International Conference on Small Hydropower - Hydro Sri Lanka 22-24 October 2007

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Simultaneous Multi-point Velocity Measurement

using Propeller Current Meters for Discharge
Evaluation in Small Hydropower Stations
B.K. Gandhi1) and H.K. Verma2)

1) Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,

Roorkee – 247667, India
2) Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee – 247667,
India

Email (of corresponding author): hkvfee@iitr.ernet.in, hkvfee@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
 
An accurate measurement of discharge in small hydropower (SHP) stations is necessary for evaluation of
the efficiency of the generating units. IEC 60041 recommends measurement of flow velocity simultaneously
at a number of locations using a set of propeller current meters for an accurate evaluation of discharge
through open channels or closed ducts. The possible measurement section for fixing current-meters at any
SHP station can be power channel, intake gate, penstock, draft tube gate or tail race channel. The paper
reports the measurement of multi-point velocity at these flow sections using a number of current meters
mounted on a frame, in each case.
  
The accuracy of discharge evaluation depends on the number of current-meters used for velocity
measurement. Generally an array of current meters is used for measurement of velocity along any
horizontal or vertical line of the flow section and is repeated for multiple lines to determine the velocity
profile over the complete measurement section.
 
The paper discusses various issues related to multi-point velocity measurement with current-meters.
Efficiency tests on 13 SHP stations have been carried out using multiple propeller current-meters mounted
at an appropriate section of the hydropower station. The arrangement made in each case and the
procedure of evaluation of discharge are also discussed here.

Keywords: Hydropower, discharge measurement, current-meter, velocity-area method, integration scheme.

1 INTRODUCTION
 

The efficiency of generating units of hydropower stations is being optimized through R&D over the past
few years. The accuracy with which the unit efficiency can be assessed depends heavily on the accuracy of
discharge measurement. While a number of devices and methods are available for discharge measurement,
propeller type current-meter is still quite popular for open channel flow measurement. Flow measurement
by a single current-meter is a very crude method and leads to large uncertainty, and hence the velocity-area
integration method is recommended by the Indian Standard IS: 1192 (1981) and the International Standard
IEC: 60041 (1991). In this method, a matrix of measurement points is first decided and then the current-

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 International Conference on Small Hydropower - Hydro Sri Lanka 22-24 October 2007

meters are placed at these pre-decided locations for measurement of the point velocities over the flow
section. Suitable integration scheme is applied to evaluate the discharge rate from the measured velocities.

Following are the major issues related to the multi-point velocity measurement with current-meters:
(a) Size of the velocity matrix.
(b) Selection between the matrix and array of current-meters.
(c) Distance between two current-meters and the minimum distance from the section boundaries.
(d) Size and design of current-meter.
(e) Selection of measurement section.
(f) Duration of velocity measurement.
(g) Repeatability of the measurement.

The approach and methodology adopted to address these issues are discussed in this paper. The efficiency
test has been carried out on around 20 SHP stations by the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee during
the last 2 years. Current meters have been used for 13 of these stations for evaluation of discharge rates by
installing them at different locations. The number of current-meters, the arrangement used for mounting
them and the variation of average flow velocity over the flow section are presented here for a typical case.

2 VELOCITY MEASUREMENT
 
A summary of discharge measurement locations, flow section and rated discharge at the measurement
section of all 13 SHP stations is given in Table 1. Important aspects of the velocity measurement carried
out in these stations are discussed in the following sections.

Table 1: Summary of discharge measurement in 13 SHP Stations

Sr. SHP station Location of current- Measurement section details Velocity Rated
No. name and meters matrix size discharge,
capacity m3/s
1 Chakbhai, Power channel 13 x 4 53.594
2x1 MW

2 Koshi SHP, Draft tube gate 6x4 104.500

4x 4.8 MW

3 Killa SHP, Power channel 13 x 4 45.972

2x 0.875 MW

4 Lohgarh SHP, Power Channel 14 x 4 60.400

2x 1 MW

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5 R. Avanti Bai Draft tube gate Closed rectangular duct of 6x5 86.34
L. S. SHP, 5.21 m (width) x 3.58 m
2x5 MW (height)
6 Sahoke SHP, Power channel 8x4 22.732
1x1 MW

7 Someshwara Power channel 9x9 136.000

SHP,
3 x 8.25 MW

8 Sugur SHP, Intake gate Two closed rectangular ducts Two matrices 32.200
3 x 1.5 MW of 3.91 m (width) x 5.00 m of 5 x 5 each
(height) and 3.93 m (width) x
5.00 m (height)
9 TB Dam SHP, Penstock Closed Rectangular duct of 15 (all fixed) 91.672
2 x 2.65 MW 1.82 m (width) x 3.66 m
(height)
10 Varahi tail race Head regulator Rectangular section of 8x7 70.830
SHP, 6.45 m (width) x 7.0 m
3x 7.5 MW (height)
11 Mandgere SHP Intake gate Rectangular section of 5x5 61.720
2 x 1.75 MW 2.75 m (W) x 3.50 m (H)
12 Babbanpur Power channel Open channel of Rectangular 5x4 52.000
SHP, section of 19.21 m (width) x
2 x 0.5 MW 2.4 m (height)
13 Sahyadri SHP, Tail race channel 3x4 5.680
1 x 0.3 MW

2.1 Arrangement of Current Meters

The discharge is evaluated by the velocity-area method as recommended by IEC: 60041 (1991) and ISO:
748 (1997). According to this method, the velocity at various locations over the flow section is measured
by using propeller current-meters. Since the velocity profile over the flow section is approximated by
discrete point velocities, it is desirable to increase the number of measurement points. Though the accuracy
of discharge evaluation increases with increase in number of measurement points, it increases the flow
disturbances due to the presence of a larger number of current-meters and their attachments. This also
increases the blockage in the flow area resulting in erroneous data. Therefore, normally a horizontal or
vertical array of current-meters is used to increase the number of measurement points while keeping the
flow disturbance and blockage at minimum. The array is moved appropriately (vertically or horizontally,
respectively) over the flow section to get the velocity profile.

In 12 of the 13 cases being reported here, the current-meters were mounted across the width of the channel
and moved vertically along the depth using a steel frame. In one power station, where the measurements
were taken in the penstock, 15 current-meters were mounted on a frame being welded inside the penstock
as no movement of the current-meters was possible inside the penstock. The discharge was maintained
constant over the whole measurement duration by maintaining head and power outputs of the generating
units constant. This facilitated measurement of the velocity over a matrix of points without much flow

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disturbances. Average velocity at each point was determined over the flow section and the average
velocities were integrated to evaluate the discharge.

2.2 Number of Measurement Points

The number of velocity measurement points for any flow section is decided in accordance with IEC: 60041
(1991) which specifies their minimum number as 13 and 25 for pipe and other sections, respectively. It also
recommends determination of the actual number of measuring points, Z, from the following relations:

4 R 〈 Z 〈5 R , for circular pipes …….(1)

24 3
A 〈 Z 〈36 3
A , for other sections …… (2)

where R is the pipe radius in metres and A is the flow section area in square metres.

While using the horizontal array of the current-meters, the minimum clearance of a current-meter from the
wall was kept more than 300 mm to eliminate the chances of any damage to it. Proceeding towards the
centerline of the flow, the gap between the current-meters was increased progressively so as to determine
the velocity profile along the channel width with minimum number of current-meters. Also the top of the
current-meter was kept at least 200 mm below the free surface (for open channel) so as to keep it always
submerged in the water.

2.3 Size and Design of Current Meter

The current-meters used in the present work have a propeller diameter of 125 mm with four vanes, as
shown in Fig. 1. The propeller is mounted on two jewel bearings and is free to rotate on its axis. Provisions
are made to minimize the upstream flow disturbances to the propeller rotation by stream-lining the front
ring supporting one of the bearings. The other bearing is held in a bracket, in which an elliptical hole is
made to fix it on an elliptical pipe of size 25 mm x 75 mm.

Fig. 1: Photographic view of the propeller current meter

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2.4 Selection of Measurement Section

The discharge measurement section is decided based on the stability of flow, accessibility and least flow
disturbance. In general, it is preferred to select power channel for measurement of discharge as the flow is
normally stable and the channel is lined having well defined flow area. Further the current-meters are also
visible and their horizontal array can be easily moved vertically with the help of either a crane or chain-
pulley blocks by providing guides at both the embankments. However in some of the power plants, the
power channel is either inaccessible or inappropriate to mount a structure and thus an alternate location for
discharge measurement is sought. Mounting a structure at the intake gate is another alternative as the
structure can be fitted below the intake gate and mechanism of movement of the gate can be used to move
the current-meters in the measurement section. The only problem with this arrangement is that the
uncertainties in the discharge measurement may be high if the intake is not properly shaped, i.e. it does not
have a bell mouth construction.
However, in one station (the Tungbhadra Dam SHP Station), the water is taken directly from the dam and
the water pressure exists at the intake gate. In this case it was neither possible to install a structure at the
power channel or the intake gate. Therefore, the section just downstream of the gate was selected to fix all
the current-meters inside the penstock to measure the velocity simultaneously at all the matrix points. The
flow rate in this case was controlled by operating the stop log gate.

2.5 Mounting Structure and Measurement Procedure

In case the measurement section is the intake gate or the power channel, the current-meters are mounted in
a horizontal plane and an arrangement is made to move them vertically along the depth using a motorized
hoist, chain-pulley block or a crane. Typical structures made for open channel and intake gate are shown in
Fig. 2 (a) and (b), respectively.

Rectangular pipe I-section beam

Guide
Guide

Circular
2.0 Pipe

0.59 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.37 1.41 1.39 1.41 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.42 1.38 1.41 0.59 3.090

0.2

Aero dynamic 19.37 m

Note: All dimensions are in meters
shape profile pipe Current meter

(a) Typical structure for open channel flow measurement at the power channel

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Intake Gate

3.5 m

0.790 1.0 1.0 0.985 0.815 Elliptical pipe

0.2
0.35
0.270
3.58 Right Left side
side

Flow section

5.21 m
(b) Typical structure for closed conduit flow measurement at the intake gate

Fig. 2: Movable structures for fixing propeller current meters

At each depth the readings of all the current meters in the array are taken simultaneously using a
microprocessor-based portable data acquisition system and stored in its memory. The velocity data is also
transferred to a laptop PC in real-time and displayed in tabular form for on-site perception of the velocity
profile. At each depth, the velocity is measured for two minutes and the measurement is repeated for 3 to 4
times to monitor any significant change in the velocity. The average velocity at each location is then used
for further calculations. By way of example, the average velocities measured at four levels by 14 current-
meters at the rated discharge at Lohgarh SHP station are listed in Table 2. The depth of water here was 2.12
m and the velocity measurement was carried out at the depths of 0.4 m, 0.8 m, 1.2 m and 1.6 m.

Table 2: Average Flow Velocities Recorded at Lohgarh SHP Station

Average flow velocity along the channel width (distance in m starting from left bank), m/s
Depth,
m 0.59 1.99 3.4 4.82 6.19 7.6 8.99 10.4 11.78 13.17 14.57 15.99 17.37 18.78
0.4 0.595 0.744 0.729 0.703 0.712 0.761 0.764 0.775 0.722 0.778 0.736 0.685 0.658 0.704
0.8 0.504 0.736 0.712 0.685 0.714 0.771 0.736 0.783 0.731 0.790 0.768 0.745 0.695 0.728
1.2 0.576 0.748 0.702 0.659 0.698 0.767 0.757 0.776 0.717 0.785 0.769 0.758 0.684 0.729
1.6 0.589 0.753 0.710 0.625 0.705 0.749 0.705 0.729 0.687 0.751 0.746 0.731 0.640 0.715

The structure made for fixing all the 15 current-meters in the rectangular steel duct downstream of the
intake gate in one SHP station is shown in Fig. 3. In this case, it was not possible to mount the current-
meters at the bottom of the intake gate as the pressure at the gate was quite high and it was hydraulically
controlled. The signal leads of the current-meters were taken out through the air vent. Velocity of all the 15
current meters were read simultaneously on the aforesaid data acquisition system.

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Fig.3: Fixed (welded) structure for fixing of 15 current meters inside the rectangular steel duct of
Tungbhadra Dam SHP Station

3 DISCHARGE CALCULATION

The point velocities measured by multiple current-meters are plotted along with the water depth and a
smooth curve through these points is drawn along each vertical, as illustrated in Fig. 4. In case of an open
channel, this smooth curve is extended upto the free surface to estimate the free surface velocity. In
addition, the velocity curve is extrapolated from the last measuring point to the bed (unmeasured zone) by
calculating vx from the power law equation given below [IEC:60041 (1991)]:
1
⎛ x ⎞m
V x = Va ⎜ ⎟ ---------- (3)
⎝a⎠
where
Vx is the point velocity at a distance x from the bed
Va is the velocity at the last measuring point (at a distance a from the bed)

Generally ‘m’ lies between 2 and 7, but it may vary over a wider range, depending on the hydraulic
resistance. The value m=2 applies to coarse beds or walls while m=10 is the characteristic of highly smooth
surfaces.

The unit-width discharge ( Vi .d) along each vertical is interpolated and extrapolated upto the side walls
(embarkments) as illustrated in Fig. 4. From the unit-width discharge, the total discharge (Q) through the
channel is determined by integrating them with respect to the width of the channel as given below:

, for mathematical integration

or , for numerical integration ---------- (4)

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where
Q is the total discharge in the open-channel, m3/s
q is the unit discharge along a vertical line, m2/s
dB is the incremental width of the channel, m
Vi is the average velocity along the ith vertical, m/s.
di is the depth of water at the ith vertical, m.
∆B is the width of a vertical section, m

LEFT BANK Vi di
RIGHT BANK

b
Vi

di

Fig. 4: Computation of discharge using depth-velocity integration method

4 CASE STUDY

The velocities at various locations measured by the current-meters in 13 SHP stations as per above
procedure were used to evaluate the discharge in each case. For the sake of brevity, the procedure of
evaluation of discharge at only one SHP station, namely the Lohgarh SHP Station in Punjab, has been
discussed in this section.
 
The discharge at Lohgarh SHP station was evaluated by mounting a structure in the power channel (already
shown in Fig. 2(a)). Water was not available to run both the turbines installed in the power house and hence
only one turbine was run at full load for measurement of the efficiency. The measurement of velocities over
the flow section took around 40 minutes and the load was maintained constant for this period to ensure
steady state conditions. The average velocities measured at different points over the flow section, already
given in Table 2, have been used to determine the partial unit-width discharge for each of 14 verticals. The
depth of the water was measured by placing a submersible pressure transmitter at either abatement of the
channel. The average depth of water was determined as 2.12 m and the width of the channel was measured
as 19.37 m.

The unit-width discharge is plotted along the channel width as shown in Fig. 5, wherein the curve has been
extended close to each wall using power law given by equation (3) with a power index ‘m’ value as 5 and
the area under the curve is determined to evaluate the discharge. The discharge evaluated by this method is
27.992 m3/s.

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Fig. 5: Plot of unit-width discharge along channel width for Lohgarh SHP station

5 CONCLUSION

Based on the measurement of discharge in 13 SHP stations, using an array of current-meters in 12 stations
and a complete matrix of current-meters in one SHP station, following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The current-meters have been successfully used for simultaneous measurement of velocities for
evaluating the discharge at small hydropower plants.
(2) The order of preference for locating structure for velocity measurement is power channel, intake
duct/ penstock and tail race channel.
(3) The velocity profile in the unmeasured area between the bed and the nearest measured point is
determined by power law equation using suitable value of the power index based on the surface
condition of the bed.
(4) The free surface velocity is estimated by extrapolating the velocity profile.
(5) The discharge in each case has been evaluated by integrating the partial discharge (i.e. product of
average velocity and depth) over the channel width using power law velocity profile between the
wall and the nearest measurement point. Suitable power index value is used for the power law
profile based on the wall condition.

References

IEC:60041 (1991), “Field acceptance tests to determine the hydraulic performance of hydraulic turbines,
storage pumps and pump turbines”, Third edition.
IS:1192 (1981), “Velocity area methods for measurement of flow of water in open channels”, First
revision.
ISO:748 (1997), “Measurement of liquid flow in open channels – Velocity area methods”, Third edition.