Water turbine is a power machine that converts the energy of water flow into rotating mechanical energy, and it belongs to the turbomachinery category of fluid machinery. As early as around 100 BC, China had the prototype of a water turbine - a water wheel, used for lifting irrigation and driving grain processing equipment. Modern water turbines are mostly installed in hydroelectric power plants to drive generators for power generation. In a hydropower station, the water in the upstream reservoir is directed towards the water turbine through the diversion pipe, driving the turbine runner to rotate and driving the generator to generate electricity. The finished water is discharged downstream through the tailrace pipe. The higher the water head and flow rate, the greater the output power of the water turbine.
Water turbine can be divided into two categories based on their working principles:
impulse turbines and reaction turbines. The runner of a impulse turbine rotates due to the impact of water flow, and the pressure of the water flow remains unchanged during operation, mainly due to the conversion of kinetic energy; The runner of a reaction turbine rotates under the reaction force of water flow in the water, and the pressure energy and kinetic energy of the water flow change during operation, but mainly due to the conversion of pressure energy.
