A hydraulic ram pump, ram pump, or hydram is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device uses the water hammer effect to develop pressure that allows a portion of the input water that powers the pump to be lifted to a point higher than where the water originally started. The hydraulic ram is sometimes used in remote areas, where there is both a source of low-head hydropower and a need for pumping water to a destination higher in elevation than the source. In this situation, the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the kinetic energy of flowing water.
Valve arrangement of the Papa hydraulic ram pump
Figure 1: A John Blake's hydram that drives a fountain at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Hydraulic ram, System Lambach now at Roscheider Hof Open Air Museum
Hydraulic shock is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly; a momentum change. It is usually observed in a liquid but gases can also be affected. This phenomenon commonly occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe.
Effect of a pressure surge on a float gauge
Expansion joints on a steam line that have been destroyed by steam hammer
Typical pressure wave caused by closing a valve in a pipeline