Sediment flow through hydropower components causes hydro-abrasive erosion resulting in loss of efficiency, interruptions in power production and downtime for repair/maintenance. Online instruments are required to measure/capture the variations in sediment parameters along with collecting samples manually to analyse in laboratory for verification. In this paper, various sediment parameters viz. size, concentration (TSS), shape and mineral composition relevant to hydro-abrasive erosion were measured and discussed with respect to a hydropower plant in Himalayan region, India. A multi-frequency acoustic instrument was installed at a desilting chamber to continuously monitor particle size distribution (PSD) and TSS entering the turbine during 27 May to 6 August 2015. The sediment parameters viz. TSS, size distribution, mineral composition and shape entering the turbine were also measured and analysed, using manual samples collected twice daily from hydropower plant, in laboratory with instruments based on laser diffraction, dynamic digital image processing, gravimetric method, conductivity, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and turbidity. The acoustic instrument was able to capture the variation in TSS; however, significant deviations were found between measured mean sediment sizes compared to values found in the laboratory. A good relation was found for turbidity (R2 = 0.86) and laser diffraction (R2 = 0.93) with TSS, which indicated that turbidimeter and laser diffraction instrument can be used for continuous monitoring of TSS at the plant. Total sediment load passed through penstock during study period was estimated to be 15,500 ton. This study shall be useful for researchers and hydropower managers in measuring/monitoring sediment for hydro-abrasive erosion study in hydropower plants.
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