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Effect of Guide Vane Clearance Gap on Francis Turbine Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Ravi Koirala

    (State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
    Turbine Testing Lab, Kathmandu University, P.O. Box 6250, Dhulikhel, Nepal)

  • Baoshan Zhu

    (State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Thermal Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Hari Prasad Neopane

    (Turbine Testing Lab, Kathmandu University, P.O. Box 6250, Dhulikhel, Nepal)

Abstract

Francis turbine guide vanes have pivoted support with external control mechanism, for conversion of pressure to kinetic energy and to direct them to runner vanes. This movement along the support is dependent on variation of load and flow (operating conditions). Small clearance gaps between facing plates and the upper and lower guide vane tips are available to aid this movement, through which leakage flow occurs. This secondary flow disturbs the main flow stream, resulting performance loss. Additionally, these increased horseshoe vortex, in presence of sand, when crosses through the gaps, both the surfaces are eroded. This causes further serious effect on performance and structural property by increasing gaps. This paper discusses the observation of the severity in hydropower plants and effect of clearance gaps on general performance of the Francis turbine through computational methods. It also relates the primary result with the empirical relation for leakage flow prediction. Additionally, a possible method to computationally estimate thickness depletion has also been presented. With increasing clearance gap, leakage increases, which lowers energy conversion and turbine efficiency along with larger secondary vortex.

Suggested Citation

  • Ravi Koirala & Baoshan Zhu & Hari Prasad Neopane, 2016. "Effect of Guide Vane Clearance Gap on Francis Turbine Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:9:y:2016:i:4:p:275-:d:67971
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thapa, Biraj Singh & Thapa, Bhola & Dahlhaug, Ole Gunnar, 2012. "Current research in hydraulic turbines for handling sediments," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 62-69.
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    1. Koirala, Ravi & Neopane, Hari Prasad & Shrestha, Oblique & Zhu, Baoshan & Thapa, Bhola, 2017. "Selection of guide vane profile for erosion handling in Francis turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 328-336.
    2. Thapa, Biraj Singh & Dahlhaug, Ole Gunnar & Thapa, Bhola, 2017. "Sediment erosion induced leakage flow from guide vane clearance gap in a low specific speed Francis turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 253-261.
    3. Megavath Vijay Kumar & T. Subba Reddy & P. Sarala & P. Srinivasa Varma & Obbu Chandra Sekhar & Abdulrahman Babqi & Yasser Alharbi & Basem Alamri & Ch. Rami Reddy, 2022. "Experimental Investigation and Performance Characteristics of Francis Turbine with Different Guide Vane Openings in Hydro Distributed Generation Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-24, September.
    4. Nirmal Acharya & Saroj Gautam & Sailesh Chitrakar & Chirag Trivedi & Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug, 2021. "Leakage Vortex Progression through a Guide Vane’s Clearance Gap and the Resulting Pressure Fluctuation in a Francis Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Xiaoxia Hou & Yongguang Cheng & Zhiyan Yang & Ke Liu & Xiaoxi Zhang & Demin Liu, 2021. "Influence of Clearance Flow on Dynamic Hydraulic Forces of Pump-Turbine during Runaway Transient Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Cristian Cruzatty & Darwin Jimenez & Esteban Valencia & Ivan Zambrano & Christian Mora & Xianwu Luo & Edgar Cando, 2021. "A Case Study: Sediment Erosion in Francis Turbines Operated at the San Francisco Hydropower Plant in Ecuador," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Daqing Zhou & Huixiang Chen & Jie Zhang & Shengwen Jiang & Jia Gui & Chunxia Yang & An Yu, 2019. "Numerical Study on Flow Characteristics in a Francis Turbine during Load Rejection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Filip Stojkovski & Marija Lazarevikj & Zoran Markov & Igor Iliev & Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug, 2021. "Constraints of Parametrically Defined Guide Vanes for a High-Head Francis Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-13, May.
    9. Yabin Liu & Lei Tan & Binbin Wang, 2018. "A Review of Tip Clearance in Propeller, Pump and Turbine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-30, August.
    10. Koirala, Ravi & Neopane, Hari Prasad & Zhu, Baoshan & Thapa, Bhola, 2019. "Effect of sediment erosion on flow around guide vanes of Francis turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1022-1027.
    11. Koirala, Ravi & Thapa, Bhola & Neopane, Hari Prasad & Zhu, Baoshan, 2017. "A review on flow and sediment erosion in guide vanes of Francis turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1054-1065.

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