The free overfall under laminar flow conditions

Industrial flow processes involving molten substances or other highly viscous liquids frequently make use of conveyance by open channels. A typical example of this occurs in the manufacture of glass products where the liquid glass is distributed by means of a network of open channels linking a central melting furnace with a possibly large number of widely dispersed casting machines. The generally nonuniform motion in these conduits is laminar and, as yet, surprisingly little explored. Following a first attack on the problem of gradually varied laminar free-surface flow in long rectangular channels, the present work addresses the case of rapidly varied laminar free-surface flow over a rectangular free over-fall. (author)