PENSTOCK

1Penstock Material

Figure 1 Material

Selection of the penstock alignment

Reference- Chapter-6 Penstock Civil Works Guidelines for MICRO-HYDROPOWER IN

NEPAL

Note:

Designing a penstock 4 ft in diameter, 400 ft long,with head varying 30 ft at intake to

about 150 ft at the powerhouse
Hydraulic consideration will rarely influence material selection, since differences in friction
factors are negligible and hydraulic transient differences will be insignificant when based on the
same diameter and penstock length.

Large and high head penstocks

The most common material for such penstock is steel( steel banded wood staves can be used
where head is not excessive).

Consultant must decide

Whether to use welded joints or mechanical couplings

Use mild steel, intermediate steel or high strength quenched or tempered steel

Use a surface or buried penstock or use a surface penstock with anchors and
expansion joints or a design that eliminates expansion joint.

Welded joints preferred- less expensive than mechanical joint however an exception is for
gently sloping, soft terrain, where it is difficult to find suitable foundations for larger concrete
anchor block. The consultant should make this decision.

The consultant should determine the steel strength. He would have to select the steel
plate,perhaps using several strengths of steel as the head increased. On the other hand the
contractor could decide to use higher strength (more expensive) steel to limit the thickness to
what shop rollers provide or use lower strength (less expensive) steel for economy. Therefore
the consultant.

If the penstock can be buried with minimum of rock excavation ,this is most economical.
Expansion joints and concrete anchors can be eliminated, the sand gravel backfill provides
natural insulation and maintenance painting of exterior surface is not required.

Pipe materials

In Nepal the most commonly used penstock pipe materials are mild steel and HDPE. Rigid or
unplasticised PVC (uPVC) is another option that has been used in other countries such as Peru
and Sri Lanka, but has not yet been used in Nepal. Figure 1 The decision as to which pipe
material to use for the penstock can be based on Figure 1, especially in Nepal. When in doubt, it
is recommended that the designer undertake preliminary designs for all pipe materials available
and compare the costs.

To minimize costs, for long penstock alignments HDPE pipes can be used for the upstream
length where the head is relatively low(see fig 2). Standard couplings are available to join HDPE
and mild steel pipes. Although steel pipe for micro-hydro in Nepal has normally been specially
manufactured locally, standard steel pipes may be cheaper in some cases. Details of such
pipes are given below:
6.4 Pipe diameter
Once the penstock alignment and pipe material have been decided on, the design involves
choosing the diameter and pipe thickness. Selecting an appropriate pipe diameter is discussed
in this section and the wall thickness is discussed in Section 6.6.

1. Choose a pipe size such that the velocity, V, is between 2.5 m/s and 3.5 m/s. In general,
a velocity lower than 2.5 m/s results in an uneconomically large diameter. Similarly, if
the velocity exceeds 3.5 m/s, the headless can be excessive and hence uneconomical in
the long run due to loss in power output. Furthermore, higher velocities in the penstock
will result in high surge pressure.
2. For steel penstocks, it may be economical to choose the diameter so that there is no
wastage from standard size steel sheets. For HDPE or PVC, available sizes must be
selected. Pipes are normally specified by outside diameter, so two times wall thickness
must be subtracted to obtain the internal diameter. Standard pipe sizes are given above:
3. Calculate the actual velocity: V = 4Q / 3.14*d2
where:
V is velocity in m/s.
Q is design flow in m3/s.
d is the pipe internal diameter in m.
4. Calculate the headloss in the pipe length based on the inlet, wall friction, bends, valves and
exit loss as follows:
Total head loss = wall loss + turbulence losses / Wall losses are calculated as follows:
First determine the roughness value,‘k’
The wall losses result from the friction between the flow and the pipe wall. Wall losses are
calculated as follows:

First determine the roughness value, k in mm from Table . Note that the values of k in this table
are based on normal age (5-15 years) or condition.
Then use the Moody Chart in Figure 4.10 to find the corresponding friction factor f for the
selected pipe material, diameter and the design flow.

The wall loss can now be calculated from the following equation:
hwall loss = f (LV^2 / dx2g)

In terms of the flow, diameter and length, this equation can also be rewritten as:
hwall loss =fLQ2 / 12d5
Turbulence losses are calculated as follows:
hturb loss =V2 / 2g (Kentrance + Kbend + Kcontraction+Kvalve)

where head loss coefficients, K, are as shown in Table 4.4.

Note that HDPE pipes can be bent (by hand) without causing any damage if the bend radius is at
least 50 times the pipe diameter. This should be done wherever possible, because:
a) it avoids the need for mitred bends;
b) it avoids the need for anchor blocks to restrain bend forces; and
c) at such large radius, Kbend becomes negligible.
Where a long radius bend is not possible, a sharper bend is required, and the value of Kbend
should be taken from Table 4.4. Mitred bends will normally be used for steel and HDPE
pipelines: these are fabricated by cutting the pipe at an angle (maximum 15°) and then welding
the ends together to create a bend of up to 30°. For bends of more than 30°, two or more mitre
joints are required.
4. In general ensure that total head loss for the design flow is between 5% and 10% of the gross
head, i.e. 95% to 90% penstock efficiency.
5. If the head loss is higher than 10% of the gross head, repeat calculations with larger
diameter. Similarly, if the head loss is less than 5% the pipe diameter may be uneconomic,
therefore repeat calculations using smaller diameters.

Note that in exceptional cases a less efficient penstock may

On the other hand for larger hydropower projects (mini/small or large) the diameter of the
penstock pipe is selected on the basis of a detailed financial analysis. The process involves
calculating pipe costs and head losses for a range of diameters and comparing these with the
present value of energy losses within the economic life of the power plant. As long as the net
present value remains significant (i.e., benefits outweighs costs) the diameter is increased.
Alternatively, for a given diameter both the penstock pipe cost (and hence the total project
cost) and the cost of energy lost due to head loss can be calculated. Then, the optimum
penstock diameter would be the diameter corresponding to minimum total costs as shown
graphically in Figure 6.2. It should also be noted that there are generally other criteria as well,
such as availability of steel plate widths in the market, local fabricating capabilities