Silt erosion of hydro turbines is a widely encountered problem in lower Himalayan region. The perennial Himalayan rivers, which contribute to a large portion of Hydro PotHntial available in India have a very high quartz rich silt content (> 5000 ppm in monsoon). Because of such high quartz rich silt content the turbine parts get eroded very fast leading to a loss in efficiency thereby output, abetting of cavitation, pressure pulsations, vibrations, mechanical failures and frequent shut downs. BHEL has been actively involved for many years in developing solutions to actively curb the menace of silt on hydraulic machinery. The present work elaborates innovative use of high end technology to arrive at a solution which could go a long way in dealing with the problems of silt. The advent of high capability computer resources coupled with the advancement in mathematical modeling of various real life physical phenomenon have presented today’s engineer with an excellent tool to investigate into different facets of the problem due to silt erosion and arrive at a hydraulic passage design which would inherently reduce the erosion due to silt. The paper showcases use of Computational Fluid dynamic tools for developing hydraulic design for various components of both reaction and impulse turbines which are less prone to erosion.
