Turbine Performance Testing:

Bureau of Reclamations
Experience
06/01/2008

Performance testing is a key activity when procuring new hydro turbines and when
rehabilitating units. Also, testing is central to maintaining and improving plant
performance. Advances in testing methods and technology have made high-quality
testing more economical and effective, and less labor intensive.

By David O. Hulse

Performance testing of hydropower facilities is a vital, yet challenging activity. It is important

because, without testing, assessment of how well a facility is performing vis--vis how well it
possibly could perform is, at best, a difficult task.
Of course, water is the fuel for a hydroelectric plant and, to evaluate performance, its necessary
to know how much fuel is used. What if, in your car, you wanted to determine gas mileage
performance (miles per gallon or kilometers per liter) but could not measure the amount of gasoline
put into the fuel tank?
Unlike measuring the fuel that you put in your car, determining how much water through a hydro
plant (i.e., the flow rate) is not an easy thing to do. Nonetheless, succeeding generations of
technologists have taken on this challenge and by applying creativity, innovation, and increasingly
sophisticated methods have continually improved the state-of-the-art of performance
measurement.
At the U.S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of Reclamation, we have a long, more than 70-year
history of measuring performance. In fact, Reclamations experience could reasonably serve as a
chronology of the development of hydro turbine testing techniques.
At Reclamation, the performance testing of pumps is also important, and the methods used are in
many cases very similar to whats used for hydro turbines. While Reclamation operates 58 hydro
plants having 196 turbine-generators (ranging in size from 350 kW to 805 MW), we also operate
hundreds of large pumps in carrying out our roles of serving many millions of users of both water
and electricity.

Why do performance testing?

Performance testing is an essential practice to ensure that plant performance has not degraded to
unacceptable levels. Moreover, testing is needed as a part of programs to improve the efficiency,
output, and economic performance of single hydro plants and of multiple plants that operate in a
coordinated manner. Optimization has been an important focus in recent years. Optimization
typically requires performance testing in order to verify the performance of units and facilities and to
establish benchmarks.
Another important reason for performance testing has to do with the procurement of new turbines or
runners and new pumps or impellers, or in contracting for the rehabilitation of such equipment.
Specifically, performance testing is often necessary for verifying contractual guarantees.
We routinely use a test code such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Performance
Test Code 18 for Hydraulic Turbines and Pump Turbines (ASME PTC-18). This code, originally
published in 1923, was last revised in 2002 by experienced test engineers who represent turbine
and equipment manufacturers, owners, and consultants. Because few of Reclamations hydro plants
have excess water that would justify capacity increases, the majority of Reclamations turbine runner
replacement contracts focus on efficiency improvements aimed at reducing the amount of water for
each megawatt-hour generated.
The way the procurement process works is that, in a request for proposals (RFP), we ask turbine
manufacturers to guarantee the efficiency of a new or rehabilitated turbine. Suppliers are provided
with incentive to push the limits of hydraulic efficiency they will provide and guarantee, which will
earn them a lower evaluated proposal price. For such a contracting method to work, it is essential to
have a performance testing method that has the confidence and acceptance of both the purchaser
(in this case, Reclamation) and the supplier and, owing to the involvement of both owners and
manufacturers on the code committee, the ASME PTC-18 standard has earned this acceptance.

Performance testing through the years

During its 70-year testing history, Reclamation has employed a variety of methods. Some key
practices are described in the following sections.

Gibson (pressure-time) method

Reclamations records of performance tests date back to the mid-1930s. These reports show water
flow rate and head measurements being performed by the Norman R. Gibson Company of Niagara
Falls, N.Y., using the traditional Gibson method. The Gibson method of flow measurement is a
transient method. It uses the pressure rise associated with a decelerating column of water due to
rapid closure of the turbine wicket gates as the basis for calculating velocity.

days flow testing setups are characterized by what you dont see. Instead of a lot of bulky specialized equipment,
uch of the data collection and analysis is accomplished using specialized software on familiar computer hardware.
Click here to enlarge image

The Gibson method, now called the pressure-time method, originally relied on recording the
movements of a column of mercury used to indicate the pressure wave by having the mercury
column obstruct a light source. A rotating piece of photographic paper captured the movements of
the mercury. The method has been modernized using pressure transducers, data acquisition
systems, and computers.

Salt velocity method

Because the Gibson method of flow measurement did not work for pumps, a method was required to
verify pump performance. Charles M. Allen of Alden Research Laboratory developed such a method,
known as the salt velocity method. This is a tracer method using the fact that a brine solution is more
electrically conductive than water. With the method, brine is rapidly injected into the penstock or
discharge pipe through an array of pop-valves. To ensure adequate mixing, a turbulator an array
fabricated from I-beams to create turbulence is installed downstream. The salt cloud is detected by
an array of electrodes both immediately downstream of the pop-valves and at a known distance
downstream. Based on measurements from a chart recorder used to record the current passing
between the electrodes versus time, the velocity is calculated.

e obsolete salt velocity method required erecting a framework inside the penstock for supporting pop-valves. Thes
p-valves released a cloud of brine into the flowing water; the time of travel of this cloud was measured by downstrea
nductivity probes. Todays acoustic methods do not require the erection of such complex and obstructive devices
hin the flow path.
Click here to enlarge image

Reclamation used the salt velocity method for pumps and later for turbines up until the late 1980s.
Reclamation had all the equipment to perform salt velocity flow measurement and made extensive
use of it for both pump and turbine efficiency testing, including participating in an EPRI comparative
flow measurement testing research project at BC Hydros 580-MW Kootenai Canal generating
station in 1983 and Reclamations 6,809-MW Grand Coulee plant in 1984. This testing provided
comparison data with code-accepted flow measurement methods, which was partially responsible
for the acoustic flow measurement method acceptance into the 1992 revision of ASME PTC-18.
Owing to the acceptance of the acoustic flow measurement system into PTC 18, Reclamation
disposed of its salt velocity test equipment in 2003.

Acoustic flow measurement

For the past 20 years, Reclamation has used the acoustic flow measurement method for the vast
majority of its pump and turbine performance tests. From Reclamations viewpoint, it has been a
major contributor to shorter and less expensive performance testing.
This testing method is an especially useful and relatively inexpensive way to conduct performance
tests of older units to determine current unit efficiency, in order to analyze the economics of a runner
replacement.
The acoustic flow measurement method calculates water velocity based on the differential travel
times for ultrasonic pulses as they travel between pairs of transducers that are mounted in diagonal
planes on the periphery of a penstock. Sixteen transducers typically are used, arranged to trace
eight paths. For acceptable accuracy, the method requires 20 penstock diameters of straight

penstock upstream of the measurement planes, and five penstock diameters of straight penstock
downstream.
Because most of Reclamations turbines are of the vertical shaft Francis type and have reasonable
lengths of penstock upstream, acoustic flow measurement works quite well. The method has the
advantage of being permanently installed. In addition, measurements can be taken continuously,
and while unattended. The design of transducer installation is site specific. In some cases, we use
through-the-wall transducers, in others internally mounted transducers and, in some cases, a
combination.

presentative of the many improvements in field performance testing, the portable calibration device used to

ibrate pressure transducers can be carried to the test site. It replaces the large, bulky dead weight tester, which ha
be shipped to the site, often arriving damaged due to rough handling during transport.
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Since 2000, Reclamation has used an Accusonic Technologies model 7510 portable flowmeter for
field testing pumps and turbines. This unit has eight-path capability and is used for temporary
installations, or in plants where one processor is computing flow for many penstocks. This portable
flowmeter has proven to very useful in a variety of flow measurement situations.

Most significant advances

In the past, performance and efficiency testing was expensive and labor intensive, especially when
the Gibson or salt velocity methods were used. However, in the past 20 years, the conduct of testing
has changed significantly. Advances in test equipment and personal computers have decreased in
the number of people required and the quantity of equipment that must be shipped to the testing site.
Thirty years ago, a testing crew of 20 people could be required for conducting a field performance
test. Measurements were made and recorded by hand. Synchronizing of measurements was
accomplished by stringing indicating lights throughout a plant to measurement stations these
white, yellow, and green lights would indicate to staff what was going on. Today, a scanning
voltmeter and various transducers take the place of most of yesteryears test crew. Using
permanently installed acoustic flow transducers, two people can perform the field work for a turbine
test in three to four days.
An important component, pressure transducers have evolved to be quite reliable and accurate. Of
course, they need to be selected with appropriate characteristics, such as high accuracy and quick
response. Until the mid-1970s, Reclamation used mercury manometers. That was when reliable
pressure transducers became available. Moreover, by then the dangers of mercury were starting to
be better understood, and this raised a case against the use of this type of device.
There have been other improvements that have made field testing easier. For example, until
recently, a dead weight tester was required to be shipped to testing locations to calibrate pressure
transducers. This 150-pound device was occasionally damaged in shipment. Today, the same task is
accomplished with a lightweight, easy-to-use, portable calibration device.

Benefits of performance testing

In recent years, performance testing has been used to improve performance curves that are used as
the basis for operating Reclamations hydro units. Overall efficiency gains of about 1 percent were
obtained as a result.
While 1 percent may not seem like a great amount, consider this: at Reclamations 6,809-MW Grand
Coulee plant (the U.S.s largest hydro plant), a 1 percent improvement in efficiency equates to
producing additional electricity each year thats worth more than $10 million. Owing to the great
value of efficiency improvements at this one plant, Reclamation and the Bonneville Power

Administration, which markets Grand Coulees power, are working together in a program to optimize
unit dispatching at the facility.
Going forward, information resulting from Reclamations continuing program of performance testing
will be used to make economic- and engineering-related decisions about unit rehabilitation. In
addition, performance testing results will be used to further improve unit operations and scheduling.
At Reclamation, improved performance testing technologies and practices have both decreased
testing costs and improved the quality of results. More than ever, performance testing is an important
contributor to maintaining and further improving high levels of performance.
Mr. Hulse may be contacted at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Reclamation, P.O. Box 25007, Denver, CO 80225-0007; (1) 303-445-2881; E-mail:
dhulse@do.usbr.gov.
David Hulse, P.E., is manager of the mechanical equipment group and lead turbine
performance test engineer for the U.S. Department of the Interiors Bureau of
Reclamation.