PIPING SYSTEM ESSENTIALS

By: Dennis Ballou

INTRODUCTION
Piping systems are the particular province of the mechanical engineer. They are prevalent
throughout his work. The analysis, design and costing of these systems should become as familiar to the
engineer as the multiplication tables.
A piping system consists of the pipe itself, valves, fittings (elbows, tees, couplings, reducers,
expanders, etc.), measuring instruments (temperature and pressure gages, flow meters, etc.) and pumps or
turbines. The ultimate task of the engineer is to select appropriate materials and sies of the various
components to meet the ob!ectives of the client. These ob!ectives are generally met by a specification that
minimies the life cycle cost of the system.
THE ENERGY EQUATION SPECIALIZED OR PIPE SYSTEM ANALYSIS
"n general, we want to know how much work must be provided by a pump or produced by a
turbine. To determine these work re#uirements we need to know changes in elevation, head loss due to
friction and turbulence, and absolute pressures of the source of supply and the point of delivery. $e start
with the conservation of energy e#uation which, from your thermodynamics course, can be stated as
follows%
dt
dE
e e h m e e h m W Q
sys
p k
out
p
in
k
+ + + + + +

) ( ) (
&
'et(s modify this e#uation to put it in a form useful for analying piping systems. )irst, we are usually
concerned with steady state operations* therefore, the last term on the right side becomes ero. +econd,
let(s uncouple the flow work and internal energy terms from the enthalpy and divide by the mass rate to
obtain terms based on unit mass. )inally, rearrange the e#uation to get%
, ,
& & , ,
& , , &
( )
, ,
p V p V
gz w gz u u q

+ + + + +
where the subscripts & and , refer to the source and destination points, respectively. +ee )igure &.
This is one form of the energy e#uation. -ngineers, however, generally prefer working with the individual
terms expressed in feet (or meters) of head obtained by dividing each term by the acceleration of gravity*
thus%
h
p V
g
z
p V
g
z h
p L
+ + + + + +
& &
,
&
, ,
,
,
, ,
where% hL . head loss . (u2 - u1 - q)/g
hp . /dw . re#uired pump head
V1 and 0, are average values, constant over their cross sectional
areas.
$e shall call this e#uation the pipe system equation.
$e can measure pressure, velocity and elevation with appropriate instruments. 1ead loss,
however, must be determined indirectly from theory, dimensional analysis and experimental work.
&
See e.g.2lack and 1artley, e#uation (3.,4), p. &53.
&
DETERMINATION O HEAD LOSS
The first step in determining head loss is to calculate the 6eynolds number. )or flow in a circular
pipe with a 6eynolds number less than about ,&77, the flow is classified as !amina" and a purely
theoretical analysis results in an expression for head loss as%
h #
L
$
V
g
L

,
,
(&)
where% #
53
6e

,
(,)
"f the 6eynolds number is greater than 3777, the flow is classified as turbulent and the expression for the
friction factor, #, is based on dimensional analysis and experimental results and can be calculated from the
8oody chart or the 9olebrook formula
:
%

&
, 7
:;
, <&
#
$
#
+

_
,

. log
=
.
.
6e

(:)
where, again% h #
L
$
V
g
L

,
,
(3)
The above results are valid for flow in straight lengths of pipe. $here there are valves, fittings, bends and
other components that cause significant changes in flow patterns, losses are accounted for by a !oss
%oe##i%ient &L , for each class and sie of a particular component%
h &
V
g
L L

,
,
(<)
where values of >' can be found from the technical literature and manufacturer(s manuals.
3
NONCIRCULAR CONDUITS
,
See. e.g. 8unson, p. 3;:.
:
See 8unson, p. 34:,43.
3
See e.g. 8unson, p. 345/<7<.
,
)or laminar flow, the friction factor can be calculated from%
#
'
h

6e
where% 6e =
h h
V$
$
h
.hydraulic diameter .3A=P
A . cross sectional area
P . wetted perimeter
9 . constant based on theory=experiment
<
)or turbulent flow, use the hydraulic diameter for calculating the 6eynolds number and the head loss from%
g
V
$
L
# h
h
L
,
,

,
_

8unson notes that applying circular pipe data to other cross sections will lead to results that are accurate to
within about t &<?.
SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION
The optimiation problem entails minimiing the present value of total life cycle costs over a
selected capitaliation period for an assumed interest rate. The total life cycle cost is the sum of three cost
categories%
&. 9apital cost% material plus installation cost of piping components including the pump.
,. Annual maintenance cost which can be assumed to be a percentage of capital cost, say &7?,
unless better data are available.
:. @peration costs% fuel, electric power, and operating personnel costs.
The capital cost is a function of the diameter of the pipe and the sie of the pump. $e can gain an
appreciation of these costs from the energy e#uation, which we rewrite as follows%
h
p p V V
g
z z h
p L

+

+

1
]
1
+
, & ,
,
&
,
, &
,
(5)
where%
g
V
&
g
V
$
L
# h
(
(
L
i
i
i
i
!
i
, ,
,
,

+ (;)
The first term of e#uation (;) involves a summation if the system consists of lengths of pipe of different
diameters and the second term accounts for component losses.
<
See 8unson, p <7A, 4.
:
"f we assume a constant pipe diameter, which may be reasonable for cost comparisons, then the
term in brackets is constant for the given system parameters. The variable part of the pump head
re#uirement then depends on the head loss, which depends on the pipe diameter. $e can therefore
calculate head loss for available, nominal pipe diameters and thus determine the corresponding installed
system cost. $e then add the present value of the stream of annual maintenance and operation costs. The
principal operation cost will be that for the pump(s prime mover, either the cost of electricity for an
electric motor, steam for a turbine, or fuel for an engine.
The cost of electricity can be found by calculating the power input to the motor from known or
estimated pump and motor efficiencies applied to the calculated pump head. @r the cost might be obtained
directly from a manufacturer(s computer program such as that for Boulds Pumps (see )igure ,).
SYSTEM CUR!E
@nce we have established the geometry of the system, we can construct the system characteristic
curve. This curve is needed to select a pump and to study the effect of changes in flowrate. +uch changes
typically result from fouling, which increases friction, or the client(s need to operate at different flow rates.
The system curve plots re#uired pump head (ordinate) against flowrate (abscissa) (see )igure ,).
6eferring to e#uation (5), the first three terms, representing the pressure, velocity and elevation
heads, h', are constant for the given geometry* therefore we can write the re#uired pump head as%
h h h
p ' L
+
2ut C.0A and h' is approximately proportional to 0
,
for turbulent flow (see e#uation 3) and 0 for laminar
flow (see e.g., Poiseuille(s 'aw
5
). $e can therefore write the system curve formula as%
hp . hc D >C
,
(turbulent flow)
and
hp . hc D >C (laminar flow)
PERORMANCE CUR!ES AND PUMP SELECTION
)igure ,. is a set of performance curves from Boulds Pumps( computer program. The intersection of the
Pump Performance 9urve with the +ystem 9urve determines the operating point. $here practical, this
point should correspond to the best efficiency point on the -fficiency 9urve.
NET POSITI!E SUCTION HEAD
After pumps are fabricated, they are tested to establish various useful parameters. @ne of these is
the total head
;
at the suction side of the impeller at which cavitation begins. 9avitation occurs when this
head is reduced to the vapor pressure head of the fluid. The excess of this head over the vapor pressure
head is called )et *ositi+e Su%tion ,ead -equi"ed abbreviated EP+16. The system designer must ensure
that the excess of head calculated at the impeller eye over that of the vapor pressure head is at least as great
as the EP+16. This head is called the .%tua! )et *ositi+e Su%tion ,ead EP+1A. 6eferring to )igure &.,
where the subscript s refers to conditions at the impeller eye, we can write the pump e#uation, corrected for
vapor pressure, between points & and s as%
5
-#uation (A.4), p.35A, 8unson.
;
Total head at the impeller eye, with ero elevation, includes both pressure and velocity head.
3
@r
EP+1A . EP+16
Allowing a margin for design and manufacturing errors,
EP+1A . EP+16 D : ft
REERENCES
&. 2lack, $.F. and 1artley, G.B., /he"modynami%s 0 ed. 1arper9ollins (&445).
,. 8unson, 2.6., et a!, 1undamenta!s o# 1!uid 2e%hani%s, : ed., Gohn $iley H +ons, "nc., (&44A).
:. Ganna, +. G., $esign o# 1!uid /he"ma! Systems P$+/>ent Pub. 9o., (&44:).
<

+ s s +
L
*
g
V * *
h z
g
V *

1
]
1

+
1
]
1

+ +
, ,
,
&
,
& &