2nd IAHR Asia on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, Busan, Korea

Learning the lesson from maintenance of turbine due to sand erosion and utilize that
knowledge for manufacturing new turbines in Nepal

Rishabh Thapa1, Bhola Thapa2, Biraj Singh Thapa2, YH Lee3

1
Mechanical Engineer, Chainlink Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Bhaktapur, Nepal
2
Professor and Associate Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, P.O.Box – 6250,
Dhulikhel, Nepal
3
Professor at Division of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, South Korea
*Corresponding author: Tel.: +977-9860959697, email: rishabh.thapa95@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Nepal has history of more than 100 years of hydropower development. Even then very small portion available
potential and utilized. Until fiscal year 2017/18 installed hydropower is 1016.079 MW against 84000 MW of
theoretical potential and almost 50% of that could be economically feasible. Around 3,000 MW are in different
stage of construction and government has issued survey license of about 15,618 MW.
There are 75 no of projects currently in operation which are above 1 MW in Nepal that mostly use Pelton and
Francis turbines. In these projects approximately there are two to three number of units with the size ranging from
500 kW to 5 MW turbine. Nepalese hydropower projects are facing unique problem of erosion of turbine and
hydro mechanical components due to excessive sediment in rivers. Hard abrasive particles present in sediment
erodes almost all turbine parts and they are compelled to be maintained periodically from every year to 2-3 years.
Nepalese companies are capable of repairing the components of Pelton turbines like runners, buckets, spear,
nozzle. Similarly they are also repairing runner, blades, guide vanes and casings of Francis turbines. For such
maintenance, Nepalese technicians are capable and skilled to replace the parts with locally fabricated component,
weld the components with all safety compliance, carryout machining and finishing to fulfil dimensional and
structural accuracy.
KU TTL is facilitating Nepalese companies to manufacturer turbine in Nepal. TTL is also getting help from
Korean companies to manufacture turbine in Korean environment and compare the performance of Nepali and
abroad manufactured turbines. In this paper we will discuss the case studies of maintenance experience of the
turbines in Nepal and analyze how we can use these knowledge and skills to manufacture turbines for upcoming
projects and also locally manufacture replacement turbine for the existing projects.

Key words: Turbine, Sand erosion, Repair, Manufacturing

Reference:
[1] B. T. H. P. N. B. S. T. Balendra Chhetry, "Preventive maintenance techniques to ease the maintenance
activities of hydropower stations," in Proceedings of the International Symposium on Current Research in
Hydraulic Turbines, Dhulikhel, Nepal, 2016.

[2] T. T. Lab, "Feasibility Study for Francis Turbine Manufacturing and Testing Facility in Nepal,"
Kathmandu University, 2013.

[3] B. T. B. S. T. Balendra Chhetry, "Design optimization of vertical Francis turbine components from a
maintenance perspective in the context of sediment-laden river projects," in Water Resources and Hydropower
Development, Vientiane, Laos, 2016.