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Optimizing runner blade profile of Francis turbine to minimize sediment erosion

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2012 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 15 032052
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26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Optimizing runner blade profile of Francis turbine to

minimize sediment erosion
B S Thapa1, B Thapa1, M Eltvik2, K Gjosater2 and O G Dahlhaug2
1

Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, P.O. Box 6250, Dhulikhel,

Nepal
2
Dept. Energy&Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, 7491, Norway
Email: [email protected]
Abstract. Hard sediment particles as quartz are present in high amount in the rivers across
Asian and Andes mountain ranges. This cause the run-off-river hydropower plants in these
regions to suffer from erosion wear. The hydro turbine components erode severely during the
monsoon periods. Due to high relative velocity the turbine runners are more vulnerable. Loss
of turbine efficiency and high cost of repair and maintenance are the major consequences of the
erosion. Several attempts including surface coatings to control the sediment erosion in Francis
runners have not shown satisfactory results. One of the emerging solutions is to reduce the
relative velocity inside the runner by improving the hydraulic design. This includes
optimization of the runner blade profile to reduce sediment erosion, while avoiding cavitation
and still maintaining the highest possible efficiency. This study has been conducted to identify
the alternative blade profiles of high head Francis runners and estimate the effects of sediment
erosion on each new profile. A new design program named as Khoj has been developed to
facilitate this study. The program can generate the profiles of Francis runner based on the
traditional equations. It is also capable to export the designs for CFD and FEM analysis.
Erosion factor has been defined as a means to compare the relative change in sediment erosion
due to the variation of the runner design. A reference turbine has been established and
alternative blade profiles have been designed. CFD analysis has been conducted to evaluate the
performance of the alternative designs relative to the erosive conditions of the reference turbine.
It has been observed that the shape of runner blade has a significant effect on velocity
distribution and hence on the sediment erosion of the runner. Results of CFD analysis validates
prediction from the design program that the blade profile with higher blade loading at outlet
can reduce the sediment erosion in runner up to 33%. It was also observed that this condition
improves the runner efficiency without any change in the runner main dimensions. Results of
this study can be useful to design Francis turbines operating in sediment conditions.

1. Introduction
The theoretical potential of worldwide hydropower is 2800 GW, which is about four times greater than
the amount that has been tapped so far. Much of this potential is found in areas that are exposed to
monsoon periods such as the Himalaya and Andes. It is therefore expected that many power plants
will be built in these areas in the future. However, rivers in these regions contain high amounts of
sediments, which cause rapid erosion of turbine components. Most of the bigger turbines manufactures
have developed their turbine designs for the projects with lesser problems of sediments. Consequently
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

proper solution to this age long problem in these parts of world has not been found so far [1]. Growing
energy demands in Asia and Latin America has brought up necessity of better designs of hydro
turbines, which in particular are capable to handle heavy sediments effectively. Future of sustainable
hydropower business in these regions would be largely influenced by the effective solution for the
existing problem of turbine erosion.
Sediment erosion of hydro turbines is a complex phenomenon as it depends upon several
parameters. Presence of hard particles as quartz in sediment flow removes the base material of turbine
gradually. This leads to change in flow pattern, losses in efficiency, vibrations and final breakdown of
turbine components. Thus sediment erosion of hydro turbines is a technical problem with major
economic losses. Fig. 1 shows the damage in 21 MW Francis runner installed at Cahua power plant in
Peru and Fig. 2 shows the damage in 4.2 MW Francis runner installed at Jimruk Hydroelectric center
in Nepal. Both runners are heavily eroded by the sediment particles. Several methods have been
attempted to control the effects of sediment erosion in turbine components. This includes, prevention
of sedimentation in the catchment areas, tapping sediments at intakes, and applying preventative
coatings on the turbine components exposed to high velocity water [2]. However, conventional
methods to prevent turbine erosion have not shown successful results. This has created a need for
further research to find better solutions to prevent turbine damage from sediments [3].
Standard practice of design of high head Francis turbines has the highest efficiency without
cavitation as a major design parameter. This fundamentally overlooks considering sediment erosion
from the design process. Thus the traditional design methods need optimization for performing
satisfactorily in sediment laden projects. Change in turbine design philosophy so as to reduce relative
velocity of water inside runner, in addition to the highest efficiency without cavitation criteria, could
be one of the new areas of research to minimize sediment erosion in hydraulic turbines.
Recent advancements in computational tools and processors have added advantages to the R&D
process of hydraulic turbines. These tools are able not only to compute solutions for the complex
design equations but also provide the user friendly virtual environment for performance test and
design optimization.

Figure 1. Erosion damage of Francis

runner in Peru

Figure 2. Erosion damage of Francis runner

in Nepal

2. Research Methodology
2.1. Standard procedure for design of Francis runner
The hydraulic design procedure of a Francis runner starts with calculating the outlet diameter, number
of poles in the generator, and synchronous speed. With these values known, the dimensions at the inlet
are calculated. These comprises of inlet diameter, inlet angle, and inlet height. These calculations are
based on hydraulic parameters like head and discharge, which are determined by the topography and
hydrology of the power plant site.
When the main dimensions of the runner are known, the runner blades can be designed. The design
procedure starts by determining the shape of the blade in the axial view, then the radial view is

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

established, and finally the runner blade can be plotted in three dimensions. Several equations and
intermediate steps are used to develop the 3-D view of Francis runner as discussed in details in [4-5].
This conventional method of design of Francis excludes estimation of erosion in turbine blade in case
of sediments in flow.
2.2. Analytical Quantification of Erosion:
In the proposed methodology the following two terms are defined as the indicator and the means of
estimating of relative erosion in the Francis turbine runner.
2.2.1. Erosion Tendency (Et). It is quantification of tendency of a specific design of runner to be
eroded in similar sediment conditions. Erosion tendency is defined as follows:
Et

n
i =1

Wi 3 Ai

A
i =1

[m3/s3]

(1)

where n is the number of segment area (Ai) in the runner blade surface. Wi is the relative velocity of
flow in each segment area. The segment area is the area between the intersection of stream lines and
stream points in the runner blade surface.
2.2.2. Erosion Factor (Ef). It is ratio of erosion tendency of each new design with respect to the
reference design. Erosion factor is defined as follows:
Ef =

( E t ) New Design
( E t ) Refernce Design

[-]

(2)

The erosion factor estimates a quantitative difference in sediment erosion of runner with the change
in hydraulic design alone. Inclusion of erosion factor as a parameter to compare the relative erosion of
differently designed turbines for same design conditions can be helpful step to produce better designs
for erosive environment.
2.3. Design Program Khoj
A graphic user interface (GUI) program to create and modify design of Francis runner has been
developed. The program is named as Khoj and is able to create a 3-D runner profile based on the
design methods and steps discussed in [4,5] and optimize design parameters to reduce erosion factor
for the runner designed conventionally. The GUI provides enough flexibility to change these input
parameters and is able to compute the erosion factor for each new design. The program is also featured
to save the summary of the design and export it to CFD and CAD programs for further analysis.
The program has been tested and used by the members of the Francis turbine design team at NTNU
during spring 2011. The program has been improved and expanded based on the teams findings and
needs. Further improvements and expansions might be added in the future. Fig. 3 shows the input data
for the main dimension and the velocity triangles generated from the data. Fig. 4 shows the radial view
and the 3-D view of runner after several stages of calculations.

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

Figure 3. Input tab and velocity triangles

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Figure 4. Radial view and 3-D design

3. Optimization of 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 high head Francis turbine in South Asia. It
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.
Table 1 Basic Design Data for JHC
S.N.
1
2
3

Parameters
Symbol
Unit
Net design head
H
m
Net discharge per
Q
m3/s
unit
Runner efficiency
n
%
Table 2 Hydraulic Design Parameters

S.N.

Parameters

Outlet diameter
Number of pole
pairs in generator
Reduced peripheral
velocity at inlet
Acceleration of
flow through runner
Height of runner
Blade angle
distribution

2
3
4
5
6

Value

201.5
2.35
96

D2

Value for
Reference design
0.54

ZP

U1

0.74

Acc

35

0.16

linear

Symbol

Unit

3.1. Blade angle distribution

Blade angle distribution (or simply beta distribution) is the profile in which the blade angle changes
from inlet to outlet. It directly affects the rate of conversion of hydraulic energy to mechanical energy
at each section of the runner. It controls how much hydraulic energy in water is converted to the
mechanical energy in each section of blade. Linear change of the blade angle from inlet to outlet has
been a commonly accepted beta distribution for the design of Francis runners. Various other nonlinear
distributions are analyzed in this study to see its effect on efficiency and erosion factor. Fig. 5 shows
the liner blade angle distribution for the reference case and its effects on velocity distributions in the
blade surface.

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Figure 5. Blade angle distribution and energy distribution for reference case
3.2. Optimization of blade profile
Runner blade profile is optimized by changing blade angle distribution to different non-linear shapes.
All other design parameters for the reference design are kept same as presented in Table II. Design
program has been featured to generate blade profiles corresponding to the blade angle distribution as
an input parameter. Five different blade angle distribution selected for this study is presented in Fig. 6.
Selection of blade angle distributions is made to change the amount of energy being extracted from
each blade section from inlet to out let. Fig. 6a shows the beta distribution with low energy extraction
at runner inlet and high energy extraction at the runner outlet. Fig. 6b shows the beta distribution with
high energy extraction at the inlet and low energy extraction at the outlet. Fig. 6c shows the beta
distribution with linear energy extraction from the inlet to the outlet. Similarly Fig. 6d and Fig. 6e
shows the energy distributions with combinations of high and low energy distribution at the inlet and
the outlet respectively.

Figure 6a. Beta Distribution

Shape 1

Figure 6b. Beta Distribution

Shape 2

Figure 6c. Beta Distribution

Shape 3

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

Figure 6d. Beta Distribution Shape 4

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Figure 6e. Beta Distribution Shape 5

4. Numerical Analysis
To verify the reference design, a CFD simulation is carried out. Jhimruk Hydroelectric Center, Nepal
has been taken as the reference case. Designs from Matlab are exported to Ansys CFX-13. 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 consistency. Comparisons of results are done with
that from Matlab for the same designs. Table 3-6 presents the parameters selected for the CFD
analysis. Fig. 7 shows the ATM mesh generated by TurboGrid and Fig. 8 shows the computational
domain for CFD processing.
CFD analysis of reference runner has been done to evaluate the hydraulic parameters and sediment
erosion in runner blade surface as reference value to compare the same for the optimized designs. Fig.
9 shows the pressure distribution on the pressure side of the blade. It shows smooth transition of
pressure from inlet to outlet section. Fig. 10 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 11 shows sediment erosion rate density on the pressure side of reference runner blade computed by
Ansys CFX-Solver for the parameter presented in Table 5 and report generated by the Ansys CFXPost for the parameters presented in the table 6. It shows that the erosion pattern to be spread at the
entire outlet section of the runner blade.
Table 3 Parameters for CFX-Turbo Grid
Table 4 General Parameters for CFX-Pre
Paramater
Grid Node
Count
Factor Ratio
Reynolds No

Type

Value

Paramater

Type

Fine

250000

Turbulence

SST

2
500000

Flow State
Flow type
Erosion
Model

Steady
Inviscid

Table 5 Parameters for CFX-Pre Sediment Data

Data

Value

Unit

Material

Quartz

Density

2.65

g/cm3

Diamter

0.1

Mm

Shape factor
Flow rate

1
0.07

Morphology

Tabakoff
Particle Transport
fluid

Table 6 Parameters
Erosion Analysis
Paramater
Sediment
Erosion
Rate Density

kg/s
6

for

CFX-Post

Max value

Unit

3.00E-07

kg/m2s

0.3

mg/m2s

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

Figure 7. TurboGrid ATM mesh

Figure 9. Pressure distribution in

pressure side of blade

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Figure 8. Computational domain

Figure 10. Relative

velocity at blade outlet

Figure 11. Sediment erosin on

reference runner blade

5. Results and discussion

Consequences of variation Beta distribution are evaluated from the design program Khoj and results
are compared with that with CFD analysis. Effect of the variation on the erosion factor is of primary
interest. However, the effects on other relevant design parameters are also observed. Fig 12 Shows
effect of different shape of beta distribution on velocity distribution at center of the runner blade. It
can be observed that the shape of beta distribution has a very strong effect on the velocity and energy
distribution along the blade surface from inlet to outlet. Shape 1 has a very low relative velocity up to
its first 80 % of blade surface with high acceleration at the outlet section. This inherently will reduce
erosion in balde surface as literatures predict that erosin is proportional to the third power of the
relative velocity [6]. Shape 2 has high acceleration at the inlet section relative velocity at almost entire
blade surface. Shape 3 has low acceleration at inlet portion and high in the middle. Similarly shape 4
has low acceleration at inlet portion and shape 5 has moderate acceleration at inlet portion and high in
end portion.
Fig. 13 shows the effect of different shape of beta distribution on erosion factor. It can be
observed that the erosion factor for the different shapes of beta distribution has strong relation with the
relative velocity. Shape with minimum area under relative velocity distribution has the least erosion
factor and vice versa. The design program estimates that runner blade with beta distribution shape 1
has erosion factor of 0.67. This suggests 33% of reduction in erosion by changing the runner blade
profile alone. Fig. 14 shows the effect of different shape of beta distribution on other design
parameters as runner inlet diameter (D1), runner outlet diameter (D2) and submergence (hs). It can be
observed that the shape of beta distribution has no effect on other main design parameters. The beta

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

distribution affects only the profile of runner blade from inlet to outlet and hence alters relative
velocity and blade loading.

Figure 12a. Velocity and Energy Distribution for

Shape 1

Figure 12b. Velocity and Energy Distribution for

Shape 2

Figure 12c. Velocity and Energy Distribution for

Shape 3

Figure 12d. Velocity and Energy Distribution for

Shape 4

Figure 12e. Velocity and Energy Distribution for Shape 5

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

D1,D2 (m)

1.5
1

Shape Shape Shape Shape Shape

1
2
3
4
5

0.5
Shape 1

Shape 2

Shape 3

Shape 4

0
-2
-4
-6

1
0.8
0.6
0.4

Shape 5

hs, (m)

Beta distribution Vs. D1, D2, hs

Beta distribution Vs. Erosin Factor

2
Ef

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

D1
D2
hs

Shape of Beta Distribution

Shape of Beta Distribution

Figure 13. Effect of Beta Distribution on

Erosion Factor

Figure 14. Effect of Beta Distribution on other

design parameters

CFD analysis of runner design for the reference case with different shapes of beta distributions has
been done in ANSYS CFX-13. It was observed that the results from CFD analysis matches with the
predictions from the design program Khoj. Fig. 15 shows contour of relative velocity at blade
trailing edge from CFD analysis for different shapes of beta distribution. Fig 16 shows sediment
erosion pattern on pressure side of runner blade surface. As predicted by the design program shape 1
has the lowest relative velocity at the runner outlet (Fig 15a) and also relatively lower erosion density
(Fig 16 a).

Figure 15a. Relative veocilty at

blade trailing edge for Shape-1

Figure 15b. Relative veocilty at Figure 15c Relative veocilty at

blade trailing edge for Shape-2 blade trailing edge for Shape-3

Figure 15d. Relative velocity at

blade trailing edge for Shape-1

Figure 15e. Relative veocilty at

blade trailing edge for Shape-1

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Figure 16a. Sediment erosion

in blade surface for Shape-1

Figure 16c. Sediment erosion in

blade surface for Shape-3

Figure 16b. Sediment erosion in

blade surface for Shape-2

Figure 16d. Sediment erosion in

Figure 16e. Sediment erosion in
blade surface for Shape-4
blade surface for Shape-5
The hydraulic efficiency of the runner with the different shapes of beta distributions estimated by
CFX has been presented in Table 7.
Table 7 Hydraulic efficiency for runners with different shapes of beta
distributions
Beta Distribution
Shape-1 Shape-2 Shape-3 Shape-4 Shape-5
Total Efficiency
96.45
93.40
95.05
93.02
95.44
(%)
It can be observed that runner profile with beta distribution shape 1 has the highest efficiency and
shape 2 and shape 3 have the lowest efficiencies. This result also matches with the trends of erosion
factor for the different shapes of beta distribution predicted by the design program.
6. Summary and Conclusions
Computational tools can be used for optimizing designs of hydraulic turbines to suit the specific
design needs. This study has been conducted to identify the runner blade profile to minimize the
damage of sediment erosion in Francis turbines. A new design program to develop and modify design
of Francis turbine and export designs for CFD analysis has been developed and implemented in this
study. Results from the design program have been compared to that of CFD analysis. Runner profiles
with minimum erosion without losing efficiency and inducing cavitation has been identified.
It has been found that Francis runners blade profile can be optimized for minimum erosion by
modifying the blade angle distribution, which effects the relative velocity distribution along the blade
surface. It was also found that change in blade angel distribution has no effect on runner main
dimensions and submergence. Both design program and CFD analysis concluded that the runner blade
profile with higher blade loading at outlet has lower erosion rates and improved efficiency. It was
estimated by the design program that 33% of erosion can be minimized by changing the blade angle
distribution alone.
Results from this study can be useful for designing Francis turbines for sediment laden projects and
also refurbishing runners damaged by sediment erosion in existing power plants. However, further
investigation should be made to verify the findings of this study by means of some experimental
verification.

10

26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 15 (2012) 032052

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1755-1315/15/3/032052

Nomenclature
Tangential component of absolute flow
Meridian component of absolute flow
cu
cm
velocity, [m/s]
velocity, [m/s]
Runner diameter at inlet (m)
D1
D2 Runner diameter at outlet (m)
Runner submergence to avoid cavitation (m)
hs
U Runner Peripheral velocity (m/s)
Runner relative velocity w.r.t. flow velocity
w
(m/s)
References
[1] Thapa B S,Gjosoeter K,Eltvik M, Dahlhaug O G and Thapa B 2012 Effects of turbine design
parameters on sediment erosion of Francis runner Proc.2nd Int. conf. on the developments in
renewable energy technology (Bangladesh, 5-7 January 2012)
[2] Thapa B 2004 Sand Erosion in Hydraulic Machinery Ph.D thesis (Trondheim :NTNU)
[3] Thapa B S, Thapa B, Dahlhaug O G 2010 Center of Excellence at Kathmandu University for
R&D and Test Certification of Hydraulic Turbine Proc. Int. Conf. on Hydraulic Efficiency
Measurement( India, 21-23 October 2010)
[4] Eltvik M,Olimstad G and Walseth E C 2009 High Pressure Hydraulic Machinery
(Trondheim :NTNU publication)
[5] Thapa B S, Eltvik M, Gjosoeter K and Dahlhaug O G 2012 Design optimization of Francis
runner for sediment handling Proc.Fourth International Conference on Water Resources and
Renewable Energy Development in Asia, (Thailand, 26-27 March 2012)
[6] Thapa B S, Thapa B and Dahlhaug O G 2012 J. Energy 41 386-391.

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