Development of hydro impulse turbines and new opportunities

Hydro impulse turbines are often referred to as a mature technology having been invented around 100 years ago with many of the old design guidelines producing machines of a high efficiency. However with recent advances in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) it is now possible to simulate these highly turbulent multiphase flows with good accuracy and in reasonable timescales. This has opened up an avenue for further development and understanding of these machines which has not been possible through traditional analyses and experimental testing. This paper explores some of the more recent developments in the hydraulic design of Pelton and Turgo Impulse turbines and highlights the opportunities for future development.