water hammer
Sign in to saveAlso known as fluid hammer, hydraulic shock, Hydraulic shock
pressure surge when a fluid is forced to stop or change direction suddenly
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Effect of a pressure surge on a float gauge
Hydraulic shock (colloquial: water hammer; fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly: a momentum change. It is usually observed in a liquid but gases can also be affected. This phenomenon commonly occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “water hammer” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.