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Hydraulic Jump

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Hydraulic jump



 
 
A hydraulic jump is a phenomenon in the science of hydraulics
Hydraulics

Hydraulics is a topic of science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Hydraulics is part of the more general discipline of fluid power....
 which is frequently observed in open channel flow such as rivers and spillways. When liquid at high velocity discharges into a zone of lower velocity, a rather abrupt rise (a step or standing wave) occurs in the liquid surface.






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Tryweryn Raft
A hydraulic jump is a phenomenon in the science of hydraulics
Hydraulics

Hydraulics is a topic of science and engineering dealing with the mechanical properties of liquids. Hydraulics is part of the more general discipline of fluid power....
 which is frequently observed in open channel flow such as rivers and spillways. When liquid at high velocity discharges into a zone of lower velocity, a rather abrupt rise (a step or standing wave) occurs in the liquid surface. The rapidly flowing liquid is abruptly slowed and increases in height converting some of the flow's initial kinetic energy into an increase in potential energy, with some energy irreversibly lost through turbulence to heat. In an open channel flow, this manifests as the fast flow rapidly slowing and piling up on top of itself similar to how a shockwave
Shock wave

A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field....
 forms.

The phenomenon is dependent upon the initial fluid speed. If the initial speed of the fluid is below the critical speed then no jump is possible. For initial flow speeds which are not significantly above the critical
Supercritical flow

A supercritical flow is when the flow velocity is larger than the wave velocity. The analogous condition in gas dynamics is supersonic.Information travels at the wave velocity....
 speed, the transition appears as an undulating wave. As the initial flow speed increases further, the transition becomes more abrupt, until at high enough speeds, the transition front will break and curl back upon itself. When this happens, the jump can be accompanied by violent turbulence, eddying, air entrainment, and surface undulations (waves
WAVES

The WAVES were a World War II-era division of the United States Navy that consisted entirely of women. The name of this group is an acronym for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" ; the word "emergency" implied that the acceptance of women was due to the unusual circumstances of the war and that at the end of the war the women...
).

There are two main manifestations of hydraulic jumps and historically different terminology has been used for each. However, the mechanisms behind them are similar because they are simply variations of each other seen from different frames of reference and so the physics and analysis techniques can be used for both types.

The different manifestations are:

  • The stationary hydraulic jump - rapidly flowing water transitions in a stationary jump to slowly moving water as shown in Figures 1 and 2.


  • The tidal bore
    Tidal bore

    A tidal bore is a tide phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current....
     - a wall or undulating wave of water moves upstream against water flowing downstream as shown in Figures 3 and 4. If considered from a frame of reference which moves with the wave front, you can see that this case is physically similar to a stationary jump.
A related case is a cascade - a wall or undulating wave of water moves downstream overtaking a shallower downstream flow of water as shown in Figure 5. If considered from a frame of reference which moves with the wave front, this is amenable to the same analysis as a stationary jump.

Hydraulic Jump in Sink
These phenomena are addressed in an extensive literature from a number of technical viewpoints.

Classes of hydraulic jumps

Turnagain Bore
Hydraulic jumps can be seen in both a stationary form, called a hydraulic jump and a dynamic or moving form, called a positive surge or "hydraulic jump in translation". They can be described using the same analytic approaches and are simply variants of a single phenomenon .

Moving hydraulic jump

A tidal bore
Tidal bore

A tidal bore is a tide phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current....
 (or bore) is a hydraulic jump which occurs when the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current . As is true for hydraulic jumps in general, bores take on various forms depending upon the difference in the waterlevel upstream and down, ranging from an undular wavefront to a shock-wave-like
Shock wave

A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field....
 wall of water. Figure 3 shows a tidal bore with the characteristics common to shallow upstream water - a large elevation difference is observed. Figure 4 shows a tidal bore with the characteristics common to deep upstream water - a small elevation difference is observed and the wavefront undulates. In both cases the tidal wave moves at the speed characteristic of waves in water of the depth found immediately behind the wave front.

Llyn Brianne Spillway
Another variation of the moving hydraulic jump is the cascade. In the cascade (an example of which is found in Figure 5), a series of roll waves or undulating waves of water moves downstream overtaking a shallower downstream flow of water.

Stationary hydraulic jump

The stationary hydraulic jump is most frequently seen on rivers and on engineered features such as outfalls of dams and irrigation works. They occur when a flow of liquid at high velocity discharges into a zone of the river or engineered structure which can only sustain a lower velocity. When this occurs, the water slows in a rather abrupt rise (a step or standing wave) on the liquid surface.

Comparing the characteristics before and after, one finds:

Descriptive Hydraulic Jump Characteristics
CharacteristicBefore the jumpAfter the jump
fluid speed supercritical (faster than the wave speed) subcritical
fluid height low high
flow typically smooth turbulent typically turbulent flow (rough and choppy)


The other stationary hydraulic jump is when a rapid flow encounters a submerged object which throws the water upwards. The mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
 behind this form is more complex and will need to take into account the shape of the object and the flow characteristics of the fluid around it.

Analysis of the hydraulic jump on a liquid surface

In spite of the apparent complexity of the flow transition, application of simple analytic tools to a two dimensional analysis are effective in providing analytic results which closely parallel both field and laboratory results. Analyses show
  • Height of the jump: the relationship between the depths before and after the jump as a function of flow rate.
  • Energy loss in the jump
  • Location of the jump on a natural or an engineered structure
  • Character of the jump: undular or abrupt


Height of the jump

There are several methods of predicting the height of a hydraulic jump.

They all reach common conclusions that:
  • The ratio of the water depth before and after the jump depend solely on the ratio of velocity of the water entering the jump to the speed of the wave over-running the moving water.
  • The height of the jump can be many times the initial depth of the water.


Applying the energy principle Assuming a two-dimensional situation with flow rate (q) as shown by Figure 7 below, the energy principle yield an expression of the energy loss in the hydraulic jump. Indeed hydraulic jumps are commonly used as energy dissipaters downstream of dam spillways .

Applying the Continuity Principle In fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics

In physics, fluid dynamics is the sub-discipline of fluid mechanics dealing with fluid flow — the natural science of fluids in motion....
, the equation of continuity is effectively an equation of conservation of mass
Conservation of mass

The law of conservation of mass/matter, also known as law of mass/matter conservation says that the mass of a closed system will remain constant, regardless of the processes acting inside the system....
. Considering any fixed closed surface within an incompressible moving fluid, the fluid flows into a given volume at some points and flows out at other points along the surface with no net change in mass within the space since the density is constant. We will assume a rectangular channel. The differential continuity equation, in Cartesian coordinates:

where ? is density, t is time, and v is fluid velocity.

Since the density is constant and we are considering only a 2-dimensional case, this integrates to:



or


Substituting yields a cubic equation which can be solved using Cardano’s method to determine that:



The conservation of momentum across the jump, assuming constant density, can be expressed as:



Where is the velocity field, and is the component of velocity perpendicular to the control volume surface.

Essentially, the time variation of momentum in the control volume bounded by and can be expressed as the difference of momentum fluxes entering and leaving the control volume. For a flow field that is everywhere parallel to z, has the same direction and magnitude as . Thus, . Also, for turbulent flow, . Additionally, we will only consider changes in x-momentum, so the last integral, which has only a z-component, need not be included in subsequent equations. With these simplifications, the expression for momentum conservation becomes:

Assuming a uniform velocity over the flow at and , which implies a surface normal vector , parallel to the flow,

The static pressure in the flow is simply the hydrostatic pressure, , where is the atmospheric pressure. The force caused by the atmospheric pressure will cancel across any boundary, so it need not be considered. The net force caused by the pressure acting on the control volume before and after the jump is:

The expression for conservation of momentum can now be written as:

Dividing by constant and introducing the result from continuity gives

Which, after some algebra, simplifies to:

Where . Solving this quadratic yields the same equation for as stated above.

Negative answers do not yield meaningful physical solutions, so this reduces to:



This produces three solutions:
  • When , then (i.e., there is no jump)
  • When , then (i.e., there is a negative jump - this can be shown as not conserving energy and is only physically possible if some force were to accelerate the fluid at that point)
  • When or , then (i.e., there is a positive jump)


Since , where is the dimensionless Froude number
Froude number

The Froude number is a dimensionless number comparing inertial and gravitational forces. It may be used to quantify the resistance of an object moving through water, and compare objects of different sizes....
, this is equivalent to the condition that . Since the is the speed of a shallow gravity wave
Gravity wave

In fluid dynamics, gravity waves are waves generated in a fluid medium or at the Interface between two media which has the restoring force of gravity or buoyancy....
, the condition that is equivalent to stating that the initial velocity represents supercritical flow
Supercritical flow

A supercritical flow is when the flow velocity is larger than the wave velocity. The analogous condition in gas dynamics is supersonic.Information travels at the wave velocity....
 (Froude number > 1) while the final velocity represents subcritical flow (Froude number < 1).

Jump height in terms of flow

The ratio of the flow height before the jump and after the jump can be simply expressed in terms of the Froude number of the incoming flow. The greater that the flow is supercritical
Supercritical

Supercritical may refer to:* Critical mass, the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction* Critical temperature, Tc, the temperature above which distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist...
, the more pronounced the jump will be.

known as Bélanger
Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Joseph Bélanger

Jean-Baptiste Charles Joseph B?langer was a France applied mathematician who worked in the areas of hydraulics and hydrodynamics. He was a professor at the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Ecole Polytechnique and ?cole des Ponts et Chauss?es in France....
 equation.

Practically this means that water accelerated by large drops can create stronger standing waves in the form of hydraulic jumps as it decelerates at the base of the drop. Such standing waves, when found downstream of a weir
Weir

A weir is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream. Weirs have traditionally been used to create Water mills in such places....
 or natural rock ledge, can form an extremely dangerous "keeper" with a water wall that "keeps" floating objects (e.g., logs, kayaks, or kayakers) recirculating in the standing wave for extended periods.

Alternate but equivalent approach applying the Impulse-Momentum Principle

A similar analysis, reaching exactly the same results, derives the same results starting with the impulse-momentum principle.







This equation yields the same overall relationship between jump height and Froude number.

Energy dissipation by a hydraulic jump

Stanthonyfalls Apron
One of the most important engineering applications of the hydraulic jump is to dissipate energy in channels, dam spillways, and similar structures so that the excess kinetic energy does not damage these structures. The rate of energy dissipation or head loss across a hydraulic jump is a function of the hydraulic jump inflow Froude number . The larger the jump as expressed in terms of its inflow Froude number, the greater the head loss.

Analytically , the fractional energy loss (FEL) can be expressed in terms of the Froude number for the incident flow as:



Since this is equivalent to concluding the energy loss can be predicted by predicting or measuring the speed and depth of the entering water.

Location of hydraulic jump in a streambed or an engineered structure


In the design of a dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
 the energy of the fast-flowing stream over a spillway
Spillway

A spillway is a structure used to provide for the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed....
 must be partially dissipated to prevent erosion
Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
 of the streambed downstream of the spillway, which could ultimately lead to failure of the dam. This can be done by arranging for the formation of a hydraulic jump to dissipate energy. To limit damage, this hydraulic jump normally occurs on an apron engineered to withstand hydraulic forces and to prevent local cavitation
Cavitation

Cavitation is defined as the phenomenon of formation of vapour bubbles of a flowing liquid in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure....
 and other phenomena which accelerate erosion.

In the design of a spillway and apron, the engineers select the point at which a hydraulic jump will occur. Obstructions (such as a lip) or slope changes are routinely designed into the apron to force a jump at a specific location. Obstructions are unnecessary as the slope change alone is normally sufficient. To trigger the hydraulic jump without obstacles, an apron is designed such that the flat slope of the apron retards the rapidly flowing water from the spillway. If the apron slope is insufficient to maintain the original high velocity, a jump will occur.

Clevelanddam Front
Two methods of designing an induced jump are common:

  • If the downstream flow is restricted by the down-stream channel such that water backs up onto the foot of the spillway, that downstream water level can be used to identify the location of the jump.


  • If the spillway continues to drop for some distance, but the slope changes such that it will no longer support supercritical flow, the depth in the lower subcritical flow region is sufficient to determine the location of the jump.


In both cases, the final depth of the water is determined by the downstream characteristics. The jump will occur if and only if the level of inflowing (supercritical) water level satisfies the condition:



' = fluid flow rate
g = acceleration due to gravity
G-force

The g-force of an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. The unit of measure used is informally but commonly known as the "gee" , symbolized as g . An acceleration of 1 g is generally considered as equal to standard gravity , which is defined as precisely metre per second square...
 (essentially constant for this case)
h = height
Height

Height is the measurement of vertical distance, but has two meanings in common use. It can either indicate how "tall" something is, or how "high up" it is....
 of the fluid ( = initial height while = final downstream height)


Applying wave theory to the hydraulic jump

In fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics

In physics, fluid dynamics is the sub-discipline of fluid mechanics dealing with fluid flow — the natural science of fluids in motion....
,
gravity waves are waves generated in a fluid
Fluid

A fluid is defined as a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress. All liquids and all gases are fluids. Fluids are a subset of the Phase and include liquids, gas, Plasma physics and, to some extent, plasticity ....
 which has as the restoring force
Force

In physics, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity. Force has both Euclidean_vector#Length of a vector and Direction , making it a Vector quantity....
, gravity. Gravity waves on an air-water interface are called surface gravity waves or surface wave
Surface wave

In physics, a surface wave is a mechanical wave that propagates along the interface between differing media, usually two fluids with different densities....
s. Hydraulic jumps, ocean waves and tsunamis can all be treated as examples of gravity waves.

The wave speed or celerity (speed of individual waves, as opposed to the speed of a group of waves) of gravity wave
Gravity wave

In fluid dynamics, gravity waves are waves generated in a fluid medium or at the Interface between two media which has the restoring force of gravity or buoyancy....
s in shallow water is given by:
  • which approaches for small h;
In which:
  • v = wave speed or celerity (m/s)
  • g = gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s˛ on Earth)
  • h = water depth (m)
  • wave number where is the wavelength
    Wavelength

    In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek language letter lambda ....
    .


The constraints on the approximation for the speed of a gravity wave as for shallow depths are:
  • For wavelengths close to or less than 1.7 cm the surface tension cannot be neglected so that this approximation is invalid.
  • For depths significantly greater than the wavelength, ?, of the wave the speed of the wave is governed only by the wavelength following the equation where g is the acceleration of gravity.


A hydraulic jump can be viewed as discontinuous waves of all frequencies (wavelengths), which are generated and propagate from a point near the jump. The waves propagate both upstream and downstream. Since a large fraction of the waves fall in a wavelength range where they are shallow water gravity waves that move at the same speed for a given depth, they move upstream at the same rate; however as the water shallows upstream, their speed drops quickly, limiting the rate at which they can propagate upstream to . Shorter wavelengths, which propagate more slowly than the speed of the wave in the deeper downstream water, are swept away downstream. A fairly wide range of wavelengths and frequencies are still present, so Fourier analysis would suggest that a relatively abrupt wave front can be formed and this is indeed observed in practice.

Viewing the hydraulic jump from a wave perspective provides another insight into the phenomena. When the incoming water speed is slow enough, a number of the longer wavelength waves propagate faster than the incoming flow, and can disperse
Dispersion

Dispersion can refer to:...
 upstream as well as downstream. The deeper the incoming water is the more pronounced the dispersion effect will be. Only a small subset of frequencies (wavelengths) will match the speed of the flow. This truncation of the Fourier spectrum results in a hydraulic jump characterized by undulating waves rather than an abrupt jump. When visible undulations are present, the wavelength of the visible undulations provide a direct indication of the speed of the water upstream of the hydraulic jump.

This characteristic behavior allows one to estimate the pre-jump water depth and water speed simply by observing the height of the jump, the characteristics of the jump, and correlating them as tabulated below. Such an “eyeball” estimate is routinely used by river runners while judging rapids; their conclusions are generally based on an intuitive sense rather than an analytic approach.

Tabular summary of the analytic conclusions


Hydraulic Jump Characteristics
Amount upstream flow is supercritical (i.e., prejump Froude Number) Ratio of height after to height before jumpDescriptive characteristics of jumpFraction of energy dissipated by jump
=1.0 1.0 No jump; flow must be supercritical for jump to occur none
1.0–1.7 1.0–2.0 Standing or undulating wave <5%
1.7–2.5 2.0–3.1 Weak jump (series of small rollers) 5% – 15%
2.5–4.5 3.1–5.9 Oscillating jump 15% – 45%
4.5–9.0 5.9–12.0 Stable clearly defined well-balanced jump 45% – 70%
>9.0 >12.0 Clearly defined, turbulent, strong jump 70% – 85%


NB: the above classification is very rough. Undular hydraulic jumps have been observed with inflow/prejump Froude numbers up to 3.5 to 4 .

Hydraulic jump variations

Although the previous discussion has focused on the straight-forward simple channel approximation, a number of variations are amenable to similar analyses as well. They also serve the important function of allowing the student to perform simple experiments with everyday objects.

Shallow fluid hydraulic jumps


The hydraulic jump in your sink Figure 2 above illustrates a daily example of a hydraulic jump can be seen in the sink. Around the place where the tap water hits the sink, you will see a smooth looking flow pattern. A little further away, you will see a sudden "jump" in the water level. This is a hydraulic jump.

The nature of this jump differs from those previously discussed in the following ways:
  • The water is flowing radially. As a result it continuously grows shallower and slows due to friction (the Froude number drops) up to the point where the jump occurs.
  • The flow depth is thin enough that the surface tension can no longer be neglected, changing the wave solution conclusions. The higher speed of the surface tension waves bleed off the high frequency component, making an undular jump the dominant form.


Changes in the behavior of the jump can be observed by changing the flow rate.

Internal wave hydraulic jumps


Hydraulic jumps in abyssal fan formation

Turbidity current
Turbidity current

A turbidity current or density current is a current of rapidly moving, sediment-laden water moving down a slope through air, water, or another fluid....
s can result in internal hydraulic jumps (i.e., hydraulic jumps as internal wave
Internal wave

Internal waves are gravity waves that oscillation within, rather than on the surface of, a fluid medium. They arise from perturbations to Hydrostatic_balance, where balance is maintained between the force of gravity and the buoyancy restoring force....
s in fluids of different density) in abyssal fan
Abyssal fan

Abyssal fans, also known as deep-sea fans, underwater deltas, and submarine fans, are underwater structures that look like river delta formed at the end of many large rivers, such as the Nile or Mississippi Rivers....
 formation. The internal hydraulic jumps have been associated with salinity or temperature induced stratification
Stratification (water)

Water stratification occurs when water of high and low salinity , as well as cold and warm water , forms layers that act as barriers to water mixing....
 as well as with density differences due to suspended materials. When the bed slope over which the turbidity current flattens, the slower rate of flow is mirrored by increased sediment deposition below the flow, producing a gradual backward slope (i.e., a slope which rises against the current). Where a hydraulic jump occurs, the signature is an abrupt backward slope, corresponding to the rapid reduction in the flow rate at the point of the jump.

Atmospheric hydraulic jumps

A related situation is the Morning Glory
Morning Glory

Morning Glory is a pre-Code United States drama film which tells the story of an eager but unstable would-be actress whose good looks draw more attention than her acting....
 cloud pattern observed, for example, in Northern Australia, sometimes called an undular jump.

Industrial and recreational applications for hydraulic jumps


Industrial

The hydraulic jump is the most commonly used choice of design engineers for energy dissipation below spillways and outlets. A properly designed hydraulic jump can provide for 60-70% energy dissipation of the energy in the basin itself, limiting the damage to structures and the streambed. Even with such efficient energy dissipation, stilling basins must be carefully designed to avoid serious damage due to uplift, vibration, cavitation
Cavitation

Cavitation is defined as the phenomenon of formation of vapour bubbles of a flowing liquid in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure....
, and abrasion. An extensive literature has been developed for this type of engineering.

Recreational

Spargo Frontsurf Kayak Playboating2006
While travelling down river, kayaking
Kayaking

Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking is generally differentiated from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle....
 and canoeing
Canoeing

Canoeing is the activity of Watercraft paddling a canoe for the purpose of recreation , sport, or Human-powered transport. It usually refers exclusively to using a paddle to propel a canoe with only human muscle power....
 paddlers will often stop and playboat
Playboating

Playboating is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where the paddler performs various technical moves in one place , as opposed to downriver whitewater kayaking where the objective is to travel the length of a section of river ....
 in standing waves and hydraulic jumps. The standing waves and shock fronts of hydraulic jumps make for popular locations for such recreation.

Similarly, kayakers and surfers
River surfing

River surfing is the sport of surfing either standing waves or tidal bores in rivers. Claims for its origins include a 1955 ride of 1.5 miles along the tidal bore of the River Severn....
 have been known to ride tidal bores
Tidal bore

A tidal bore is a tide phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current....
 up rivers.

See also

  • Shock wave
    Shock wave

    A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field....
  • Tidal bore
    Tidal bore

    A tidal bore is a tide phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the current....
  • Turbulence
    Turbulence

    In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic, stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time....
  • Laminar flow
    Laminar flow

    Laminar flow, sometimes known as Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines flow, occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between the layers....
  • Undular bore
    Undular bore

    In meteorology, an undular bore is a wave disturbance in the Earth's atmosphere and can be seen through unique cloud formations.Overview...


External links

  • , Hubert Chanson
    Hubert Chanson

    Hubert Chanson is a professor in hydraulic engineering and applied fluid mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland since 1990....
     (2009) in European Journal of Mechanics B/Fluids, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 191-210 (DOI: 10.1016/j.euromechflu.2008.06.004)