History[edit]

The construction of a Ganz water Turbo Generator in Budapest in 1886

Water wheels have been used for hundreds of years for industrial power. Their main shortcoming
is size, which limits the flow rate and head that can be harnessed. The migration from water
wheels to modern turbines took about one hundred years. Development occurred during
the Industrial revolution, using scientific principles and methods. They also made extensive use of
new materials and manufacturing methods developed at the time.

Swirl[edit]
The word turbine was introduced by the French engineer Claude Burdin in the early 19th century
and is derived from the Greek word "τύρβη" for "whirling" or a "vortex". The main difference
between early water turbines and water wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes
energy to a spinning rotor. This additional component of motion allowed the turbine to be smaller
than a water wheel of the same power. They could process more water by spinning faster and
could harness much greater heads. (Later, impulse turbines were developed which didn't use
swirl.)

Timeline[edit]

Roman turbine mill at Chemtou, Tunisia. The tangential water inflow of the millrace made the submerged
horizontal wheel in the shaft turn like a true turbine.[1]
A Francis turbine runner, rated at nearly one million hp (750 MW), being installed at the Grand Coulee Dam,
United States.

A propeller-type runner rated 28,000 hp (21 MW)

The earliest known water turbines date to the Roman Empire. Two helix-turbine mill sites of
almost identical design were found at Chemtou and Testour, modern-day Tunisia, dating to the
late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The horizontal water wheel with angled blades was installed at
the bottom of a water-filled, circular shaft. The water from the mill-race entered the pit
tangentially, creating a swirling water column which made the fully submerged wheel act like a
true turbine.[1]
Fausto Veranzio in his book Machinae Novae (1595) described a vertical axis mill with a rotor
similar to that of a Francis turbine.[2]
Johann Segner developed a reactive water turbine (Segner wheel) in the mid-18th century
in Kingdom of Hungary. It had a horizontal axis and was a precursor to modern water turbines. It
is a very simple machine that is still produced today for use in small hydro sites. Segner worked
with Euler on some of the early mathematical theories of turbine design. In the 18th century, a Dr.
Robert Barker invented a similar reaction hydraulic turbine that became popular as a lecture-hall
demonstration.[3] The only known surviving example of this type of engine used in power
production, dating from 1851, is found at Hacienda Buena Vista in Ponce, Puerto Rico.[4]
In 1820, Jean-Victor Poncelet developed an inward-flow turbine.
In 1826, Benoît Fourneyron developed an outward-flow turbine. This was an efficient machine
(~80%) that sent water through a runner with blades curved in one dimension. The stationary
outlet also had curved guides.
In 1844, Uriah A. Boyden developed an outward flow turbine that improved on the performance of
the Fourneyron turbine. Its runner shape was similar to that of a Francis turbine.
In 1849, James B. Francis improved the inward flow reaction turbine to over 90% efficiency. He
also conducted sophisticated tests and developed engineering methods for water turbine design.
The Francis turbine, named for him, is the first modern water turbine. It is still the most widely
used water turbine in the world today. The Francis turbine is also called a radial flow turbine,
since water flows from the outer circumference towards the centre of runner.
Inward flow water turbines have a better mechanical arrangement and all modern reaction water
turbines are of this design. As the water swirls inward, it accelerates, and transfers energy to the
runner. Water pressure decreases to atmospheric, or in some cases subatmospheric, as the
water passes through the turbine blades and loses energy.
In 1876, John B. McCormick, building on Francis's designs, demonstrated the first modern mixed-
flow turbine with the development of the Hercules turbine, initially manufactured by the Holyoke
Machine Company and subsequently improved upon by engineers in Germany and the United
States.[5] The design effectively combined the inward flow principles of the Francis design with the
downward discharge of the Jonval turbine, with flow inward at the inlet, axial through the wheel's
body, and slightly outward at the outlet. Initially performing optimally at 90% efficiency at lower
speeds, this design would see many improvements in the subsequent decades in derivatives
under names like "Victor", "Risdon", "Samson" and "New American," ushering in a new era of
American turbine engineering.[6][7]
Water turbines, particularly in the Americas, would largely become standardized with the
establishment of the Holyoke Testing Flume, described as the first modern hydraulic laboratory in
the United States by Robert E. Horton and Clemens Herschel, the latter of which would serve as
its chief engineer for a time.[8][9] Initially created in 1872 by James B. Emerson from the testing
flumes of Lowell, after 1880 the Holyoke, Massachusetts hydraulic laboratory was standardized
by Herschel, who used it to develop the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring
large flows, to properly measure water power efficiency by different turbine models. [10][11][12] While
skepticism of certain weir calculations were held by European hydrologists, the facility allowed for
standard efficiency testing among major manufacturers through 1932, by which time more
modern facilities and methods had proliferated.[13][14]: 100 
Around 1890, the modern fluid bearing was invented, now universally used to support heavy
water turbine spindles. As of 2002, fluid bearings appear to have a mean time between failures of
more than 1300 years.
Around 1913, Viktor Kaplan created the Kaplan turbine, a propeller-type machine. It was an
evolution of the Francis turbine and revolutionized the ability to develop low-head hydro sites.

New concept[edit]

Figure from Pelton's original patent (October 1880)

Main article: Pelton wheel

All common water machines until the late 19th century (including water wheels) were basically
reaction machines; water pressure head acted on the machine and produced work. A reaction
turbine needs to fully contain the water during energy transfer.
In 1866, California millwright Samuel Knight invented a machine that took the impulse system to a
new level.[15][16] Inspired by the high pressure jet systems used in hydraulic mining in the gold
fields, Knight developed a bucketed wheel which captured the energy of a free jet, which had
converted a high head (hundreds of vertical feet in a pipe or penstock) of water to kinetic energy.
This is called an impulse or tangential turbine. The water's velocity, roughly twice the velocity of
the bucket periphery, does a U-turn in the bucket and drops out of the runner at low velocity.
In 1879, Lester Pelton, experimenting with a Knight Wheel, developed a Pelton wheel (double
bucket design), which exhausted the water to the side, eliminating some energy loss of the Knight
wheel which exhausted some water back against the center of the wheel. In about 1895, William
Doble improved on Pelton's half-cylindrical bucket form with an elliptical bucket that included a
cut in it to allow the jet a cleaner bucket entry. This is the modern form of the Pelton turbine which
today achieves up to 92% efficiency. Pelton had been quite an effective promoter of his design
and although Doble took over the Pelton company he did not change the name to Doble because
it had brand name recognition.
Turgo and cross-flow turbines were later impulse designs.

Theory of operation[edit]
Flowing water is directed on to the blades of a turbine runner, creating a force on the blades.
Since the runner is spinning, the force acts through a distance (force acting through a distance is
the definition of work). In this way, energy is transferred from the water flow to the turbine.
Water turbines are divided into two groups: reaction turbines and impulse turbines.
The precise shape of water turbine blades is a function of the supply pressure of water, and the
type of impeller selected.

Reaction turbines[edit]
Reaction turbines are acted on by water, which changes pressure as it moves through the turbine
and gives up its energy. They must be encased to contain the water pressure (or suction), or they
must be fully submerged in the water flow.
Newton's third law describes the transfer of energy for reaction turbines.
Most water turbines in use are reaction turbines and are used in low (<30 m or 100 ft) and
medium (30–300 m or 100–1,000 ft) head applications. In reaction turbine pressure drop occurs
in both fixed and moving blades. It is largely used in dam and large power plants

Impulse turbines[edit]
Impulse turbines change the velocity of a water jet. The jet pushes on the turbine's curved blades
which changes the direction of the flow. The resulting change in momentum (impulse) causes a
force on the turbine blades. Since the turbine is spinning, the force acts through a distance (work)
and the diverted water flow is left with diminished energy. An impulse turbine is one in which the
pressure of the fluid flowing over the rotor blades is constant and all the work output is due to the
change in kinetic energy of the fluid.
Prior to hitting the turbine blades, the water's pressure (potential energy) is converted to kinetic
energy by a nozzle and focused on the turbine. No pressure change occurs at the turbine blades,
and the turbine doesn't require a housing for operation.
Newton's second law describes the transfer of energy for impulse turbines.
Impulse turbines are often used in very high (>300m/1000 ft) head applications.

Power[edit]
The power available in a stream is;
where:
  power (J/s or watts)
  turbine efficiency
  density of fluid (kg/m3)
  acceleration of gravity (9.81 m/s2)
  head (m). For still water, this is the difference in height between the inlet and outlet
surfaces. Moving water has an additional component added to account for the kinetic
energy of the flow. The total head equals the pressure head plus velocity head.
 = flow rate (m3/s)
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity[edit]
Some water turbines are designed for pumped-storage hydroelectricity. They can reverse flow
and operate as a pump[1] to fill a high reservoir during off-peak electrical hours, and then revert to
a water turbine for power generation during peak electrical demand. This type of turbine is usually
a Deriaz or Francis turbine in design.
This type of system is used in El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands: "When wind production
exceeds demand, excess energy will pump water from a lower reservoir at the bottom of a
volcanic cone to an upper reservoir at the top of the volcano 700 meters above sea level. The
lower reservoir stores 150,000 cubic meters of water. The stored water acts as a battery. The
maximum storage capacity is 270 MWh. When demand rises and there is not enough wind
power, the water will be released to four hydroelectric turbines with a total capacity of 11 MW." [17]
[18]

Efficiency[edit]
Large modern water turbines operate at mechanical efficiencies greater than 90%.

Types of water turbines[edit]

Various types of water turbine runners. From left to right: Pelton wheel, two types of Francis turbine and
Kaplan turbine.

Reaction turbines[edit]
 VLH turbine
 Francis turbine
 Kaplan turbine
 Tyson turbine
 Deriaz turbine
 Gorlov helical turbine
Impulse turbine[edit]
 Water wheel
 Pelton wheel
 Turgo turbine
  Cross-flow turbine (also known as the Bánki-Michell turbine, or Ossberger turbine)
 Jonval turbine
 Reverse overshot water-wheel
 Screw turbine
 Barkh Turbine

Design and application[edit]

Turbine selection is based on the available water head, and less so on the available flow rate. In
general, impulse turbines are used for high head sites, and reaction turbines are used for low
head sites. Kaplan turbines with adjustable blade pitch are well-adapted to wide ranges of flow or
head conditions, since their peak efficiency can be achieved over a wide range of flow conditions.
Small turbines (mostly under 10 MW) may have horizontal shafts, and even fairly large bulb-type
turbines up to 100 MW or so may be horizontal. Very large Francis and Kaplan machines usually
have vertical shafts because this makes best use of the available head, and makes installation of
a generator more economical. Pelton wheels may be either vertical or horizontal shaft machines
because the size of the machine is so much less than the available head. Some impulse turbines
use multiple jets per runner to balance shaft thrust. This also allows for the use of a smaller
turbine runner, which can decrease costs and mechanical losses.