Dr.

Ruchi Khare
Dr. Vishnu Prasad
Manish Sharma
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology
Bhopal (M.P.)

turbines significant energy comes out from

In reaction turbines,
runner in form of kinetic energy.
The draft tube in hydraulic reaction turbine is used to
converts part the kinetic energy coming out of runner
into useful static pressure and increase the effective
head on turbine
There are different type of draft tube but elbow draft
tube is the most commonly used.
used
The amount of whirl velocity coming out from runner
l affects
ff
fl
b
h d
f tube.
b
greatly
flow d
distribution
within
draft
It is
more at off-design operating conditions and minimum
at rated conditions..
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

The increased whirl coming out from runner in

draft
flow
very uneven in
d f tube
b makes
k
fl
i draft
d f tube
b
and leads to increased vibrations.
Generally the vertical splitter in large draft tube are
provided to reduce the non-uniformity of flow
across flow
fl
area in
i diffusor.
diff

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

Numerical simulation of complete Francis turbine

passage is carried out at rated conditions with
splitters at different locations in draft tube.
The different draft tube parameters are computed
from simulation results.
The effect of splitter at different locations in elbow
draft tube on flow distribution and performance of
draft tube is studied.
The pattern of head recovery along flow in draft
tube is also studied.

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

The complete geometry of a mixed flow hydraulic

turbine
t bi (Francis
(F
i Turbine)
T bi ) is
i simulated.
i
l t d

International Conference on Hydropower for

Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

SIMPLE DRAFT TUBE

VERICAL SPLITETR IN DIFFUSER AT

DIFFUSER

HORIZONTAL SPLITTER INInternational

DIFFUSER
Conference on
Hydropower for Sustainable
Development, Dehradun

February 2015

VERTICAL SPLITTER AT ELBOW

HORIZONTAL SPLITTER AT ELBOW

International Conference on
Hydropower for Sustainable
Development, Dehradun

CYLINDER IN CONE

February 2015

The flow simulation is performed at rated conditions for

a constant guide vane opening of 28 and rotational
speed of runner was 375 rpm.

Mass flow rate at inlet is specified as 22,200 Kg/sec and

kept constant in all simulations.

Pressure at outlet is taken atmospheric

The density and kinematic viscosity of water is taken as

997 kg/m3 and 0.87 X 10-6 m2/sec
SST k- turbulence model is used.

International Conference on Hydropower for

Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

Computation of Hydrodynamic Parameters

Uniform averaged velocity at draft tube
outlet
Mass averaged velocity at draft tube
outlet
Uniformity coefficient
Head loss in draft tube

Q
Vuavdto
Adto
Vmavdto

1
2

v
dA

Q Adto

Vuavdto

Vmavdto
H ld

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

TPind TPoutd

February 2015

Computation Loss and Flow

Parameters
Parameters...

Relative head loss coefficient

Draft tube recovery (%)

Draft tube efficiency (%)

ld
H

n2

C32 C4
(
n ) * 100
2 gH n
(C32 C42 ) 2 gH n
d
* 100
2
C3

nT
* 100
Hydraulic efficiency of turbine(%) h
30QH n
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

10

Comparison of Computed Parameters

Normal average velocity = 1.707 m/s
Type of
Draft
tube

Simpledraft
tube
Vertical
plate in
diffuser
Horizont
al
plate in
diffuser

Mass
Uniformi
averaged ty coeff.
velocity
at
outlet
tl t
(m/s)

Draft
tube
head
loss
( )
(m)

Head
recovery
(m)

Eff.
Eff off HydraH d
draft
-ulic
tube
eff. of
( %) turbine
tu b e
(%)

Relative
head
loss %

1.980

0.862

0.6528

3.643

81.163

91.69

14.54

1.956

0.873

0.6800

3.598

80.496

91.08

15.21

2.030

0.841

0.9652

3.363

74.509

91.30

21.38

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

11

Comparison of Computed Parameters...

Type of
Draft
tube

Vertical
plate in
elbow
Cylinder
in
cone

UniforMass
mity
averaged
velocity at coeff.
outlet
(m/s)

Draft
tube
head
loss
(m)

Head
recovery
(m)

Eff. of
Hydradraft tube -ulic
Relative
( %)
eff. of
head
t bi
turbine
loss %
(%)

2.271

0.752

1.0474

3.308

73.362

91.23

23.22

1.971

0.866

1.3056

3.036

64.873

91.16

27.9

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

12

60
55

Head reecovery (%))

50
45
40

Simple draft tube

Cylinder in cone
Vertical splitter in diffuser
Horizontal splitter in diffuser
H i
Horizontal
l diffuser
diff
in
i elbow
lb
Vertical splitter in elbow

35
30
25
20
15
10

-5
1

10

11

12

13

Sections along stream flow

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

13

The total stream flow length of draft tube from

inlet
12 sections
and
i l to outlet
l is
i divided
di id d into
i
i
d the
h
head recovery between each section is calculated
for all variants of draft tube.
Most of the head recovery occurs in the draft tube
cone. The head recovery has rising trend up to end
of cone and then gradually decreases and becomes
nearly zero in last 3 sections towards outlet.
In case of horizontal splitter in diffuser, the head
recovery in 5th section is negative indicating that
loss in more than change in kinetic energy and also
there is large fluctuation in head recovery along the
flow.
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

14

WITHOUT SPLITTER

HORIZONTAL SPLITTER AT DIFFUSER

VERTICAL SPLITTER AT DIFFUSER

HORIZONTAL SPLITTER AT ELBOW

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

15

VERTICAL SPLITER AT ELBOW

CYLINDER AT CONE
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

16

SIMPLE DRAFT TUBE

HORIZONTAL PLATE AT MIDDLE OF DIFFUSER

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

17

The mass average computed velocity from simulation

results at draft tube outlet is higher than normal
average velocity and this indicates the concentration of
flow to smaller area.
The value of uniformity coefficient has maximum value
((0.916)) with horizontal splitter
p
in elbow and minimum
value (0.752) with vertical splitter in elbow.
It is observed that provision of splitter in draft tube
increases the loss in draft tube due to increased
exposed surface area to flow.

International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

18

The maximum loss is seen with cylinder in cone

The energy recovery is also affected by splitters
and found to be decreasing with minimum recovery
for
o cy
cylinder
de in co
cone.
e
The draft tube efficiency is found to be maximum
81.163% for simple draft tube and minimum with
cylinder
li d in
i cone.
The hydraulic efficiency of turbine is maximum for
simple
p draft tube and minimum with vertical plate
p
in diffuser. This is because the velocity head is
4.50m at exit of runner which is only 4.73% of the
net head 95m of turbine.
turbine
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

19

It is observed that Flow behavior and performance of draft

g
y affected due to splitters
p
at various
tube is significantly
locations.
Efficiencies of both draft tube and turbine are found to
decrease due splitters and hence there is no advantage of
splitter at rated condition.
The uniformity of flow at draft tube outlet is found to be
i
improved
d in
i draft
d f tube
b with
i h horizontal
h i
l splitter
li
i elbow.
in
lb
The most of head recovery occurs in draft tube cone.
The splitter may improve the flow behaviour and performance
of draft tube at part load operation of turbine where large
amount of whirl comes out of runner but location of splitter is
to be found again by simulation.
simulation
International Conference on Hydropower for Sustainable Development, Dehradun

February 2015

20