Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Review

Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment

erosion in Francis turbines
Sailesh Chitrakar a, *, Hari Prasad Neopane b, Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug a
a
Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, Nepal

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

Article history: Sediment erosion of the hydropower turbine components is one of the key challenges due to the con-
Received 28 December 2015 stituent of hard particles in the rivers of Himalayas and Andes. In the case of Francis turbines, previous
Received in revised form studies show that the erosion is mostly observed around stay vanes, guide vanes and runner blades.
1 June 2016
Depending upon the type of ow phenomena in particular regions and operating conditions, the sedi-
Accepted 3 June 2016
Available online xxx
ment particles having certain geometric and material properties create distinct erosion patterns on those
regions. The ow phenomena in Francis turbines are highly unsteady, especially around guide vanes and
runner. The unsteadiness arises in the form of leakage through clearance gap, horseshoe vortex, rotor-
Keywords:
Sediment erosion
stator-interaction and turbulences supported by high velocity and acceleration. The erosion on the
Secondary ow other hand deteriorates the surface morphology, aggravating the ow. Based on a thorough literature
Francis turbines survey, this paper explains the simultaneous nature of the two effects, which in combined, contributes to
more losses, vibrations, fatigue problems and failure of the turbine. It also discusses some of the research
endeavors to minimize the combined effect by controlling either the erosion or the secondary ow in the
turbine. This review paper emphasizes the need of understanding the relationship between the two
phenomena and techniques of how the combined effect can be predicted as well as minimized.
2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
2. Erosion in Francis turbines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
3. Effect of the flow phenomena on erosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
4. Erosion quantification and its effect on flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
5. Endeavors for minimization of the simultaneous effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
6. Summary of the paper and future prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

1. Introduction countries are also known as the region containing largest amount
of unharnessed hydro energy resources. One of the major obstacles
A total of 14,218 TW h/year hydropower potential is estimated of current hydropower development in these regions is the run-off-
across the globe, out of which, Asia possesses the largest potential river type hydropower schemes. These types of schemes not only
of 6800 TW h/year [1]. This continent along with South American ceases the generation in dry season, but also induces maintenance
and operation challenges due to excessive sedimentation in wet
season. It has been studied that out of 20 billion tons of earths
materials carried to sea annually, nearly 6 billion tons are in Indian
* Corresponding author.
sub-continent [2].
E-mail address: sailesh.chitrakar@ntnu.no (S. Chitrakar).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
0960-1481/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
2 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11
Thapa [3] studied the mineral contents present in sand for
different rivers of Nepal and found that Quartz is the main con-
stituent of the sediment in Nepalese rivers and nearly 70% of the
constituent being hard particles. A statistical report of World Bank
[4] shows the access to electricity in a timely and cost-effective
manner, as one of the most signicant development challenges in
Nepal. According to this statistics, the per capita electricity con-
sumption in Nepal is the lowest in Asia, which is 93 kWh compared
to the average of 806 kWh. The total installed capacity in 2014 was
791 MW but the peak demand was 1201 MW [5]. This gap between
supply and demand has kept increasing since 2008, which has
resulted in load shedding for up to 17 h per day [6]. The economic
growth of Nepal is trapped between inadequate energy supply from
hydropower on one hand and technical challenges in the existing
plants on the other. The climatic and geographical scenarios, such
as tropical climate, immature geology and intense seasonal rainfall,
account for the degradation of the hydraulic turbine components
due to erosion and sedimentation. According to a case study in one
of the hydropower plants in Nepal [3], Marsyangdi (3
23 MW),
the blade thickness of the 13 blades Francis runner reduced from
10.8 mm to 6.8 mm for one unit and 5.1 mm in another. Similarly,
the guide vane clearance increased from 0.3 mm to 1.6 mm, the gap
between upper labyrinth seal and head cover increased from
2.6 mm to 4.15 mm and that of lower labyrinth seal and band
increased to 4.85 mm.
Bishwakarma [7] reported that the turbine blades, guide vanes,
facing plates and casing were severely eroded after 5 months of rst
operation in Jhimruk HP (3
4.1 MW). The turbines were eroded
almost in to un-repairable condition in about 4000 h of operation in
only 25% of operation time in monsoon. Similarly, a study carried
out by Pradhan [8] in Jhimruk HP shows that the erosion in the
turbine reduced the efciency by 5e8% depending upon the load
variation, within the interval of only 11 weeks of monsoon period in
2003. This result is discussed in more detail in Section 4.
The problems of sediment erosion is equally challenging in In-
dian hydropower plants. A review conducted by Padhy and Saini [9]
in some of the major hydropower stations of India, such as Maneri
Bhali Stage-I HP (3
30 MW), Salal HP (6
115 MW) and Biara Siul
HP (3
60 MW) showed signicant effects of erosion, such as
thinning of the outlet edges and pressure side of runner blades,
heavy leakage from the guide vanes and increase in vibration level
of machines. The weight loss of guide vanes in Baira Siul made of
13Cr4Ni stainless steel after 4000 h of operation was about 10e15%
and around 10e12% in Salal. The sediment-laden projects are also
heavily affecting the power plants in China, with 115 rivers dis-
charging more than an average of 10 million tons sediment annu-
ally [10].
The sediment erosion is not only limited to the context of the
Himalayan region, but it is also signicantly seen in the Andes re-
gion in South America. Cahua HP of Peru (2
21.5 MW) was
affected severely, with the sediment of 120,000 tons recorded only
after six weeks of operation, with the average quartz content found
to be around 35% and feldspar found to be around 30% [11].
Whereas the sediment erosion is a localized problem of Hima-
layas and Andes, secondary ow phenomena are global issues, in
the eld of which, an extensive number of research activities have
been carried out so far [12e20]. In the eld of Francis turbines, the
secondary ow is caused by rotor (runner)-stator (guide vane)
interaction, draft tube surge, leakage ow and wake ow. The
secondary ow creates disturbances and highly dynamic ow
patterns causing efciency drop, unnecessary noise and vibrations
in the turbine. In the countries where sediment erosion of hydraulic
components are prominent, the effect of unsteady ow phenomena
could be more severe. Thapa et al. [21] has recently made a review
about the effect of sediment erosion on the ow around the guide
Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
vanes of Francis turbines. This study explains that these unsteady
ow carrying sediment particles accelerates the erosion process.
The need of quantifying the combined effect of sediment erosion
and secondary ows in Francis turbines remains as a challenging
eld in both the local and global scenario of hydropower
development.
2. Erosion in Francis turbines
Erosion can be classied under one of the various forms of wear.
The major cause of wear and energy dissipation is friction and it is
estimated that one-third of the worlds energy resources in present
is used to overcome friction in one form or another [22]. Erosive
wear or erosion is one form of wear caused by the impacts of solid
or liquid particles on a solid surface. The ow medium contains
particles that possess enough kinetic energy to damage metallic
surface. Stachowiak and Batchelor [23] have discussed seven
different possible mechanisms for solid particle erosion, including
abrasive erosion, surface fatigue, brittle fracture, ductile deforma-
tion, surface melting, macroscopic erosion and atomic erosion. In
the case of hydraulic machinery, the rst four mechanisms are
applicable, as shown in Fig. 1. Comparing these mechanisms with
the ow in Francis turbines, it can be inferred that the abrasive
erosion occurs in the clearance gap between guide vanes and facing
plates. Brittle fracture is common in the sharp edges such as trailing
edges of blades whereas plastic deformation and fatigue erosion
are predominant in most of the other regions.
Brekke [24] has described that the hydraulic machineries
working in the range of high Reynolds number between 106 to 108
in the sediment carrying uid experience erosion. In the case of
Francis turbines, he explains that the erosion occurs in the stay
vanes due to the secondary ows from the spiral casing causing
non-uniform ow angles at the inlet with high absolute velocities.
The guide vane system is highly affected by the sediment erosion
due to the high absolute velocity and acceleration. The erosion of
guide vane can be classied into: Turbulence erosion at the outlet
region and facing plate due to high velocity of ne particles, sec-
ondary ow erosion in the corner between guide vane and facing
plates, leakage erosion at the clearance between guide vane and
facing plates and acceleration erosion due to the separation of
particles from the streamlines of the main ow due to rotation of
water in front of the runner. The vortices generated from the sec-
ondary ow and the leakage ow from the guide vane will even-
tually pass through the runner inlet causing damages. In the
runner, the highest relative velocity occurs at the outlet region
while the highest absolute velocity and accelerations occurs at the
inlet of the blade. Because of the high relative velocity at the outlet,
the particles moving towards the outer diameter in the runner will
cause more effect of the erosion outlet. Inlet region, on the other
hand is sensitive to incorrect pressure distribution between the
pressure and the suction side and any separation caused by this
may cause severe local erosion at the inlet [3]. The horse shoe
vortex is created at the blade root by cross ow from hub to band
due to incorrect blade leaning. Labyrinth seals having small clear-
ance can be eroded and well as abraded due to coarse particles.
Similarly, the area around the draft tube closer to the runner is
exposed to high velocity due to which, some effect of the sediment
erosion can be seen in that region. Fig. 2 shows different areas of
Francis turbines affected due to the erosion.
3. Effect of the ow phenomena on erosion
Truscott [25] in 1971 performed a rigorous review on abrasive
wear in hydraulic machinery and found the most common
expression for wear, which was wear (velocity)n. He also
 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11 3

Fig. 1. Various forms of Erosive wear mechanisms a) Brittle fracture b) Plastic deformation c) Fatigue erosion d) Abrasive/cutting erosion.

Fig. 2. Erosion in a) facing plate and b) guide vane of Jhimruk HP [3] c) runner outlet d) runner inlet of Cahua HP [11].

indicated that a lower specic speed design at a given condition
results a reduced wear, although that is more expensive and heavy.
This study established a relationship between the ow and the
wear in hydraulic machineries.
Later, Stachowiak and Batchelor [23] performed a more in-depth
study of the wear mechanisms and its relationship with the particle
material, angle of impingement, impact velocity and particle size.
For ductile material, they found that the maximum erosion occurs
at impingement angle of 30 , whereas for brittle material, it occurs
at 80e90 . They also modied the expression between wear rate
and impact velocity for medium to high speeds as dm/dt kvn,
where m is the mass of worn specimen and n is the exponent
whose value is between 2 and 3. They also explained the acceler-
ation of erosive wear due to turbulence of the medium, as more
particle impingement occurs than in laminar ow. This turbulence
can be reduced by reducing the Reynolds number of the system.
Brekke [24] gave a more in-depth picture of how the ow car-
rying sediment behaves inside a hydraulic machinery. His expla-
nation about micro erosion, secondary ow vortex erosion and
acceleration erosion has been interpreted and presented in Fig. 3
taking an example of a section of Francis turbine.
There has been a number of empirical models developed to
characterize the erosion in terms of uid and material properties.
Table 1 shows some of those models which are categorized under
erosion in hydraulic machineries. Apart from some of the site
specic models, general trend shows that erosion depends on the
ow velocity, impingement angle, properties of the sand including
shape, size, hardness and concentration, and properties of the
eroded material. It can also be seen from this table that there are
many ways to express the erosion or erosion rate of the material.
Most common way is to dene the erosion is in terms of the loss of
material in mm/year [26e28], whereas, it is also expressed as mg/
kg of eroding particles [3] and the depth of material eroded in mm
[29].
Flow phenomena in Francis turbines are highly unsteady, and
several studies have been conducted in order to predict and pre-
vent the consequences of such ow behaviors. Brekke [13] dis-
cussed several phenomena accounting for pressure pulsations and
high stresses problems in Francis turbines. He has termed Blade
Passing Frequency (BPF) as passing of the runner blades through
travelling pressure waves from the wakes trailing from the guide
vane outlets. The study discussed how the cross ow from hub to
band on the pressure side of the runner can be reduced by a
negative blade lean at the inlet of the runner. Although the

Fig. 3. Various forms of erosion in Francis turbine guide vane and runner (Interpreted from the explanation of Brekke [24]).

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
4 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11
Table 1
List of some erosion models developed for hydraulic machineries.
Model Equation
Tsuguo [26] W b$C x ay k1 k2 k3 V m
Thapa [3] y 6E  5x3:13
Bajracharya et al. [27] Er asizeb
IEC [29] S W 3 P$L$Km Kf
Thapa et al. [28] Er C$Khardness Kshape Km Kf $asizeb
described method is based on potential ow analysis, which is valid
for runner with innite blades, it was supported by CFD analyses
and was taken into practice such as in Three Gorges Power Plant in
China, with a name, X-blade runner. In this study, it is also shown
that the highest value of stress amplitudes in X-blade runner
installed in Bratsberg power plant reduced by 25% compared to the
same scale power plant in Norway.
Trivedi et al. [18] showed the effects of transients on Francis
turbine in terms of runner life, cost of plant operation and loss of
power generation through experimental, numerical and analytical
investigations. He explained that currently, Francis turbines are
needed to operate over a wider range, approx. 30% away from BEP.
However, turbines are generally designed to operate at the BEP and/
or 5% of BEP. The turbines running at higher or lower operating
point experience more wear.
Hasmatuchi et al. [30] performed an experimental investigation
of the ow hydrodynamics of a radial pump-turbine under off-
design conditions in turbine mode. A high-speed visualization
was made as shown in Fig. 4 with air bubbles injection in the
vaneless space between guide vanes and the impeller in three
operating conditions. It was seen that a uniform ow was obtained
for normal operating conditions, but the ow pattern was disturbed
due to vortices and backows in runaway and low discharge cases.
Eide [14] made a detailed study to relate the erosion with the
leakage ow through clearance gaps of guide vanes in a 2-D nu-
merical model. He claimed that out of 5e6% of the total losses
developed in a high head Francis runner, around 1.5% is due to the
leakage ow from guide vanes. As shown in Fig. 5, the leakage
owing from Pressure side to Suction side disturbs the main ow
creating swirl ow, which is susceptible to both erosion and ef-
ciency. Furthermore, the wear of the machinery caused by sand
Fig. 4. Vortex formations around guide vanes at different operating conditions [31].
Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
Parameters
 W loss of material in mm/year
 b turbine coefcient at eroded part
 V relative ow velocity
 a average grain size coefcient on the basis of unit value for grain
size 0.06 mm
 k1 and k2 shape and hardness coefcient of sand particles
 k3 abrasion resistant coefcient of material
 x and y concentration and size coefcient respectively.
 x velocity of eroding particles impinging at 45
 y the loss of material in mg/kg of eroding particles striking the
surface.
 Er rate of erosion in mm/year
Quartz content a b
38% 351.35 1.497
60% 1199.8 1.802
80% 1482.1 1.812
 S abrasive depth in mm
 W the characteristic velocity
 P$L the particle load which is obtained by particle concentration
integrated over the time
 Km the material factor and Kf the ow factor
 C the silt concentration kg/m3
 Kshape and Khardness shape and hardness factors respectively.
particles and head covers deection increases the clearance gap,
leading to more losses.
These unsteady natures of the ow from guide vanes are seen to
travel towards the runner contributing to more losses due to
incorrect inow angle and Rotor-Stator-Interaction (RSI). An
experimental and numerical study by Yexiang et al. [19] to inves-
tigate the pressure pulses in Francis turbine runner showed the
most unstable operating condition to be 0.5 of the optimum guide
vane opening. At this condition, the pressure pulses in the runner
blade passage were due to the blade channel vortex and the RSI.
Another 3-D transient state turbulent ow simulation performed
by KC et al. [16] on a Francis turbine with a specic speed of 203.1
also showed two dominating frequencies for the pressure distri-
bution in runner blades. The lower peaks were due to the runner
speed and the upper peaks were corresponding to the number of
guide vanes interacting with the ow. Fig. 6 shows periodic pres-
sure uctuation of runner blades induced due to RSI.
Kobro [17] performed an onboard measurement of dynamic
pressure in Andritz Hydro AG Francis runner of Tokke power plant.
This analysis also showed that the wake leaving the guide vanes is
the most severe source of dynamic pressure in the runner. He also
described that the level of pressure pulsations in the runner de-
creases as the clearance between the runner inlet and guide vane
outlet increases. However, this increases the overall dimension of
the turbine, leading to the cost disadvantage. Nicolet et al. [31]
explained that the pressure eld at the inlet of the runner is a
combination of the guide vane outlet including wakes and non-
uniform pressure distribution of the runner itself. This explana-
tion is shown in Fig. 7.
Some advance techniques have emerged to measure the ow
velocity and capture the ow structure, even in a very high velocity
 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11
Fig. 5. Leakage ow at several span-wise positions of a guide vane with 1 mm clearance gap a) in the middle of clearance gap b) 2.5 mm from the head cover c) mid-span [14].
Fig. 6. Pressure distribution in runner blades [16].
regions of Francis turbines. These techniques include Particle Image
Velocimetry (PIV), Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and Laser
Doppler Anemometry (LDA). Finstad [15] studied the dynamics
present in wake ow and RSI through experimental TRPIV (Tran-
sient Particle Image Velocimetry) from a hydrofoil in a stream of
9 m/s. This study also presented the effect of Vortex Generators
(VG) on RSI and found a slight improvement of rotor leading edge
pressure reduction at AoA 0 and AoA 2. The experimental
details of this study are shown in Fig. 8.
Su et al. [32] performed a PIV experiment in a complete Francis
hydro-turbine model of diameter 0.15 m, with 15 runner blades, 24
guide vanes and 23 stay vanes. The visualization of the ow eld
inside the turbine was done by making some guide vanes and stay
vanes transparent and drilling a hole on the casing at a corre-
sponding position. The experimental setup and the result of this
study is shown in Fig. 9. It was seen that the main frequency of the
Fig. 7. Distortion of the ow eld at the inlet of runner due to a) Runner pressure eld b) Guide vane wake c) Combination of the two effects [31].
Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
5
ow around the guide vane was related to the Blade Passing Fre-
quency (BPF).
Similarly, Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) measurements
were conducted in a cascade rig with different guide vane proles
by Antonsen [12]. This study showed a direct relation between the
pressure distribution at the inlet of the runner and the dynamic
load due to RSI. Four guide vane proles were compared, which
showed that the one with an asymmetric prole with at surface
pointing the runner had more uniform pressure distribution than
others. Fig. 10 shows the cascade rig equipped with LDA, along with
the results of the velocity decit caused due to wake formation
downstream of two guide vane proles, compared with CFD results.
The review done in this section of the paper [12e20,30e32]
concludes that the ow around the regions containing blades in-
side Francis turbines possesses several unsteady phenomena.
Depending upon the properties of the particles carried by this ow,
each of the phenomena results in surface erosion at different lo-
cations. Fig. 11 claries the phenomena responsible for erosion at
different places of Francis turbines. Some state-of-the-art tech-
nologies have emerged over time to estimate the ow behavior
inside a turbine. Although the results give a good indication of the
behavior of the particles moving with the ow and how erosion
occurs, sand particle tracking through experimental techniques
have not been implemented so far. However, computational anal-
ysis to predict the particle tracking and erosion in turbine com-
ponents are gaining popularity now-a-days [11,33,34], which are
discussed in the next section.
4. Erosion quantication and its effect on ow
The purpose of this section is to understand the potential effect
6 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11

Fig. 8. PIV experiment with a) Hydrofoil of chord length (k) 81 mm b) Setup with camera, water tunnel, hydrofoil and laser c) 1 mm V-shaped VG mounted on the suction side at x/
k 0.38 from the foil tip [15].

Fig. 9. Experimental apparatus for PIV with a) Transparent guide vanes b) A hole drilled in casing and c) ow eld observed around a guide vane [32].

Fig. 10. a) Cascade rig equipped with LDA b) Normalized velocity decit from measurements compared to CFD [12].

of the eroded proles on the ow phenomena. When the turbine
components are eroded, the surface roughness increases and this
non-uniformity in the layer aggravates the ow, accumulating
more losses. Although no such studies are recorded which derives a
direct relationship between the eroded quantity and the conse-
quent losses, there are some indications in few studies [8] [24] that
favors this statement that the losses are more severe in the case of
erosion than smooth geometries. In fact, the quantication of
erosion itself has been a challenging topic because of a large
number of depending variables like a) particle shape, size, con-
centration, density and injection b) geometry, material and oper-
ating conditions of the turbine c) ow behavior. These variables
make it difcult to predict the actual amount of erosion in the
turbines in a real scenario.
Some attempts have been made in order to quantify the erosion
in simplied models, such that their results can be mapped or
approximated on actual circumstances. Thapa et al. [35] used
Rotating Disc Apparatus (RDA), in which a disc or an arm is rotated

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
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 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11 7

Fig. 11. Erosion on the surfaces of Francis turbines resulting from unsteady ow a) Horseshoe vortex erosion on the guide vane facing plates [11] b) Erosion at the runner inlet due to
guide vane wakes and acceleration [33] c) Turbulence erosion due to ne particles [33] d) Horseshoe vortex and leakage erosion on the facing plates [35].

in a mixture of erodent and uid medium, to study the synergistic

effect of sand erosion and cavitation. The effects were observed on
a) Plain stainless steel and b) WC-Co-Cr ceramic coating applied by
High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF). When cavitation inducers are
tted on the rotating disc, it was seen that in the coated specimens,
as shown in Fig. 12, the erosion groove increases the depth rather
than propagating further. The combined effect was found to be
more predominant than the individual effects.
Koirala et al. [36] used the RDA to conduct sediment sample and
erosion potential analysis of Upper Tamakoshi Hydroelectric Proj-
ect. The percentage of quartz content in the sand was found to be
62.18% for the size between 0.15 mm and 0.2 mm, but only 55.54%
for the size less than 0.075 mm. The RDA was used to test the
erosion potential of particles ranging from 0.075 mm to 0.2 mm and
it was seen that the rate of erosion is directly proportional to the
Fig. 13. Critical diameter of the particle on the basis of turbine size [11].
particle size.
Neopane [11] used the concept of critical diameter of the sand
particles for showing the relationship between the sand size and on the runner blades and guide vanes over grid surfaces as shown
the erosion. Above critical diameter, the particle remains rotating in in Fig. 15, three times within 28 months. It was seen that the
the swirl ow hitting the guide vane wall, but the smaller particle tungsten carbide coating on the surfaces wear in the following
ows through the turbines. Fig. 13 shows that smaller turbines are manner: a) 10.50 mm/month on the back of the runner blade b)
more prone to erosion due to smaller critical diameter. The author 6 mm/month on the blade face c) 3.43 mm/month on the guide vanes
also suggests that if the particle size is bigger than the critical face d) 1.79 mm/month on the back of the guide vanes.
diameter, the turbine should be avoided to operate at low guide Apart from the visual inspection, measurements of weight and
vane openings. loss of thickness in numerous locations of the eroded surfaces, an
The RDA setup was later modied by Rajkarnikar [37] with a advance technique of using 3D scanner exists now-a-days to
provision of testing erosion in Francis runner blades. Four blade quantify erosion. This technique was used by Rai et al. [38] to model
models of Jhimruk Hydropower with a scaled down ratio of 1:4, and an eroded Pelton bucket. Such techniques enable understanding
made up of Aluminum with 6% Copper and 4% Zinc, were tted in the exact location of erosion and the quantity eroded in each
the rotating disc as shown in Fig. 14. It was found that the erosion location. This further facilitates numerical analysis to compare the
occurred mostly in the far outlet region due to micro erosion from ow dynamics between eroded and non-eroded proles.
high rotational motion of the sand particles. A common numerical approach for understanding the ow
Guangjie et al. [10] used a thickness gauge to measure thickness around hydraulic machineries is the use of Computational Fluid

Fig. 12. a) Combined effect of sand erosion and cavitation in the runner inlet b) Progressive erosion pattern in non-coated region in minutes: 30, 45, 60, 90, 180, 270 c) Progressive
erosion pattern in coated region in minutes: 30, 90, 180, 270 around cavitation inducers [35].

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
8 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11

Fig. 14. a) RDA apparatus b) Components of the apparatus c) Erosion pattern obtained on the blade [37].

Fig. 15. Mesh map of the a) Blade runner and b) Guide vane coating and c) Distribution map of the measured wear rate [10].

Dynamics (CFD) technique. By implementing an appropriate par- turbulence of ne grain sand and at the inlet due to horseshoe
ticle tracking method and erosion model, the erosion in any wall vortex, incorrect blade leaning and acceleration of coarse sand
boundary can be predicted computationally. The prediction of particles. Cavitation, on the other hand, is a result of the implosion
erosion with this technique in Francis turbine is seen to be con- of micro-jet bubbles formed due to low pressure.
ducted in many studies [33,34,39].
Some onboard measurements of efciencies in power plants
5. Endeavors for minimization of the simultaneous effect
have shown that the efciency of turbines decreases signicantly
after erosion, even in a short span of time. Pradhan et al. [8] carried
The solution of the simultaneous and combined effect of sedi-
out thermodynamic efciency measurements at Jhimruk HP within
ment erosion and secondary ow in Francis turbines depends upon
the interval of 11 weeks of monsoon period in 2003. It was seen that
the minimization of the individual effect. The overcoming of one
due to heavy erosion, the decrease in efciency ranged from 5 to 8%
problem, however, aids for the reduction of the combined effect, as
depending upon the load conditions. Although this data doesnt
the erosion has a direct inuence on the ow and vice versa. This
provide an exact indication of the regions of the erosion contrib-
section reviews some of the important works done to minimize
uting to the loss, the overall trend of the graph as shown in Fig. 16a)
these effects separately.
shows that the efciency drop is prominent, and depends merely
Material property is one of the key factor for controlling the
on the erosion during that period.
extent of erosion in turbines. Stachowiak and Batchelor [23] pro-
Another graph in Fig. 16b) shows the loss in efciency due to
posed that the wear resistance of a material could be improved
abrasive erosion of 2 mm on the facing plates in Driva Power plant
from hardening of steel to form Martensite, except for low
(2
71.5 MW) [24], operating at 540 m net head. Brekke inter-
impingement angles and the formation of massive or lamellar
preted that this loss was due to increase of leakage between the
carbides. They also suggested the inclusion of the ferritic phase
guide vane facings and the covers, as a result of the erosion. It can
with sufcient spheroidal carbide in low alloy carbon steels an
be seen from the gure that the decrease in efciency was more
effective method against erosive wear. The review work of Padhy
than 7% for all load conditions.
[9] discussed about the benets of HVOF coating over other tech-
The surface integrity deterioration caused by sand erosion not
niques, but had demerits of micro cracking, de-bonding and digging
only decits the efciency of the turbine, but it also intensies the
out of WC particles. In addition, plasma nitrided 12Cr steel per-
cavitation. The study of Thapa et al. [35] showed that the combined
formed better than plasma nitrided 13Cr-4Ni steel due to higher
effect of sand erosion and cavitation erosion is more than the sum
micro-hardness and ability to absorb more nitrogen [42]. However,
of their individual effect. Later review work of Gohil et al. [40] also
for hydropower plants affected with sand particles, HVOF sprayed
supported that the cavitation in sediment ow is more severe than
WC is the most optimum erosion resistance material to overcome
in pure water. In case of Francis turbine runner, the regions of the
low and high-energy erosive wear. Truscott [25] showed that in
occurrence of these two phenomena is different, as explained in
ferrous metals, very hard alloys such as Tungsten Carbide (WC) are
Fig. 17. The sediment erosion is more prone at the outlet due to
extremely resistant to erosion. The paper also discusses about the

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11 9

Fig. 16. Efciency measurements at a) Jhimruk HP [8] and b) Driva Power Plant [24] showing losses due to sediment erosion.

Fig. 17. Cavitation and sediment erosion prone zones in Francis runner (Adapted from Ref. [41]).

effect of chemical composition, microstructure and work hardening
on wear resistance of metals. It showed Austenitic Cr-Ni (12e14%),
Mn alloy steels and Ni-hard (Ni-Cr) cast iron had a superior resis-
tance to erosion.
Apart from the properties of the eroding material, the wear rate
also depends on the erodent properties. Desale et al. [43] per-
formed experiments in a pot tester to evaluate the effect of erodent
properties on ductile materials. The study showed that the erosion
of ductile materials is not only a function of erodent size and
hardness, but also of their shape and density, such that the particles
with high density and low shape factor causes deep craters and
high surface roughness. As the properties of the erodent cannot be
controlled, the research works on materials and coatings became
insufcient. Hence, the concept of erosion-friendly turbines by
changing the turbine design philosophy emerged as a new area of
research to minimize erosion in hydraulic turbines.
Thapa et al. [44] performed Francis runners blade geometry
modication by changing the blade angle distribution, such that the
main dimensions of the turbine is unaffected. By changing the
angle, the relative velocity distribution along the blade is changed.
CFD analyses on ve modied blades showed that the erosion of
the blade can be minimized up to 33% without affecting the

Fig. 18. Effect of the jet channel added to the guide vane on the wake proles at different jet ows [46].

Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
10 S. Chitrakar et al. / Renewable Energy xxx (2016) 1e11
efciency. The results of this study were also supported by other
relevant works [33,39].
Brekke [13] recommended some reshaping techniques at the
outlet of guide vanes to minimize the oscillatory problems due to
vortex shedding from blades. These techniques are: a) Skewed cut
with an angle smaller or equal to 45 at the outlet edge measured
relative to the pressure side of the vanes, and b) Avoid sharp cor-
ners with 3 mm wide skew cut parallel to the suction side of the
next guide vane. Furthermore, he also recommended a negative
blade lean at the inlet of the runner to minimize the cross ow from
hub to shroud on the pressure side of the runner blades causing
unstable swirl ow in the draft tube. This statement was also
supported by Chitrakar et al. [45] through computational results
that the blades with negative linear lean in high head Francis
runner gives better performance with respect to the total pressure
loss from end-wall effects.
Lewis et al. [46] presented a technique of trailing edge blowing
in guide vanes to minimize the dynamic loads on the runner by
decreasing the velocity variation. The guide vane jet is composed of
two thin slots equally spaced from the chord line of the guide vane.
Jet ow rates ranged from 0.5% to 3% of the inlet ow rate. It was
found from computational results that the optimal jet ow rate was
between 1.75% and 2%. It is seen from Fig. 18 that the wake proles
are more prominent in the regions near to band than the regions
near to crown. This is because of the smaller gap between the guide
vane outlet and the band in the case of a low head Francis turbine.
Previous section of this paper also discussed about a study in
which the investigation of the effect of Vortex Generator (VG) on a
guide vane shaped hydrofoil was performed [15]. The results of this
study also gave an indication of the improvement of the ow at
some opening angles (AoAs). Similarly, an LDA experiment per-
formed by Antonsen [12] on four different proles of guide vanes
showed that asymmetrical proles with particular orientation gives
more uniform pressure distribution at the outlet.
6. Summary of the paper and future prospects
Sediment erosion in hydraulic turbines is a localized problem of
Himalayas and Andes, which has been addressed in a limited
number of research works. Besides, secondary ow is a global issue,
which accounts for the generation of losses in turbines causing
vibrations and fatigue problems. In the context of high sediment
laden rivers, the secondary ow can accelerate the devastation by
forming irregular wear patterns and decreasing the thickness of the
vanes. Various forms of erosion exist in the bladed regions of
Francis turbines, which depends on the types of ow behavior in
that region, such as leakage ow erosion, horseshoe vortex erosion,
acceleration erosion and turbulence erosion. The prediction of
these phenomena is done through computational and experi-
mental techniques. Some empirical models have also been devel-
oped out of the experimental results, which are either generic or
site/area specic. Some advance techniques such as PIV and LDA
have emerged as a reliable method to visualize and measure the
ow inside complicated geometries. The use of these techniques
have allowed the estimation of particle behavior inside the ow
and validation of the numerical analysis.
This paper has explained that the effect of the secondary ow
and sediment erosion in Francis turbines is simultaneous, which
means that one problem is both the cause and the effect of another
problem. Where secondary ow accelerates erosion, the eroded
prole also aggravates the ow phenomena. The study of the
simultaneous and the combined effect of erosion and secondary
ow in Francis turbines remains as a challenging topic for research.
For future studies, an appropriate experimental technique for the
quantication of erosion in Francis turbines seems essential.
Please cite this article in press as: S. Chitrakar, et al., Study of the simultaneous effects of secondary ow and sediment erosion in Francis
turbines, Renewable Energy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.06.007
Although some computational methods have grown popularity for
predicting the erosion, validation of these results is challenging. A
simplied test rig for validating a baseline case from CFD can be a
viable solution to move further into the computational works.
Acknowledgement
This study was performed as a part of a joint PhD between
Kathmandu University and Norwegian University of Science and
Technology. The program is funded by Norwegian Research
Council.
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