IAHR 2026

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The organizing committee requests that authors carefully select the most appropriate section that best aligns with the results presented in their manuscripts. Furthermore, the committee strongly encourages authors to utilize nomenclatures and abbreviations that are consistent with IEC standards (TC4 – hydropower/turbine). This practice will help ensure uniformity across manuscripts and adherence to international standards. 

The organizing committee invites and welcomes original research papers and reviews on a variety of topics. This symposium encompasses all aspects related to hydro-mechanical equipment in hydropower.Listed below are the broad topics that will be covered, each highly relevant to the field of hydropower.

Topics

1. Computational fluid dynamics and fluid structure interaction

This section is broad and encompasses all phenomena occurring in hydraulic machinery, with a focus on solutions through numerical techniques. It covers topics such as CFD methods, high-quality simulations (1D, 2D, or 3D), 1D-3D coupling, the development of numerical models, turbulence modeling, numerical verification and validation, detached eddy simulations, large eddy simulations, direct numerical simulations, and more. Additionally, it includes FSI analysis (one-way or coupled) and FEA of turbine components.

Please note that while many research papers may fall under this section, if the primary focus is not numerical analysis, consider submitting to a more appropriate section.

This section focuses on studies and research related to energy storage within the context of hydropower, including topics such as energy markets, scheduling, and energy management. It also covers transient operations like load variations, start-stop sequences, load rejection, no-load, and runaway conditions. Although no-load and runaway are steady-state operations, they are outcomes of transient events and are addressed in this section. Additional topics include energy production and management with multiple turbines, load sharing, ancillary services, and load ramping.

This section is very broad, encompassing all components of hydraulic turbines, including spiral casings, stay vanes, guide vanes, runners, blades, splitters, labyrinth seals, and draft tubes. It covers various types of turbines, such as axial, radial, tangential, and mixed-flow turbines, as well as high, medium, low, and very low head (kinetic – ocean wave) turbines. Specific turbine types like Pelton, Francis, Kaplan, bulb, fluvial, and propeller are also included. Additionally, topics such as turbine optimization, design, model testing, and efficiency measurements are addressed in this section.

This section focuses on research related to the complete intake system, spanning from the penstock inlet to the spiral casing inlet. Key elements include the intake gate, trash rake, conduit, penstock, main inlet valve, and various hydraulic phenomena such as water hammer, surging, and the use of surge tanks. It also addresses factors like head losses, fatigue loading in the penstock, hydraulic transients, and complex junctions such as bifurcations and trifurcations, among others.

This section focuses on topics related to innovative measurement techniques, ideas, and approaches in hydropower plants. It includes measurements of efficiency, pressure, strain, velocity, and vibration, with an emphasis on the measurement methods and instrumentation rather than the flow phenomena. Additionally, topics such as calibration and uncertainty quantification are addressed. The section also covers data collection and processing, new approaches for data analysis, the development of analytical techniques for large datasets, and the statistical analysis of data.

This section encompasses broad topics involving two or more phases in the research, whether experimental, numerical, or both. Examples include cavitating flow, erosion, air injection, aeration, and the development of cavitation or erosion models. Please note that the study of cavitating vortex ropes falls under the separate section on “vortex breakdown.”

This section covers all topics related to pump-turbines, including fast transitions and phenomena occurring in both pump and turbine modes. It also addresses the use of centrifugal pumps as turbines, encompassing topics such as centrifugal pump design, optimization, performance, cavitation, suction circulation, blade design, vibration, NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head), and parallel or series operations.

Smart grid and digital twin, though distinct, are grouped in this section for simplicity. This section covers topics such as the hybrid operation of hydraulic turbines, isolated grid operations involving wind, solar, and hydro, and other smart grid aspects related to hydraulic turbines. It also includes hydropower digitization, automation, signal processing, and monitoring as part of a digital twin system. Additionally, the use of digital twins for predictive maintenance, fatigue loading assessments, and damage calculations falls under this section.

This section, while overlapping with the topic of “hydraulic turbines,” specifically emphasizes sustainability and the development of sustainable hydraulic turbines across various head, power, and discharge ranges. Examples include fish-friendly turbine designs, very low head turbines requiring minimal infrastructure, easy-to-install systems, hybrid options (hydro-wind-solar) for rural applications, environmentally friendly designs, the use of green materials for turbine components, mini and micro hydro solutions, and innovative technologies for sustainable hydro and energy-efficient applications.

This section addresses all topics related to vibration, resonance, damping, modal analysis, strain, and fatigue analysis. It includes the estimation of fatigue lifetime, crack development, stress-strain measurements, and comprehensive fatigue analysis.

This section focuses on vortex breakdown in hydraulic machinery, encompassing topics such as trailing edge vortices, inter-blade vortices, draft tube vortex ropes, leading edge vortices, and other related phenomena.

This section addresses topics not covered in the previous sections, including manufacturing techniques for hydraulic turbines and components, heat treatment, prototyping, scaling, surface roughness, blade materials and metallurgy, as well as issues related to refurbishment projects. It is crucial that the topics in this section are explicitly related to hydropower and hydraulic machinery; subjects outside the broad scope of the symposium will not be accepted.

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