Energy 47 (2012) 62e69

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Current research in hydraulic turbines for handling sediments

Biraj Singh Thapa a, *, Bhola Thapa a, Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug b
a
Turbine Testing Laboratory, Kathmandu University, P.O. Box 6250, Dhulikhel, Nepal
b
Waterpower Laboratory, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Kathmandu University (KU) is one of the leading educational institutes in Nepal with a decade long
Received 20 January 2012 experience with R&D of micro-hydro turbines. With a technical collaboration with Norwegian University
Received in revised form of Science and Technology (NTNU), KU has also conducted several studies related to sediment erosion in
18 April 2012
hydro turbine.
Accepted 8 May 2012
Available online 9 June 2012
In the presented study a new program has been developed to create and optimize the design of Francis
runners. The program is also featured to compare erosion in runner blades for different design cases. The
nal design can be exported to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI)
Keywords:
Sediment erosion
for further analysis. Parametric survey was carried out with this program to evaluate the relative effect of
Francis turbine each design parameter on sediment erosion. Several optimized designs were developed and analyzed
CFD with CFD tools to fulll the desired condition of minimum erosion and maximum efciency.
Design optimization This paper summaries the problem of sediment erosion of hydro turbines in South Asia region. Some of
the important achievements in R&D of hydro turbine and sediment erosion at KU are also presented. The
ndings of design optimization of Francis turbine for effective reduction in sediment erosion is discussed
in details.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction advancements. New innovations to prevent erosion of mechanical

There is a huge potential of new hydropower power develop-
ments across the basins of Himalaya and Alps of Andes. Nepal,
a small south Asian country, alone has more than 40,000 MW of
feasible hydropower potential still to be harnessed [1]. In 2010,
Government of Nepal has announced its intentions with some
policies to develop 38,000 MW hydropower in next 25 years [2].
However, Nepal and the region face a specic problem of sediment
erosion in the run-off-river power plants (PP). Almost all the river
and rivulets in the Himalayan region contains 60%e80% of particles
in its sediments having hardness number above 6 in Mohs scale [3].
Presence of hard particles causes the turbine parts to erode, which
eventually reduces the efciency and life of the turbine causing
economic losses. Fig. 1 shows the effects of sediment erosion in
Hydro turbines operating in Himalayan basins.
Several research activities have been done to quantify and
minimize the effects of sediment erosion in hydraulic turbines
[4e6]. Financial feasibility of future hydropower developments
across Asian basins would be largely inuenced by technological
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 977 11 663736; fax: 977 11 661433.
E-mail addresses: bst@ku.edu.np (B.S. Thapa), bhola@ku.edu.np (B. Thapa),
ole.g.dahlhaug@ntnu.no (O.G. Dahlhaug).
equipment exposed to sediments are important needs at the
present.
Kathmandu University (KU) is an autonomous, not-for-prot,
non-government institution dedicated to maintain high standards
of academic excellence. Since its establishment in 1990, KU has
been working for the prominent solution for sediment erosion in
hydro turbines. Several technical research conducted at KU have
helped the hydropower developers to improve the efciency in
power plants. KU has been collaborating with national and inter-
national experts and institutions for improving its research
standard.
2. Achievements of miniature laboratories
KU has been putting its effort into development of hydro
turbines exposed to sediment erosion. Research for hydro turbines
at KU started with two miniature turbine laboratories named as
Pico Turbine Laboratory and Waterpower Laboratory (Fig. 2).
The Pico Turbine Laboratory is dedicated for research and
development of axial ow Pico propeller turbines. Successful
design and testing of 800 W Pico turbine having 90% overall ef-
ciency has been conducted in this lab (Fig. 2a) [10]. The Water-
power Laboratory is dedicated for design and performance analysis

0360-5442/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2012.05.014
 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69 63

Fig. 1. Sediment erosion in hydro turbines under basins of Himalaya: a. Damage in runner at Jhimruk PP after one year of operation [7]. b. Surface erosion Pelton runner at Khimti PP
[8]. c,d. Damage to guide vanes and cheek plates at Nathpa Jhakri PP [9].

Fig. 2. Research in miniature turbine laboratory at Kathmandu University: a. 800 W Propeller turbine designed and tested at Pico turbine test laboratory [10]. b. Flow visualization
in Pelton bucket at water power laboratory [11]. c. 130 kW Francis turbine ready for performance test.

of Pelton and Francis turbines and also provided professional
trainings. Five different Pelton bucket proles designed at KU and
manufactured locally were tested for impact and ow visualization
(Fig. 2b) [11]. Francis turbine for 130 kW micro-hydro projects
(Fig. 2c) is under development phase at KU.
Both miniatures laboratory are still in operation and are mostly
utilized for students laboratory and academic research activities.
Recently a new and advanced turbine testing lab has been con-
structed at KU to promote its R&D activities in development of
hydro turbines [2].
in free air, hence this system could be considered to be similar to
Pelton turbine system.
Sediment samples were collected from several locations
covering streambeds of some of the Nepalese rivers of different
river basins. Mineralogical analysis of samples was done to identify
quartz content and their shape in each river. The erosion tests were
carried out on turbine material 16Cr5Ni Martensitic Stainless steel
by 1 kg sand samples. The erosion rate obtained from the laboratory
erosion test in same operating condition with different sand

3. Achievements from research on sediment erosion

KU has a unique experience with understanding the nature of

sediment erosion in hydraulic turbines. Several numerical and
experimental studies have been conducted to classify and quantify
the erosion.

3.1. Understanding erosion potential of sediments in Himalayan

basins

A simple hydraulic circuit as shown in Fig. 3 was used to

investigate the effect of river sand owing with water on turbine
blade material. The circuit has 5.5 kW mono-block centrifugal
pump (Head 45 m and Discharge 6 l/sec). Valves control the ow of
water and particles. Bypass circuit is used to control the ow of
water through nozzle. Vertical hopper of height 1.05 m, ahead of
nozzle is lled with known weight of sand and closed from top.
Once the pump is started and valve of hopper is opened, water
creates turbulence inside the hopper and sands fall down in the
horizontal pipe, which is then accelerated by the water and strike
the specimen just outside the nozzle. The velocity of the jet is
computed by measuring the discharge. The jet strikes the specimen Fig. 3. Erosion measurement test rig at KU.
64 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69

Quartz content and Erosion rate

80 35,0

Erosion rate mg/kg

Quatrz content (%

70 30,0
60 25,0
volume)

50 20,0
40
30 15,0
20 10,0
10 5,0
0 0,0

Tamakoshi
Jhumruk

Dolal Ghat
Khimti khola
Madi Rever

Khimti
Kulekhani

Bagmati

Dhobi

Roshi

Phedi

Sunkoshi
Sapta koshi
Modi-2
Modi - 1

Tinau

Chitlang
Palung
Rapti Khola

Ganaha

Manahara

Dhad Khola
Gaur (
West seti

Arun khola

Aadhi khola

Karnali West Rapti Gandaki TinauBagmati Bagmati Koshi

(Ktm.
Quartz content
Rivers (sampling location) and basins
Erosion rate

Fig. 4. Quartz content from mineralogical analysis and erosion rate from laboratory
erosion test [3].

samples between 425 and 300, 300e212 and less than 212 mm are
averaged and presented in Fig. 4 along with the corresponding
quartz contents in the sample [3].

Fig. 6. Erosion test of stainless steel and HVOF coating.

3.2. Investigation of HVOF coatings for erosion resistance

Rotating Disc Apparatus (RDA) was developed at Kathmandu Fig. 7 shows the erosion pattern generated by combined effects of
University to study the sand erosion, cavitation and their combined sediment erosion and cavitation.
effect, as shown in Fig. 5. It consists of a rotating disc with four
cavitation inducers and driven by a 7.5 kW motor at 2880 rpm. The
4. Use of modern computational tools
motion of submerged body can be simulated up to 39 m/s velocity.
Test objective was to compare performance of High Velocity
KU has also been able to use the numerical tools and compu-
Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) coatings with stainless steel. This provided an
tational software for R&D of hydraulic turbines. Two important eld
opportunity for accelerated sand erosion testing for a comparison
of study employing the computational tools for R&D of hydraulic
of different materials. The disc is made up of Stainless Steel SS316
turbines at KU are characterization of sediment particles, and
and only half of this disc was coated with tungsten carbide (86% Co
design optimization of Francis turbine to minimize effects of sedi-
10% Cr 4%). The erosion damage in stainless steel and HVOF coating
ment erosion.
were compared and analyzed based on the area and pattern of
erosion [12]. Fig. 6 shows the test specimen with HVOF coating and
4.1. Characterization of sediment particles

An image processing program has been developed on MATLAB

6.5 platform to extract the exact shape of sand particles collected.
Sand particles were collected from the erosion sensitive power

Fig. 5. RDA at KU for cavitation and erosion study. Fig. 7. Erosion pattern with generated by sand erosion [12].
 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69 65

Fig. 8. Raw image of sand particles.

plants and its digital images had been acquired. These shapes have
Fig. 10. Edge boundary of single sand.
further been analyzed by articial neural network. This network
has been rst trained for the known input and known output. After
that it is trained for unknown input and known output. Finally
these networks could recognize any shape given to it and gives the optimization of Francis runners for sediment handling. Developing
shape which is nearest to the seven predened shape [13]. results have shown the possibilities to reduce sediment erosion in
Figs. 8e10 shows the image processing steps used to characterize Francis runner signicantly by optimizing the hydraulic design
the sediment particles and Fig. 11 shows percentage of sediment alone.
particles with different predened shapes in one the hydropower A new program Khoj has been developed to create and opti-
plants in Nepal. mize the design of Francis runner. Khoj is also featured to compare
erosion in runner blades for different design cases. The nal design
can be exported to CFD and CAD tools for further analysis. Para-
5. Progress in design optimization of Francis runner for
metric survey was carried out with Khoj to evaluate the relative
sediment handling
effects of each design parameter on sediment erosion. The results
from Khoj were compared to that from CFD analysis to estimate
Hydropower projects in Nepal and the region have been facing
effects of the design variables on hydraulic performance. Several
the severe problem of turbine erosion due to sediment particles.
optimized designs were developed and analyzed to fulll the
Geographic conditions in Nepal makes high head Francis turbine
desired condition of erosion and efciency.
a better choice. However, Francis turbines are found to be more
sensitive to the effects of sediment erosion [14]. KU in close coop-
eration with NTNU has started a unique project for Design 5.1. Reference design

Jhimruk Hydroelectric Center (JHC) in Nepal is considered as the

reference case for this study. JHC is a typical power plant suffering
from sediment erosion of Francis turbine in South Asia. Fig. 1a
shows a typical damage in the runner blade of reference design due
material removed by sediment erosion. JHC has three units of
splitter blade Francis runners of 4.2 MW each. With the basic design
data presented in Table 1 and values of hydraulic design parameters
presented in Table 2, a reference design to suit this site is created.
Full blade runner has been considered as the reference design
instead of splitter blade due to limitation of the design program.
The erosion factor for the reference design is 1.

Fig. 11. Shape and size distribution of sediment particles in one of hydropower plants
Fig. 9. Cropped image of single sand. in Nepal [13].
66 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69

Table 1 Table 3
Basic design data for JHC. Parameters for CFX-Turbo Grid.

S.N Parameters Symbol Unit Value Parameter Type Value

1 Net design head H m 201.5 Grid node count Fine 250000
2 Net discharge per unit Q m3/s 2.35 Factor ratio 2
3 Runner efciency h % 96 Reynolds no 500000

5.2. Design optimization range and Methodology
Optimized designs are developed by varying hydraulic design
parameters in reference design to get the same power output. The
hydraulic design parameters are varied within a dened range and
its effects on erosion factor is evaluated. Table 2 lists the range of
variation of the design parameters considered for this study.
Following two terms are dened as the indicators and the
means of comparison of relative erosion in the Francis turbine
runner.
5.2.1. Erosion tendency (Et)
It is quantication of tendency of a specic design of runner to
be eroded in similar sediment conditions. Erosion tendency is
dened as follows:
Pn 3 h i rotational speed of the turbine is decreased. This does however
i1 Wi $Ai
Et Pn m3 =s3 (1)
i1 A
Where n is the number of segment area (Ai) in the runner blade
surface. Wi is the relative velocity of ow in each segment area. The
segment area is the area between the intersection of stream lines
and stream points in the runner blade surface.
5.2.2. Erosion factor (Ef)
It is ratio of erosion tendency of each new design with respect to
the reference design. Erosion factor is dened as follows:
" #
Et New Design
Ef  (2)
Et Refernce Design
The erosion factor estimates a quantitative difference in sedi-
ment erosion of runner with the change in hydraulic design alone.
In this study the erosion factor is used as a means to compare the
relative erosion in the optimized designs of runner with respect to
the reference design.
Simulations are done to evaluate the hydraulic performance and
erosion on blade surface. Exactly same process has been repeated to
all the Design Analysis to maintain the consistency. Comparisons of
results for optimized designs are done with that for reference
designs. Tables 3e6 presents the parameters selected for the CFD
analysis.
5.4. Results and discussion
The results of the parametric study from design program indi-
cate some modications in conventional design to reduce the
sediment erosion. However, each modication has some limita-
tions that have to be considered during the design optimization as
presented in Table 7. Largest reduction in erosion was obtained
when increasing the number of pole pairs, which implies that the
increase the size of both the turbine and the generator, which cause
increased investment costs as well.
CFD analysis of reference runner has been done to evaluate the
effects of change in hydraulic design parameters on sediment
erosion in runner blade surface. Fig. 12 shows the streamlines of
ow on the pressure side of the blade of reference runner. Smooth
ow from inlet to outlet section can be observed. Fig. 13 shows the
relative velocity at the outlet section of the runner. It shows the
average out let velocity at the out let of runner to be in between
30 m/s to 35 m/s. Fig. 14 shows sediment erosion rate density on the
pressure side of reference runner blade. The erosion pattern is
predicted to be spread at the entire outlet section of the runner
blade. It can be observed that erosion pattern predicted by the CFD
for the reference design is very close to that observed in the power
plant (Fig. 1a). Same CFD parameters are used to predict the sedi-
ment erosion in optimized design. So consistency in results from
CFD analysis is expected for the optimized design as well.
It was discovered that by changing the blade angle distribution,
and consequently the blade loading, a substantial reduction of

5.3. CFD analysis parameters

Table 4
General parameters for CFX-Pre.
To analyze the reference design, a CFD simulation is carried out.
Parameter Type
Designs developed by program are exported to Ansys CFX-13.
Turbulence SST
Flow state Steady
Table 2 Flow type Inviscid
Hydraulic design parameters. Erosion model Tabakoff
Morphology Particle transport uid
S.N. Parameters Symbol Unit Value for Range of
reference optimization
design
1 Outlet diameter D2 m 0.54 0.4e0.75
2 Number of pole pairs in ZP e 3 3e12 Table 5
generator Parameters for CFX-Pre sediment data.
3 Reduced peripheral U1 e 0.74 0.65e1
velocity at inlet Data Value Unit
4 Acceleration of ow Acc % 35 0e50 Material Quartz
through runner Density 2.65 g/cm3
5 Height of runner b m 0.16 0.05e0.4 Diameter 0.1 Mm
6 Blade angle distribution b 0 Linear 4 different Shape factor 1
nonlinear Flow rate 0.07 kg/s
 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69 67

Table 6
Parameters for CFX-Post erosion analysis.

Parameter Max value Unit

Sediment erosion 3.00E-07 kg/m2s
Rate density 0.3 mg/m2s

Table 7
Design modications for reducing sediment erosion.

S.N. Proposed modications Limitations

1 Increase outlet diameter of runner Size of turbine
2 Increase number of pole pairs in generator Speed number
3 Reduce peripheral velocity at inlet Reaction ratio
4 Increase acceleration of ow through runner No of runner blades to
prevent back ow
5 Increase blade height of runner Fabrication
6 Change shape of blade angle distribution Strength, fabrication

erosion was possible without changing any other physical dimen-

sions or rotational speed of the turbine. Figs. 15e17 shows the result
of optimized design with higher blade loading at inlet and lower at Fig. 13. Relative velocity at blade outlet.
the outlet compared to that of uniform blade loading in the refer-
ence runner. It can be observed that relative velocity at outlet and
hence the erosion has reduced considerably (Fig. 16). Table 8
presents corresponding erosion factors of the optimized design
calculated by the design program and total runner efciency
computed by CFD. Design program predicted more than 30%
reduction of erosion by changing the blade loading alone. The CFD
analysis has predicted the efciency for this design optimization to
be higher than that for the reference design.
Result from the design program Khoj is able to justify this
reduction in sediment erosion in Francis runner with the change in
blade loading. It was observed that the blade angle distribution has
a strong relation with ow velocity distribution along the blade
surface from inlet to outlet. Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 show the ow
velocity distribution along the runner blade surface from inlet (1) to
outlet (0) for the reference design and the optimized design
respectively. It can be seen that both the designs have same relative
velocity (w) at inlet and at outlet. However, considerable difference
is observed in the rate of change of relative velocity from inlet to
outlet between the two different designs. For liner blade loading in Fig. 14. Sediment erosin on reference runner blade.
reference design the relative velocity is also increasing linearly
from inlet to outlet (Fig. 18). But for the optimized design with high
blade loading at inlet and low blade loading at outlet, relative
velocity does not change signicantly up to 80% of blade section

Fig. 12. Streamlines on pressure side. Fig. 15. Streamlines on pressure side.
68 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69
Fig. 16. Relative velocity at blade outlet.
Fig. 17. Sediment erosion on optimized design 1.
from inlet (Fig. 19). This cause the erosion factor as dened in eq. (2)
to be lower in optimized design in comparison to reference design.
The optimized design has a high acceleration at outlet section, but
no literature was found to give a clear relationship between high
acceleration in ow and sediment erosion. Previous studies [15,4]
have also shown that relative velocity between uid ow and
runner has the highest effect on sediment erosion.
Table 8
Performance of optimized designs.
Design Reference
Erosion factor () 1.00
Total efciency (%) 95.05
Fig. 18. Velocity and Energy distribution in reference design.
Fig. 19. Velocity and Energy distribution in optimized design.
6. Conclusions
Hydropower plants in Nepal and the entire region have been
facing a specic challenge of sediment erosion of turbine compo-
nents. Several studies and research are being conducted to nd the
feasible solution to this age long problem. KU has been able to
develop its own laboratory facilities and utilize computational tools
together with experimental studies for hydropower development
in Nepal. Major efforts have been given for understanding the
nature of sediment erosion in hydro turbines and optimizing
existing designs of Francis turbines for minimizing effects of sedi-
ment erosion.
It was found that the conventional designs of hydro turbines are
not performing satisfactorily in erosive environment and need
optimization. Erosion Factor has been dened and used as
a parameter to compare relative performance of optimized design
of Francis turbines exposed to sediment erosion. It was found that
the runner outlet diameter, peripheral velocity at inlet, and blade
angle distribution have the highest effect on sediment erosion of
Francis runner. It was also observed that optimization of hydraulic
design of blade prole alone can reduce sediment erosion more
Optimized
than 30%. However, model test verication of the results from
numerical studies would be necessary to validate the ndings. This
0.67
96.45 study can be useful for further research to develop Francis turbines
capable handle high sediment load.
 B.S. Thapa et al. / Energy 47 (2012) 62e69
References
[1] Ghimire HK. Small hydro development opportunities and present status in
Nepal. In: Proceedings of international Conference on hydropower, SriLanka;
22e24 October 2007.
[2] Thapa BS, Thapa B, Dahlhaug OG. Center of Excellence at Kathmandu
University for R&D and test Certication of hydraulic turbine. In: Proceedings
of international Conference on hydraulic efciency measurement, India;
21e23 October 2010.
[3] Thapa B, Shrestha R, Dhakal P, Thapa BS. Problems of Nepalese hydropower
projects due to Suspended sediments. Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Health
and Management; 2005:251e8.
[4] Padhy MK, Saini RP. A review on silt erosion in hydro turbines. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews 2008;12:1974e87.
[5] Dahlhaug OG, Skre PE, Mossing V, Gutierrez A. Sediment resistive Francis
runner at Cahua power plant. Hydropower and Dams; 2010:109e12.
[6] Neopane HP, Dhalhaug OG, Thapa B. Alternative design of a Francis turbine for
sand laden water. In: Proceedings of international Conference on hydro-
power- hydro Sri Lanka; 2007.
[7] Pradhan PMS, Joshi PN, Biswakarma MB, Stole H. Sediment and Thermody-
namic efciency measurement at Jhimruk hydropower plant, Nepal in
Monsoon 2003. In: Proceedings of Ninth international Symposium on river
Sedimentation, China; 2004.
[8] Thapa B. Sand erosion in hydraulic Machinery. Ph.D. Thesis at Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 2004.
[9] Sharma HK. Power generation in sediment laden rivers. International Journal
on Hydropower & Dams; 2010:112e6.
[10] Cannell JK, Pokhrel R, Bhandari B. Testing and development of Pico hydro
turbines. International Journal on Hydropower & Dams; 2005:80e112.
[11] KC B, Thapa B. Pressure distribution at inner surface of selected Pelton bucket
for micro hydro. Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and
Technology; 2009:42e5.
[12] Thapa B, Upadhyay P, Dahlhaug OG, Timsina M, Basnet R. HVOF coatings for
erosion resistance of hydraulic turbines: experience of Kaligandaki-A
69
Hydropower Plant. In: Proceedings of water Resources and Renewable
Energy development in Asia, Vietnam; 2008.
[13] Shrestha BP, Suman SK. Shape feature extraction and pattern recognition of
sand particles and their impact. In: Proceedings of SPIE Int. Soc. Of Opt. Engg;
2005. 59960X-1.
[14] Brekke H. Discussion of Pelton turbine versus Francis turbines for high head
turbines. In: Proceedings of IAHR, Colorado; 1978.
[15] Thapa BS, Thapa B, Dahlhaug OG. Empirical modelling of sediment erosion in
Francis turbines. Journal of Energy 2012;41:386e91.
Biraj Singh Thapa is a MS by Research graduate from Mechanical Engineering
Department at Kathmandu University (KU) with the topic Hydraulic Design of Francis
Turbine to Minimize Sediment Erosion. He is working as a Faculty-in-Charge of
Turbine Testing Lab at KU. He is also an Activity Leader for RenewableNepal Project
at the lab to develop a new design philosophy for Francis turbine to minimize losses
due to sediment erosion.
Bhola Thapa has done Bachelor and Master in Mechanical Engineering from India. He
has done PhD from NTNU in the topics Sand Erosion of Hydraulic Machinery in 2004.
He has been working at Kathmandu University, School of Engineering since 1994. He is
a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and he has been serving as Dean of School of
Engineering since 2005. He has been involved in research in the eld of hydraulic
turbines especially in the area design of erosion resistance, operation and
maintenance.
Ole G. Dahlhaug obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at NTNU. From 1992 to
1998 he worked at SINTEF as Research Scientist, with research and testing of pumps
and turbines. Currently he is Professor at the Waterpower Laboratory at NTNU. He has
been actively working with research on sediment erosion of turbine components and
efciency measurements of hydropower plants. He is supervisor of the Renew-
ableNepal project.