how do i attain maximum water wheel speed?

[XorOfSteel]

do IRL physics apply here?

my wheels are only giving me 40hp or so...

i keep them at the 1 block surface.

not a flow mechanics guy but if I go from deep to shallow that should speed the water up, right?

[aRPeaR]

The river will flow faster in the center than along the banks.

In the plains map I have observed that, when not pumping the river, you only need 4 flood gates. So in theory you could narrow the river to only 4 blocks to gain max flow, but you maybe run the risk of flooding the surrounding land.

[Zentra]

No math here. Not an engineer type. I just beat to fit. I figure speed caused by pressure which is controlled by dams. Meandering rivers are not good for optimum power. That's all fairly weak pressure

Making water go through a smaller channel increases pressure. It's easier to dam, but also forces the water to build up pressure. Adding depth helps up to the point you stagnate the wheel. So you make it so you can control the height of the river below the water wheels as well. Adding a drop and smaller dammed in channel areas stacked close and above, successively one block higher so that the water cascades into the water wheels via controllable locks... Seems to work ok.

[mikeydsc]

I use the dams for flow power. On channels that are wider than 8 to 10 blocks, I use levees all across the top but for a couple spots to install the dam portion. This causes allot of force out the backside of the dam and I place my water wheels in front of the couple holes I place on the top. Gives me lots of speed that way. Dont use dams across the whole top, 3 levees and 1 dam, then 3 more levees and 1 dam kinda setup. Figure it out on your map. I put 2 or 3 wheels by each opening.

[fabio.capela]

In essence, just force all the water to go through the wheel. The more water that goes through the wheel, the more power it generates. Te wheel's two-wide footprint can handle a 13-strength water source as long as there isn't any waterfalls near it, which is enough for the full water flow of most of the maps included in the game (and certainly including the Plains map).

BTW, you can see the water source strength of the vanilla maps by editing them. Just click on all applicable water sources and add up their strengths.

[Alcator]

Block the entire breadth of the river with the wheels OR levees. Do not give the water any path around the wheels -- it either goes through a wheel (any wheel), or doesn't go at all.
Adjacent wheels are magically cummulative - if you have two wheels (even of different kinds in case of the IronTooth faction) next to each other, connected by their middles or via power lines, one providing 20 bp and another providing 100 bp, they will together form a network that provides 120 bp.

But if there is a path of lesser resistance for water to take, it will take it if it can, so water will go around the wheels and not through them if possible.

[idefix]

I have maxed 1080hp from 1 Large Wheel, 460hp from 4x Small Wheel used like 1 by 1 by 1 by 1, 470hp from 3 Small Wheels like 1 by Levee by 1 by Levee, is it max possible power from those wheels?

[Alcator]

Originally posted by idefix:

I have maxed 1080hp from 1 Large Wheel, 460hp from 4x Small Wheel used like 1 by 1 by 1 by 1, 470hp from 3 Small Wheels like 1 by Levee by 1 by Levee, is it max possible power from those wheels?

Pretty good numbers!

[ziplip]

Originally posted by aRPeaR:

The river will flow faster in the center than along the banks.

In the plains map I have observed that, when not pumping the river, you only need 4 flood gates. So in theory you could narrow the river to only 4 blocks to gain max flow, but you maybe run the risk of flooding the surrounding land.

That's not always true in one of my builds the water is flowing faster on the side then in the middle.

[jamiechi]

Another discussion about Water Wheels with pictures.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1062090/discussions/0/3825288583728997726/

[Smashing]

Basically you want to make the river as narrow as possible at the water wheel with no other route to go through, this means the entire river flow must go through the wheel, as opposed to a different route.

It's also better to have wheels in series than parallel, in fact the only time you really want them in parallel is when the water flow is too much for the channel you have and it's causing flooding.