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💦 Pressure Washer — Jet Impact & Grime Removal

Interactive jet-impact model of pressure washing. Pump pressure and standoff distance set impact pressure at a swept surface; grime clears only where impact pressure exceeds an adhesion threshold you control.

Washing & Cleaning2DModerate60 FPS

About this simulation

Pressure washing is fundamentally a threshold process: a jet's impact pressure at the surface either exceeds a grime layer's adhesion strength, in which case it clears quickly, or it doesn't, in which case nothing happens no matter how long you hold the jet there. This simulation lets you sweep a jet across a grimy panel by hand and see exactly where that threshold is crossed, while a live chart shows how impact pressure falls off as you back the nozzle away from the surface.

🔬 What it shows

A grimy panel you sweep a jet across by dragging, plus a live impact-pressure-vs-standoff-distance chart with the current adhesion threshold and jet position both marked.

🎮 How to use

Set Pump Pressure, Standoff Distance and Grime Adhesion Strength, then click and drag across the panel to sweep the jet. Grime only clears where impact pressure exceeds the adhesion threshold — watch the removal margin readout to see by how much.

💡 Did you know?

Because impact pressure falls off with the square of standoff distance in this model, doubling your distance from the surface cuts effective cleaning pressure roughly to a quarter — which is exactly why cleaning guides for pressure washers emphasise working close to (but not directly on) delicate surfaces.

Frequently asked questions

Why does standoff distance matter so much?

A pressure-washer jet is coherent only for a short distance before it spreads and loses core pressure; this simulation models that spreading with a simple 1/(1+(d/d0)²) falloff, capturing why moving the nozzle even a little further from the surface can drop effective cleaning pressure sharply.

Why is grime removal modelled as a threshold, not a smooth rate?

Surface-cleaning engineering treats adhesive removal as a yield-type process: below a critical impact pressure, the grime layer simply doesn't detach no matter how long the jet dwells there, while above it, removal proceeds quickly — this simulation reproduces that all-or-nothing character rather than a gradual erosion curve.

Does higher pump pressure always mean faster cleaning?

Only once it's high enough to push the local impact pressure above the adhesion threshold at your chosen standoff distance — below that threshold, additional pump pressure alone won't help if the standoff distance is too large for it to reach the surface effectively.

What does "removal margin" mean?

It's the impact pressure at the jet's core minus the current adhesion-strength threshold. A positive margin means grime clears at that spot; a negative margin means the jet has no effect there regardless of dwell time.

⚙ Under the hood

Simulate a pressure-washer jet sweeping a grimy surface. Nozzle pressure and standoff distance set the jet's impact pressure at the surface, and grime is removed only where impact pressure exceeds an adhesion threshold — the same impact-versus-adhesion logic used in surface-cleaning engineering.

Canvas 2Djet impact pressurestandoff distancesurface cleaninggrime adhesion

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install