Selection of erosive wear rate parameters of pelton turbine buckets using PSI and TOPSIS techniques

Abstract

Hydro turbine machineries erosion due to silt is a complex issue for the effective practice of hydropower plants. Erosion caused by silt of the Pelton turbine buckets is a compound phenomenon that depends on size of silt particles (Sp), silt particles concentration (Cs), velocity of jet (Vj), and working time (tw). This paper deals with the influence of silt erosion for various silt loaded factors and effective parameters. The preference selection index (PSI) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approaches has been adopted to find optimal set of parameters which offers the highest performance for the Pelton turbine. Based up on the results obtained from both PSI and TOPSIS approaches it is found that optimal performance has been provided by A-1 alternate with geometric and flow parameters as Sp = 90 μ, Cs = 2000 ppm, Vj = 27.309 m/s and tw = 3 hrs respectively.