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1
written this article because we are concerned that
misleading interpretations of the siphon are still
current even though much is known about thephysics
of pipe flow and theproperties of liquids. h
We begin with a survey of the ‘hydrostatic’ theories,
following this with the dynamic theory for an ‘ideal’
nonviscous liquid. We modify our ‘ideal’ theory to
l
F 1
take account of the viscous nature of liquids and then
give some experimental results. Finally we attempt to
analyse the factors underlying the working of the
siphon and suggest a possible theory.
Hydrostatic theories
A typical account of the siphon given in elementary
text books might read as follows. Figure 1 Diagram of a siphon.
362
tubes. Provided there are no leaks the mass of fluid situation are less than those in the static situation by
crossing each section of a tube per unit time must be anamount +p@; in particular, forthe static case,
the same. Conservation of mass is expressed by the there is a pressure head of pgh acting while for the
equation of continuity dynamic case the effective pressure head is pgh - +pv2.
p AV = constant (1)
where A is the areaof a cross section of the tube and p (ii) For a real liquid
and z’ are the values of the density and the velocity of When we consider the flow of a real fluid we im-
the fluid flowing normal to the cross section. For an mediately find complications because there are two
incompressible fluid p is constant and the equation of major types of flow possible: a smooth laminar flow
continuity reduces to and a turbulent one. Osborne Reynolds distinguished
AV = constant. (2) between these two types of flow in his experiments on
the flow of water through pipes and he established a
(i) For an ideal fluid criterion, the non-dimensional Reynolds Number, in
Because all real fluids exhibit viscosity there is an terms of which the flow might be described.
inevitable dissipation of energy in fluid flow but let us Below a certain critical Reynolds Number of about
for a moment consider an ‘ideal’ non-viscous and in- 2000, the flow in the pipe remained laminar along its
compressible fluid. We assume that its flow through a whole length. Above that number there was a transi-
tube is steady and irrotational (which excludes the tion to turbulent flow at some point along the pipe.
possibility of a vortical motion) and that there is no The Reynolds Number is given by
possibility of heat exchange between the fluid and its
surroundings.Then the energy of the fluid flowing
along the tube will be conserved. This is expressed where z’ and d a r e respectively a velocity and a length
mathematically by the Bernoulli equation representative of the flow, is the coefficient ofvis-
+ +
p Bpv2 pgh = constant. (3) cosity and p is the density of the fluid. For the case of
The parameters are again average values for the pipe flow 2: is taken as the volume rate of flow divided
cross section, p representing the pressure in the fluid by the cross sectional area of the pipe, and d is the
and h the elevation of the tube relative to some fixed diameter of the pipe.
level. The working siphon is an example of flow in a U
Suppose that liquid is siphoned from avessel with a shapedpipe and fora given liquid and pipe there is the
cross sectional area which is large compared with that possibility of either laminar or turbulent flow depend-
of the siphon tube. Then the downward velocity of ing on thevelocity. In both cases energy will be lost by
the surface of the liquid in the vesseliseffectively the liquid because of its viscosity and the Bernoulli
zero (by equation (2)). If the siphon tube isof uni- equation, which is a statement of the conservation of
form bore, (again by equation (2)), the velocity of energy of a non-viscous liquid, cannot be applied. If
flow z’ will be the same throughout the tube. We can we wish to calculate the average velocity of a viscous
apply equation (3) anywhere inside the vessel-siphon liquid in a siphon and yet maintain the form of the
system. Thus Bernoulli equation, we may do so by introducing aloss
Po = P B + 8 P C 2 of head h, which corresponds to the energy losses
where the left hand side of the equationhas been suffered by the liquid. The average velocity instead of
evaluated at thesurface of the liquid in the vessel and being given by
the right hand side has been evaluated at B. v? = 2gh
+
PB *
Energy conservation between B and F implies that
PV* = p p+ * P E * - pgh.
At F the tube is open to theexternal pressure so that
is now given by
V 2 = 2g ( h - h, ).
The loss of head in larninarflow is due solely to skin
(6)