DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCIS TURBINE

MODEL WITH SWIRLING FLOW CONTROL

Teodor Miloş 1, Romeo Susan-Resiga 2, Alexandru Baya 3,
Sebastian Muntean 4, Sandor Bernad 5

Abstract
The paper presents the problem of adaptation of a centrifugal pump for
functioning as a turbine with Francis runner. This device will be included in
the new test rig and will be used to test the effect of the jet control technique
for swirling flows in hydraulic turbines. For the available pump is necessary
to replace the impeller with Francis turbine runner and guide vanes. Loading
the turbine runner will be made with an electrical generator, heaving maximum
10 kW and 3000 rpm. As a result, is necessary to found optimum parameters
for runner design and fitted dimensions for to fill the available space by impeller
replacement.

Introduction
The pump for this work is necessary to have radial dimension so that to
put inside the guide vane system, the Francis turbine runner and the labyrinth
gland. In our laboratory we have forthcoming a pump type PCN 125-315, heaving
discharge Q=200 m3/h, head H=32 m, n=1450 rpm. The maximum impeller
diameter is 320 mm. This was designated to be transformed in Francis turbine,
figures 1, 2, 3, 4.
The initial test rig will be modified, introducing the pump in the hydraulic
circuit, so that the inlet of the pump became the outlet of the turbine.
The component elements of this variant are in the main identically with
the test rig for swirling flow generator. The difference is in fact that in this case
the vortex necessary for the study is produced by a Francis runner coupled with
an electrical generator designated for loading the turbine.

1
PhD, Associate Professor, “Politehnica” University of Timişoara, Romania
2
PhD, Professor, “Politehnica” University of Timişoara, Romania
3
PhD, Professor, “Politehnica” University of Timişoara, Romania
4
PhD, Senior Researcher, Romanian Academy – Timişoara Branch, Romania
5
PhD, PhD, Senior Researcher, Romanian Academy – Timişoara Branch, Romania
64 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Fig. 1. The impeller of the pump PCN 125-315

Fig. 2. The spiral casing of the pump PCN 125-315

Francis turbine will be realized by all mechanical elements of the pump,
exception the impeller. The space of impeller will be replaced with Francis
turbine runner, guide vanes and the labyrinth gland. The runner is necessary to
65 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

be designed for the optimum operating parameters of the stand and to be able
to provide swirling flow after the trailing edge in the draft tub. At the outlet of
spiral casing will be adapted a special guide vane with control mechanism from
outside. The Francis turbine so that realized, represents a model to reduced
scale of an industrial turbine.
The central jet for vortex correction at the outlet of the runner is feed by
external source of water and multiples channels passing through the cooling
housing.

Fig. 3. The bearing box and the shaft of the pump PCN 125-315

Fig. 4. The cooling house of the pump PCN 125-315

66 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Fig. 5. The test rig with the pump transformed in turbine and electrical generator

Choice of optimum design parameter of the Francis runner

After a short study we are obtained a characteristic of test rig and with the
characteristic of the pump CRNE 90-2 was represented in figure 6. It observes
that at the zone of great discharges we are possibility to choose tree important
values: Qt=80; 90; 100 m3/h. For these flow rates, on the verticals of each
position, from losses curve to head curve remain the head available for use of
Francis turbine runner.

70

65

60

55

50
45
H( Q)
40
Hp i
35
hp ( Q )
30

25
20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
Q , Qp i , Q

Fig. 6. Functional characteristics of test rig and centrifugal pump

67 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

The possible heads in these cases are Ht=28; 20; 10. The speed of rotation,
nt, can be 1500; 2000; 2500; 3000 For these tree variants was calculated nq, ns,
ν Put (Power on the shaft). The obtained values were included in table 1. From
this 12 possible variants was selected the variant with Qt=90 m3/h, Ht=90 m,
nt=3000 rpm.
TABLE 1
Qt=100 m /h, Ht=10 m Qt=90 m3/h, Ht=20 m Qt=80 m3/h, Ht=28 m
3
nt
[min-1] Put Put Put
nq ns ν nq ns ν nq ns ν
[kW] [kW] [kW]
1500 44.5 162 0.282 2.73 25.1 91.5 0.159 4.9 18.4 67 0.116 6.1
2000 59.3 216 0.376 2.73 33.4 122 0.212 4.9 24.5 89 0.155 6.1
2500 74.1 271 0.470 2.73 41.8 153 0.265 4.9 30.6 112 0.194 6.1
3000 89 325 0.564 2.73 50.2 183 0.318 4.9 36.7 134 0.233 6.1

Flow domain configuration in the runner zone and

FEM analysis of the axis-symmetric meridional flow
Usually the initial design data establishes the operation parameters of the
hydraulic turbine for the most frequently hydroenergetic conditions. The hydraulic
turbine’s runner needs to show suitable energetic and cavitation characteristics
in a large interval (extension) of the main parameters values.
The calculus method for the important dimensions of the runner are given
in literature [1], [2], [3] and [4]. For our design it was chose a modified Bovet
method [3] and [4].
The reason consists in the believable experimental results published, till
now, for this subject. Also the above mentioned method fits for the soft construc-
tion. In Table 2 are presented the real results obtained.
TABLE 2
ns nq ν r1e r1i
183 50.2 0.318 52 mm 48mm
r2e r2i le li b0
45 mm 16 mm 63 mm 223 mm 19 mm
x2e y2e rmax re ri
21 mm 7 mm 67 mm 45 mm 67 mm

The Bovet relations give the geometry of the hub and shroud (the generating
curves) in the runner’s blade zone (Fig. 7)
All the runner’s dimensions are rated in respect with the runner hydraulic
outlet radius r2e = 1 .
68 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Fig. 7. FEM analysis domain together with the characteristic dimensions

The real value of the outlet radius is calculated with the formula:
Q / π 1/ 3
R2 e = ( ) (1)
φ2e ⋅ ω
where φ 2e = f (ν) with the numerical values between 0.24 and 0.28. In the
investigated case φ 2 e = 0.25 .
FEM analysis of the flow was extended with about 20% before the leading
edge of the runner’s blades and also with the same quantity after the trailing
edge of the blades.
This extension assures an uniform set of conditions for the liquid flow
through the runner together with the limit conditions on the boundary.
The discretization of the analysed domain through FEM was realized with
quadrilateral finite isoparametric elements with a total amount of 1111 grid knots
(Fig. 8)
Using specific techniques for smoothing and interpolation with spline -
functions it is obtained the meridional image of the hydrodynamic flow spectra
(Fig.9) and the meridional velocity field variation along the streamlines (Fig.10).
69 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Fig. 8. The discretization of the analysed domain with FEM

Fig. 9. Streamline hydrodynamic spectra

70 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Leading and trailing edge shape and kinematics of the flow

(velocities values and angles)
Analytical modality of the leading and trailing edge shape was treated in
previous articles of the authors [5].

Fig. 10 The liquid velocity variation along the streamlines.

Fig. 11. Leading and trailing edge shape and their position.
71 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

In this issue it was used the parabola arcs method, to match a definite
point R1i at the leading edge and R2e at the trailing edge. The minimum of these
curves is established only after the variation of the meridional velocities of the
flow in the neighbourhood of the edges, is known, fig. 11.
Once there are established the leading and trailing edges position the
blade domain is cut up from the whole domain of the hydrodynamic field. Further
for increasing the calculus precision of the bladed zone it are recalculated
through interpolation, the domain of every streamline in 100 equal intervals,
respectively 101 knots.
The kinematics and angular elements of the blades are calculated in the
first and in the last point of every truncated streamline, which may be defined
between the entrance and exit of the runner’s blade. Well-known relations are
used for the inlet and outlet of the flow between two blades namely in the blades
channel. At them it was added the necessary corrections for the entrance and
exit kinematics and flow angles by the obstruction of the flow through the blades of
variable thickness and also the circulation of the flow in the neighbourhood of
the leading and trailing edges. In tables 3 and 4 there are given the results of
the calculus for kinematics and angles of the flow at the blade inlet and outlet.
Table 3. Kinematics and angles of the flow at blade inlet
SL 0 2 4 6 8 10
U1 34.55 36.67 38.65 40.54 42.39 44.27
W1 9.04 12.89 17.00 21.35 26.53 32.17
V1 30.97 29.88 29.44 29.73 31.28 33.86
α1 14.58 19.06 24.46 30.75 38.64 46.30
β1 59.59 49.18 45.81 45.38 47.41 49.55
Vm1 7.80 9.76 12.19 15.20 19.53 24.48
ρ1 0.88 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.88 0.89

Table 4. Kinematics and angles of the flow at blade outlet

SL 0 2 4 6 8 10
U2 20.31 24.91 29.10 33.37 37.57 41.29
W2 21.82 27.38 32.26 36.64 40.74 44.49
V2 7.98 11.38 13.92 15.14 15.74 16.57
β2 21.45 24.56 25.56 24.41 22.73 21.87
Vm2 7.98 11.38 13.92 15.14 15.74 16.57
ρ2 0.71 0.76 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78
72 3rd GERMAN-ROMANIAN WORKSHOP on TURBOMACHINERY HYDRODYNAMICS, May 10-12, 2007

Conclusions
Test rig conception and realization are in perfect connections with swirling
flows experimental analyses established, and create proper conditions to observe
the effects of central jet in instability correction of the vortex in real conditions
on the Francis turbine runner.
Both hydraulic part and support structure offer possibilities to versatile
experiments, including investigation on a turbine operation parameters.
Computer control and real time data acquisition system is also a guarantee
for high-class experiments.

Acknowledgements
The present work has been supported by the Romanian Government –
Ministry of Education and Research, National Authority for Scientific Research
through CEEX-M1-C2-1185 contract No. 64/2006-2008 “iSMART-flow” project
and by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the SCOPES Joint
Research Project IB7320-110942.

References
[1] R. Susan-Resiga, S. Muntean, S. Bernad, T. Frunza, D. Balint, „Thin Hydrofoil
Cascade Design and Numerical Flow Analysis, Part I – Design”, Proceedings
of the Romanian Academy, Series A., Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 117-126, 2006
[2] R. Susan-Resiga, T.C. Vu, S. Muntean, G.D. Ciocan, B. Nennemann, „Jet Control
of the Draft Tube Vortex Rope in Francis Turbines at Partial Discharge”, Proc.
23rd IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, Yokohama, Japan,
2006
[3] Dobândă E., Miloş T., Pompe, ventilatoare, compresoare, Lucrări de laborator,
Lito Universitatea Politehnica Timişoara, 1991.
[4] Susan-Resiga, R., Ciocan, G.D., Anton I., Avellan, F., Analysis of the Swirling
Flow Downstream a Francis Turbine Runner, Journal of Fluids Engineering,
Vol. 128, 2006, pp. 177-189.
[5] Tripa M., 1967, Rezistenţa materialelor, Ed. Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti.
[6] Anton I., Turbine hidraulice, Ed. Facla, Timişoara, 1979.
[7] Bărglăzan M., Turbine hidraulice şi transmisii hidrodinamice, Ed. Politehnica,
Timişoara, 2001
[8] Wislicenus G.F., Fluid mechanics of Turbomachinery, Dover Publ., New York,
1965.
[9] Ed. Krishna R., Hydraulic Design of Hydraulic Machinery, Avebury, Aldershot,
1997.
[10] Bărglăzan M. Miloş T., About Meridional Plan View of a Francis Turbine Runner.
Proc of the 5th Internat Conf. Hydraulic Machinery and Hydrodynamics. Timişoara
pp. 43-51.
[11] Anton L.E., Miloş T., Pompe centrifuge cu impulsor, Ed. Orizonturi Universitare,
Timişoara, 1998.
[12] ***, GRUNFOS Installation and Operating Instructions for CRNE pumps, 2004.