10. Conclusion

For a long time to come, model tests will remain the only means of studying hydraulic turbomachinery. In hydraulics, as in many other disciplines, the race for gigantism is still on. In the 70s and 80s, the Itaipu turbines were commissioned in Brazil. With an installed capacity of 13,500 MW, the plant is equipped with 18 wheels, each 8 m in diameter and with an output of 750 MW. More recently, China's pharaonic Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River: initially, 14 units with a unit capacity of 710 MW were installed on the left bank of the dam, followed by 12 units on the right bank, representing a total capacity of over 18,000 MW. The 2 km-wide dam has a 600 km-long reservoir. A veritable inland sea has been created, with the risk of disrupting the entire ecosystem of the region.

At the time of the Brazilian epic, engineers discovered a problem of cracking of...