Jonathan Shuster

CEE 347
Lab 1 Honors
A garden spray bottle basically works like a Venturi meter. As the flow
rate increases, it decreases the pressure in the narrow section of the
meter. When this pressure is low enough, it can draw fluid into the
meter and then the flow of air will push it out the other end of the tube.
We can see this phenomenon by looking at the Bernoulli and Continuity
equations together
v2
v2
P1 1 z1 P2 2 z2
2
2
Q A1V1 A2V2

The pressure on the open end of the tube (the free jet end) is zero. If
we apply the Bernoulli Equation between 1 and the open end of the
tube we can cancel the gamma-Z terms since they are at the height.
This just leaves, the P1 term and the velocity terms. Using the
continuity equation, and knowing that the diameter of the meter is the
same at both 1 and the open end, we can determine that the velocity
of the fluid at both points is the same. Since the velocities and the
heights are the same, this means that the pressure must be the same,
so the pressure at 1 is also zero.
If we know evaluate the Bernoulli Equation between points one
and two, we can cancel the Z terms because the two points are at the
same height. We can also cancel the P1 term because we just
determined it is zero. From the continuity equation, we can see that
the velocity at point 2 is larger because the diameter is smaller. Going
back to the Bernoulli Equation this means that the pressure has to
negative in order to balance the Bernoulli equation. If the pressure is
going to suck up weed killer from a reservoir below, the pressure just
has to be less than (killler* distance below).
To increase the flow rate of the weed sprayer, you need to draw
more weed killer up from the reservoir. There are a number of ways to
do this. The first is to increase Q before and after the narrowing of the
nozzle. The first way is to make the area that the air goes through
bigger. Unfortunately, to get the best flow would require an area that
is outrageously large and not viable at all for a backyard weed sprayer.
The other way to increase Q is to increase the velocity of the air going
through the Venturi meter. A fan could be used to increase fluid flow
and this is used in large commercial weed sprayers and Venturi meters,
but these fans are not reasonable for everyday use. The best way to
increase flow if to narrow the skinny part of the Venturi meter as much

Jonathan Shuster
CEE 347
as possible. This significantly increases the velocity in the narrow
section, and since the velocity is squared in the Bernoulli equation, the
pressure in the narrow portion will drop significantly in the narrow
section and much more fluid will get drawn up into the tube and then
out onto the plants. Most spray bottles have a dial to adjust the size
of the narrowing of the Venturi meter, and thus regulate flow.
Below is the derivation for the equation of pressure based on the
diameter of the contraction or P(d).
P1 V12
P V2

z1 2 2 z2
2g
2g
P1 0 z1 z2 V2

V1 A1
d2
V1 ( 12 )
A2
d2

V12 P2
d2
1
[V1 ( 12 )]2
2g
d2
2g
V12 P2 V12 d14

2g d24 2g
V12 V12 d14 P2 V12
d4
Q
4
1 14 where V12 ( )2
2g d2 2g 2g
d2
A1

Q2
d14 P2
1

2g( d12 / 4)
d24

4Q2
d14
1

P2
2 d12
d24
For a typical garden hose:
5
d1 in
8
16gal 61.6in3
Q

min
sec
1.940slug
slug

.001122 3
3
ft
in
Plugging these values into the equation above:

.1526
P2 6.94 1 4
d2

As you can see, as the diameter of the contraction decreases, the

pressure at the point goes down significantly. For a typical prayer, the

Jonathan Shuster
CEE 347
maximum diameter of the input tube is 5/8 in and so we assume that
the maximum contraction is down to 1/8 in in diameter.