Penstock Water Hammer Simulator

When a hydroelectric turbine's guide vanes slam shut, the moving column of water in the penstock can't stop instantly — its momentum converts into a pressure wave that races up and down the pipe at 900–1400 m/s, a phenomenon engineers call water hammer. This simulator solves the real transient with the method-of-characteristics scheme used in industry (Wylie & Streeter), colouring the penstock live as the surge builds and reflects, and tracks the peak head rise against the classic Joukowsky formula ΔH = aΔV/g. An optional surge tank — the open shaft real dams use to protect their penstocks — decouples the long tunnel's slow inertial oscillation from the fast elastic shock, and toggling it on and off makes the trade-off it buys immediately visible.