Louis Dominique Girard
Encyclopedia
Louis Dominique Girard was a French
hydraulic engineer
.
A friend and colleague of Léon Foucault
, Girard was most notable for his work with impulse turbine
s. His 1856 design greatly improved on the Jonval turbine
s that were then common, although it was in turn supplanted by the Pelton wheel
in the latter portion of the 19th century.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
hydraulic engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
.
A friend and colleague of Léon Foucault
Léon Foucault
Jean Bernard Léon Foucault was a French physicist best known for the invention of the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of the Earth's rotation...
, Girard was most notable for his work with impulse turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
s. His 1856 design greatly improved on the Jonval turbine
Jonval turbine
The Jonval turbine is a water turbine design invented in France in 1843, in which water descends through fixed curved guide vanes which direct the flow sideways onto curved vanes on the runner. It is named after Feu Jonval, who invented it...
s that were then common, although it was in turn supplanted by the Pelton wheel
Pelton wheel
The Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine which is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional overshot water wheel...
in the latter portion of the 19th century.