Engineering 370A

Fluids Mechanics
Lab Report #3:
Impact Jet

Dário da Silva
Section #1
Date of Lab: September 24, 2018
Data of submission: October 7, 2018
Instructor: Gaurav Lamichhane
 Table of Contents
Objective…………………………………………………………………………………………..3
Theory…………………………………………………………………………….……………….3
Apparatus………………………………………………………………………………………….5
Procedure………………………………………………………………………………………….5
Results……………………………………………………………………………………………..6
Discussions …………………………………………………………………………………….....7
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…………………..8
References………………………...…………………………………….…………………………9

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 Objective
1- The objective is to calculate the reactive force on a plate using linear momentum
equation.
2- Compare the computed results with the observed values.
3- To understand how this force affects the rate of momentum flow in the jet.

Theory
When a jet of water (that is flowing at a constant velocity) hits a solid surface, there is a
deflection on the water flow along the surface. During the process, if friction is neglected by
assuming that the liquid is non-viscous, and that there are no losses of fluid due to shock; then
the magnitude of the water velocity is unaffected. The pressure exerted by the water on the solid
surface will everywhere be at right angles to the surface. Consider a jet of water which impacts
on to a target surface causing the direction of the jet to be changed through a right angle (figure
1). The force of impulse exerted on the target will be equal and opposite to the force which acts
on the water to impart the change in direction.

Figure 1: Liquid Jet Deflected by a

Stationary Plate

For the experiment it was assumed that the pressure in the “streams leaving the control
volume is equal to that entering the control volume, and that surface resistance of the plate does
not affect the velocity of the jet, (Nicklow 2010).” Because the entire experiment was performed
vertically (as demonstrated on figure 1), the summation of forces acting on the x direction are
neglected, and the linear momentum equation can be transformed as (image 2):

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 Linear Momentum Equation (figure
2)
Fy- force of the jet being applied on the plate
P- density of the liquid
Vy- velocity of flow
Q- flow rate
W- is the reactive force being applied by the plate
From the linear momentum equation, a formula was developed to calculate the reactive
force w. The results obtained was later compared to the theoretical w force. Other formulas were
also applied for the calculations:
Volume
Q=
t
2
πd
NA =
4
Q
NV =
NA

t- time
d-diameter
NA- Nozzle Area
NV- Nozzle Velocity
Based on the experiment, the expected results should have a considerable gap of
difference due to reading errors during the experiment. Because of that, the % errors between
Wexp and Wtheo have an average of almost 48% errors. Despite the mistakes, the theoretical
weight presented the highest result of the experiment dur the smallest margin of errors possible.
Apparatus

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 Apparatus Placed on support table Apparatus Components (Zaharr)

The nozzle and vane are positioned inside the transparent cylinder, and beneath of the
cylinder there is a pipe from which the flow is directed to the measuring tank. As shown in the
figure (Apparatus Components (Zaharr), the vane is supported by a lever which carries the
jockey weight, and which is controlled by a spring. The lever can be balanced by placing the
jockey weight at its zero position, and then adjusting the knurled nut above the spring, (Zaharr).

Procedure
As mentioned on the laboratory manual, the procedures for the experiment are:
1- Open the discharge valve and turn on the electrical switch to start the pump motor
2- Fill the tank with water and record the diameter of the nozzle as 0.40 inches.
3- Once a steady state condition has been reached, record the time required to fill the
22’x11.75’ section of the thank to a particular depth. Using the thank dimensions, depth
of water in the tank, and elapsed time, the volumetric flowrate can be computed.

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 4- Pour a small amount of lead shot, to be used as the applied (W), into the designated cup
and place the cup on the spring apparatus. The corresponding experimental reactive force
is found by weighing the cup and the lead shot.
5- Use the pump valve to incrementally increase or decrease the flow rate and repeat steps
(3) and (4) for 6 trials.
Results
Tank
Depth Depth Tank Vol Tank Vol Time Flowrate
Trial No Depth (ft) Area
(in (m) (ft3) (m3) (sec) (m3/s)
(ft3)
0.0084714
1 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 2.35 0.00360488
6
0.0084714
2 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 1.27 0.00667044
6
0.0084714
3 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 1.21 0.0070012
6
0.0084714
4 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 1.06 0.00799194
6
0.0084714
5 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 1.17 0.00724056
6
0.0084714
6 2 0.0508 0.16666667 1.795 0.29916667 0.58 0.01460596
6

Nozzl
Mass Mass Velocity Nozzle Nozzle Vel
W exp (N) e Dia W theo (N) % Error
(g) (Kg) (m/s) Area (m2) (m/s)
(m)
23.9 0.0239 0.0216170 0.07792666
0.2350476 0.008 0.00008103 44.4870042 -66.8464323
6 6 2 5
36.3 0.0363 0.26681753
0.3562992 0.04 0.008 0.00008103 82.3184722 -25.1141908
2 2 9
48.0 0.0480 0.0419834 0.29393484
0.4713705 0.008 0.00008103 86.40038 -37.6425027
5 5 7 7
51.7 0.0517 0.0479245 0.38300997
0.5080599 0.008 0.00008103 98.6268488 -24.6132246
9 9 3 6
69.1 0.0691 89.354239 0.31437651
0.6780672 0.0434188 0.008 0.00008103 -53.636378
2 2 1 3
73.3 0.0733 0.0875862 1.27928064 77.7129656
0.7198578 0.008 0.00008103 180.249069
8 8 1 5 5
Average
             
Error 47.5942823

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 W vs Velocity
1.4
1.2
1
0.8 WTheo
W

0.6 Wexp
0.4
0.2
0
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Nozzle Velocity

The results obtained on the chart were calculated

Figure 5using the equations provided on the

theory section. As explained (on the theory section), the results of the comparison between Wexp
and Wtheo were not as accurate due to reading and human errors. As presented on the chart, the
weight growth of the calculated W (Wexp) because the rate of increase of the added weight
(figure 5), was not significant enough to create a perfectly increasing slope on the graph (figure
5):

W exp (N) Nozzle Vel

(m/s)
0.2350476
44.4870042
0.3562992
82.3184722
0.4713705
86.40038
0.5080599
98.6268488
0.6780672
89.354239
0.7198578
1
180.249069
Figure 6
Despite the mistake shown in figure 5, an increasing pattern can be noticed for the nozzle
velocity which helped define the graph pattern for both Wexp and Wtheo as shown on the graph
(Image 5). The gap between both results can also be seen on the error section of the chart. An
average of almost 48% was calculated. An assumption was made that the gap is due to the
measured weight results.
Discussion
Compared to the expected results, the presented ones where not accurate. Analyzing the
rise of the graph we can see that the values for Wexp and Wtheo rise togheter with the exception
of trial 5 in which a reading an weighing mistake was made. Even though the results are not

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equal, the gaps allow us to see a similarity in both weights which proves that in a perfect
scenario, both results are equal.
Many factors can be pointed to explain the ambiguities on the presented results and
among them are: 
1- Error when taking readings for time.
 
2- Parallax error when leveling the device

3- Broken scale (could have provided wrong weights for Wexp)

Conclusion
In conclusion, the objective of calculating the reactive force using the linear equation was
met. On the other hand, theoretically the results for Wexp and Wtheo should have been the same
but due to the errors mentioned previously, that was not possible. Despite the various problems,
from the experience we could see that as flow increases times decreases, the reactive weight
affects the flow rate of the water and that as weight increases the time decreases. For better
results the recommendations are:
1- Accuracy in collecting the data
2- Better accuracy when increasing the weight for the Wexp

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 References
1- Nicklow, John. ENGR 370 Engineering Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Manual. pp. 17–
18, ENGR 370 Engineering Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Manual.
2- Zaharr, Kyra Claire. Impact of a Jet. vol. 1, Impact of a
Jet. https://www.scribd.com/document/64894337/IMPACT-OF-A-JET-report