Penstock failure detection system at the "Valsan" hydro power plant

Abstract

"Valsan" is a small Hydro Power Plant, 5 MW, situated at about 160 km north of Bucharest, Romania, on the small "Valsan" river in a remote mountainous area. It is equipped with a single Francis turbine. The penstock is located in the access shaft of the HPP. "Hidroelectrica", the Romanian company that operates the HPP, was trying to implement a remote penstock failure detection system. Starting from a classic hydraulic problem, the authors of the paper derived a method for failure detection and localization on the pipe. The method assumes the existence of 2 flow meters and 2 pressure transducers at the inlet and outlet of the pressurized pipe. Calculations have to be based on experimental values measured in a permanent regime for different values of the flow rate. The method was at first tested on a pipe, in the Hydraulic Laboratory of the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest. Pipe failure was modelled by opening of a valve on a tee branch of the analyzed pipe. Experimental results were found to be in good agreement with theoretical ones. The penstock of the "Valsan" HPP, was modelled in EPANET, in order to: i) test the method at a larger scale; ii) get the right flow and pressure transducers that are needed to implement it. At the request of "Hidroelectrica" a routine that computes the efficiency of the turbine was added to the monitoring software. After the system was implemented, another series of measurements were performed at the site in order to validate it. Failure was modelled by opening an existing valve on a branch of the penstock. Detection of the failure was correct and almost instantaneous, while failure location was accurate within 5% of the total penstock length.