Smeaton's experimental study of water wheels
Estudio experimental de las ruedas hidráulicas (Smeaton)
- Date
- 1759 · confidence high
- Place
- Austhorpe, Leeds, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- John Smeaton
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Using scale models, Smeaton measured the efficiency of different types of water wheel and showed that overshot wheels use roughly twice as much energy as undershot ones. His Royal Society paper is a model of the experimental method applied to engineering.
Smeaton published in 1759 in the Philosophical Transactions; his conclusions corrected the idea that both types performed equally.
What it led to
- replacement of undershot wheels by overshot wheels in industry
- experimental rigour in civil and mechanical engineering
- the concept of work and energy efficiency