Math 222 Spring 2016, Additional Engineering Applications of

Di↵erential Equations

1 Leaking Bucket
This engineering application may be used to augment the materials in §2.3: Modeling with
First Order Equations. This application is problem # 6 in §2.3.
The leaking bucket in figure 1 can be described by investigating the water level h(t) as
a function of time. The volume conservation of water in the system is represented by the

Figure 1: Sketch of a leaking bucket.

balance of volumetric flow rate Q as follows:

Qin Qout = Qstored . (1)

In the case when no water is flowing into the tank, Qin = 0, we obtain

Qstored = Qout . (2)

The volumetric flow rate Qstored can be calculated by multiplying the velocity by the area of
the tank
dh(t)
Qstored = Atank . (3)
dt
Qout is computed by multiplying the flow velocity by the area of the spout Aspout

Qout = Aspout v(t), (4)

1
where v(t) is the velocity of water coming out of the p
straw. For fluids of height h(t), the
velocity of water coming out at the bottom is v(t) = 2gh(t). Therefore we arrive at the
governing equation for h(t) as

dh(t) p
Atank = Aspout 2gh. (5)
dt
Rearranging terms, we obtain the following equation

dh(t) p
= K h, (6)
dt
p
with K = AAspout
tank
2g > 0. Before solving equation 6, we observe that the water height is
decreasing with time as dh
dt
< 0 for all h 0. With the initial condition h(0) = h0 , equation 6
can be solved by separation of variables as follows.
dh p dh
= K h, ! p = Kdt. (7)
dt h
Integrating both sides
Z Z p
dh
p = Kdt, ! 2 h= Kt + c, (8)
h
p
where the integration constant c = 2 h0 . Thus the water height can be expressed explicitly
in terms of time as ✓p ◆2
Kt
h(t) = h0 . (9)
2
Note that
p
the solution h(t) in equation 9 decreases from the initial height h0 , and at time
2 h0
tend = K , the water is completely drained out (by gravity) and h(tend ) = 0.

2 Forced Vibrations