MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

The University of the South Pacific

School of Engineering and Physics
MM 222 – Fluid Mechanics

Lab 2: Impact of Jets

Lab Session Time: Monday 5-8pm

Student Name: Shiva Gounder, Eddie Alofipo,Pravishek Mani
Student ID#: s11171733,s111175132.s11171164

AIM

The purpose of this lab was to determine the force a water jet exerts on a plate of different geometry, to demonstrate
that the force on a vane is proportional to the rate of delivery off momentum and to show that you can predict the force
on a vane from a combination of its surface shape and the properties of the jet directed at it.

INTRODUCTION

Impact of jets is defined as the force exerted by the fluid jet on a plate. This plate may be flat, inclined or curved which
may be fixed or moving. Understanding the forces exerted on or by the moving fluid is essential for the analysis and
design of turbomachines. In this experiment a liquid will come out abruptly from the outlet of a nozzle fitted to a pipe
which the liquid is flowing under pressure. If a plate moving or fixed is placed in the path of the fluid, a force is exerted
by the fluid jet onto the plate creating it to move forward while the fluid repels. Through this experiment, we will
understand how the force obtained is from Newton’s second law of motion or from impulse-moment equation which
can be seen below and how the force will vary with the different shaped vanes.

𝐹 = 𝑚(𝑉1 − 𝑉2 )
𝐹 = 𝜌𝐴𝑉(𝑉1 − 𝑉2 )

Further deriving and simplifying to give the general equation for the force exerted by the impinging fluid jet.
𝐹 = 𝜌𝐴𝑉[𝑉 − (−𝑉 cos 𝛼)]
𝐹 = 𝜌𝐴𝑉 2 (1 + cos 𝛼)

𝑉1 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑗𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑉

𝑉2 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑗𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑒

Water turbines are widely utilized throughout the world for power generation. Here, fluid under pressure is allowed to
strike the vanes of a turbine wheel. Mechanical work can be engendered from this. Rotational motion is then engendered
by the force generated as the jet strikes the vanes. One of the most conventional types of water turbine is the Pelton
wheel. Here, water jets are tangentially directed on to buckets or vanes that can be fastened on the rim of the turbine
disc. The impact of water on the vanes engenders a torque on the wheel causing it to rotate and to develop power. The
output of a pelton wheel can be easily expressed and it is possible to determine its optimum rotational speed. Moreover,
it is possible to understand how the deflection of the jet engenders a power on the vanes or buckets and how the force
is related to the rate of momentum flow in the jet. The aim of this paper is to determine the impulse momentum theorem
as it applies to the impact of a water jet on vanes with different geometrical shapes

Lab Report Page 1

MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

There have been several studies on impact of jet. The previous studies related to the impact of jet are shown below: A
report made for Swinburne University which was uploaded by Roshane Nanayakkara [1] used impact of jet apparatus
with hydraulic bench. The apparatus was located on top of the hydraulic bench. The higher water jet velocity produced
a higher force exerted onto the target vane. When the graphs of theoretical force versus experimental force were plotted,
all the vanes except the hemispherical one gave a gradient very close to 1. The hemispherical one gave a gradient of
1.92. Most of the experimental errors were below 25%. It was also observed that the experimental force was at all
instances higher than the theoretically required force. The experimental results and the theoretically calculated values
were similar within experimental error and proved the law of conservation of momentum. Qusai Waleed Al-Qudah [2]
investigated the impact of jet by using flat plate and hemispherical cup. The objective of the investigation was to
experimentally determine the force required to keep a flat plate at a datum level while it is subjected to the impact of jet
and to compare the experimentally measured force with the analytically calculated force from the control volume form
of the linear momentum equation. According to the investigation, when the volumetric flow rate was increased, the force
resulted from the impact of the jet on both the flat plate and the hemispherical cup was increased.

Some measured value of the jet force showed larger values than the predicted one due to errors in taking the reading
and losses in the experiment apparatus. Measurement of Flow Rate and Impact Force on Different… www.ijmrem.com
IJMREM Page 23 These losses were used in calculating the experiment efficiency which showed values of 0.8 for the
flat plate and 0.83 for the hemispherical cup. Stephen Mirdo [3] experimentally investigated the impact of jet. The
objective of the investigation was to determine the force exerted by a jet of water on a stationary vane and compare the
experimental results to the theoretical results. By controlling the velocity vector of the fluid jet, the Pelton bucket was
able to extract more energy from the moving fluid by changing its linear momentum. The theoretical and experimental
forces had a significant percentage of error. Most of this error was due to the theoretical calculations neglecting the force
of gravity on the jet of water. However, after the fluid obtained any height above the nozzle, the force of gravity acted
on it and decreased the velocity. The reduction in velocity was determined by using Bernoulli’s equation. Ravi Agarwal
[4] investigated the impact of jet by using flat plate and hemispherical vane. The aim of the investigation was to
determine the impulse momentum theorem as it applied to the impact of a water jet on vanes with different geometrical
shapes.

The force on the jet for different weights and shape of vanes was calculated theoretically and observed experimentally.
It was found that the force for the hemispherical vane was more than that of the flat plate. Vrushiket Patil [5] also
investigated the impact of jet by using flat plate and hemispherical vane. The aim of the investigation was to study the
relation between the force produced and the change of momentum when a jet strikes a vane and to compare between
force exerted by a jet on a flat plate and on a hemispherical surface. It was found that experimentally force exerted by
jet on hemispherical vane was more than that of flat plate and almost double to that of flat plate force. When the weight
on the plates increased, higher impact velocity or jet velocity was required to counter balance the force. A report
uploaded by John Conor [6] shows the experimental investigation of impact of jet. The aim of the investigation was to
study the jet forces impacting against stationary deflectors. Plate, hemisphere and slope deflectors were used for this
investigation. Before the investigation was carried out, a quick inspection was performed to ensure that unit was in
proper operating condition.

When comparing the three types of deflectors, the flow rate for the hemisphere was found to be the lowest and thus
required a longer time for the volumetric tank to rise from 20 to 30 litres. Shaho Abdul qadir [7] investigated the impact
of jet. The objective of the investigation was to study the relation between the force produced and the change of
momentum when a jet strikes a vane. Moreover, a comparison was made between force exerted by a jet on a flat plate
and on a hemispherical surface. It was seen that the hemispherical cup was more efficient for using in a turbine than the
flat plate. Moreover, the water exiting the cup was collided with water entering the cup which could reduce the force.

Lab Report Page 2

MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

So, the cup was made in angles less than 180◦. The predicted value of the Jet force showed larger values than the
measured one.

Figure 1: Impact of Jet Apparatus

EQUIPMENT

1. Base Plate
2. Inlet connection
3. Drain connection
4. Perspex vessel
5. Nozzle
6. Deflector
7. Lever mechanism
8. Loading weights
9. 120 ° Flat
10. Hemisphere
11. Cone

METHODOLOGY

Firstly, set up the by connecting Impact of Jet apparatus to the hydraulic bench and fir the first plate which is the flat
plate. Switch on the pump and open the tap to adjust the flow of the fluid. Carefully add mass at the weight pan to level
the reference point and the indicated level gauge. Record the mass used to level the reference point and indicated level
gauge. Then collect 10L of water from the collecting tank and record the time taken using a stopwatch. Use four different
flow rates and repeat the same steps for the flat plate until one table is filled. Repeat the steps from the beginning except
replace the flat plate with a 120o Cone and Hemisphere and record the results.

Lab Report Page 3

MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 flat
Volume of Water Time Q Velocity Mass Force Exp Force Theo
(L) (s) (𝑚3 /𝑠) (m/s) (kg) (N) (N)
5 24.65 2.03×10−4 4.03 0.055 0.54 0.82
5 21.2 2.36×10−4 4.69 0.18 1.77 1.10
5 16.03 3.12×10−4 6.2 0.26 2.55 1.93

Table 1 120° cone

Volume of Water Time Q Velocity Mass Force Exp Force Theo

(L) (s) (𝑚3 /𝑠) (m/s) (kg) (N) (N)
5 24.65 2.03×10−4 4.03 0.125 1.23 1.23
5 21.2 2.36×10−4 4.69 0.27 2.65 1.65
5 16.03 3.12×10−4 6.2 0.415 4.07 2.90

Table 1 Hemisphere

Volume of Water Time Q Velocity Mass Force Exp Force Theo

(L) (s) (𝑚3 /𝑠) (m/s) (kg) (N) (N)
5 24.65 2.03×10−4 4.03 0.155 1.52 1.64
5 21.5 2.36×10−4 4.69 0.29 2.84 2.20
5 16.03 3.12×10−4 6.2 0.47 4.61 3.86

The following dimensions and values were used in the calculation.

diameter = 8 mm
volume = 5L = 0.005 𝑚𝑚3
time = 16.03 s
ρwater = 998 kg/𝑚3
mass = 0.26

Sample Calculations
Area
𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2
2
= 𝜋(4 × 10−3 )
= 5.03× 10−5 𝑚𝑚2
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑄
Q= velocity =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎
0.005 3.12×10−4
= 16.03 = 5.03×10−5
= 3.12 × 10−4 𝑚3 /𝑠 = 6.20m/s

Lab Report Page 4

MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

Theoretical (flat) Experimental

F = ρ𝐴𝑉 2 F = mg
= (998) (5.03× 10−5)(6.2)2 = (0.26) (9.81)
= 1.93N = 2.55N
Theoretical (cone) Theoretical (hemisphere)
F = 1.5 ρ𝐴𝑉 2 F =2 ρ𝐴𝑉 2
= (1.5) (998) (5.03× 10−5)(6.2)2 = (2) (998) (5.03× 10−5)(6.2)2
= 2.895N = 3.86N

Graph of Force(experimental) against Velocity squared

5
4.5
Force(Experimental) (N)

4
3.5
3
2.5
2 Flat
1.5 Cone

1 Hemisphere

0.5
0
15 20 25 30 35 40
Velocity squared (m/s)

In the given graph above the green dotted line represents the graph of force of hemisphere plate against velocity
and the red dotted line represents the graph of force of cone plate against velocity. The blue dotted line represents
the graph of force of flat plate against velocity. There was a slow increase in the velocity of the 3 plates. The
velocity was calculated by dividing the flow rate with area. Although the experiment was successfully done, there
also were some errors that happen and might happen when we conduct the experiment. Some of the error might
occur because of parallax error. There was a slight difference between the experimental and theoretical force of
the vanes due to the errors during the experiment

With the measurement taken, it can lower to the minimum error rand get accurate reading to avoid the great
difference of gradient of slope value. However, in this experiment we have success to that when the greater
surface area of vane plate, the larger the forces that can with stand by the plate.

Lab Report Page 5

MM 222 Fluid Mechanics

CONCLUSION

The main target of this paper is to focus on the experimental analysis of the impact of water jet on different types of
vanes. Impact of jet apparatus is utilized to demonstrate the way in which fluid force is being utilized for generating a
force. The force can turn a turbine. Moreover, it is possible to convert the kinetic energy in a flowing fluid from a nozzle
to a rotary motion of the turbine with the help of vanes fitted on shaft of the turbine. The jet is directed to vane of turbine
wheel that is rotated by the force generates due to change of momentum of the fluid according to Newton’s second law
of motion [8]. The principle is used in designing impulse turbine; part of the fluid energy is transformed to kinetic energy
in a nozzle that issues a jet of fluid at high speed [8]. The experiment was done successfully, even though the data
collected were a little bit difference compared to the theoretical values. These variations are due to human and servicing
factors such as parallax error. Moreover, dirty water container may create error. Additionally, error may be introduced
due to stop watch use and viscosity effects. In order to reduce the differences between the theoretical and experimental
value of forces, some recommendations may be taken. The position of the observer’s eye must be 90° perpendicular to
the focusing object. It is necessary to ensure that the apparatus functioning perfectly in order to get an accurate result. It
is necessary to ensure constant water supply of pump. The time should be measured very carefully with the help of stop
watch.

REFERENCE
[1] Roshane Nanayakkara, Impact of Jet, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/38008443/Impact-of-Jet

[2] Quasi Waleed Al-Qudah, Impact of Jet, Hydraulics Laboratory [internet], The University of Jordan (Faculty of
Engineering and Technology), accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from: www.icivilhu.com/Civil-
team/Structures%20Section/Impact%20of%20jet.pdf

[3] Stephen Mirdo, Impact of a Jet of Water, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/48248022/Impact-of-a-Jet-of-Water

[4] Ravi Agarwal, Impact of Jet Vanes, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/65108627/Fluid-Mechanics-Impact-of-Jet-Vanes-experiment

[5] Vrushiket Patil, Impact of Jet on Vanes, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020,, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/71242319/Impact-of-Jet-on-Vanes

[6] John Conor, Impact of a Jet Lab Report, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/51634941/Impact-Of-A-Jet-Lab-Report

[7] Shaho Abdul Qadir, Impact of a Jet, Scribd [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.scribd.com/document/71328788/Impact-of-a-Jet

[8] The Impact of Jet Apparatus, Project [internet], accessed: 14 September, 2020, available from:
https://www.iproject.com.ng/mechanical-engineering/the-impact-of-jet-apparatus/index.html

Lab Report Page 6