Optimization of turbine startup: Some experimental results from a propeller runner

Abstract

The turbine startup is a transient event generating high amplitude stress cycles in runner blades which might reduce significantly the life expectancy of the runner. Our goal is to use the increased range of possibilities offered by newer governing system to optimize the wicket gates control pattern in order to reduce the amplitude of the strain transient in the runner blade during startup. In this paper, we present our success in defining an optimal wicket gates control pattern for the startup of a newly commissioned propeller runner.