Study on Suppression of Vibration of a Falling Water Sheet

Abstract

This paper describes experimental study on suppressing oscillation of a falling water sheet. Falling water sheet flowing over a dam sometimes oscillates at a low frequency. The water sheet oscillation causes vibrations of paper sliding doors or windowpanes of houses in the neighborhood. Experiental results show that the frequency of water sheet is the same as that of the pressure variation in an air chamber behind a water sheet. Therefore, water sheet vibration is closely related to the pressure variation in an air chamber. We show experimentally that water sheet vibration can be suppressed by setting obstacles at the lower end of a falling sheet or by modifying the shape of the upper end of a falling sheet.