IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v342y2026ics0360544225053770.html

Effect of deflected jet on performance and cavitation characteristics of a Pelton turbine

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Zishi
  • Xiao, Yexiang
  • Liang, Quanwei
  • Yang, Chaolong
  • Luo, Xianwu

Abstract

The application of Pelton turbines for hydropower generation in southwest China represents significant contribution towards achieving the net-zero target. The hydraulic performance and operation stability are critical assessment indicators for Pelton turbines. This study provides a mechanistic interpretation of asymmetric cavitation erosion on the symmetrical double-lobe bucket surface of a newly commissioned 150 MW Pelton turbine runner after 4000 h of operation. Based on the measured installation deviation between the runner and the jet centerline, a 3-degree jet deflection scheme was set up. Three-dimensional unsteady multiphase flow simulations of the Pelton turbine runner were conducted with the integration of the Rayleigh Plesset cavitation model. Key findings reveal that a 3-degree jet centerline deflection induces not only a 4 % reduction in runner hydraulic efficiency, but also divergent jet attack angles and cavitation flow distributions across the symmetrical bucket lobes. The jet centerline deflection potentially resulting from installation deviations, is a key contributing factor to the asymmetric cavitation patterns observed on the Pelton turbine bucket front surface. The jet flow separation around the bucket cutout edge was identified as the primary mechanism triggering cavitation inception, the variation in the bucket cutout edge attack angle governed cavitation development on the bucket front surface, and the deflected jet centerline resulted in the asymmetry of cavitation pattern. Stepping out of the perfect assembly assumption, this study reveals the special vulnerability in Pelton turbines with the jet centerline mismatch problem, and cast the attention on similar engineering problems for engineering guidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Zishi & Xiao, Yexiang & Liang, Quanwei & Yang, Chaolong & Luo, Xianwu, 2026. "Effect of deflected jet on performance and cavitation characteristics of a Pelton turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:342:y:2026:i:c:s0360544225053770
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.139734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225053770
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.139734?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shrivastava, Navam & Rai, Anant Kumar, 2025. "Hydro-abrasive erosion in Pelton turbines: Comprehensive review and future outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    2. Xiao, Yexiang & Liu, Zishi & Liang, Quanwei & Liu, Jie & Zhang, Jin & Zhu, Yilin & Li, Xuesong & Gu, Chunwei, 2024. "The interaction between bucket number and performance of a Pelton turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    3. Ibarra, G.A. & Ladino, J.A. & Larrahondo, F.J. & Rodriguez, S.A., 2024. "Optimization and reconstruction of pelton buckets based on statistical techniques, artificial neural networks and CFD modelling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    4. Adnan Aslam Noon & Man-Hoe Kim, 2021. "Sediment and Cavitation Erosion in Francis Turbines—Review of Latest Experimental and Numerical Techniques," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Kumar, Prashant & Singal, S.K. & Gohil, Pankaj P., 2024. "A technical review on combined effect of cavitation and silt erosion on Francis turbine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 190(PB).
    6. Zhao, Haoru & Zhu, Baoshan & Xu, Ronglong & Tan, Lei & Zhang, Haiku & Chen, Lei & Liu, Zhendong & Yang, Jin & Deng, Feiyuan, 2025. "Evaluating the predictive potential of modeling frameworks for Pelton turbine energy performance and guiding engineering modeling in hydroelectric applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(C).
    7. Kumar, Pardeep & Saini, R.P., 2010. "Study of cavitation in hydro turbines--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 374-383, January.
    8. Kan, Kan & Binama, Maxime & Chen, Huixiang & Zheng, Yuan & Zhou, Daqing & Su, Wentao & Muhirwa, Alexis, 2022. "Pump as turbine cavitation performance for both conventional and reverse operating modes: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Wang, Xiao-Dong & Wang, Wen-Quan & Zhang, Chang-Bing & Xu, Yong, 2025. "Old wine in a new bottle: Energy loss evaluation in a six-nozzle Pelton turbine with entropy production theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Ping & Wang, Ning & Cui, Bochao & Pan, Yan, 2026. "Research on the performance and optimization of regulating valves in complex fluid environments: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    2. Zhao, Haoru & Zhu, Baoshan & Xu, Ronglong & Tan, Lei & Zhang, Haiku & Chen, Lei & Liu, Zhendong & Yang, Jin & Deng, Feiyuan, 2025. "Evaluating the predictive potential of modeling frameworks for Pelton turbine energy performance and guiding engineering modeling in hydroelectric applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(C).
    3. Nobilo, Martina & Salehi, Saeed & Nilsson, Håkan, 2026. "Lifetime analysis of hydro turbines with focus on fatigue damage in a renewable energy system – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    4. Han, Shuangqian & Qin, Yonglin & Zhu, Baoshan, 2025. "Multi-objective optimization design of a pump-turbine runner based on machine learning method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    5. Zhao, Ziwen & Yuan, Yichen & He, Mengjiao & Jurasz, Jakub & Wang, Jianan & Egusquiza, Mònica & Egusquiza, Eduard & Xu, Beibei & Chen, Diyi, 2022. "Stability and efficiency performance of pumped hydro energy storage system for higher flexibility," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 1482-1494.
    6. Jain, Sanjay V. & Patel, Rajesh N., 2014. "Investigations on pump running in turbine mode: A review of the state-of-the-art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 841-868.
    7. Khan, Firoz & Kumar, Arun & Staubli, Thomas & Abbas, Ali & Devinar, Luciano, 2025. "Control of a pelton turbine with partial jet cutting driven by a cut-in jet deflector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    8. Song, Xijie & Luo, Yongyao & Wang, Zhengwei, 2024. "Mechanism of the influence of sand on the energy dissipation inside the hydraulic turbine under sediment erosion condition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    9. Xu, Zhe & Zheng, Yuan & Kan, Kan & Chen, Huixiang, 2023. "Flow instability and energy performance of a coastal axial-flow pump as turbine under the influence of upstream waves," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    10. Wang, Tao & Yu, He & Xiang, Ru & Chen, XiaoMing & Zhang, Xiang, 2023. "Performance and unsteady flow characteristic of forward-curved impeller with different blade inlet swept angles in a pump as turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    11. Sun, Longgang & Xu, Hongyang & Li, Chenxi & Guo, Pengcheng & Xu, Zhuofei, 2024. "Unsteady assessment and alleviation of inter-blade vortex in Francis turbine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    12. Laouari, Ahmed & Ghenaiet, Adel, 2021. "Investigation of steady and unsteady cavitating flows through a small Francis turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 841-861.
    13. Yu, An & Zou, Zhipeng & Zhou, Daqing & Zheng, Yuan & Luo, Xianwu, 2020. "Investigation of the correlation mechanism between cavitation rope behavior and pressure fluctuations in a hydraulic turbine," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 1199-1208.
    14. Fu, Tao & Deng, Zhiqun Daniel & Duncan, Joanne P. & Zhou, Daqing & Carlson, Thomas J. & Johnson, Gary E. & Hou, Hongfei, 2016. "Assessing hydraulic conditions through Francis turbines using an autonomous sensor device," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1244-1252.
    15. K., Subramanya & Chelliah, Thanga Raj, 2023. "Capability of synchronous and asynchronous hydropower generating systems: A comprehensive study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    16. Chen, Weisheng & Xiang, Qiujie & Li, Yaojun & Liu, Zhuqing, 2023. "On the mechanisms of pressure drop and viscous losses in hydrofoil tip-clearance flows," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    17. Calvin Stephen & Biswajit Basu & Aonghus McNabola, 2024. "Detection of Cavitation in a Centrifugal Pump-as-Turbine Using Time-Domain-Based Analysis of Vibration Signals," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Xu, Zhe & Zheng, Yuan & Kan, Kan & Pavesi, Giorgio & Rossi, Mosè & Xu, Lianchen & Yan, Xiaotong, 2025. "Vortex evolution and energy loss of an axial flow Pump-As-Turbine (PAT) with the influence of upstream waves," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    19. Kan, Kan & Binama, Maxime & Chen, Huixiang & Zheng, Yuan & Zhou, Daqing & Su, Wentao & Muhirwa, Alexis, 2022. "Pump as turbine cavitation performance for both conventional and reverse operating modes: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    20. Kumar, Prashant & Singal, S.K. & Gohil, Pankaj P., 2024. "A technical review on combined effect of cavitation and silt erosion on Francis turbine," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 190(PB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:342:y:2026:i:c:s0360544225053770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.