The assumption that the tank drains slowly means that, for all intents and purposes,

it may be supposed that the flow field at any instant of time is well approximated as
being steady state. The instantaneous streamlines must go from the top surface to
the exit plane in a quasi-steady state as the tank drains, and it is reasonable to
assume that the principle driving forces are gravity and pressure with a minimal role
for viscosity. With these assumptions, the use of the Bernoulli equation can be
justified to link conditions along streamlines in the tank.

 (17.11)

Using these results, Eq. (17.9) reduces to a single scalar equation

 (17.12)

for the total moment of the pressure force acting on the control volume about the pivot
point. Because , this is negative (i.e., in the clockwise direction). The negative of
this is the moment of the fluid on the plate, which is our main interest, and after
substituting for and using Eqs. (17.8), it is found that

 (17.13)

which is positive for and thus clearly acting to turn the plate into the vertical
direction. Owing to symmetry when , there is no moment.

Some additional insight into the response of the plate to the jet can be had by
computing the effective distance below the hinge, say, , where the total pressure
force on the plate should act to induce the same moment as the distributed force. By
definition, satisfies

 (17.14)

and after substituting Eqs. (17.7) and (17.13) yields

 (17.15)

If is not small, then is large, and the plate would have to be very long for the
flow considered here to be a relevant model.

The tendency for flat plates to align themselves normal to an oncoming stream is a
fact of common experience. For example, if one drops a rigid plate into a swimming
pool, instead of slicing quickly through the water to the bottom, the plate tends to find
an orientation parallel to the bottom of the pool and fall relatively slowly. In fact, from
the perspec