Does anyone know of any good engineering text books, or current research papers on the design of efficient undershot paddlewheels?
All of the research died when Tesla made electric motors practical, and most of the work I can find on hydraulic machines since then has been on Pelton wheels or turbines you can use to turn a generator.
I design and construct undershot paddlewheels to power fish screening equipment to prevent fish from going out irrigation ditches and turning into fertilizer or bird food.
All of the fluids text books seem to cover paddlewheels in about three sentences if at all. Earlier projects have been moving enough water that, if you extracted a very small percentage of the available power it was still sufficient to power the screen mechanisms.
I am now working on filling in the holes, so to speak, of the small diversions that the previous engineers couldn't get done. I'm dealing with small diversions, .25 to 1.5-cfs, in remote and frequently rugged terrain, and need to design smaller more efficient paddlewheels to power the screens.
There are quite a few books on paddlewheels out there, but they are all more of the rule of thumb kind with little of any math, and no theory. I found one book on Amazon, which is a reprint of a historical text, originally written in French around 1860, and translated into English by a Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers around 1870.
I really don't want to reinvent the paddlewheel if I can avoid it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.