Hydraulic Jump ReportT
Hydraulic Jump ReportT
Hydraulic Jump ReportT
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................. 5
Introduction............................................................................................................................ 5
Apparatus............................................................................................................................... 7
Methodology........................................................................................................................... 8
Results................................................................................................................................... 8
Analysis.................................................................................................................................. 9
Discussion............................................................................................................................ 15
Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 16
References........................................................................................................................... 16
List of tables
Table 3: Comparison between depths before and after the hydraulic jump............................9
List of figures
This report presents a laboratory experiment for the formation of a hydraulic jump beneath
an undershot weir to firmly explore the effect of various factors on the nature of a hydraulic
jump. The experiment illustrated the behavior of supercritical flow under a weir for various
flow rates and upstream depths. Ten runs were carried out to investigate the computations
regarding conjugate depth, critical depth, changes in specific energy and conservation of
momentum. The type of jump attributed to the various upstream Froude numbers has been
obtained as well.
To visualize the hydraulic jump phenomena when water flows beneath and undershot
weir
To calculate critical depth, upstream depth, downstream depth and produce specific
Introduction
A hydraulic jump occurs in an open channel such as a spillway or a river. Fluid flowing from
a region of high velocity to one of low velocity experiences a sudden rise in height. The high
velocity fluid converts a portion of its kinetic energy into potential energy while a percentage
of energy is lost through heat. Its formation is similar to that of a shock wave as fast flowing
The initial velocity of the fluid determines the formation of a hydraulic jump. For the
phenomena to occur, this initial velocity has to be greater than the critical speed. When it is
lower, the transition occurs as an undulating wave. With increasing initial velocities, the
transition gets more sudden, until the critical speed when the transition front breaks and
An undershot weir is a good example of the formation of a hydraulic jump where fluid flow
experiences high velocity under gates with a small upstream depth and reaches a higher
conjugate depth downstream far from the gate and at a lower velocity. The parameter
Froude number shows the differing flow velocities; supercritical flow occurs at Froude
number greater than 1 while subcritical flow is shown by Froude numbers less than 1.
accumulation is associated with high velocity which may cause scour and bed erosion.
Downstream, the flow velocity is reduced which prevents this. Research by (Gyewoon,
Choi, H, & S, 2015) have shown the effects of various types of gate openings and empirical
Flume)
The glass sided tilting flume was made horizontal with the downstream tiling weir placed on
the bottom. The undershot weir was positions 20mm higher than the channel bed with the
The flow control valve was turned on slowly to ensure the flow just starts rising upstream of
the weir. The downstream flow level was also adjusted until a hydraulic jump formed. This
The upstream depth (y1), downstream depth (y2), depth just before the weir and flow (Q)
Results
the bed of a channel, the resulting expression is the specific energy for that flow indicated by
2
V
E. E= y + . Where y is the flow depth, V is the velocity of flow and g is the gravitational
2g
acceleration. At a certain flow depth (yc), the specific energy is minimum and the Froude
V
Fr=
number (Fr)
√ g
A . Where A if the flow area and T is the maximum width of the channel.
T
In an open channel flow points where critical depth occurs coincide with changes from sub-
critical to super-critical flow. When the channel slope changes from mild to steep, in the
upstream section the flow is subcritical at normal depth while downstream it is supercritical
at a lower normal depth. These flows occur on either ends of a region of varied flow with a
When the slopes are reversed such that a steep slope discharges onto a mild one, upstream
and downstream from the point of slope reversal will have normal depths. In the region of
occurrence of critical depth, a hydraulic jump occurs to dissipate the higher energy from the
supercritical flow.
√
yc= 3
q2
g∗b
2
Table 2: Critical depths
1 9.500 0.0095
0.047
2 9.143 0.009143
0.046
3 9.015 0.009015
0.045
4 8.732 0.008732
0.044
5 8.458 0.008458
0.043
6 8.022 0.008022
0.042
7 7.840 0.00784
0.041
8 7.584 0.007584
0.040
9 7.330 0.00733
0.039
10 6.636 0.006636
0.037
Comparison between y1, yc and y2
Table 3: Comparison between depths before and after the hydraulic jump
Experiment number Y1 yc Y2
1 0.022 0.097
0.047
2 0.020 0.092
0.046
3 0.019 0.095
0.045
4 0.025 0.095
0.044
5 0.022 0.087
0.043
6 0.020 0.085
0.042
7 0.023 0.087
0.041
8 0.021 0.078
0.040
9 0.020 0.076
0.039
10 0.022 0.065
0.037
How distance from gate to start of jump varies for constant discharge rates
In a constant discharge scenario, the distance from the gate to start of the jump is varied to
the following results; there appears to be no appreciable difference in the nature of the jump
provided the flow is kept contsant. This is in spite of varying the distance to the gate. What it
suggests is that a hydraulic jump is not affected by conditions upstream, rather by the result
Q y E
0.022 0.128
0.097 0.102
0.02 0.138
0.092 0.098
0.045 0.068
0.095 0.100
0.025 0.094
0.095 0.100
0.022 0.106
0.087 0.092
0.020 0.111
0.085 0.090
0.023 0.089
0.081 0.086
0.021 0.095
0.078 0.083
0.020 0.096
0.076 0.081
0.022 0.074
0.065 0.071
SPECIFIC ENERGY CURVES
0.12
0.1 1
2
0.08 3
4
5
DEPTH
0.06
6
0.04 7
8
9
0.02
10
0
0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.16
SPECIFIC ENERGY
From the curves, as the flow increases, the specific energy curve moves right because
0.0095
0.128 0.102 0.049
0.009143
0.138 0.098 0.051
0.009015
0.146 0.100 0.061
0.008732
0.094 0.100 0.036
0.008458
0.106 0.092 0.036
0.008022
0.111 0.090 0.040
0.00784
0.089 0.086 0.026
0.007584
0.095 0.083 0.028
0.00733
0.096 0.081 0.029
0.006636
0.074 0.071 0.014
From the results, a higher flow causes a greater change in specific energy after the
hydraulic jump.
V
Fr= Where V is the flow velocity, g is the gravitational acceleration and y is the flow
√ gy
depth.
When the Froude number is greater before the jump, this relates to a higher specific energy.
When the jump occurs, to transform the flow to subcritical, the energy dissipated is thereby
greater.
Momentum before and after hydraulic jumps
d 2 Q2
Momentum equation: M = +
2 g∗d
The upstream depth was varied depending on the flow rate throughout the experiment. For a
hydraulic jump to occur, there has to be a change in the flow condition. The flows before the
jump were found to have supercritical according to the Froude numbers. These were found
to be above 1. As they pass under the undershot weir, various flow properties change such
as velocity, flow depth and hence Froude number. Most of the jumps in the various
experiments were found to be oscillating jumps.
The momemtum function dictates that M 1−M 2=0for flow through the transition. This is
provided that there exists no external forces apart from hydrostatic pressure forces acting on
the fluid. Momentums before and after the jumps were seen to differ and this is not the case
in a theoritical study. The equation used is obtained from Newton’s second law. This
disrepancy can be attributed to slight errors during measurements of depths and flow and
exertion of external forces during measurement.
The hydraulic jump facilitates a decrease in the specific energy . This is the energy
dissipation that occurs during a jump. The two depths before and after the jump are the
conjugate depths. The blockage by the weir produces a subcritical flow downstream,
allowing the fluid to travel at a higher velocity. As the channel dimensions remain constant
throughout the experiment, and to maintain the flow rate, the fluid depth increases after the
jump.
On comparing the impact of flow rates, the specific energy attained is greater at higher flows.
This corresponds to a higher Froude number which is supercritical flow. To attain a
subcritical flow, more energy is needed to dissipated to reduce the flow number to less than
one. The results prove this greater energy dissipation.
A control structure is designed to vary the depth of water past the critical depth with the
intention of fixing a specific discharge to a certain depth. These control structures, such as
weirs and sluice gates, force a hydraulic jump to occur. The loss of energy is useful
downstream of a dam to reduce erosion of the river bed. In irrigation channels, forcing a
hydraulic jump to occur increases the water level downstream, enabling greater water force.
In water treatment plants, a hydraulic jump is induced to enable water aeration. This also
allows the mixing of treatment chemicals.
How Froude’s number relates to differences in conjugate depths
It has been observed that the depths before the jumps are always lower than those after the
jump. For a constant discharge depth, the flow upstream is supercritical (Froude number
greater than 1) and that downstream is subcritical (Froude number less than 1). The specific
energy in the initial depth is greater than that in the downstream depth by an amount
comparable to the change in energy/ Energy loss. The greater the differences in depths, the
greater the differences in Froude number and subsequently the greater the energy loss.
Conclusion
Use of hydraulic jumps
Hydraulic jumps causes a reversal in the flow of water and this can be useful in
The loss in energy is useful in dams as this prevents the scouring of the downstream
section of a dam structure. Spillways increase the slope of flow, hence the velocity
and the specific energy. When the jump occurs, a large amount of energy is
dissipated downstream which increases the depth of water and reduces its velocity.
The experiment showed the occurrence of a hydraulic jump and the changes in specific
energy that occur due to this phenomenon. It was seen that a lower specific energy is
related to greater water depth. Most of the jumps that occurred in the various flow rates were
classified as oscillating. However, the momentum equation was not proven as the
References
1. Armfield. (2015). Hydrolics and Hydrology S-Series. Standard teaching and research
flume – S6-MKIII.
3. Gyewoon, K., Choi, H, P., & S, B. (2015). Hydraulic jump and energy dissipation with
a sluice gate. Water, 5115-5135.