Name – Mukesh Choudhary

RTU Roll Number – 21ESKME017

Subject – Fluid Machines Lab

Aim – Conducting experiments and drawing characteristic curves of Francis Turbine (on
VIRTUAL LAB).

Date –

Semester – 4th

Year – 2nd

Submitted To – Assistant Prof. Arun Beniwal

Theory :

INTRODUCTION
The Francis turbine is a reaction turbine, in which the fluid changes pressure
as it moves through the turbine, giving up its energy. The turbine is located between
the high pressure water source and the low pressure water exit. The inlet of turbine
is in spiral shape. The guide vanes direct the water tangentially to the turbine wheel
which is known as a runner. This radial flow of water acts on the runner's vanes,
causing the runner to spin. The guide vanes may be adjustable to allow efficient
turbine operation for a range of water flow conditions. At the point of exit, the water
leaves with no swirl and very little kinetic or potential energy. The shape of the
turbine's exit tube helps to decelerate the flow of water and recover the pressure.
 Sectional View of Francis Turbine

Main parts:
1. Spiral casing: The runner is completely enclosed in an air-tight spiral
casing. The casing and runner are always full of water. The water from the
penstocks enters the casing in which area of cross-section of the casing goes on
decreasing gradually. Since the casing is spiral shape, the water enters the runner
at constant velocity throughout the circumference of the runner.
2. Guide vanes: The guide vanes allow the water to strike the vanes fixed on
the runner without any shake at the inlet. Also by a suitable arrangement, the width
between two adjacent vanes of a guide’s mechanism can be adjusted, so that the
amount of water striking the runner can be varied.
3. Runner/Impeller: It is a circular wheel on which a series of radial curved
vanes are fixed and the surface of the vanes is made very smooth. The radial
curved vanes are so shaped that the water enters and leaves the runner without
shock. The runners are made of cast steel, cast iron or stainless steel. The runner is
connected to the shaft.
4. Draft tube: Draft tube is or pipe of gradually increasing area which is used
for discharging the water from the turbine to the tail race. The pressure at the exit of
the runner is generally less than atmosphere pressure. Hence the water is
discharged to tail race through the draft tube.
 Let,
= Radius of wheel at inlet of the vane
= Radius of wheel at outlet of the vane
= Angular speed of the wheel
Tangential speed of the vane at inlet =
Tangential speed of the vane at outlet =
The velocity triangles at inlet and outlet are drawn as shown in
figure. and are the angles between the absolute velocities of jet and vane at
inlet and outlet respectively. and are vane angles at inlet and outlet respectively.
The mass of water striking a series of vanes per second =
where, a is the area of jet or flow and is the velocity of flow at inlet.
The momentum of water striking a series of vanes per second at inlet is given
by the product of mass of water striking per second and the component of velocity
of flow at inlet = , where is the velocity component of flow at inlet along
tangential direction. Similarly momentum of water striking a series of vanes per
second at outlet is given by , where is the velocity component of flow
at inlet along tangential direction and the -ve sign is because the velocity
component is acting in the opposite direction. Now angular momentum per second
at inlet is given by the product of momentum of water at inlet and its radial distance
= and angular momentum per second at inlet =−
Torque exerted by water on the wheel is given by impulse momentum
theorem as the rate of change of angular momentum

Work done per second on the wheel = Torque x Angular velocity

=
=
=
As and
We can simplify the above equation as

In the above case, always the velocity of whirl at outlet is given by both
magnitude and direction as

If the discharge is radial at outlet, then and

Hence the equation reduces to,

Efficiency of the reaction turbine is given by,

Note: The value of the velocity of whirl at outlet is to be substituted

as along with its sign.

Speed ratio =
Where, H is the Head on turbine, it varies from 0.6 to 0.9.

Flow ratio=
Where, is the velocity of flow at inlet, it varies from 0.15 to 0.3.
 Discharge flowing through the reaction turbine is given by

Where, and are the diameter of the runner at inlet and

outlet. and are the width of the runner at inlet and outlet. and velocity at
inlet and outlet. If the thickness of the vane is to be considered, then
The area through which flow takes place is given by

Where, n is the number of vanes mounted on the runner.

Discharge flowing through the reaction turbine is given by

The head on the turbine is given by

and
Hydraulic efficiency is

If the discharge at the exit is radial then ,

Hence hydraulic efficiency is

Comparison of Francis turbine and Kaplan turbine

Francis Turbine Kaplan Turbine

Normal range of head:30-550m Normal range of head:1.5-80m

Number of vanes:15-25 Number of vanes:3-8

Specific speed:50-250 60-400 Specific speed:300-1000

Cavitation susceptibility Greater cavitation susceptibility

 Francis Turbine Kaplan Turbine

Overall efficiency is good Overall efficiency is better than Francis turbine

Requires large area Requires less area

Normal speed of runner:90-1000 Normal speed of runner:70-600

Flow of water is radially and mixed flow type Flow of water is axial

Flow regulation is by guide vanes Flow regulation is by needle valve fitted into nozzle

Turbines works by medium discharge at average head Turbines works by high discharge low head

Cavitation:
Cavitation is an effect mainly on the reaction turbine when water pressure
drops below the critical pressure (generally vapour pressure) at constant
temperature and vapour cavities are formed and grow based on the dynamic
pressure reduction. Cavitation in hydraulic machines negatively affects their
performance and may cause severe damages. Cavitation commonly occurs in
hydraulic turbines, around runner exit and in the draft tube.
Cavitation is a phenomenon occurs when the static pressure of the liquid falls
below its vapour pressure, the liquid boils and large number of small bubbles of
vapours are formed. These bubbles mainly formed due to low pressure and carried
by the stream to higher pressure zones where the vapours condense and the
bubbles suddenly collapse, as the vapours are condensed to liquid again. This
results in the formation of a cavity and the surrounding liquid rushes to fill it from all
direction which collide at the centre of cavity giving rise to a very high local pressure
whose magnitude may be as high as 7000 atm. Formation of cavity and high
pressure are repeated many thousand times a second. This causes pitting on the
metallic surface of runner blades or draft tube. The material then fails by fatigue,
added by corrosion.
There are two ways to reduce the cavitation damage. One involves optimizing
the hydraulic design of equipment and the other involves developing coatings for
the substrates of wetted parts, which can prolong the overhaul interval of hydraulic
components.
Cavitation in general is slow process but the effect of cavitation is severe.
Damaged caused by cavitation, if summarized are: erosion of material from turbine
parts, distortion of blade angle, loss of efficiency due to erosion/distortion (Santa JF
et al, 2009) . Prof. D Thoma Suggested a dimensionless number called as Thoma's
Cavitation factor σ (sigma), which can be used for determining the region where
cavitation takes place in reaction turbines

Where,
is the atmospheric pressure head in m of water
is the suction pressure at outlet of reaction turbine in m of water or height
of turbine runner above the tail water surface,
is vapour pressure head,
is the net head on the turbine in m of water
The value of depends on (specific speed) of the turbine and for a turbine
of given the factor can be reduced up-to a certain value up to which its
efficiency, remains constant. A further decrease in value of can be reduced up-
to a certain value up to which its efficiency, remains constant. A further decrease
in value of results in a sharp fall in . The value of at this turning point is called
critical cavitation factor . The value of for different turbines may be determined
with the help of following empirical relationships:
For Francis Turbine:

The values of from equation (1) is compared with the value of from
equation (2) and if value of is greater than , cavitation will not occur in that
turbine.
Francis Turbine Working Principle
 Performance characteristics of Francis Turbine:
Performance characteristics are of three types:
a. Constant head characteristics:
In order to obtain these curves the tests are performed on the turbine by
maintaining a constant head and a constant gate opening and the speed is raised
by changing the load on the turbine.

Constant Head Characteristics

b. Constant speed characteristics:

In order to obtain these curves the tests are performed on the turbine by
operating them at constant speed.
 Constant Speed Characteristics

c. Constant efficiency curves:

These curves show the efficiency of the turbine for all conditions of running
and hence these are also known as universal characteristic curves.

Constant Speed Characteristics

Simulation :
Passport Size Photograph (Vikas Sharma):

Photograph while performing experiment on Virtual Lab :