(3rd International Conference on Silting Problems in Hydropower Projects, 27-28 February 2008, New Delhi, India, pp. 63-76)
Undoubtedly the hydro power houses are playing an appreciable role in the development of the country and livelihood of its citizens. The power generated by hydro power houses is very cheap and free from pollution. On the other hand, the power houses situated specially in Himalayan region are facing a big problem of damages in runner blades due to big size of sediment particles coming in the flow and causes frequent repair of runners and its outer casings. During repair of runners, the power generation reduces remarkably. To over come this problem the provision of desilting chamber in downstream of power intake is found a successful remedy to trap the objectionable sediment (+0.2 mm size) with about 95% efficiency. This technique increases the life and efficiency of the power house. The procedure of designing and its testing on the mathematical and physical models has been described in this paper with prototype performance which will be very useful for designer of the new hydro power schemes.
