Explain the working principle of shunt generator?

A shunt generator is a machine with a rotating set of coils of wire embedded in the iron core in its armature (the spinning part), and a 'commutator' and brushes that carry the current from the (spinning) windings on the armature to the stationary external electrical load. It also has a 'field' winding that creates a stationary magnetic field inside the machine, that the armature coils are spun in. As the windings spin, they cut the stationary field and generate an alternating voltage. As well as providing a moving connection to the coils, the commutator and brushes act like a switch, reversing the connections from the coils to the external circuit each time the waveform changes polarity from positive to negative and vice versa. This creates direct current in the external circuit and load.

In a shunt generator, the field windings are connected in parallel with the armature ('shunt' is a common term for 'in parallel') and the field gets its power ('excitation') from the armature - the machine is 'self-excited'. A self-excited generator needs a small 'residual field' in the field's iron core so it can generate a small output from the armature when starting, which is fed to the field, boosting the armature output, which is fed to the field.... and so on, until the field iron core saturates with flux, and the field stops strengthening.

Shunt generators are the 'workhorse of the small generator market - they are cheap and simple, have an output voltage that 'droops' a little with increasing load, and most shunt generators can safely be short-circuited - this takes the electrical energy away from the field, and the armature can usually develop only a small output current - not enough to damage it.