Performance Test of Francis Turbine

Johannes Bruce Llausas de Guzman1

Abstract: The Francis is a type of water turbine that was developed by James B. Francis in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is an inward-flow turbine
that combines radial and axial flow concepts. In this experiment, the performance of the Francis turbine set-up located in the Mechanical
Engineering hydraulics laboratory of the University of San Carlos is assessed by operating the turbine by supplying it with water coming from
the centrifugal pump. The data gathered that is essential in evaluating the Francis turbines performance were the shaft speed, torque, weir
height and their corresponding vane setting. These data were then used to obtain the shaft power Ps, water power Pw, the flowrate Q, and the
hydraulic efficiency . The calculated data was then used to obtain graphs to comprehend the behavior of a parameter with respect to another
parameter. The graphs made were turbine efficiency vs vane angle setting, and shaft speed versus vane angle setting. These graphs were then
verified by other related published literatures found. The highest efficiency of the turbine was found to be 48.73%. The experiment was
performed by 5th year Mechanical Engineering students of the University of San Carlos Talamban Campus.

Author keywords: Performance Test, Turbine Efficiency, Guide vange angle, Francis Turbine

Introduction automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide

range of flow and water level.
Small hydropower of renewable energy is suitable for places where According to Gorla and Khan (2003), the radial flow or the
there are plenty of rivers and agricultural reservoirs; it has come into Francis turbine is a reaction turbine in which the runner is enclosed
the spotlight for relatively low effects on the ecosystem. Of those of in a casing and therefore, the water is always a pressure other than
small hydro powers, Francis turbines have been used because they atmosphere. As the water flows over the curved blades, the pressure
have broad head coverage and flow rates (Suh et al. 2014). Due to head is transformed into velocity head. Thus, water leaving the blade
the fast and every growing progress of technology which causes the has a large relative velocity but small absolute velocity. Therefore,
world to revolve in the industries, demand for power increases. most of the initial energy of water is given to the runner. In reaction
Eventually, technology reached its state wherein it can harness and turbines, water leaves the runner at atmospheric pressure. The
extract energy from available running bodies of water which carries pressure difference between entrance and exit points of the runner is
energy. These machines called Turbines, are designed to extract known as reaction pressure.
the energy from the running water by the pressure it creates, into
useful mechanical energy by passing dammed water to a turbine to
drive its shaft. These Hydraulic turbines are essentially used to
generate electricity and there are broadly three types of hydraulic
machines in use: The Pelton wheel, Kaplan turbine and the Francis
turbine (Ingram 2009). Hydropower comes from converting potential
energy in flowing water by means of a water wheel or a turbine into
useful mechanical power (Gatte et al. 2012). Francis Turbine is an
inward flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow
concept of a running fluid. This turbine was first developed and tested
by James B. Francis with his collaborators during 1850s in Lowell,
Massachusetts. Modern Francis turbines have developed into very
different forms from the original, but they all retain the concept of
radial inward flow.
Citing Cengel et al (2014), the Francis turbine is a type of water Fig. 1 Sectional views of a Francis Turbine. (Image courtesy from
turbine that was named in honor of James B. Francis (18151892), Manual on Pumps Used as turbines.
who developed the design in the 1840s in Lowell, Massachusetts .The
turbine was designed for powering the textile factory machines using The fluid, in this case water, enters the center of the impeller (the
eye) and is picked up by the vanes. The rotating motion of the
the river nearby. Using scientific methods and experimentation he
impeller imparts energy to the water as it flows outwards through the
was able to develop the design to achieve up to 90 to 95 percent impeller. From the outer periphery of the impeller, the water
efficiency). Today Francis turbines are the most widely used turbines discharges at a high velocity into the volute casing whose cross
in the world. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines sectional area increases gradually towards the delivery passage and
radial and axial flow concepts. There are two main types of reaction much of the velocity energy is converted into pressure (see
turbines namely the Francis turbine and the Kaplan turbine. The Bernoulli's equation, Appendix A). Thus, the function of the volute
Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable is to provide a smooth transition for the flow between the impeller
periphery and the discharge pipeline because deceleration of flow is
blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor
usually accompanied by losses (shock losses) due to the formation of
Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with eddies. If this deceleration takes place slowly over a long distance,
1
Student, Dept. of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, shock losses are smaller but pump impellers and casings become
Univ. of San Carlos, Cebu City 6000, Philippines. E-mail: much bigger. Some pumps incorporate a ring of fixed vanes (known
johannesyap18@gmail.com
as diffuser ring) around the impeller to guide and decelerate the flow
with minimum losses incurred.
Experimental Methods
The schematic diagram for the experimental set-up of the
Performance test of Francis turbine in the Mechanical Engineering
Laboratory in the University of San Carlos Talamban Campus is
shown in figure 2. The system is designed to be a recirculating water
system, given the limited source of water. This maximizes the
available resource and takes into account the water losses if the
system were to be an open one. From the figure 2, the system is
composed of a reservoir, 3 gate valves, a v-notch weir, an axial pump,
a centrifugal pump, a Prony brake dynamometer, and the Francis
turbine. The water reservoir contains all the water that is used in the
experiment. The pumps used in the experiment takes water from the
water reservoir then to the turbine, then back to the reservoir. The
gate valves are generally used to regulate the amount of water that
travels through the pipeline. The centrifugal pump not being
submerged into the reservoir, needs to be primed via the axial pump.
The centrifugal pump is responsible for conveying water from the
reservoir to the Francis turbine. In between the centrifugal pump and
the Francis turbine a bypass pipe is installed in order to allow excess
water to return back to the reservoir. The Prony brake dynamometer
is used to measure the torque on the rotating shaft of the Francis
turbine. Lastly the Francis turbine is the turbomachinery on which
whose performance is tested in the experiment.
Fig. 2 Schematic Diagram of the Performance test of Francis Turbine
Experimental set-up.
Fig. 3 shows the Francis turbine located in the Mechanical
Engineering Hydraulics laboratory and used in the experiment. It can
be seen that it has a wheel drive. This wheel serves as the adjuster for
the vane angle setting. The rotating shaft is enclosed in a casing that
serves as the guard. Two pressure gauge indicator is incorporated into
the system that indicates the inlet and outlet pressure of the fluid. A
speedometer is also installed that gives the turbine shaft speed during
operation.
Pre-experiment
The operation of the Francis turbine is very much like the Kaplan
turbine. The gate valves along the pipeline were closed to prepare it
to the priming process which is necessary since the centrifugal pump
is not submerged to the water reservoir rendering it unable to be self-
priming. In priming the centrifugal pump, it was first made sure that
the flow of water from the axial pump was directed to the centrifugal
pump for the Francis turbine by closing the other valves that connects
the axial pump to the other machineries in the laboratory while
leaving the valve to the centrifugal pump used for the Francis turbine
operation open. The housing of the Francis turbine was filled with
water by turning on the axial pump. It was made sure that the foot
valve that serves as the inlet port of water from the reservoir to the
centrifugal pump is closed during the priming process in order for the
water not to simply go back to the reservoir. The foot valve left open
during the priming process is the most common fault of other
experimenters giving them a long time to prime the centrifugal pump.
In order to rid fast of the air trapped inside the casing of the
centrifugal pump, the shaft of the pump is manually rotated. The
priming process was done the moment air bubbles are no longer
observed in the priming cup. The axial pump was then turned off.
Fig. 3 Francis Turbine used in the Performance test. (Image courtesy of
Lasa, Ling and Ragaza). 2016
Francis Turbine Operation
The centrifugal pump being ready for operation, the gate valve
after the pump was then consequently opened. This part of the
experiment is crucial since the operation must be done fast and neat
to avoid over pressurizing the centrifugal pump. The moment the
centrifugal pump was turned on, the gate valve was opened quickly
as possible to reduce the sudden rise in pressure caused by the
centrifugal pump. The gate valve after the centrifugal pump requires
strength and stamina. It is important for the person assigned to open
the gate valve to be physically fit to avoid trouble in turning on the
centrifugal pump. After the gate valve was fully opened, water now
flows through the bypass pipe since the gate valve before the Francis
turbine was closed.
Before allowing water flow to the turbine, it was important to
relieve the Francis turbine from friction. This was done by manually
rotating the shaft using a pipe wrench for a couple of times. After
doing so, the gate valve before the Francis turbine was ready to be
opened. After the shaft friction has been relieved, the gate valve for
the Francis turbine was opened slowly to avoid sudden pressure
fluctuation until it is fully open.
Vane Setting Variation
The Francis turbine in the Mechanical Engineering Hydraulics
Laboratory is equipped with a wheel to allow the performer to adjust
the vane setting. The vane setting refers to the guide vane angle of
the Francis turbine. Four guide vane angle settings were tested during
the experiment (10, 20, 30, and 35). The experiment started at
10 vane setting until the 35 setting. For each of these settings, the
corresponding maximum load, the shaft speed, the water
displacement indicated in the weir, inlet pressure, and the outlet
pressure were noted and tabulated.
Results and Discussion where = shaft power; = value of pi; = torque; and = shaft
speed.
The data gathered is a collaborative effort of group 5 and 12. Tables The hydraulic power provided by the centrifugal pump to the
1, 2, and 3 shows the data gathered from the experiment. The tables Francis turbine is a function of the fluid specific weight, flowrate,
are divided to three which implies that the latter tables were obtained and total head. This is given by the equation
using the data from the parameters which were directly obtained.
These parameters were vane setting, shaft speed, the inlet and outlet = (3)
pressure, the load, and the weir height. These data will be interpreted
on the succeeding parts of this paper by plotting it in graphs. where = hydraulic power; = specific weight of water; = fluid
flowrate; and = the total head. The total head is the summation of
Table. 1 Parameters and Values for the Performance Test of Francis the pressure head, velocity head, and the elevation head and was
Turbine at Various Guide Vane Settings Part 1 (De Guzman; Genebraldo; calculated using the equation:
Roma; Saut; Talan; and Virtucio BSME 2016)
Vane Inlet Outlet 2 1 2 2 1 2
Speed Load Weir = + + (2 1 ) (4)
Setting Pressure Pressure 2
(rpm) (kg) (m)
() (kg/cm2) (kg/cm2)
35 1020 0.5 0.12 3.5 0.16 where 1 is the fluid pressure at point 1; 2 is the fluid pressure at
30 1100 0.5 0.12 2 0.16 point 2; is the fluid density; 1 is the fluid velocity at point 1; 2 is
20 1150 0.52 0.1 1 0.16 the fluid velocity at point 2; is the specific weight of water; 1 =
10 640 0.52 0.12 1 0.16 elevation of point 1; 2 = elevation of point 2; and = total turbine
head.
The flow rate for a V-notch weir is known to be a function of the
Table. 2 Parameters and Values for the Performance Test of Francis theoretical velocity, the weir angle, and the height of weir water
Turbine at Various Guide Vane Settings Part 2 (De Guzman; Genebraldo; displacement. The coefficient of discharge for this experiment was
Roma; Saut; Talan; and Virtucio BSME 2016) assumed to be at 0.6. The flow rate was then calculated using a
Vane Setting Flowrate Velocity Total Head derived equation for the v-notch weir:
() (m3/s) (m/s) (m)
35 0.014614 1.77 5.0 8 5
= 2 ( ) 2 (5)
30 0.014614 1.77 5.0 15 2
20 0.014614 1.77 5.2
10 0.014614 1.77 5.2 where is the flowrate; is the coefficient of discharge (assumed
to be 6); is the acceleration due to gravity; is the weir angle; and
as the height of weir water displacement.
Table. 3 Parameters and Values for the Performance Test of Francis
Turbine at Various Guide Vane Settings Part 2 (De Guzman; Genebraldo; Efficiency vs. Guide vane angle setting
Roma; Saut; Talan; and Virtucio BSME 2016)

Vane Setting Efficiency 55

Pin (W) Pout (W)
() (%)
35 699.28 314.35 44.95 50
Efficiency (%)

30 699.28 339.00 48.48 45

20 727.25 354.41 48.73
10 727.25 197.24 27.12 40
35
Figure 4 shows the plotted relationship of the turbine efficiency
30
with respect to vane angle setting. It doesnt take a highly
sophisticated person to see the obvious trend of the graph. Starting 25
from 10 to 35 guide vane angle setting, the efficiencies is found to 10 15 20 25 30 35
be at 27.12%, 48.73%, 48.47%, and 44.95%. The highest efficiency
which is 48.73% is found at 20 vane angle setting. The efficiency of Vane Angle ()
the Francis turbine is calculated by dividing the output power which Fig. 4 Curve Generated Using Vane Angle and Effiency (De Guzman;
is the shaft power by the input power which is the hydraulic power. Genebraldo; Roma; Saut; Talan; and Virtucio BSME 2016).
This is given by
Figure 5 shows the efficiency versus vane angle curve generated
by the group Lasa and Barcelona. Unlike the curve portrayed in
= 100% (1) figure 4, the graph that they were able to generate stopped at 40
whereas our grouped chose to have 35 as our last guide vane angle
setting. It can be seen from their generated graph that the efficiency
where = the turbine efficiency, = the shaft power, and = the somehow increases, with an increase in the vane angle. From both
hydraulic power. The shaft power was simply calculated by the groups, it can be seen that based on their gathered data, the optimum
equation: guide vane angle setting was found to be also at 20. The lowest
efficiency was found to be the first guide vane angle setting
= 2 (2) experimented which is 10.

Fig. 5 Curve Generated Using Vane Angle and Effiency (Barcelona,
Paquibulan, Sesbreo, Lasa, Ling, and Ragaza BSME 2016).
A study conducted by Sapkota (2015) probed the development of Hill
chart diagram for Francis turbine of Jhimruk Hydropower using
computational method. In figure 6, the graph of the Francis turbines
efficiency was plotted against the speed and flow factor. Several
guide vane angle was tested in this study. In the study of Sapkota, it
was found out that each guide vane angle setting has a particular best
operating point, depending upon the flow rate it is operating on. The
efficiency of such vane settings vary upon the variation of other
influential parameters like flow rate and the shaft speed. The best
efficiency point based on his study was found to be at the full guide
vane angle 19.1 with an efficiency of 93.496%.
Fig. 6 3D plot of Efficiency versus Speed factor and Flow rate factor. Graph
courtesy of Sapkota (2015).
Shaft speed vs. Guide vane angle setting
Being able to determine the most optimum running condition of
the Francis turbine is the most important part in a performance test.
Hence, the need to identify the running condition where it delivers
the most promising output. A graph of the speed versus the vane
angle setting is shown in figure 6. It can be seen that the maximum
speed was attained at the 20 guide vane angle setting. As found
earlier, the maximum efficiency was attained at 20 vane setting. An
explanation for this can be correlated with the findings from figure 7
wherein the maximum speed was found to be at 20. Basing from
equation 2, where in the shaft power is directly proportional to the
change of torque and speed, we can infer that if the maximum speed
is input into the equation, the shaft power calculated is then expected
to be at higher values compared to other guide vane angle setting. But
other parameters like the total head must also be taken into account.
The speed also drops after the 20 vane angle setting which
consequently employs a drop of efficiency, as evidenced in figure 4.
1200
1100
Speed (rpm)
1000
900
800
700
600
10 15 20 25 30 35
Vane Angle ()
Fig. 7 Curve Generated Using Vane Angle and Shaft Speed (De Guzman;
Genebraldo; Roma; Saut; Talan; and Virtucio BSME 2016).
Figure 8 shows the efficiencies of various hydraulic turbine types
plotted against the ratio of the actual flow to the maximum possible
flow, also known as the flow ratio. For the Francis turbine, (green
line), it can be seen that just like any other turbines, its efficiency
subsides as the flow increases. The Kaplan and the Pelton turbine is
noted to be operating at good efficiencies for a range of the flow ratio.
The Francis turbine runs at average efficiency basing on figure 8, and
does develop decent efficiency in a slow phase. It is important to be
noted however that during experimentation, the flowrate coming out
of the Francis turbine set-up is constant, since no variation of the
water flow coming into the system was done. Only the effect of the
guide vane angle setting was taken into account and its corresponding
effect to the performance of the Francis turbine, as calculated using
the different data parameters gathered.
Fig. 8 Relationship of various Turbine efficiencies versus ratio of the actual
flow rate to the maximum flow rate capacity. Graph retrieved from
http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/0506/small_hydro/method_f
r.html
Conclusions
The effect of vane angle variation was determined by performing
a performance test on the Francis turbine located in the hydraulics
lab. It was found that the Francis turbine experimented gives out the
best optimum efficiency when operated at 20 guide vane angle
setting. At 20, a corresponding shaft speed of 1150 rpm was
obtained which consequently gives a shaft power output of 354.41 References
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= elevation; Sapkota, S. (2015). Development of Hill Chart diagram for
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= fluid flowrate;
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