Impact of Free Jets

• The jet of water or steam discharging from a nozzle in atmosphere is called a free jet,
i.e., a jet having constant pressure throughout.
• The jet coming out of the nozzle has certain amount of kinetic energy.
• When this jet strikes a vane (flat or curved plate), it exerts a force on it.
• This force is due to fluid motion which always involves change in momentum.
• It can be obtained from impulse-momentum principle or from Newton’s second law of
motion.
• Turbine is the most important and satisfactory prime mover that produces mechanical
power (i.e., shaft power).
• The working fluid in a turbine may be water, steam, gas, wind and refrigerants.
• The power consuming devices, such as compressors, pumps, fans, blowers, etc., raise
the pressure or velocity of working fluid.
• The turbines, compressors and pumps are used in electric power generation, aircraft
propulsion, ship propulsion, and a wide variety of medium and heavy industries.
 IMPULSE-MOMENTUM PRINCIPLE
• Impulse-momentum principle is a modified form of Newton’s second law of motion
which states that :
• The resultant external force acting on anybody in any direction is equal to the rate of
change of momentum of the body in that direction.
• Let m be the mass of fluid, V be the velocity of fluid and F be the force.
• According to Newton’s second law of motion, we get:

• Above equation is known as impulse-momentum principle which can also be written as

follows.

• Above equation is known as impulse-momentum equation in which F. dt is impulse and

d(mV) is the resulting change in momentum in the direction of force.
 FORCE EXERTED BY A JET ON
A STATIONARY VERTICAL FLAT PLATE
• Consider a jet of water coming out from the nozzle and strikes a flat vertical plate as
shown below.
• Assume that the plate is smooth and the loss of energy due to impact of the jet is zero.
• Let w be the mass density of water, V be the velocity of the jet, d be the diameter of the
jet and be the area of the jet.

• The volume of water striking the plate per second is given by,

• Mass of water striking the flat plate per second = w ×Q

= w A V
• Since the jet gets deflected through 90° after striking the plate, the component of the
velocity of the jet leaving the plate in the direction of the jet will be zero.

• Since the plate is stationary, i.e., u = 0, the work done per second by the jet on the plate
is given below.
w = Force × Velocity = Fx × u = Fx × 0 = 0
 FORCE EXERTED BY A JET ON
A MOVING VERTICAL FLAT PLATE
• Consider a jet of water coming out from the nozzle with a velocity V and it strikes a flat
vertical plate which is moving with a uniform velocity u away from the jet as shown
below.
• Assume that the plate is smooth and loss of energy due to the impact of jet is zero.
• The jet strikes the plate with a relative velocity which is equal to (V − u).
• Let w be the mass density of water, V be the velocity of the jet, d be the diameter of the
jet and be the area of the jet.

• Applying impulse-momentum principle, we get:

• Work done per second by the jet on the plate is given below
• Efficiency of the jet (blade efficiency) is the ratio of output to the input, i.e., the ratio of
work done per second by the jet (w) to the kinetic energy of the jet per second (K.E.).

• For a given jet velocity, the efficiency will be maximum when , differentiating we get :
• For a given jet velocity, the power will be maximum when , differentiating we get :
• From which we get that
 FORCE EXERTED BY A JET ON
A MOVING CURVED PLATE
• Now, instead of a flat plate, consider a cylindrical blade that allows the jet to reverse its
reverse direction as shown below.
• Again the jet enters the blade with a relative velocity (V-u).
• Consider further that the blade is frictionless and that there is neither expansion nor
contraction of the fluid between blade entry and exit.
• The fluid relative exit velocity is therefore also (V-u).
• The absolute velocity of the jet at exit in the + x direction will now be u-(V-u) = (2u - V).
• The impulse equal to the change in momentum is then equal to, by applying impulse-
momentum principle, we get:

• Work done per second by the jet on the plate is given below
• Efficiency of the jet (blade efficiency) is the ratio of output to the input, i.e., the ratio
of work done per second by the jet (w) to the kinetic energy of the jet per second
(K.E.).

• Note that all the above equations for force, power and efficiency are double the flat
plate.
• For a given jet velocity, the efficiency will be maximum when , differentiating we
get :
• For a given jet velocity, the power will be maximum when , differentiating we get :
• From which we get that

• Thus, though the optimum blade velocity is the same as that for flat blade, however,
its maximum power and efficiency is twice that for flat blade.