Hydro-electric Dam Penstock Analysis

[jamesm]

I am currently working on a project where I need to determine the minimum thickness required in some exposed steel penstocks. It seems to be a straight forward project, however I have been having trouble finding information on calculating the internal pressure increase due to water hammer in the penstocks. If anybody has any experience with this I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

 

[Baluncore]

Water hammer in the penstock is critical, but it should not be big problem if the operation of the system is controlled by slow adjustment of the flow rate. Operational procedure will decide the maximum water hammer that will be encountered.

If you can match the impedance of the transmission line, (=penstock), to the turbine, then there should be little energy reflected from the turbine or control gate.

Surge towers are sometimes used at the top of the penstock where the vertical section of the penstock is fed by a horizontal pipeline, but surge towers have little effect on water hammer.