CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Vol. xx, No. xx, 2016

www.springerlink.com; www.cjmenet.com

Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction for micro
hydropower schemes: A review

Maxime Binama1, Wen-Tao Su1,1, Xiao-Bin Li1 , Feng-Chen Li1 , and Yue Zhao2
1

School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
State key laboratory of hydropower equipment, Harbin Institute of Large Electric Machinery, Harbin 150040, China

Abstract: Energy is unarguably the key factor for todays economic and social development within nations. Electricity as one of many energy
forms is a critical input to developing countries in the struggle to the national self-satisfaction in all domains. Rural electricity supply involved
institutions have recently recommended the pump as turbine (PAT)-based micro hydropower plant (MHP) schemes for remote off-grid
electrification, mostly from their economic advantages. However, from different published research findings, PAT-based MHP is not only simple
and economically feasible, but has presented bottlenecks in the move to its full understanding. Moreover, compared to other clean energy
technologies, PAT technology has not found much literature in academic published researches, thus contributing to its limited understanding within
the community. Therefore, the PAT literature availability is one way to level up its understanding, which can be helpful to academic and
professional communities. In the present study, a literature review on the two most challenging PAT aspects, namely pump-turbine selection and
performance prediction, is presented; where a summary about energy sources history leading to the actual MHP global adoption was first presented.
Keywords: Renewable energy, Micro-hydropower, Pump as turbine, Pump selection, Performance prediction.

1. Introduction
Energy is unarguably the key factor for todays economic and
social development within nations. The provision of reliable,
secure and affordable energy services is central to addressing
many of todays global development challenges[1]. Electricity
as one of many energy forms is a critical input to developing
countries in the struggle to the national self-satisfaction in all
domains. Being a secondary source of energy, electricity can be
obtained through the conversion of primary sources of energy,
such as fossil fuels, nuclear energy or green energy [2]. From the
early age, mankind require electrical energy to fulfil their needs
such as lighting their houses, running industrial processes,
heating and cooling for comfort, communication and numerous
others [3]. However, both the demographic growth and the
socio-economic development that took place during the last
century have led to a continuous increase in electricity demand.
These two events caused an augmentation of the yearly total
world electricity generation in the period 1973-2008, which
increased from 6116 TWh/year to 20181 TWh/year [4].
Despite this demonstrable increase in world electrical energy
production, there is still shortage of electricity supply and other
forms of modern energy in most of the developing countries [5].

According to the International Energy Agency, 1.4 billion

people worldwide have no access to electricity[6], Sub-Sahara
African region being the worst hit, yet the region is endowed
with several resources from which modern forms of energy can
be generated, for example hydropower [7]. Nevertheless, as far
as electricity is concerned, hydropower is the most important
renewable contribution to the primary energy supply mix. It
represents more than 92% of all worldwide renewable energy
generated, and it continues to stand as the most important
renewable energy source [8]. Hydropower is a renewable energy
source based on the natural water cycle, and actually the most
mature, reliable and cost-effective renewable power generation
technology available[9]. It contributes to around 16% of the
World electricity supply generated from about 20,053 TWh of
installed capacity [10]. While large hydropower plants feed the
national grid, typical off-grid micro hydropower plant (MHP) is
the most popular solution for electrification among rural
communities which supplies power in the range of 5100 kW,
usually using a run-of-the-river to divert some of the water from
the river before dropping into a pressurized penstock [11]. The
main components that comprise typical MHP schemes are
electromechanical equipment, civil structures, and energy
distribution systems [12], the turbine being one of the critical
technological components of the MHP project [5]. Small and

Corresponding author: email: suwentao@hit.edu.cn.

Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51506037, 51276046, 71390522), Foundation for Innovative Research
Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51421063),
and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (HIT.NSRIF.2017047)
1

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

micro hydropower installations have, historically, been cheap to
run but expensive to build. This is now changing, with smaller,
lighter and more efficient higher-speed turbine equipment [13].
The mostly met problem in micro turbines is their higher price
compared to full scale ones with respect to the whole project
budget, owing to their expensive manufacturing price. For
instance, its very difficult, time-consuming, and costly to
develop such site-specific turbines in accordance with the local
ecology [14]. The cost of electro-mechanical components in
large hydro-power plants is around 20% but in MHPs it is
relatively high and varies from 35% to 40% of the total project
cost which may rise even up to 60% to 70% of the total project
cost in some typical cases [15]. Therefore, a better solution to
this issue would be finding cheaper electro-mechanical
equipment but considering three fundamental conditions, viz.
simplicity, efficiency, and reliability. One way to reduce the
equipment cost has been the use of a standard pump unit as an
alternative to a conventional turbine [16-19]. Pumps are massproduced, and as a result, have different advantages for MHP
compared to purpose-made turbines, viz. availability in large
number of standard sizes for a wide range of heads and flows[1618], short delivery time [18-22], long life span [19-23] and easy
installation and availability of spare parts such as seals and
bearings [16-18]. The first pump turbine had been set at a remote
farm in the Yorkshire Dales of the North England in 1930. This
scheme has been working for a five year testing time, after which
its reliability was confirmed before being transferred to other
countries [16]. From then on, pump turbine has become a hot
topic amongst researchers and field engineers, where indeed, it
has been used at so many sites, mainly for electricity provision
in remote hilly regions away from central grid reach (Table 1).
Different researchers; Williams[16], Orchard and Sander[24],
Ramos and Borga [25], Derakhshan and Ahmad [26], and
Arriaga [27] among others, have provided information about the
applications and advantages of pump working as turbine, mainly
basing their arguments on its two most important features: costeffectiveness and simplicity. Adding on the third one,
smallness, which is also true in a way; PATs simple structural
design would reflect its easily understandable operations.
However, owing to the philosophy behind the pumps
functioning difference between conventional and reverse modes,
pump turbines flow dynamics and characteristics have not been
fully understood, thus requiring more research efforts in the
same. As a matter of fact, many researchers have tried different
PAT efficiency prediction methods but in vain, as the predicted
results never got validated through experimentation, with errors
of the order of 20% [28], and couldnt cover a wide range of
pump operating conditions in reverse mode. Though the reasons
for these failures are somewhat controversial, Singh[29] through
his theory Small is beautiful but not simple, emphasized that
one of the foremost causes is that these technologies are
considered easy and simple which do not need competence of

schooled engineers, scientists or policy makers. He also added

that one of the easily confused things is equating small to
simple, as it mostly results in a backfire.
Table 1. PAT installations
Location
Sainyabuli Province, Laos [27]
Thima Kenya [30]
Mae Wei village, Thailand [31]
West Java, Indonesia [32]
Kinko village, Tanzania [33]
Fazenda Boa Esperanca, Brazil[34]
Ambotia Micro-hydro project, India[29]
British Columbia, Canada [35]
Vysni Lhoty, Czech Republic [36]

Capacity
2 KW
2.2 KW
3 KW
4.5 KW
10 KW
45 KW
50 KW
200 KW
332 KW

Year
2008
2001
2008
1992
2006
2007
2004
2008

Taking from these grounds, the present paper, through a big

number of published literatures survey, seeks to serve as
awareness about the mostly met techno-scientific problems in
pump turbines daily operations; namely pump selection and
performance prediction. This is done in the sense of scaling up
the knowledge and know-how in the same field, which may be
helpful to different institutions; be it academic or professional.

2. Pump-turbine selection
Typical micro hydropower plants convert the falling watercontained energy to mechanical energy by turning the pump
turbine, which converts the water pressure into mechanical shaft
power to drive an electricity generator. The power available (P)
is proportional to the product of head (H) and volume flow rate
(Q) as the general formula for hydropower systems shows [37]
(equation 1). It can then be seen that the turbine selection process
for a MHP of interest, should be based on the head and flowrate
available at the site. Nevertheless, the power output may also be
related to the head to express the turbine specific speed (NS).

P gQH

NS

nP1/2
H 5/4

(1)

This parameter characterizes the turbine runner, spiral casing,

blade shape and other geometric design features, thus doesnt
depend on the size but the shape of the machine of concern [14].
For instance two machines of similar shape and different size
may have same specific speed. One of the biggest difficulties in
micro hydropower technology is to adapt the equipment to the
specificity of the plant [38]. For instance, as much the PAT can
be having many advantages compared to purpose-made turbines,
the main drawback in its usage is generally the difficulty of
finding the turbine characteristics that are needed to select the
correct pump for a particular site [16]. The adequate selection of
the PAT has been a big challenge in the past decades, where
different aspects need a close attention, viz. available head range,

Maxime B. et Al. Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction
for micro hydropower schemes: A review
The main weaknesses of simple PATs are generally the inability
to control the flow as they are not provided with flow control
facilities (guide vanes), and the poor performance at off-design
operating conditions, viz. part and over flow conditions.
Therefore, they only can work efficiently at a short range of
discharges close to the full load (80% to 100%).

(a) Head-flowrate selection chart [40]

Head (m)

capacity range, back pressure at the turbine outlet, desired speed,

etc. [14, 39]. For the PAT based MHP cost effectiveness goal to
be achieved, an optimum operational design, smart selection of
the equipment and reduced professional consultation must be
implemented to lower the overall cost [40-42]. Nevertheless, for
the optimum PAT selection at a particular site, there is a
fundamental need of basic information about the head and
discharge available at the site, but most importantly, the
expected PAT performance characteristics, which in fact, are
two key-factors to the PAT selection validity. However, the lack
of PAT performance data is always stated as one of the
significant challenges in the design of PAT for MHP sites [43].
Different researchers; Orchard and Sander [24], Franc et al. [44],
Chapallaz et al. [45], Fraenkel et al. [46] and Paish [37] among
others, have so far provided head-flow charts depicting the range
of application for different PATs (Fig. 1.a). It was generally
concluded that multistage radial flow PATs fit sites with high
heads-low flow rates, whereas axial flow ones perform well at
low head-high flow rates sites. However, the use of single stage
end suction centrifugal PATs from low to medium heads, has
also been recommended by many of researchers [26, 39, 47-53].
PAT selection can also be carried out through a head-specific
speed chart. Avelan [54] has presented a head-specific speed
chart for Francis-type reversible pump turbines, where the PAT
geometric design plays the key role in the classification process.
PATs with narrow impeller channels at the runner inlet are
characterized by high heads-low specific speeds, while PATs
with wider impeller channels at the runner inlet are characterized
by low heads-high specific speeds (Fig. 1.b). Kaunda et al. [5]
has presented the systematic process of selecting the optimum
turbine according to the site conditions, where both the
importance of head-volumetric flowrate chart and the turbine
specific speed were recognized (Fig. 2), and different factors
which can assist in pump selection decision making, viz.
investment cost of the turbine, turbine design complexity, unit
power generation cost, and the turbine performance, were
discussed as well. The field applications of multistage, single
impeller centrifugal and axial flow pumps can be compared with
Pelton, Francis and Kaplan turbines respectively [55].
According to Lueneburg and Nelson [39] and Sharma[56], all
centrifugal pumps from low to high specific speed, single or
multistage, radially or axially split, horizontal or vertical
installations, in-line and double suction can be used in reverse
mode. However, some pump types cant find their use in this
field because of, for some their operating characteristics, others
their design features. For instance, self-priming and wet-motor
submersible bore hole pumps cant be reversed because of the
presence of a non-return valve. Dry-motor submersible pumps
also cant be used mainly because of their over-heating issue.

Specific speed (-)

(b) Head-specific speed selection chart [41]

Fig. 1. Head-flow charts for hydro turbines

However, MHPs are often required to work at off design

conditions, mainly from seasonal flow variations. In this case,
the site flow rate can pass or go below the maximum plant
capacity in rainy or dry seasons respectively. To take care of this
issue, the site flow should be recorded on the whole year, so that
PAT selection can be performed based on the lowest annual flow
record. Another alternative would be running many PATs in
parallel to take care of the off design flow conditions. This
method would be more profitable as PATs can be switched on
and off depending on the site available flow [57], however,
needing more attention so that the MHP cost-effectiveness goal
remains uncompromised. In this respect, different researchers,
such as Singh [29], Spangler [58], Fraser et al. [59],
Nicholas[60], and Hochreutiner [61], have come out with a
range of number of PATs ranging from 3 to 7, which when
operated in parallel would be more efficient than a single

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Fig. 2. Turbine selection flow chart for micro hydropower schemes [5]

conventional turbine of a comparable capacity. The last

technic to be presented in this paper is the siphon intake
method as presented by Williams [28]. This method is used in
low flow cases, where the flow is accumulated and stored in a
reservoir in order to release the full flow to the PAT
intermittently, thus producing an intermittent power. This
method is not convenient to engineering applications requiring
continuous energy supply, but it can serve for different basic
operations like heating and battery charging.

3. Pump-turbine performance prediction

PAT is an economical alternative for small and micro-hydro
schemes in remote areas. A pump in reverse can generally handle
comparatively higher flow rates, which in turn may implicate
higher output energy ranges [62]. However, due to the fact that
the pump manufacturers do not offer performance curves of their
pumps in turbine mode; the selection of a suitable pump turbine
to run under site-specific operation conditions has become a big
challenge [14].
A large number of theoretical and experimental studies have
been done for performance prediction of reverse running
centrifugal pumps[48]. The pump mode-based prediction
technic is the easiest way as it only requires the user to have
access to the pump performance basic information such as the
flow rate , head and the efficiency , which in turn make
it easy to find correspondent turbine mode performance
parameters through simple calculations. Therefore, theoretical
researches were mainly based on pump mode performance
parameters where the head and flow correction factors play a key
role in PAT performance prediction. Many researchers, e.g.,
Stepanoff [63], Childs [64], Sharma [65], among others, have
developed PAT performance prediction relations based on pump
best efficiency point (BEP) whereas others such as
Gopalakrishnan [66], Diederich [67], and Grover [68] have
developed their relations basing on the pump specific speed.
However, theoretical prediction methods have not provided a

completely reliable solution to the problem as their results were

way erroneous as compared to field test results.
Therefore they may only be used to get a rough picture of the
required PAT characteristics, which need validation adjustment
by experimental methods. Selected PAT performance researches
and findings have been chronologically presented by Jain et al.
[14] as shown in Table 2. To some authors, e.g., Fraser [59],
Garay [69], and Sharma [65] among others, pump mode-based
prediction methods are reliable, but may need some corrections
in particular cases. To some others, e.g., Burton and Mulugeta
[70], Chaudry [71], and Ventrone and Navarro [72] to mention
about, these methods are solely unreliable, but recognize the
pump geometry as the most fundamental parameter to base on
PAT performance predictions, as pump manufacturers dont
necessarily provide universally standardized pumps. It is said
that two pumps of same BEP may sometimes have different
performance in their turbine-mode operations.
As a matter of fact, a comparatively small number of
researchers have rather opted on using the pump geometrical
design and other hydraulic phenomena to end up with more
accurate technics. However, due to their complexity, these
methods were generally not preferred. Away from the researches
which was carried out in the early age of PAT discovery, PAT
has remained a hot research topic among professional and
academic communities, where intensive theoretical,
experimental and computational studies have eventually resulted
in a big literature about PAT performance prediction, as
described in the following section.
3.1.

Theoretical studies

Pump turbines are a cost-effective alternative for micro-hydro

schemes at remote areas. Different researchers have
continuously carried out theoretical, numerical, and
experimental studies or sometimes a combination of some of
these methods, to come out with a universal PAT performance
prediction method.

Maxime B. et Al. Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction
for micro hydropower schemes: A review
Table 2. Performance prediction methods for pump-turbines
Year

Researcher

Criteria

1957

Stepanoff [63]

BEP

1962

Childs [64]

BEP

1963

Hanckock [73]

BEP

1980

Grover [68]

Specific speed

1982

Hergt (in [74])

Specific speed

1985

Sharma [65]

BEP

1988

Schmiedl [75]

BEP

1994

Alatorre-Frenk [57]

BEP

1998

Sharma [56]

BEP

Head correction(h)

Discharge correction factor (q)

1

2.693 0.0229
6
1.3
3
1
1.2
2.5
1.4 +

1
0.855 + 0.385
2 1.1
[ ] 1.2

2.379 0.0264
1.6
1.3
5
1
0.8
2.4
1.5 + 2

0.855 + 0.385
29.5 + 0.205
1.1

0.8

A considerable number of published theoretical methods were

based either on pump mode performance parameters or pump
geometric design. This subsection comprises pure theoretical
researches and their combination with other methods. Hossain et
al. [76] carried out a comparative study between two mostly used
theoretical PAT performance prediction methods (Chapallaz et
al. [45] and Sharma [65] methods) to get an idea which is better
than the others. Pump hydraulic characteristics were first found
through an experiment session on a 4hp DC powered motor
pump at a 2900 rpm rotational speed. The experimental results
were used to get PAT performance characteristics, power, and
output electrical energy, through the two above mentioned
methods. The study, through a comparative scheme, concluded
that Sharma method could only predict the PAT BEP and power
whereas Chapallaz et al. method gave a wide range of operating
points from minimum to maximum deviation, thus providing the
access to the information about PAT operation at and away from
BEP. Chapallaz et al. method was found to provide more clear
understanding of the PAT performance characteristics.
Derakhshan et al. [26] have compared three PAT performance
prediction methods, viz. Area ratio a theoretical method
developed by Gantar [77] and Anderson [78], numerical, and
experimental methods. Theoretical and numerical prediction
results were compared to experimental ones to get an idea which
one predicts well the PAT performance characteristics (at BEP).
The pump two operational modes (direct and reverse modes)
numerical simulation was performed through FineTurbo V.7
flow solver, where 3D full Navier-Stokes equations were solved;
the results of which, helped on the pump complete
characteristics curve construction for both modes. An

Remarks
Accurate for Ns: 40-60
Applied for Ns: 10-50
Accurate for Ns: 40-60
= 240

experimental test-rig was constructed as in[55], and

experimental results were compared to both theoretical and
numerical predictions. Theoretical methods predicted values
were found slightly lower than experimental data with 1.1%,
4.7%, 5.25%, and 2.1% deviation for discharge (), Head (),
Power (), and efficiency () numbers respectively. CFD results
were in good agreement with experimental results in pump mode,
but much lower in turbine mode. Yang et al. [79] carried out a
PAT performance prediction study in which three methods, viz.
theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods, were used. A
pump mode-based theoretical prediction method was developed,
the results of which got compared with other theoretical,
numerical and experimental methods. Numerical simulations on
both modes (reverse and direct operating modes) were
performed by ANSYS-CFX which is a commercial 3D Navierstokes CFD software. The selected turbulence model was k-,
where the flow domain was subdivided into four parts, viz. inlet
pipe, volute, impeller, front and back chambers to facilitate the
gridding process by ANSYS ICEM. Comparing experimental
results as tested by a Jiangsu University-based test rig, with
numerical, theoretical and other prediction methods results; CFD
results were found in good agreement with its two modes
experimental data, whereas a slight difference between
experimental and numerical results was noticed. The theoretical
and CFD methods were more accurate than the other two
methods (Sharma [65] and Stepanoff [63] methods), as shown in
Fig. 3 and Table 3. Williams [50] carried out a comparative
study of eight different prediction methods on 35 pumps with
specific speeds ranging from 12.7 to 183.3, where the main
research focus was the impact of performance prediction

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

methods errors (deviation between predicted and actual BEP
values) on PAT operations. Every methods credibility was
evaluated through a British standard-based prediction
coefficient C, for which acceptable errors were supposed to be
equal or inferior to a unity.
2

a b
C

0.3 0.1
2

Table 3. BEP predictions by various methods

h
q
Error h (%)
Error q (%)

Exp.
1.89
1.66
-

Num.
2.00
1.70
+5.3
-2.4

Theor.
1.99
1.55
+5.3
-6.6

Sharma
1.74
1.45
-7.9
-12.7

Stepanoff
1.58
1.26
-16.4
-24.1

With :

a
b

1
q h
2
1
2

h2 2hq

(2)

The C value was calculated from an H-Q curve, for which the
center coincided with the manufacturer-provided BEP. It was
found that none of all evaluated methods was reliable; however,
Sharma method presented better performance than others, thus
being the most recommended method. It was also suggested that
theoretical prediction methods should be accompanied with
experimental ones for their validity confirmation during PAT
installation.

(a)

Carravetta et al. [80] proposed the turbomachinery affinity

laws modification scheme to eliminate the big discrepancy
between PAT performance theoretical and experimental
prediction methods. In order to obtain the PAT BEP
characteristics at a speed ( ), the usual
turbomachinery affinity laws were transformed to functions of
the ratio ( ) as follows:
q

Fig. 3. Comparison between Pump (a) and PAT (b) experimental

and numerical results

Q MAX
B

P
B
P MAX
B

N
f 1 MAX
N

N
f 3 MAX
N

H B
f 2 NMAX
MAX
HB
N

N
B

MAX
B

(3)

f 4 MAX
N

Functions 1 , 2 , 3 and 4 were obtained from experimental

results on several submersible pumps operated at different
speeds. Using Suter parameters in conjunction with the obtained
modified affinity laws, the decrease of scatter between the
calculated and measured values was achieved. Ramos and Borga
[25] carried out a Suter parameters-based steady and transient
flow regimes study aiming at proving the pump physical,
economical and technical reliability not only in industrial
processes but also in power generation sector. It was confirmed
that using PATs is a good alternative to dissipation of excess
flow energy that, normally would be lost. The study outcomes
also showed that, depending on runner characteristics, PATs
efficiency can attain 80%. Induced motors were recommended
for large electric grids, and synchronous motors for isolated
operations. For whatever case, PAT was globally found to be the
best economic solution.
3.2.

(b)

Experimental studies

Raman et al. [81] carried out an experimental study aiming at

a better understanding of PAT characteristics. A centrifugal
pump with 15.36, 22m, and 8.31 l/s as specific speed, head, and
flow rate respectively, was tested in a test rig as installed in the
Mechanical Engineering Laboratory of the Universiti Tenaga
Nasional. The pump selection process was performed following
a reconnaissance technic as presented by Raman and Hussein
[82]; thereafter, the experimental results were compared to other
previously published researches. The experiment findings were
approximately similar to other methods; although, the specific
speed and efficiency values were slightly lower. The pump

Maxime B. et Al. Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction
for micro hydropower schemes: A review
operation in turbine mode was found to require high heads and
flows compared to the direct mode. It was confirmed that a
centrifugal pump can satisfactorily be operated as turbine
without any mechanical problems. Singh et al. [83] studied the
effect of casing eye ribs on the pump turbine hydraulics and
performance characteristics. Two pump models, casing rib
absent (CRA) and casing rib present (CRP), were both
numerically and experimentally studied; where commercially
available software, CFX, for which the K- turbulence model
was selected, was used for simulations. The PAT flow
experimental and numerical analysis was comparatively carried
out for two operating modes, CRA and CRP, at six operating
points, namely, A (51%QBEP), B (70%QBEP), C (88%QBEP), D
(100%QBEP), and E (116%QBEP), constituting the part, full, and
over loads. The study results from both methods showed that
CRA had higher efficiency and greater performance for the partload and overload operations as compared to CRP. A satisfactory
similitude was noticed between experimental and numerical
results, where the PAT exhibited good performance with 82% as
the highest attained efficiency. Nautiyal et al. [48] carried out
an experimental study on PAT performance characteristics in the
hope to come out with a more accurate prediction method. The
test results on a pump of 18( , 3 ) as specific speed,
running at 1500rpm, confirmed that, as it had been demonstrated
by many other researchers, the centrifugal pump can surely be
used as turbine under various operating conditions, where the
turbine operating mode is always characterized by higher flow
rates and heads but with comparatively lower efficiencies.
Together with four other pump models from different
researchers, the tested pump was farther analyzed to come up
with a new prediction method based on both pump efficiency
and specific speed. Compared to other prediction methods, the
developed method presented better performance, with
comparatively reduced errors (as compared to test results), thus
making it the best. Derakhshan and Nourbakhsh [55], based on
experimental results as performed on a mini-hydropower test rig
at the University of Tehran, has developed new correlation
equations for PAT BEP prediction. Four centrifugal pumps in
specific speeds range from 14.6 to 55.6 (m,m3/s) were tested,
where centrifugal pumps were again found to fit the turbine
operating conditions with comparatively higher heads and flows
and approximately equal efficiencies. The newly developed
specific speed-based prediction method was compared to many
others, to only find it exhibited better and acceptable estimates
of flow rate and head for pumps with specific speeds higher than
60 (m,m3/s). It was also demonstrated that between two pumps
with same specific speed, the one with bigger impeller diameter
has higher efficiency. Also the higher the flow and head they
exhibit, the more efficient they become. A better PAT selection
procedure for a specific site was also proposed. Singh and Franz
[84] developed a new consolidated model from experimental

results on many pumps of different shapes (20-80rpm), mainly

targeting its parsimony on PAT performance prediction,
selection , and evaluation, which are its three main segments; in
order to find a lasting solution for PATs modelling and establish
a new basis of evaluating uncertainties, based on fundamental
theory of turbomachines. The prediction segment required the
pump shape and size to come out with complete PAT
performance characteristics. The selection segment required
only the site head and flow data to determine the suitable pumps
for specific sites. And finally, the evaluation segment compared
the selected pumps and their characteristics to decide the most
suitable PAT for specific operating conditions. The developed
consolidated model, from obtained test results and related
analysis, through many modelling acrobatics, contributed to the
economic feature, needing a small number of parameters to give
the complete and accurate PAT predictions. Yang et al. [85]
studied the influence of rotational speed to the PAT performance.
In this paper, a rotational speed-based theoretical PAT
performance prediction method was first developed where new
correlation equations for flow rate, head, and shaft power; were
developed as shown:

Q1 n1

Q2 n2

H 1 n1
H 2 n 2

P1 n1
P 2 n 2

(4)

Where the subscripts 1 and 2 stand for first and next operating
conditions in terms of speed. Experiments were carried out on a
Jiangsu University based-test rig at different rotational speeds,
viz. 1000rpm, 1200rpm, 1500rpm, and 1800rpm. And finally,
the PAT model was numerically analyzed. The numerical study
was performed by a CFD commercial code Ansys CFX, where
the k- turbulence model was adopted, and static pressure inlet
and mass flow rate outlet were selected as inlet and outlet
boundary conditions respectively. Test, numerical, and
theoretical results were in a quite acceptable agreement.
However numerically predicted efficiency, head, shaft power
values tended to be slightly higher than test ones by 4.85%,
2.31%, 5.39% respectively. Nevertheless, theoretical results
were higher than the two first, where wider deviation was found
in Shaft power predictions. The developed theoretical method
was found reliable but needing some perfections to get even
better results.
3.3.

Numerical studies

Many researchers have shown that CFD analysis is a reliable tool

to predict the behavior of a pump machine operating as a turbine
and to estimate the performance curves of the
turbomachinery[86]. With CFD, complex fluid flow behaviors
inside the PAT can be virtually previewed, which can

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

substantially reduce both the design time and cost. A big number
of studies have been carried out aiming at PAT flow
characteristics understanding and performance prediction.
Ismail et al. [87] tested an end suction centrifugal pump by
means of CFD simulations to determine its performance
characteristics in both direct and reverse modes. The CFD
modelling and simulations were performed by Ansys CFX14.0,
where the K- was selected for flow turbulence modelling in a
pump of 70 units (Euroflo EU50-20) as specific speed and
working at a rotational speed of 1450rpm. The computational
domain was divided into three parts, viz. volute, impeller and
draft tube; where inlet and outlet boundary conditions were set
to mass flow rate inlet and static pressure out respectively.
However, the reverse mode simulations had to be run at 1550
rpm in accordance with the used induction generators speed.
The flow simulations were then run at flows varying from 0.7 to
1.3 QBEP. After comparing both modes CFD predicted results
to pump manufacture-provided ones, it was observed that BEP
was attained at higher flows and heads in turbine than pump
mode. However efficiency was found higher in pump mode
(72.63% against 71.62%). Numerical simulation method was
confirmed viable for PAT performance prediction. Pascoa et al.
[88] carried out a numerical study on a centrifugal pump to check
the validity of three randomly selected theoretical correlation
methods, viz. stepanoff, Sharma, and Viana methods. In this
study, through a CFD commercial code Ansys Fluent, the flow
in a NNJ125-250 pump was modelled, where Reynolds
Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations were solved through
Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. PISO algorithm was used
for pressure-velocity coupling and stagnation pressure in and
static pressure out were chosen for inlet and outlet boundary
conditions respectively. Theoretical results were compared to
computational ones, where an acceptable agreement was finally
noticed between both. A new approach for PAT power plant
design was also developed; where at each constant head, it was
now possible and easy to know the most efficient PAT rotational
speed. All computational results in this paper were achieved
through a frozen rotor approach. Nautiyal et al. [89] presented a
review of some already published works on PAT performance
prediction through CFD. It was shown that CFD usage in the
area of turbomachines has seen extensive growth in recent
decades. Generally manufacturers dont provide performance
and flow characteristics of their pumps in turbine mode; so CFD
has been a recent attempt for PAT performance prediction. It was
mentioned that CFD made it possible to identify losses in
different parts of PAT. However, there have been discrepancies
between numerical and experimental predictions mainly from
geometry simplification in computational studies, as reported in
this paper. Nevertheless, it was pointed out that, numerical
predictions accuracy would also depend on grid quality and
numerical methods and used turbulence models. CFD was
generally acknowledged as an effective design tool for PAT

performance prediction. Rawal and Kshirsagar [90] carried out

a study through both numerical and experimental methods on a
mixed flow pump with the objective of analyzing the accuracy
of computational tools for PAT studies. The PAT flow was first
numerically studied at five different flows, viz. 60%, 80%, 100%,
120%, and 140% of the BEP flow at a rotational speed of
1450rpm. The k- turbulence model was adopted, where the
chosen inlet and outlet boundary conditions were total pressure
in and flow rate out, respectively. The experimental part was run
at a test facility based at a major University in Karlsruhe,
German. The single stage mixed flow pump with four mixed
flow vanes was tested at three different speeds, viz. 800rpm,
900rpm, and 1000rpm, under flows ranging from no load to
maximum load. The agreement between computational and test
results has been satisfactory. The numerical approach served in
the identification of losses in PATs different parts, and it was
suggested that the use of finer mesh, better numerical methods
and turbulence models, could improve on the numerical results
accuracy. Barrio et al. [91] presented a numerical study on a
centrifugal pump with twisted backwards curved blades in both
direct and reverse operating modes, aiming at the investigation
of global flow characteristics within the machine at different
flow rates. A CFD commercial code Ansys Fluent was used
together with k- turbulence model to solve the full unsteady
RANS equations, with total pressure in variable static pressure
out and constant total pressure in constant pressure out, as
boundary conditions in pump and turbine mode respectively.
After comparison between numerical and experimental results,
an agreement between both was quite satisfactory with
maximum errors less than 4%. However flow recirculation and
backflow regions were noticed at off-design flow rates in the
reverse operating mode. Jovanovi et al. [92] presented a
comparative study between numerical and experimental results
on a centrifugal pump running in both reverse and direct modes.
In this paper, different PAT usages and performance prediction
methods were discussed. From its different advantages over
other mostly used methods, namely theoretical and experimental
methods, CFD method was confirmed very effective for PAT
flow studies. An example computational case-study was run
through Ansys CFX commercial code, together with K-
turbulence model for both modes, where extracted results were
compared to collected experimental ones. Different frequently
met problems in computational method usage were pointed out
as well as their respective way outs. There was a good agreement
between test and numerical results with comparatively small
errors (less than4%). Milan et al. [93] simulated the flow in the
middle stage of a radial-flow multistage PAT to get the flow
pattern information for efficiency improvement through
geometrical modifications if by any means needed. CFD
commercial code Ansys CFX was used to solve the fully
unsteady three dimensional RANS equations together with the
shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model. The studied flow

Maxime B. et Al. Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction
for micro hydropower schemes: A review
domain consisted of a six blades impeller with two different
diameters (full and reduced) and an eight channels stator, where
the selected boundary conditions were the flow rate and average
static pressure for inlet and outlet boundary conditions
respectively, for the turbine operational mode. Six interfaces,
three rotor-stator and three stator-rotor interfaces, were used
between rotor and stator, and the analysis was carried out at
different rotational speeds and flow rates. The numerical results
were in good agreement with experimental ones with an error of
about 13% from the neglected loss estimations in the numerical
study. Full diameter impeller version showed a comparatively
better performance, and it was found that the multistage pump
doesnt need any modification to become more efficient as it
could get sufficiently higher efficiencies, unmodified.
(a)

4. Performance improvement attempts

Patel et al. [94] experimentally studied the effect of impeller
modification on PAT performance. The main objective was to
compare the PAT efficiency as well as other performance
parameters before and after impeller modification. Different
modifications were made, viz. impeller edges rounding, hub and
shroud extremities rounding, and material removal at the
impeller exit areas; after which, the modified model was tested
at a constant speed of 1100rpm under continually varied loads.
After comparing the modified against unmodified model
performances, it was reported that the modified model exhibited
comparatively higher efficiency, where the BEP head and power
were attained at lower flow rates. It was then demonstrated that
the rounded edges impeller would make a more efficient PAT.
Yang et al. [95] carried out a study on the influence of impeller
blade thickness on PAT performance. Three impellers with
different design parameters (Table 4) were experimentally and
numerically analyzed, and through a comparative scheme, their
performance characteristics were discussed. Owing to its
robustness and fast convergence, the CFD commercial code
Ansys CFX, was chosen to solve steady state Navier-Stokes
equations together with standard k- turbulence model. The
selected inlet and outlet boundary conditions were static pressure
in and mass flow out respectively, with continuously changed
flow to come up with the complete PAT performance curve.
Ansys ICEM was used for flow domain grid generation. The
PAT experimental tests were run at a Jiangsu University based
test rig, the results of which got compared to numerical ones.
Both methods predictions were in an acceptably good agreement.
It was found that both pressure head and shaft power increased,
whereas the efficiency decreased with the blade thickness
increase (Fig. 4), therefore a small blade-thickness possible was
recommended as long as its strength is not compromised.

(b)

(c)
Fig. 4. Performance curves of PATs with different blade thicknesses
a) Ns=57 b) Ns=119 c) Ns=168 [95]

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Table 4. Design parameters of the PAT
Q/ m3h-1
100
120
125

n/r min-1
1500
3000
3000

H/m
40
43
28

ns
57
119
168

Giosio et al. [96] presented an experimental study aiming at

improving the PAT operating conditions by flow regulation
facility incorporation thus eliminating a widely known PAT
problem of inflexibility towards flow regime fluctuations. A
suitable pump was first selected using Sharma method and got
installed inside the customized housing provided with flow
regulation facility, and guide vane assembly consisting of 13
hydrofoil shaped vanes; at a micro-hydro test rig based at the
University of Tasmania. For the construction of the PAT
efficiency hill chart, the steady state flow test was performed at
different guide vane openings ranging from 20 to 35
corresponding to 53% to 92% of full stroke, and net specific
energy values ranging from 34j/kg to 83.3kg/j with 5j/kg
repetitive increments. The prediction results for pump rated
operation, Sharma prediction method, and presented
experimental test; as well as the experimental tests-resulted
efficiency hill chart are shown in Table 5 and Fig. 5 respectively.
The tested impeller exhibited a maximum overall efficiency of
79% in good agreement with PAT theory, and it has been able to
operate within a big range of flow conditions.
Table 5 . Best efficiency values of the selected PAT operating as a
pump, turbine predicted, and turbine actual [96]

104.3

H
[m]
12.25

Q
[m3/s]
0.222

N
[rpm]
1450

P
[KW]
34.0

[%]
78.5

92.4

4.38

0.139

750

4.68

78.5

71.9

5.98

0.133

754

6.20

79.0

Values of BEP

Nq [-]

Pump as rated
Turbine
predicted
Turbine actual

Fig. 5. Performance Hill chart of the micro-hydro turbine unit [96]

Sheng et al. [97] studied the influence of impeller trimming

on PAT performance through experimental and numerical
methods. Note that impeller trimming is generally aimed at
pump performance improvement whenever there is pressure
head or flow rate drop. Three PAT models with full, oncetrimmed, and twice-trimmed impellers, were tested at the same
rotational speed of 1500rpm in both turbine and pump modes
with 0.57%, 0.50%, 0.76%, 1.2%, 1.27% and 0.14%,
0.50%, 0.52%, 1.08%, 1.20%; as respective pressure head,
flow rate, hydraulic power, generated shaft power, and
efficiency measured uncertainties, at a Jiangsu University-based
test rig. The steady state numerical research was carried out
through a CFD code Ansys CFX, where the k- turbulence
model was used, and static pressure in and mass flow rate out
were chosen as inlet and outlet boundary conditions. The
experimental results showed the PAT efficiency drop of about
4.11% from full to twice-trimmed impeller diameter. Numerical
predictions were in an acceptable agreement with experimental
ones, yet comparatively higher, from the neglected losses in
numerical analysis. The PAT performance variation was the
combined effect of four driving parameters, viz. impeller
diameter, blade wrap angle, blade thickness, and inlet blade
angle. Sanjay et al. [98] carried out an experimental study to
optimize the PAT geometrical and operational parameters, viz.
impeller diameter, blade tip rounding, and impeller rotational
speed. Experiments were carried out on a selected centrifugal
pump of 20m, 0.0292m3/s, 1400rpm, and 75% as rated head,
discharge, speed, and efficiency, at a Nirma University-based
test rig. Tests were run at a wide range of rotational speeds from
900rpm to 1500rpm on PATs with original, 10%, and 20%
trimmed impellers (250mm, 225mm, and 200mm as respective
diameters), before and after blade edge curving. Every test was
run three times and the parameter mean values were considered.
From test findings, recommendations were given. However they
were more specific to this research case, thus requiring a
generalization process to a wide range of PAT geometrical and
operational conditions. The highest efficiency (76.93%) was
record at a 10% trimmed impeller running at 1100rpm. Finally
an empirical correlation was developed and gave the efficiency
predictions in the range of 10% compared to experimental ones.
Impeller trimming and blade rounding led to a better part load
performance and efficiency increase about 3-4% respectively.
Derakhshan et al. [99], using the gradient-based optimization as
presented in his previous publication [100], modified the
impeller blade geometric design to improve the PAT maximum
efficiency. The blade design was firstly optimized through a
gradient-based optimization technique, coupled with a 3D
Navier-Stokes flow solver, after which the optimized impeller
blades got rounded and experimentally tested for further analysis.
FINE/TURBO was used for simulations and k- turbulence
model was selected to solve the flow RANS equations, where
mass flow rate in and static pressure out were the chosen inlet

Maxime B. et Al. Investigation on pump as turbine (PAT) selection and performance prediction
for micro hydropower schemes: A review
and outlet boundary conditions respectively. The tested pump
was a low specific speed centrifugal pump (23.5m, m3/s), with a
turbine mode rotational speed of 1500rpm. The test
measurement uncertainty analysis was carried out through
Moffat technique[101], where 5.5%, 3.4%, 5.1%, and 5.5% were
respective head, flow rate, power, and efficiency uncertainties.
The optimization process raised the PAT performance, but the
rounded PAT version exhibited even higher performance
compared to both initial and optimized versions. Both
modifications contributed to the efficiency improvement in the
range from 3% to 5%. Impeller modification was found a
reliable performance improvement method within PATs. Suarda
et al. [53] presented an experimental study on a small volutetype centrifugal pump, aiming at pump reverse mode efficiency
improvement by modifying the shape of impeller blade tips into
bullet nose-like shape. A small volute-type centrifugal pump
having 0.13m3/sec, 13m, and 0.4Kw as maximum discharge,
head, and motor power respectively; has been tested under
various flow rates, for both original and modified impellers, at
Huai Kra Thing village site. Experiment results showed an
increase in both power and efficiency for the modified impeller.
The maximum efficiency shifted from 34.34% (before
modification) to 37.5% (after modification) with a
comparatively lower BEP flow rate (0.00149m3/sec against
0.002m3/s). Flow turbulences at the impeller inlet were also
substantially decreased. This method was mostly recommended
for large capacity PATs, where remarkable improvements can
be noticed; rather than in small pumps, as their performance
improvement would be as small as ineffective. Yang et al. [102]
carried out a numerical study about the influence of the radial
gap between the impeller and the stationary volute to both the
PAT performance and PAT pressure fields characteristics. A
CFD steady state simulation was first carried out on PATs with
different radial gaps, viz. 0.062D2, 0.145D2, and 0.224D2
(D2:impeller inlet diameter) at a rotational speed of 1500rpm.
Ansys CFX code was used, and k- turbulence model was
adopted; where static pressure in and mass flow out were chosen
for inlet and outlet boundary conditions respectively. By
continually changing the flow rate, PAT performance curves
were achieved; where it was found that 0.145D2 was the
optimum radial gap as it exhibited the highest efficiency
(69.18%) at BEP (Fig. 6). For the next step, monitoring points
were set in the inlet pipe, volute, and blade flow passages and
the unsteady PAT flow simulation was performed, aiming at
analyzing the pressure fields in the PAT flow domain. The rotorstator interaction created both high and low frequency unsteady
pressure fluctuations in volute and impeller respectively.
However, due to volute high frequency fluctuations propagation
towards the impeller channels and inlet pipe; impeller pressure
fields were a combination of both kinds. With the radial gap

increase, volute pressure pulsation amplitudes decreased,

whereas the impeller situation remained unchanged.

Fig. 6. Performance curves of the PAT with different radial gaps

[102]

Yang et al. [103], through experimental, numerical, and

theoretical methods, investigated the effect of impeller diameter
on PAT performance. Experimental tests were performed on a
single stage centrifugal pump with a rotational speed of 1500rpm,
with different impeller diameters namely 215mm, 235mm, and
255mm respectively. Both power and efficiency increased after
BEP while the Head dropped with impeller diameter increase.
However the PAT efficiency, shaft power, pressure head, and
flow; all increased in the range from 10.26% to 89.39%, for an
impeller diameter increase from 215mm to 255mm, at BEP.
Simulation results were in a quite good agreement with
experimental ones; yet small discrepancies were noticed, mainly
from some neglected losses. Also hydraulic losses were globally
noticed to have been decreasing with the impeller diameter
increase. Theoretical method over-predicted the BEP
characteristics as compared to experimental findings, therefore,
they were only recommended for PAT BEP rough estimations.

Conclusions
This paper presented a literature review from previously
published works on pump-turbine technical aspects namely
pump-turbine selection and performance prediction, where the
following conclusions are drawn:
(1) By inversing their fluid flow direction, pumps can work
effectively for power generation without any mechanical
failures, and present many advantages over conventional
turbines, especially in off-grid energy systems.
(2) Pump-turbines operate poorly under part-load conditions
and their efficiency is usually lower or equal to
conventional turbines. However, their global adoption is
more about economic profits rather than performance
efficiency.

CHINESE JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

(3) A great deal of studies have been carried out on pumpturbine performance prediction but in vain as there is no
universal prediction method applicable to a wide range of
specific speeds yet found. However, their performance can
still be improved through impeller design modifications,
where blade rounding is so far the most promising technic
Further research initiatives are still needed in the future for a
complete understanding, leading to the eventual elimination of
the remaining gaps; where more parameters, be it design or
operational, need to even deeply be checked; all leading to more
ability to make the pump-turbine technology not only
economically reliable but also technically efficient.
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Biographical notes
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51506037, 51276046, 71390522), Foundation for Innovative
Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51421063), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities (HIT.NSRIF.2017047)