How do you make a quiet (from splashing) waterfall

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around designing a quiet waterfall or fountain that minimizes splashing noise when water falls into a pool. Participants explore various ideas, including flow techniques and potential materials, while considering both aesthetic and acoustic aspects of water movement.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • A participant seeks ideas for creating a quiet waterfall that avoids splashing noise when water falls into a pool.
  • One suggestion involves achieving laminar flow, where water flows smoothly without breaking into droplets, potentially reducing noise.
  • Another participant expresses uncertainty about laminar flow and indicates a preference for a more natural waterfall appearance with random flow.
  • A clarification is provided that laminar flow resembles a single unbroken stream, similar to water from a tap before it splashes.
  • It is proposed that introducing air bubbles at the water's surface could help reduce noise by breaking the impact of falling water.
  • A participant questions the effectiveness of air bubbles in quieting the sound of water impact.
  • Another participant speculates that a broken surface or air bubbles might indeed create a quieter effect compared to a flat surface.
  • One participant raises the possibility of using glycerine as a potential additive to help reduce noise.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of ideas and suggestions, but there is no consensus on the best approach to achieve a quiet waterfall. Various methods are proposed, and some participants question the effectiveness of certain suggestions.

Contextual Notes

Participants discuss the limitations of achieving complete silence with larger waterfalls, indicating that some noise may be unavoidable. The effectiveness of proposed methods, such as laminar flow and air bubbles, remains uncertain and is subject to further exploration.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in design, acoustics, or water features may find this discussion relevant, particularly those looking to create aesthetically pleasing and quieter water installations.

lone ranger
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I am a designer (not engineer). I am trying to develop a quiet waterfall, or fountain. That is, that the water that falls into the pool, doesn't make a splashing noise. The falling water must fall into a pool of water, not onto a solid surface. Anyone have Ideas of how to make such a thing? Possibly adding something to the water, or some other Idea.
Thanks
 
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mgb_phys said:
Can you arrange that the water flows as a laminar flow (ie a smooth flow) into the water rather than droplets?

Somethign like this http://mad-laboratory.com/tag/laminar/

Thanks for the reply. I don't completely follow what laminar flow is, other than the drops don't separate, and flow in a solid form, nor do I have any Idea how to make a laminar flow happen. However I am quite sure that this is not the visual affect that I want from the fountain. The fall is to look more like the natural waterfall , with random flow.
 
Laminar flow just means smooth, like how a tap flows as a single unbroken stream of water before it breaks up into drops.
If you want it to look like a moving waterfall you could try breaking up the surface where the water hits the pool with air bubbles from something like an aquarium air block + pump.
You aren't going to make a large waterfall totally quiet though
 
mgb_phys said:
Laminar flow just means smooth, like how a tap flows as a single unbroken stream of water before it breaks up into drops.
If you want it to look like a moving waterfall you could try breaking up the surface where the water hits the pool with air bubbles from something like an aquarium air block + pump.
You aren't going to make a large waterfall totally quiet though
Why would air bubble in the water make it more quiet?
 
The idea is that the drops hititng a broken surface or water covered air bubbles would be quieter than the slap of a drop onto a flat surface.
Just a guess really.
 
It makes good sense. I'm wondering, too, if something like glycerine might help.
 

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