2018 27 Paper: Hydraulic Performance of High Head Francis Turbines

To meet current electricity market requirements it is important that hydro generators are properly maintained and if required, refurbished and modernised to increase reliability of the plant. The refurbished unit requires thorough testing to ensure it meets the engineering requirements and can operate safely and reliably for the next target life span. The hydraulic thrust is one of the tests that is checked during commissioning to ensure the thrust bearing is not overloaded, the unit operation is stable throughout entire power output range and the unit operation is within the design clearances.
During commissioning of Murray 1 unit 1 after runner replacement there were anomalies identified in the thrust loading of the unit at different load/head combinations.
This paper looks at the history of hydraulic thrust on Murray 1 units and the tests performed to isolate the thrusts issues that were identified.

• Author: Rafal Zieja
• Exchange: 2018 - Albury AGL
• Company: Snowy Hydro
• Topic: Bearing, Francis, Refurbishment, Runner, Turbine
• Key Words: Bearing, Clearance, Hydraulic, Hydraulics, Modeling, Rehabilitation, Runner, Testing, Thrust, Turbine, Upgrade/Uprate