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Mechanics of Fluids

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428 Flow with a free surface<br />

Fig. 10.12<br />

Fig. 10.13<br />

upstream and downstream <strong>of</strong> the obstruction. In certain circumstances, tidal<br />

action may cause a surge, known as a bore, in large estuaries and rivers,<br />

for example, the River Severn. A positive wave is one that results in an<br />

increase in the depth <strong>of</strong> the stream; a negative one causes a decrease in depth.<br />

Let us consider the simple positive surge illustrated in Fig. 10.12. To avoid<br />

too much algebraic complication we assume a straight channel <strong>of</strong> uniform<br />

width whose cross-section is a rectangle with horizontal base. We suppose<br />

also that the slope <strong>of</strong> the bed is zero (or so nearly zero that the weight <strong>of</strong><br />

the liquid has a negligible component in the direction <strong>of</strong> flow). Uniform<br />

flow at velocity u1 and depth h1, as depicted at the left <strong>of</strong> the diagram,<br />

is disturbed by, for example, the closing <strong>of</strong> a gate downstream so that a<br />

positive surge travels upstream, with (constant) velocity c (relative to the<br />

bed <strong>of</strong> the channel). A short distance downstream <strong>of</strong> the wave the flow has<br />

again become uniform with velocity u2 and depth h2.<br />

The change <strong>of</strong> velocity from u1 to u2 caused by the passage <strong>of</strong> the wave<br />

is the result <strong>of</strong> a net force on the fluid, the magnitude <strong>of</strong> which is given by<br />

the momentum equation. To apply the steady-flow momentum equation,<br />

however, coordinate axes must be chosen that move with the wave. The<br />

wave then appears stationary, conditions at any point fixed with respect<br />

to those axes do not change with time, and the velocities are as shown in<br />

Fig. 10.13. The net force acting on the fluid in the control volume indicated<br />

is the difference between the horizontal thrusts at sections 1 and 2. These<br />

sections are sufficiently near each other for friction at the boundaries <strong>of</strong> the<br />

fluid to be negligible. If the streamlines at these two sections are substantially<br />

straight and parallel then the variation <strong>of</strong> pressure is hydrostatic and the total<br />

thrust on a vertical plane divided by the width <strong>of</strong> the channel is therefore<br />

ϱg(h/2)h = ϱgh 2 /2. (As a rectangular section is assumed, in which the<br />

velocities u1 and u2 are uniform across the width, it is sufficient to consider

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