[tojoe999]

Hello,

I own an old watermill in the east of France. I am in the process of installing a new 1.8m diameter Kaplan Hydro Turbine with a flow of 10 cubic metres per second.

Because of space constraints it would not be easy to install a conventional elbow Draft Tube.

I have come across a more compact form of Draft Tube known as White's Hydraucone Draft Tube.

This is a very simple design. The water exiting the turbine is deflected by a flat plate to the walls of the chamber. The water then exits the Draft Tube underneath the deflector plate to the exit canal, the velocity having been greatly reduced.


A Hydraucone Draft Tube was installed at Niagara Falls in the 1920's.

Does anyone in the forum know of design parameters for a White Hydraucone ? e.g. what is the optimal spacing to the deflector plate ?


Would it be possible for some kind person to run some simple CFD calculations on the effectiveness of a Hydraucone Draft Tube ?

Turbine diameter: 1.8m Water Flow: 10 m3/s Velocity 3.93 m/s (possibly with some rotation)

Water chamber 5m X 5m

The original paper on the Hydraucone Draft Tube can be found here:

http://www.frenchriverland.com/white_hydraucone_regainer.htm


This might make for an interesting student CFD project or perhaps a useful learning exercise for someone new to CFD.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.


Tony M.