General full-scale investigations of the units and penstocks of the Khrama No. 2 hydroelectric station

Significance of dispensing with surge chambers to lower the cost of hydroelectric stations

“…No doubt, idle discharges would at present be dispensed with on the stations shown in Table 2. At the same time, with a rather longer closure time for the guide vanes (i.e., converting to a higher transient irregularity), the maximum pressure in the penstock could be left unchanged or even reduced, as illustrated on the Khrama number 2;station [7]. As regards reliability of idle discharges, existing design standards take this into account, indicating that, for calculations of increased pressure from water hammer in a penstock feeding a number of turbines with idle discharges, failure of operation of idle discharge on one of the turbines has to be reckoned with [8].…”