Experience Curves for Feasibility Studies and Planning of Modern Low-Head Hydro Turbines

This report contains the results of an extensive investigation of the characteristics of over two hundred low-head turbines manufactured all over the world that have been installed or that are due to be installed in hydropower plants between 1953 and 1984. The research focused mainly on bulb turbines, with horizontal shaft arrangement and tubular turbines with their shafts either horizontal or inclined at an angle to the horizontal. The characteristics of the other types of low-head turbines are not presented because adequate data could not be collected on their characteristics during this study period. The characteristics on bulb and tubular turbines are presented in the form of statistical diagrams and regression equations suitable for preliminary design and feasibility studies of low-head hydro projects. Nomographs have been developed for displaying the relationships between the various turbine characteristics and comparing the important dimensions and parameters of turbines which have found common application in the hydro-power technology. New simplified parametric ratio for selection of turbines have been developed that should expedite preliminary selection study for hydropower projects