Speed of a surge in a bathtub vortex

Abstract

The surge studied in this paper is due to the sudden closure of the sink of a bathtub vortex. Experimental evidence established that the surge is not initially a wave but is in fact a slug of fluid which has, for a very short period of time, a distinctive motion of its own. The purpose of this paper is to present the salient features of an experimental investigation of the effect of circulation, geometry, and viscosity on the speed of the surge and to report some rather unexpected observations.