Hydraulic analysis of Kepez Hydroelectric Power Plant based on site measurements and numerical analysis

In this thesis, Conceptual Design of Kepez-1 Hydroelectric Power Plant which is in Antalya, Turkey was studied. The aim of the rehabilitation project called MILHES, financially supported by Tubitak Kamag, is to increase the power and efficiency with state of the art techniques. The scope of the project is Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) aided turbine design, model manufacturing and tests , design, production and implementation of the turbine, generator and the SCADA system. Design of the hydraulic turbine is based on the conceptual design performed in this study. The hydroelectric power plant is modeled with two design parameters: head and flow rate. Manning's friction factor is used in the computations. The source for these details is technical drawings and site observations. For verification of the power plant model, field tests are performed as a part of the project. As a result of the comparison of numerical and field test results, friction coefficient of limestone is predicted and used for further computations. The losses in pipeline change with flow rate; therefore, head values are calculated for different flow rates. With the light of this thesis, operation limits of the turbine are determined. Best efficiency and design points of the turbine are obtained, as well as the range of operation for flow rate and head. Transient analysis of the system is also performed to evaluate water hammer characteristics. For the verification of water hammer analysis, instant load rejection tests are conducted. The results of the transient analysis provide the inputs for the design of by-pass pipeline and pressure relief valve. These results provide an idea on the feasibility of the increase in power.