Review of condition monitoring of cavitation phenomenon in hydropower plants

Abstract: Plants failure is one of the major problems encountered in hydro power
plants. Several hydro power plants in operation are ageing, so the plants
exhibit performance deterioration, part damage, high energy consumption and
other operational defects. This consequently influences the operational
health and safety of the plant.

The present work is concerned with the review of the condition monitoring
of cavitation phenomenon of hydropower plants and the selection of the most
efficient technique for the detection of the phenomenon.
Furthermore to accomplish this, a detailed study of the various condition
monitoring techniques that are in use was done. Four methods were most
prevalently used for cavitation detection among the known condition
monitoring techniques: virbo-acoustic, vibration, acoustic emission
analysis and visual observation.

Based on the literature review carried out on hydropower failure: a pair
comparison with respect to chosen parameters of performance ( i.e
detectability, reliability, contact and operability) of the condition
monitoring techniques was done. The selection of the most appropriate
technique was made using AHP (Analytical Hierarchy process) analysis. The
result from the priorities in hierarchies shows that vibro-acoustic method
is the most suitable method for cavitation detection in hydropower plant.