The dynamics of a wind-driven current in a zonal channel is reviewed and investigated with a quasigeostrophic β-plane model with two layers and eddy resolution. The model structure is similar to the one used by McWilliams, Holland and Chow (1978) and the channel has dimensions of 4000 km × 1500 km. The experiments with this model address the problem of the relative role of bottom friction and bottom form drag in the balance of a current driven by a steady eastward surface windstress. The response of the system is investigated for different values of the friction parameter and various locations of topographic barriers in the bottom layer of the channnel. The principal momentum balance emerging from these experiments support the concept of Munk and Palmén (1951) for the dynamics of the Antarctic Circum-polar Current proposing that the momentum input by the windstress is transferred to the deep ocean - in the present model by vigorous eddy activity - where it may leave the system by bottom form drag. Frictional effects in the balance of the circumpolar flow may thus be of minor importance. © 1989, Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.