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A reference Pelton turbine design

Article  in  IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science · September 2012

DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

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Bjørn Winther Solemslie Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug

Norwegian University of Technology and Science Norwegian University of Science and Technology
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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

A reference Pelton turbine design

B W Solemslie and O G Dahlhaug

Waterpower Laboratory, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

E-mail: bjorn.w.solemslie@ntnu.no

Abstract. The designs of hydraulic turbines are usually close kept corporation secrets.
Therefore, the possibility of innovation and co-operation between different academic
institutions regarding a specific turbine geometry is difficult. A Ph.D.-project at the
Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU, aim to design several model Pelton turbines where all
measurements, simulations, the design strategy, design software in addition to the physical
model will be available to the public. In the following paper a short description of the methods
and the test rig that are to be utilized in the project are described. The design will be based on
empirical data and NURBS will be used as the descriptive method for the turbine geometry. In
addition CFX and SPH simulations will be included in the design process. Each turbine
designed and produced in connection to this project will be based on the experience and
knowledge gained from the previous designs. The first design will be based on the philosophy
to keep a near constant relative velocity through the bucket.

1. Introduction
Over the year since it was first patented in 1889, the Pelton turbine has been the subject of many
research projects. On this basis alone one may think physics, i.e. the flow mechanisms, in the turbine
is fully understood due to the age of the technology. However, the reality of the knowledge within
Pelton turbines is that there are still areas within the physics that are still not understood completely.
These gaps in the understanding of the flow within Pelton turbines have therefore been given
increasing interest by the research community within multiple fields.
This is due to the increasing demand for energy on a global basis in addition to the growing focus
on meeting the increasing demand by utilizing renewable energy resources. An increase in efficiency
in the order of 0.1% would lead to large increase in power production. As an example one can use
Bieudron which is the largest power plant in the world with regard to head(1869m) and power
delivered by a single turbine(423MW). An increase of 0.1% in efficiency would correspond to an
increase of 0.432MW in power delivered by a single turbine. For a full year in operation this increase
in power is equivalent to the mean power consumption of approximately 182 average Norwegian
households in 2009[1].
Innovation within the energy business is kept a close corporate secret and all research done on a
turbine designed by commercial companies is confidential. Thus the different research communities
have no common practical case with which they can cooperate within their distinctive fields. At the
time the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU, have two open reference turbines; a Francis and a
Reversible Pump Turbine, which are readily available to all who are interested. This availability
includes the design strategy and software, if one exists, the simulation setup and results, the model test

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

results and the model turbine itself. It is believed that this will better the possibility for different
academic or corporate institutions to conduct research on a common geometry and thereby increase
the knowledge within turbine technology.
The scope of the ongoing Energi Norge funded Ph.D.-project at the Waterpower Laboratory,
NTNU, is to design and manufacture multiple Pelton turbines where each new turbine is based on the
knowledge and experience gained from the previous turbines. All the knowledge will be published and
thereafter be made available to the public with any additional data or software available at a yet to be
defined web page. The design strategy, and methods, planned simulation methods and experimental
facilities that will be used in said project will be presented and discussed in the following.

2. Design strategy
The literature on Pelton turbine design available is scarce at best due to the competitive nature of the
industry and the resulting secrecy surrounding design methods and innovations. This project therefore
plan to apply a basic design methodology of aiming for a near constant relative water velocity through
the runner. The means to achieve this will be to maintain a constant curvature of the surface for water
flowing through the runner in different directions as seen in

Figure 1. The impingement of the jet on the bucket will change due to the relative motion of the
turbine and hence one must define the priority of the impingements.

Figure 1(a). Ideal flow of water Figure 1(b). Ideal flow of water at
normal to the splitter [2]. the start of the interaction [3].

The theoretical way of investigating a Pelton runner has been to study a cross section in the center
of the runner when the water hits the runner normally to the splitter as, i.e. a cross section through the
center of the jet in figure 1(a).

2.1. Physical limitations with regard to the design

At the current time the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU, are in possession of boss produced for a
different turbine with exchangeable buckets that will be used for the first design. Said boss limits the
number of buckets to 22, in addition the diameter of the boss in combination with the size of the test
rig limits the diameter of the turbine. The nozzle of the test rig has been found acceptable and this will
therefore effect the diameter limitation due to the basis of the design, i.e. the ratio between jet diameter
and runner diameter. Said nozzle has a jet diameter of 7.6cm, but has the possibility of changing the
nozzle ring as to adjust the jet diameter on a small scale.

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

2.2. Theoretical basis of the design

The design will be based on the empirical data found by Hermod Brekke with regard to bucket width
and runner diameter [4]. These parameters, in addition to others chosen are shown in the table below.

Table 1. Main parameters of the design.

Parameter Value
Head 70 (m)
Jet Diameter (ds) 0.076 (m)
Runner diameter (D1) 10*ds = 0.760 (m)
Bucket width (B) 3.1*ds = 0.236 (m)

2.3. Description of the bucket surface

Due to the complex and double curved nature of the surface of the Pelton bucket NURBS (Non-
Uniform Rational B-Splines) has been used as a descriptive method [5,6].

Figure 2. A Pelton Bucket described with NURBS [6]

In addition to a good method for the description of the Pelton bucket NURBS gives the designer a
greater certainty concerning the actual representation of the bucket in all steps of the design process.
This concept has been the focus of research in a project by SINTEF Applied Mathematics and a
cooperation to use this method in this project is being formalized.

3. Numerical simulation methods and limitations

Accurate simulations of Pelton turbines have been sought after for many years and as the
computational resources and knowledge of the flow mechanisms increase the accuracy increases. At
the current time there are two approaches to numerical simulations of Pelton turbines. These are based
on either the Eulerian og Lagrangian specification of a flow field. The traditional CFD (Computational
Fluid Dynamic) uses the Eulerian specification while the younger method named Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamics (SPH) utilizes the Lagrangian specification of a flow field. Where the Eulerian
specification requires the flow volume to be defined by a set of volumes that the fluid flows through
the Lagrangian defines the flow as small moving volumes of fluid that flow through an empty space.
Both methods will be utilized in this project and their use is here presented in short.

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

3.1. Eulerian specification

At the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU, the ANSYS Workbench with CFX 13 is used for Eulerian
simulations. A bucket of a turbine from a Norwegian producer has recently been analyzed and the
results show acceptable correspondence with experiments conducted on said turbine. The analysis was
done as a mesh independency for the case setup and the results for all the mesh sizes compared to the
experimental result can be seen in Figure 3(a). The total torque from the best corresponding simulation
is compared to the experimental result in Figure 3(b).

Figure 3 (a). Mean total torque from simulations compared to experimental results.

Figure 3 (b). Best corresponding simulation compared to mean torque from experiments.

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

3.2. Lagrangian specification

In the later years the SPH method of flow simulation has been introduced. Originally introduced by
Gingold and Monaghan [7] and Lucy [8] in 1977 for astrophysical simulations, it has later been
modified for fluid flow simulations. This method is still young compared to the methods using the
Eulerian specification and therefore it is subject to much research. As of now multiple open-source
software as well as commercial, corporate and private codes exist and are being verified against
experimental data. Figure 4 shows the output of an SPH simulation and Table 2 shows the comparison
of efficiency from simulations and experiments at different nozzle openings, both conducted by
Koukoyvinis [6]. The inclusion of an SPH simulation in the design procedure in this project is
intended and currently the SPHysics solver is chosen. This is due to the open-source nature of the
solver but there are still considerations to be made with regard to accuracy compared to other solvers.

Figure 4. SPH simulation at optimal rotational speed [6].

Table 2. Experimental and simulation results [6].

Nozzle
ω H Efficiency (%) Efficiency (%)
opening Q (ls-1)
(rad s-1) (m) - Experimental – SPH
(mm)
20.0 73.2 69.3 37.1 82.6 78.60
24.0 74.0 67.0 41.1 82.1 76.49
28.0 68.4 65.1 44.3 82.1 77.32
32.0 68.3 63.6 46.6 81.8 75.19
36.0 68.5 62.7 48.4 81.7 75.66

4. Testing facility
Over the resent years the Pelton turbine test rig at the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU, has undergone
substantial upgrades including a complete rebuild of the test rig and an upgrade of the bearing block to
include friction torque measurements.

4.1. Overview of the Pelton test rig and auxiliary systems

The Pelton test rig is set up as an open loop with a water reservoir in the basement, a pump followed
by a volume flow meter and pressure transducer directly upstream from the nozzle. In

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

Table 3 the specifications of the Pelton test rig are listed along with the instrument used to measure the
physical property and the calibration method of each instrument if available.

Table 3. Parameters of the Pelton turbine test rig at the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU.

Physical property Upper limit Instrument Calibration method

Flow 100 (ls-1) Krohne Optiflux F 2000 Weight
Pressure 100 (m) Druck PTX 1830 Weight
Torque 500 (Nm) HBM T10F/FS Weight
Friction torque 12.5 (Nm) HBM Z6 Beam Force Cell Weight
Water temperature - PT-100 -
Rotational Speed - Optical rotameter -

Figure 5 shows the schematics of the Pelton test turbine rig. The figure is not a representation of
the actual layout of the system. The instruments for measuring torque, friction torque and rotational
speed along with the generator are located behind the casing seen in the figure.
The laboratory is also equipped with a weighing tank for calibration of volume flow along with
two deadweight piston manometers for calibration of pressure transducers. The deadweight
manometers are both produced by GE Sensing and are of the type P3023-6-P and P3223-1. These are
for calibration of low pressure/vacuum and high pressure, respectively. The weighting tank system
consists of a large tank that holds 70 m3 of water which is held up by 3 HBM RTNC5/33 ton load cells.
The water is either led to the reservoir or to the weighting tank by a pneumatic screen with a time
based control system.

Figure 5. Schematics of the Pelton turbine test rig.

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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

4.2. Uncertainty and repeatability analysis of the Pelton test rig

In relation to the upgrade of the bearing system of the Pelton test rig an uncertainty analysis of the rig
was conducted. The analyses found the relative uncertainty in the hydraulic efficiency of a model
turbine tested in the rig to be in the order of ±0.24% [9]. The repeatability of the test rig was also
checked and this gave a repeatability error in the order of ±0.06% [9]. Both these values are within the
limits stated by IEC60193 [10]. In Table 4 the uncertainties in the measurements of the different
physical quantities are listed. The variation of the efficiency measured at the best point of operation
conducted twice a day at five separate dates is shown in Figure 6.

Table 4. Uncertainties in the measurements.

Total Uncertainty at Best
Quantity
Operational Point (%)
Hydraulic Energy 0.0344
Discharge 0.0919
Rotational Speed 0.0250
Torque 0.2050
Friction Torque 2.5070
Total Systematic Uncertainty 0.2450
Total Random Uncertainty 0.0360
Total Uncertainty 0.2476

12 12 13 13 16 16 18 18 20
20
Date of measurement in January 2012
Figure 6. Repeatability of efficiency measurements at the best point of operation.

5. Conclusion
An on-going Ph.D.-project at the Waterpower Laboratory at NTNU plan to design and produce
multiple reference Pelton runners in the coming years. The runners, including design strategy,
geometry, simulation and experimental results in addition to physical model, will be available to the
public. This also includes the design software currently being produced and the possibility of
borrowing the runner models to conduct experiments at other locations. The bucket geometry will be
based on in-house experience and empirical data, and the description of the geometry will be done
utilizing NURBS. In the design process simulations using both the Lagrangian and Eulerian flow field
specification are planned to be included. After the first model has been produced experiments will be
conducted and utilized for verification of the simulations and as a basis for the next iteration of the

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 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032005 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032005

design. One aim of the project is to facilitate a better cooperation between different academic and
corporate institutions as well as better the knowledge of flow mechanisms in the Pelton runner.

References

[1] Statistics Norway 2011 Energy consumption per household 2009 - Major increase in the use of
heat pumps http://www.ssb.no/english/subjects/01/03/10/husenergi_en/
[2] Zhang Z 2007 Flow friction theorem of Pelton turbine Hydraulics Proceedings of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 221 1173-1180
[3] Zhang Z 2009 Inlet flow conditions and the jet impact work in a Pelton turbine Proceedings Of
The Institution Of Mechanical Engineers Part A: Journal Of Power And Energy 223 589-
596
[4] Brekke H 2003 Pumper & Turbiner Vannkraftlaboratoriet NTNU
[5] Koukouvinis P K, Anagnostopoulos J S and Papantonis D E 2010 Flow Analysis Inside a Pelton
Turbine Bucket Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics HYDRO 2010 International
Conerence
[6] Koukouvinis P K, Anagnostopoulos J S and Papantonis D E 2011 Numerical Computation Of
The Performance Curve Of A Pelton Turbine Using The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
Method 7th GRACM International Congress on Computational Mechanics
[7] Gingold R A and Monaghan J J 1977 Smoothed particle hydrodynamics - Theory and
application to non-spherical stars Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
181 375-389
[8] Lucy L B 1977 A numerical approach to the testing of the fission hypothesis Astronomical
Joutnal 82 1013-1024
[9] Reinertsen K 2011 Pelton model test rig at the Waterpower Laboratory, NTNU Master thesis
NTNU Trondheim Norway
[10] IEC 60193 Standard 1999 Hydraulic Turbines, Storage Pumps and Pump-Turbines-Model
Acceptance Tests International Electrotechnical Commission Genève Switzerland.

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