the reservoir by
about 6 m in 1 year with the total deposition of silt to the tun-
nel of 23 million m3 in 21 years. To overcome this problem,
slopping intake was constructed that raise the inlet water
level from 1476 to 1480 m, reducing the overall capacity of
the line pondage from 73.2 to 62.3 m3 , causing a reduction
in the generation capacity also. Since then, the powerhouse
is running quite satisfactorily.
5.3.1. Second maintenance period
Eleven days after the first maintenance period, the second
maintenance was taken up. During latter maintenance period,
severe erosion was observed both in the spur needle and the
bucket. The measurement of erosion was taken up and the pro-
file of the erosion surface was developed. Fig. 4 shows the
erosion profile for the spur needle of lower and upper nozzles,
respectively.
The nature of erosion is found to be quite unusual. There
was a groove along the radially opposite part of the conical
spur needle, which was also noticed by other investigators as
well. The remaining part has the usual mode of erosion. The
dotted line in the figure shows the actual profile of the spur
needle, while the profile in the continuous line shows the eroded
surface.
Fig. 5 shows the erosion of bucket. It was found that half of
the bucket was more eroded than the other half, which is quite
unusual.
182 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184
5.4. Sediment load and prediction of erosion
Sediment load calculation was carried out to determine the
approximate amount of sediment, which cannot be trapped and
reaches up to turbine. It is calculated from the following equa-
tion:
 
(C1 + C2 )
SSLt = Qt (T2 − T1 ) 60 × 60 × 10−6 (6)
2
where SSLt is the suspended sediment load to the turbine
[tonnes], Qt the discharge to the turbine [m3 /s], C1 the concentra-
tion in the flow to turbine at time T1 [ppm], C2 the concentration
in the flow to turbine at time T2 [ppm], T1 the duration of last
observation [h] and T2 is the duration of consecutive observation
after time T1 [h].
It is obvious from the equation that erosion rate increases
with the sediment load. Its value indicates the amount of
sediment between two sample periods. The amount of sedi-
ment that reaches to the turbine during the 11 days period is
10,805.35 tonnes, which is very high.
5.4.1. Erosion rate and efficiency reduction
Erosion rate is also a function of the particle size. The coarse
size particles cause more erosion compared to fine size particles.
However, finer size particles with higher quartz content will have
higher potential for the erosion.
Fig. 6 shows the effect of particle size on erosion rate at
different quartz content levels. It is clear that for the same particle
size, the erosion rate increases with the increase in the quartz
content. Also, for given quartz content, the erosion rate increases
with the increase in the particle size.
The relationships between the erosion rate and the particle
size at different quartz content levels are as follows:
Erosion rate ∝ a(size)b
For quartz content of 38%, a = 351.35, b = 1.4976;
For quartz content of 60%, a = 1199.8, b = 1.8025;
For quartz content of 80%, a = 1482.1, b = 1.8125.
As for the CHEP, the mean size of the particles reaching up
to the turbine is 0.035 mm and the quartz content as shown by
Fig. 6. Effect of particle size (and quartz content) on erosion rate.
Fig. 7. Effect of erosion on efficiency of turbine.
mineralogical analysis, is nearly about 80%, giving the erosion
rate 3.4 mm/year. The cumulative erosion will amount to around
6.8 mm in 2 years of operation. From the measurement, the max-
imum erosion of the needle surface was found to be 7.1 mm,
which is close to the result obtained from the calculations.
With the increasing erosion of the surface, friction will also
increase. As a result, the flow will be turbulent and the erosion
rate will be enhanced. This ultimately will result in the reduction
of the efficiency of the turbine as shown in Fig. 7.
The relation between the erosion rate and the reduction effi-
ciency is given by:
Efficiency reduction ∝ a(Erosion rate)b (8)
where a = 0.1522 and b = 1.6946.
For CHEP, with the erosion rate of 3.4 mm per year, the reduc-
tion in the efficiency of the turbine will be 1.21% for the first
year of operation and around 4% in the next year if it is continu-
ously operated without maintenance. Such kind of phenomenon
can have adverse effect on the power generation.
Generally, power losses and efficiencies within a hydropower
system is calculated as [12]:
(7)
η = ηpenstock × ηmanifold × ηturbine × ηdrive × ηgenerator (9)
When sand or silt laden flows exist, the overall reduction
in efficiency is due to several attributes and components of the
power plant, which all contribute to overall efficiency reduction
and power loss. However, in this study, efficiency reduction (of
turbine) have been calculated only on the basis of ηturbine and
therefore the reduction of turbine efficiency is considered.
5.5. Erosion behavior on needle
5.5.1. Flow net for full opening of needle
The flow net for the full opening condition of the nozzle along
with the needle was drawn and the variation of the pressure and
the force along the surface of the needle was calculated and
presented (Fig. 8) (flow net diagram for fully open needle valve
is shown as an inset).
It is further observed that the force along the surface of needle
decreases. But at the same time, the mean velocity of the flow
increases due to gradual contraction in the fluid passage. Based
on these data, the relation between the force along the surface of
the needle and the mean velocity can be developed by plotting a
graph with reference to the distance along the surface of needle
 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184
Fig. 8. Variation of force and mean velocity along the surface of needle (full
opening condition).
(please see inset in Fig. 8). From the figure, it becomes clear that
because of the relatively low mean velocity, the erosion on the
needle surface at the beginning is low though the force on it is
relatively large. At the subsequent stage, because of the increase
in the flow velocity, erosion of the surface will be higher though
the force on the needle decreases. Since the dominant factor
for the erosion is the velocity [Erosion ∝ (Velocity)3 ] and as
the cross-sectional area is gradually reduced, the increased flow
velocity might cause the turbulence in the flow thus enhancing
the erosion of the surface. But at a latter stage, because of the
very low force on the surface of the needle and the fact that the
jet flows freely under the atmospheric pressure, the erosion of
the surface near the tip of the needle due to the sediment is not
so severe though the velocity of the flow is relatively very high.
As the needle is very sharp at the tip, even the small force at a
very high velocity can erode the tip easily.
5.5.2. Flow net for half opening of needle
The flow net for the half open condition of the needle and the
nozzle has been drawn in the same way as it was done for the
full opening condition. Also force and the mean velocity of flow
have been calculated in the similar manner. The result obtained
was quite different in this case. Fig. 9 presents force and mean
velocity as a function of distance along surface of needle under
half open condition (flow net is shown as an inset). The pressure
along the surface of the needle decreases as in the case of full
opening. But at a later stage its value becomes negative indi-
cating the occurrence of cavitations possibility due to increased
turbulence in the flow. Both the force along the surface of the
Fig. 9. Variation of force and mean velocity along the surface of needle (half
opening condition).
183
Fig. 10. Severely eroded surface of turbine needle due to inception of cavitation.
needle and the mean velocity of the flow continuously increases.
Thus, the combined effect of the cavitations and the sediment
erosion gives rise to the severe erosion of the needle surface.
Fig. 10 shows highly eroded surface of needle due to cavitation.
The damage of the needle surface increases with turbine
running time under partial flow conditions due mainly to the
occurrence of cavitation. In case of full opening condition, this
is not observed.
6. Conclusions
As erosion caused by sand and or silt-laden flows for various
components of hydro turbines is commonplace in Himalayan
region, the importance of sediment transport and natural pro-
cesses should not be underestimated. Specifically for case of
CHEP, following conclusions are drawn:
• The quartz content of the Chilime River is relatively high. Dur-
ing the monsoon period, large amount of sediments reach the
turbine buckets and needle. High quartz content and increase
sediment load during monsoon along with the small particle
size are the major cause for the severe erosion of turbine parts,
namely the nozzle and buckets.
• The erosion rate of 3.4 mm/year for the needle and the bucket
resulting in efficiency reduction of 1.21% and as a conse-
quence loss in the power generation.
• The longer the needle is operated in partial (half) opening
condition the greater is the erosion of the needle due to the
additional effect of cavitations along with sand erosion. As a
result, high turbulence occurs in the flow, jet miss and thus the
bucket resulting ultimately affecting the turbine performance.
Suggestions for reduction of sand/silt and increasing the life
of turbine components have been given as follows:
• Provision of series of low head weirs in the river course
upstream of hydropower plant.
• Provision of trench weir.
184 T.R. Bajracharya et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 177–184

• Proposing diversion tunnels. [5] G.F. Truscott, Literature survey of abrasive wear in hydraulic machinery,
• Regular desilting (by dredging and or siphoning, reservoir Wear 20 (1972) 29–50.
flushing through bottom outlets, etc.) and maintenance of stor- [6] E. Bardal, Korrosjon og Korrosjonsvern, Tapir, Trondheim (in Norwegian),
1985.
age reservoir, etc. The decision however has to be taken after [7] B.K.S. Naidu, Silt erosion problem in hydropower stations and their pos-
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