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{{short description|Machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power}}
{{redirect|Waterwheel|}}
{{redirect|Headrace|the rowing competition|Head race}}
{{about|water power|water-lifting irrigation water wheels|Noria}}
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[[File:Otley waterwheel, Manchester Museum of Science and Industry - 2017-03-17 - Andy Mabbett.flac|thumb|The sound of the Otley waterwheel, at [[Manchester Museum of Science and Industry]]]]
A '''water wheel''' is a [[machine]] for converting the energy of flowing or falling [[water]] into useful forms of power, often in a [[watermill]]. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of [[blade]]s or [[bucket]]s arranged on the outside rim forming the driving car. Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century, but they are no longer in common use today. Uses included milling flour in [[gristmill]]s, grinding wood into pulp for [[papermaking]], hammering [[wrought iron]], machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of [[cloth]].
Some water wheels are fed by water from a mill pond, which is formed when a flowing stream is [[dam]]med. A channel for the water flowing to or from a water wheel is called a [[mill race]]. The race bringing water from the mill pond to the water wheel is a '''headrace'''; the one carrying water after it has left the wheel is commonly referred to as a '''tailrace'''.<ref name="Ref-1">[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tailrace Dictionary definition of "tailrace"]</ref>
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In the text known as the ''Xin Lun'' written by [[Huan Tan]] about 20 AD (during the usurpation of [[Wang Mang]]), it states that the legendary mythological king known as [[Fu Xi]] was the one responsible for the pestle and mortar, which evolved into the tilt-hammer and then trip hammer device (see [[trip hammer]]). Although the author speaks of the mythological Fu Xi, a passage of his writing gives hint that the water wheel was in widespread use by the 1st century AD in [[China]] ([[Wade-Giles]] spelling):
<blockquote>Fu Hsi invented the pestle and mortar, which is so useful, and later on it was cleverly improved in such a way that the whole weight of the body could be used for treading on the tilt-hammer (''tui''), thus increasing the efficiency ten times. Afterwards the power of animals—donkeys, mules, oxen, and horses—was applied by means of machinery, and water-power too used for pounding, so that the benefit was increased a hundredfold.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 392">Needham, p. 392</ref></blockquote>▼
▲Fu Hsi invented the pestle and mortar, which is so useful, and later on it was cleverly improved in such a way that the whole weight of the body could be used for treading on the tilt-hammer (''tui''), thus increasing the efficiency ten times. Afterwards the power of animals—donkeys, mules, oxen, and horses—was applied by means of machinery, and water-power too used for pounding, so that the benefit was increased a hundredfold.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 392">Needham, p. 392</ref>
In the year 31 AD, the engineer and [[Prefect]] of [[Nanyang (region)|Nanyang]], [[Du Shi]] (d. 38), applied a complex use of the water wheel and machinery to power the [[bellows]] of the [[blast furnace]] to create [[cast iron]]. Du Shi is mentioned briefly in the ''[[Book of Later Han]]'' (''Hou Han Shu'') as follows (in Wade-Giles spelling):
<blockquote>In the seventh year of the Chien-Wu reign period (31 AD) Tu Shih was posted to be Prefect of Nanyang. He was a generous man and his policies were peaceful; he destroyed evil-doers and established the dignity (of his office). Good at planning, he loved the common people and wished to save their labor. He invented a water-power reciprocator (''shui phai'') for the casting of (iron) agricultural implements. Those who smelted and cast already had the push-bellows to blow up their charcoal fires, and now they were instructed to use the rushing of the water (''chi shui'') to operate it ... Thus the people got great benefit for little labor. They found the 'water(-powered) bellows' convenient and adopted it widely.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 370">Needham, p. 370</ref></blockquote>▼
▲In the seventh year of the Chien-Wu reign period (31 AD) Tu Shih was posted to be Prefect of Nanyang. He was a generous man and his policies were peaceful; he destroyed evil-doers and established the dignity (of his office). Good at planning, he loved the common people and wished to save their labor. He invented a water-power reciprocator (''shui phai'') for the casting of (iron) agricultural implements. Those who smelted and cast already had the push-bellows to blow up their charcoal fires, and now they were instructed to use the rushing of the water (''chi shui'') to operate it ... Thus the people got great benefit for little labor. They found the 'water(-powered) bellows' convenient and adopted it widely.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 370">Needham, p. 370</ref>
Water wheels in [[China]] found practical uses such as this, as well as extraordinary use. The [[List of Chinese inventions|Chinese inventor]] [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139) was the first in history to apply motive power in rotating the astronomical instrument of an [[armillary sphere]], by use of a water wheel.<ref name="morton 70">Morton, p. 70</ref> The [[mechanical engineer]] [[Ma Jun (mechanical engineer)|Ma Jun]] (c. 200–265) from [[Cao Wei]] once used a water wheel to power and operate a large mechanical puppet theater for the [[Emperor Ming of Wei]] ({{abbr|r.|reigned}} 226–239).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 158">Needham, p. 158</ref>
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The technological breakthrough occurred in the technologically developed [[Hellenistic period]] between the 3rd and 1st century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=395}}; {{harvnb|Oleson|2000|p=229}}{{blockquote|It is no surprise that all the water-lifting devices that depend on subdivided wheels or cylinders originate in the sophisticated, scientifically advanced Hellenistic period, ...}}</ref>
[[File:WaterwheelsSp.jpg|thumb|Sequence of wheels found in Rio Tinto mines]]
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The Romans used waterwheels extensively in [[mining]] projects, with enormous Roman-era waterwheels found in places like modern-day [[Spain]]. They were [[reverse overshot water-wheel]]s designed for dewatering deep underground mines.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}} Several such devices are described by [[Vitruvius]], including the [[reverse overshot water-wheel]] and the [[Archimedean screw]]. Many were found during modern mining at the [[copper]] mines at [[Rio Tinto (river)|Rio Tinto]] in [[Spain]], one system involving 16 such wheels stacked above one another so as to lift water about 80 feet from the mine sump. Part of such a wheel was found at [[Dolaucothi]], a Roman [[gold mine]] in south [[Wales]] in the 1930s when the mine was briefly re-opened. It was found about 160 feet below the surface, so must have been part of a similar sequence as that discovered at Rio Tinto. It has recently been [[carbon dated]] to about 90 AD, and since the wood from which it was made is much older than the deep mine, it is likely that the deep workings were in operation perhaps 30–50 years after. It is clear from these examples of drainage wheels found in sealed underground galleries in widely separated locations that building water wheels was well within their capabilities, and such verticals water wheels commonly used for industrial purposes.
[[File:Roda de Vitruvi.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Vitruvius]]' undershot-wheeled watermill (reconstruction)]]
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In [[Africa Province|Roman North Africa]], several installations from around 300 AD were found where vertical-axle waterwheels fitted with angled blades were installed at the bottom of a water-filled, circular shaft. The water from the mill-race which entered tangentially the pit created a swirling water column that made the fully submerged wheel act like true [[water turbine]]s, the earliest known to date.<ref name="Roman helix-turbine mill">{{harvnb|Wilson|1995|pp=507f.}}; {{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=377}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|p=13}}</ref>
[[File:De Rebus Bellicis, XVth Century Miniature.JPG|thumb|right|Ox-powered Roman paddle wheel boat from a 15th-century copy of ''[[De Rebus Bellicis]]'']]
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==== 17th- and 18th-century Europe ====
Millwrights distinguished between the two forces, impulse and weight, at work in water wheels long before 18th-century Europe. Fitzherbert, a 16th-century agricultural writer, wrote "druieth the wheel as well as with the weight of the water as with strengthe [impulse]".<ref>[[Anthony Fitzherbert]], ''Surveying'' (London, 1539, reprinted in [Robert Vansitarrt, ed] ''Certain Ancient Tracts Concerning the Management of Landed Property'' Reprinted [London, 1767.] pg. 92.</ref> [[Leonardo da Vinci]] also discussed water power, noting "the blow [of the water] is not weight, but excites a power of weight, almost equal to its own power".<ref>Leonardo da Vinci, MS F, 44r, in ''Les manuscrits de Leonardo da Vinci'', ed Charles Ravaisson-Moilien (Paris, 1889), vol.4; cf, Codex Madrid, vol. 1, 69r [The Madrid Codices], trans. And transcribed by Ladislao Reti (New York, 1974), vol. 4.</ref> However, even realisation of the two forces, weight and impulse, confusion remained over the advantages and disadvantages of the two, and there was no clear understanding of the superior efficiency of weight.<ref>Smeaton, "An Experimental Inquiry Concerning the Natural Powers of Water and Wind to Turn Mills, and Other Machines, depending on Circular Motion," Royal Society, ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London'' 51 (1759); 124–125</ref> Prior to 1750 it was unsure as to which force was dominant and was widely understood that both forces were operating with equal inspiration amongst one another.<ref name="Torricelli, Evangelista 1919">Torricelli, Evangelista, ''Opere'', ed. Gino Loria and Giuseppe Vassura (Rome, 1919.)</ref> The waterwheel sparked questions of the laws of nature, specifically the [[laws of force]]. [[Evangelista Torricelli]]'s work on water wheels used an analysis of Galileo's work on falling bodies, that the velocity of a water sprouting from an orifice under its [[Hydrostatic head|head]] was exactly equivalent to the velocity a drop of water acquired in falling freely from the same height.<ref name="Torricella, Evangelica 1919">Torricella, Evangelica, ''Opere'', ed. Gino Loria and Giuseppe Vassura (Rome, 1919.)</ref>
==== Industrial Europe ====
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==== Australia ====
[[File:Garfield water wheel (State Library of Victoria IE1864826).jpg|thumb|202x202px|[[Garfield water wheel]] (built 1887)]]
[[File:Garfield water wheel (State Library of Victoria IE1864826).jpg|thumb|202x202px|[[Garfield water wheel]] (built 1887)]]Australia has a relatively dry climate, nonetheless, where suitable water resources were available, water wheels were constructed in 19th-century Australia. These were used to power sawmills, flour mills, and [[Stamp mill|stamper batteries]] used to crush gold-bearing ore. Notable examples of water wheels used in gold recovery operations were the large [[Garfield water wheel]] near [[Chewton, Victoria|Chewton]]—one of at least seven water wheels in the surrounding area—and the two water wheels at [[Adelong Falls Gold Workings|Adelong Falls]]; some remnants exist at both sites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Davies|first1=Peter |last2=Lawrence|first2=Susan |date=2013|title=The Garfield water wheel: hydraulic power on the Victorian goldfields|url=http://www.asha.org.au/pdf/australasian_historical_archaeology/31_04_Davies_and_Lawrence.pdf |journal=Australasian Historical Archaeology|volume=31|pages=25–32}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Garfield Water Wheel|url=https://www.goldfieldsguide.com.au/explore-location/368/garfield-water-wheel/ |access-date=2022-02-06|website=www.goldfieldsguide.com.au}}</ref><ref name="nswshr-72">{{cite NSW SHR|5045640|Adelong Falls Gold Workings/Reserve|hr=00072|fn=S90/07141 & HC 30495|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pearson|first=Warwick |date=1997|title=Water-Powered Flourmills in Nineteenth-Century Tasmania|url=http://www.asha.org.au/pdf/australasian_historical_archaeology/15_04_Pearson.pdf |journal=Australasian Historical Archaeology|volume=15|pages=66–78}}</ref> The mining area at [[Walhalla, Victoria|Walhalla]] once had at least two water wheels, one of which was rolled to its site from [[Port Albert]], on its rim using a novel trolley arrangement, taking nearly 90 days.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walhalla's Water Wheels |url=https://www.walhalla.org.au/news/wwheel.htm |access-date=2022-09-10 |website=www.walhalla.org.au}}</ref> A [[Stewart Ryrie, Junior#Flour mill at Jindabyne|water wheel at Jindabyne]], constructed in 1847, was the first machine used to extract energy—for flour milling—from the [[Snowy River]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1918-06-10 |title=THE SOIL. |work=Daily Telegraph |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239256787 |access-date=2022-09-04}}</ref>▼
▲
Compact water wheels, known as [[Dethridge wheel]]s, were used not as sources of power but to measure water flows to irrigated land.<ref>{{Citation|last=McNicoll|first=Ronald |title=Dethridge, John Stewart (1865–1926)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dethridge-john-stewart-5966 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|place=Canberra|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|language=en|access-date=2022-02-06}}</ref>
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<!--Some of the material in this section taken from [[water turbine]] with some modification and much extension -->
The energy available to the wheel has two components:
*[[Kinetic energy]] – depends on how fast the water is moving when it enters the wheel▼
* [[
▲* [[
The kinetic energy can be accounted for by converting it into an equivalent head, the velocity head, and adding it to the actual head. For still water the velocity head is zero, and to a good approximation it is negligible for slowly moving water, and can be ignored. The velocity in the tail race is not taken into account because for a perfect wheel the water would leave with zero energy which requires zero velocity. That is impossible, the water has to move away from the wheel, and represents an unavoidable cause of inefficiency.
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=== Quantities and units ===
*<math>\eta=</math> [[efficiency]]
*<math>\rho=</math> [[density]] of [[water]] (1000 kg/m<sup>3</sup>)
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These type of water wheels have high efficiency at part loads / variable flows and can operate at very low heads, < {{Convert|1|m||abbr=on}}. Combined with direct drive Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Alternators and power electronics they offer a viable alternative for [[Low head hydro power|low head hydroelectric power]] generation.
{{note|dotted}}Dotted notation. A dot above the quantity indicates that it is a rate. In other how much each second or how much per second. In this article q is a volume of water and <math>\dot q</math> is a volume of water per second. q, as in quantity of water, is used to avoid confusion with v for velocity.▼
== See also ==
* [[Hydroelectricity]]
* [[
* [[Water turbine]]
* [[
; For devices to lift water for irrigation
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* [[Scoop wheel]]
==
▲{{note|dotted}}Dotted notation. A dot above the quantity indicates that it is a rate. In other how much each second or how much per second. In this article q is a volume of water and <math>\dot q</math> is a volume of water per second. q, as in quantity of water, is used to avoid confusion with v for velocity.
== Citations ==
{{reflist|30em}}
== General and cited references ==
* Soto Gary, ''Water Wheel''. vol. 163. No. 4. (Jan., 1994), p. 197
* al-Hassani, S.T.S., Woodcock, E. and Saoud, R. (2006) ''1001 inventions : Muslim heritage in our world'', Manchester
* Allan. April 18, 2008. [http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Hydro/UnderShot/WaterWheel.htm Undershot Water Wheel]
*{{Citation
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{{Wiktionary|water wheel}}
{{Commons category|Water wheels}}
* [
* [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi105.htm Essay/audio clip]
* [http://www.waterhistory.org WaterHistory.org Several articles concerning water wheels]
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* [http://mw.concord.org/modeler1.3/mirror/mechanics/overshotwaterwheel.html Computer simulation of an overshot water wheel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810165712/http://mw.concord.org/modeler1.3/mirror/mechanics/overshotwaterwheel.html |date=2009-08-10 }}
* [https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mss00100 Guide to the Water Wheel Construction: A Thesis Presented to N.C. College of Agri. and Mech. Arts by L. T. Yarbrough <small>1893 June</small>]
* [https://welshmills.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Click-on-this-link-for-a-list-and-drawings-of-the-available-patterns..pdf
{{Hydropower}}▼
▲{{Hydropower}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Water turbines|Wheel]]▼
[[Category:Watermills|Wheel]]▼
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]▼
[[Category:Water wheels| ]]
▲[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Ancient inventions]]
[[Category:Egyptian inventions]]
[[Category:Iranian inventions]]
▲[[Category:Water turbines|Wheel]]
▲[[Category:Watermills|Wheel]]
[[es:Hidráulica#La rueda hidráulica]]
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