Fundamental principles

✏️Course in Development

Just a heads-up—this section is still a work in progress! I’ll be revising and expanding it soon to make sure it’s as useful as possible. Curious about what’s already done or currently in the works? Check the changelog for updates.

To truly understand and model water hammer, we need to get a grip on the core physics that underpin these powerful phenomena. It's not just about water being incompressible and pipes being perfectly rigid — in reality, both the water and the pipe material have a degree of elasticity, and this is key.

This section will explore how this elasticity acts as a storing and releasing mechanism for the pressure energy that’s unleashed during a transient event. When flow is suddenly stopped, the kinetic energy of the moving water has to go somewhere; it's converted into pressure energy, compressing the water and stretching the pipe walls.

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