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Hydraulic head is the sum of elevation and pressure head, measured in metres relative to a chosen height datum. For constant mass density $\rho$ and gravitational acceleration magnitude $g$, the pressure head $p/(\rho g)$ is the height of a column of the same fluid supported by fluid pressure $p$. A water-filled open measuring tube records hydraulic head as the elevation of its water level when $p$ is gauge fluid pressure. Changing the common pressure reference or height datum adds a constant to hydraulic head and leaves its driving gradient unchanged.

For water with $\rho =1000\mathrm{kg}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$ and $g=9.81\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$, a point at $z=2\mathrm{m}$ with gauge fluid pressure $p=9810\mathrm{Pa}$ has $h=3\mathrm{m}$. A second point at $z=0$ with gauge fluid pressure $29430\mathrm{Pa}$ also has $h=3\mathrm{m}$: these values are compatible with a stationary column under hydrostatic pressure. It is a difference in hydraulic head, rather than a difference in fluid pressure alone, that drives saturated Darcy flow. This form uses constant mass density; one cannot generally pull spatially varying $\rho$ through the gradient.^[ref]

In a thin fluid-filled crack, lubrication theory gives flux per unit depth $q=-h^3{p}_x/(12\mu )$. The surrounding Darcy flow has normal velocity $-k{p}_y/\mu$. Conservation in the crack gives $q_x=-[u_y{]}_{-}^{+}$, yielding the displayed condition. Pressure is continuous across the crack. This reduced model neglects transverse pressure variation and assumes wall slip lengths are small compared with $h$.

For constant wall heat-flux density $F>0$, effective thermal conductivity $k_e$, buoyancy mobility $B={\rho }_{0}g\alpha K/\mu$ and thermal transport coefficient $\kappa =k_e/({\rho }_0{c}_f)$, a slender Darcy flow boundary layer has width $\delta =(\kappa k_{e}z/(BF){)}^{1/3}$. Writing $\eta =y/\delta$, $\psi =\kappa zf(\eta )/\delta$ and $T-T_a=(F\delta /k_e)f^{\prime }(\eta )$ gives the displayed equation with $f(0)=0$, $f^{\prime \prime }(0)=-1$ and $f^{\prime }(\infty )=0$. The exact integral is ${\int }_0^{\infty }(f^{\prime }{)}^{2}d\eta =1$. Consequently its kinematic Darcy momentum flux is $\int w^{2}dy=B\kappa Fz/k_e$ and its buoyancy flux is $g\alpha \kappa Fz/k_e$. These are per span on one heated face.