INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL COMPUTATIONAL AND MANUFACTURING RESEARCH
Vol. 10 No. 3 (2021): November: Mechanical Computational And Manufacturing Research

Effect of Guide Blade Opening on Cavitation Level at the Inlet Side of the Vertical Francis Turbine Suction Pipe Unit 4 Stairway Hydroelectric Power Plant at PT Inalum Power Plant

Solomon PT Sinaga (University of North Sumatra)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Nov 2021

Abstract

PLTA Tangga P.T. Inalum Power Plant is one of company that has thelargest power plant in Indonesia. Type of turbine which is used by that company is Vertical Francis Turbine which has problems in operation. One of kind problems is cavitation. Cavitation is the process of forming water bubbles on turbine because of water pressure on turbine drop becomes vapor pressure, that effects vibrations,erosion, and efficiency drop. Cavitation phenomenon can be predicted and be avoided by calculating the cavitation level of turbine, is a comparison of actual Thoma number and critical Thoma number. Cavitation level that is observed is in Entrance of Vertical Francis Turbine Draft Tube Unit 4 PLTA Tangga P.T. Inalum Power Plant. Cavitation level as the dependent variable that is searched for the influence to Guide Vane Opening (GVO) as the independent variable in this experiment. The total of GVO that is used in this experiment is nine variation, there are 102 mm; 132 mm; 161 mm; 168 mm; 176 mm; 183 mm; 186 mm; 191 mm; and 195 mm. Based on this experiment, we can know the cavitation level on every GVO. The highest cavitation level in this experiment is 0.96867 on GVO 195 mm, meanwhile the lowest cavitation is 0,81005 on GVO 102 mm. The entrance of the draft tube can happen the cavitation if the cavitation level is more than 1 or actual Thoma number is more than critical Thoma number. Cavitation can not happen on it if the cavitation level is less than 1 or actual Thoma number is less than critical Thoma number. So the best GVO for avoiding cavitation in the Entrance of Vertical Francis Turbine Draft Tube Unit 4 PLTA Tangga P.T. Inalum Power Plant is 102 mm because it has the lowest cavitation level, meanwhile the GVO that is avoided and the most vulnerable cavitation is 195 mm because it has the highest cavitation level.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

Computational

Publisher

Subject

Automotive Engineering Civil Engineering, Building, Construction & Architecture Control & Systems Engineering Electrical & Electronics Engineering Mechanical Engineering

Description

International Journal of Mechanical Computational And Manufacturing Research invites you to consider submitting original research papers for possible publication after peer review. The scope of this international, scholarly journal is aimed at rapid dissemination of new ideas and techniques and to ...