CONTENTS

1.

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1

2.

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF PUMP SYSTEMS........................................................................1

3.

ASSUMPTIONS....................................................................................................................................3
3.1.
3.2.
3.3.

PIPES:.............................................................................................................................................3
FLUID:............................................................................................................................................3
AIR VALVE:.....................................................................................................................................3

4.

THEORY...............................................................................................................................................4

5.

WATER HAMMER EFFECT ON THE PUMPING SYSTEM........................................................6

5.1.
5.2.

6.

STEADY STATE HYDRAULIC...........................................................................................................6

TRANSIENT HYDRAULIC................................................................................................................7

CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................10

List of Graphs
Graph 1: - System Characteristic Curve..............................................................................6
Graph 2: - Pressure Envelope..............................................................................................8
Graph 3: - Vacuum Relief and Air Release Valve Performance Graph for 75mm dia. Inlet
& 1.6mm dia. Outlet..................................................................................................10
List of Figures
Figure 1: - Schematic Diagram...........................................................................................9
Appendix A- Transient
protection)

Response

of

pumping

system

Pressure envelope

A-i

Pressure at pump end

A-ii

Flow at pump end

A-iii

Volume of Air (inside air valve)

A-iv

Air mass flow rate

A-v

Air volumetric flow rate

A-vi

(no

1. Introduction
The pumping system is for transferring of sewage from a lifting station to receiving
manhole. Usually, following the first fraction of a second after sudden shut down of the
pump, the flow decay rapidly at the pump delivery end, but due to the momentum of the
water column in the pipeline, the forward flow continues in the pipeline. This
phenomenal has caused a water column separation at the pump delivery end, which
causes the pressures in the pipe to drop and creating the down surge pressures. This
pressure reduction is transmitted along the pipeline at the wave velocity, and when this
pressure wave is reflected, an up surge pressure is experienced. The rate of flow decay is
dependent on the angular momentums of the rotating components of the pump. The
higher the angular momentums will result in slower rate of flow decay, which will help to
minimize the down surge pressure. However, angular momentum is dependent on
moment of inertia of pumps impeller, motor and speed of rotation. Therefore, to achieve
acceptable surge pressures, the pump sets need to process sufficient moment inertia and
operating at high speed. If the moment of inertia of pump is unable to limit the surge
pressures within the acceptable limits, the surge control system shall be provided to
control the surge pressures generated.
Usually, in normal pump-stopping procedure, the discharge valve is first closed slowly,
and then the power supply to the pump motor is switched off. The transient caused by this
operation is not severe as the flow rate in the pipeline is reducing to zero slowly.
However, the transients caused by sudden stoppage of pumps by power failure are usually
severe. Therefore, this report will study the transient effect on the pumping systems under
sudden stoppage of pumps and recommend appropriate water hammer control systems to
protect the systems against any adverse effect of surge pressures.
2. Computer Simulation of Pump Systems
The transient response of the pumping system will be studied under the proposed design
flow rate without surge control system. If the up surge or down surge pressures in the
pipeline are not within the acceptable limit, then a proposed surge control system will be
introduced to limit the excessive surge pressures. The design criteria are:

 The up surge pressure must not exceed the maximum rating the pump system at
60m (6 bars).
Preferably, the down surge pressure shall not fall below atmospheric pressure
(0 m). However under certain conditions, limited negative pressure is
acceptable, provided the limited sub-atmospheric pressure does not have any
adverse effect to the systems. Nevertheless, the effects of negative pressure as
listed below need to be considered seriously.
a) Severe sub-atmospheric pressure will cause the pipe to collapse.
b) If the sub-atmospheric pressure is minus 10m, this is the vapor pressure of
water. This will cause liquid water to vaporize; the transient response of the
vaporized water is difficult to predict.
c) When the sub-atmospheric pressure is lower than about minus 7m, any
dissolved air in water will evolve from solution. This air will not necessarily
be reabsorbed into the water when pumping pressure is re-applied. The
transient response of the air/water mixture is unpredictable.
d) Sub-atmospheric pressure lower than around minus 5m may cause damage
to the concrete lining of the pipe if they are repeated frequently.
e) Pressure lower than the external hydraulic pressure may allow ground water
to be drawn into the pipeline through faulty joints, leaking washouts and
even submerged air valves with subsequent risk of contamination to the
supply.
f) Ingress of air into the pipeline during down surge may interfere with the
proper operation of some instrumentation.
Since the pipeline is carrying sewage and contamination of the pipe by drawing
in ground water is of no concern, and hence the surge suppression criteria will
be to control the down surge pressures not to fall below 5m will be
acceptable.

3. Assumptions
3.1. Pipes:
Modulus of elasticity of steel = 200 Gpa.
Poissons ratio = .27
Conduit condition: thin wall elastic conduit.
Friction factor: C= 140, 100.
3.2. Fluid:
Fluid: Sewage
Bulk Modulus: 2.19 Gpa
Density: 1000 Kg/m3
Operating temperature: Ambient.

3.3. Air valve:

The airflow into the pipeline is isentropic.
The entrapped air remains at the valve location and is not carried away by the
flow of liquid.
The expansion or contraction of the entrap air is isothermal.

4. Theory
Rapidly varying pressure and flow conditions in pipe systems are characterized by
variation, which are both position (x) and time (t) dependent. These conditions are
described by the dynamic equation
L1

Q
H
f
gA

Q | Q | 0 1
t
x 2 DA

And the continuity equation

L2 a 2

Q
H
gA
0 2
x
t

Where
Q Flow rate
t time
H head
x distance
f friction factor
D Diameter of conduit
g acceleration due to gravity
A cross-sectional area of conduit
a wave velocity
Both Eqs.1 and 2 are partial differential equations.

Consider linear combination of Eqs 1 and 2 i.e.

L = L1 + L2 -------------------------------------------------------------------3
And let

1
a

Eq. 3 can be written as

dQ gA dH
f

Q | Q | 0 4
dt
a dt
2 DA

if

dx
a
dt

and

dQ gA dH
f

Q | Q | 0 5
dt
a dt
2 DA

if
dx
a
dt

Eqs. 4 and 5 have been converted to ordinary differential equations in the independent
variable t, and can be solved easily by digital computer by method of characteristics. Due
to the tremendous computing power of the computer, various boundary conditions, such
as surge vessel, surge tank, pumps, reservoir, air valves, surge valves etc. just to name a
few, can be evaluated. The details of the formulation and analysis of these boundary
conditions are beyond the scope of this report.

5. Water Hammer effect on The Pumping System

The pumping line consists of 400 mm in diameter pipe, 2230m long. The pipeline is
running on a very flat terrain with four (4) up and over crossings. Due to low pumping
head, sub-atmospheric surge pressures are very likely to be the major problem at the up
and over crossing locations. Therefore surge control devices may be necessary to
effectively control the down surge pressures from falling below the acceptable limit. The
surge suppression criteria will be to control the down surge pressures not to fall below
5m. In addition, the maximum upsurge pressures during transient shall be within the
pressure rating of the pumping system at 6 bars.
The phenomenal of surge is due to a change in steady state flow condition in the pumping
system. Hence, the magnitude of the surge pressures, both upsurge and downsurge
pressures are dependent of steady state flow conditions. Therefore, the steady state flow
conditions of a pumping system need to be established before a study on the transient
state of the pumping system can be conducted.
5.1.
Steady State Hydraulic
Graph 1: - System Characteristic Curve
A high rate of change of
momentum

will

severe

surge

and

momentum

cause

pressures,
is

dependent on the velocity

of flow in the pipeline.
Thus, a high rate of
change of flow rate in the
pipe
severe

will

cause

surge

more

pressures.

Graph 1 shows the duty

point of the pumping system with the pipe having Hazen Williams C value of 140 in the
analysis, to simulate the condition when the pipe is new and smooth. The maximum flow

rate obtained is 274 l/sec and 210 l/sec when water level in the pump sump is at -1.5m
and -2.93m respectively. These flow rates are based on two (2) pumps running in parallel.
5.2.

Transient Hydraulic

With the minimum static lift scenario, the pump duty flow rate is 274 l/sec when the
water level in the pump sump is at -1.5m. A simulation of sudden shut down of the pump
without external surge protection devices has show that the worst up surge and down
surge pressures are 23.1m and 20.6m respectively. Similar simulation is carried out for
the water level in the pump sump at -2.93m, and the worst up surge and down surge
pressures are 25.7m and 19.2m respectively. The latter case has the worst surge
pressures is due to low water level in the pump sump, where less water is sucked into the
pipe by the pumps own inertia to control the surge pressures. The down surge pressures
are low and not acceptable; therefore surge protection system is required. The pressure
envelope in Graph 2 has indicated that the sub-atmospheric pressures occurred along the
whole pipeline route.
There are four (4) numbers up and over crossings, evenly spaced along the pipeline.
These high locations are suitable to installed vacuum relief are release valves to control
the low down surge pressures. In addition, to control the down surge pressures at the
pumps end, an additional vacuum relief air release valve is proposed to be installed at
the pumping station. Surge vessel is not suitable due to low static head, where the
necessary volume of air cannot be maintained inside the vessel, when the pumps stop
operations.
The vacuum relief air release valves allow air to rush into the pipeline to reduce the
down surge pressure when pressures in the pipeline drop below atmospheric pressure,
whereby very low down surge pressures can be prevented. On the other hand, when
pressures in the pipeline have rise above atmospheric pressure, the air in the pipe shall be
released to the atmosphere slowly, whereby prevent rejoining of the already separated
column of water. The rejoining of the separated column of water will resulted in very
erratic surge pressures and some times, this secondary surge pressures could be worse
than the primary surge pressures.

Graph 2: - Pressure Envelope

The computer simulation
of the transient response
of the pumping system
with the present of the
proposed air valves has
shown that the down
surge

pressure

has

improved to -3.9m, while

upsurge

pressure

has

remain at 23.1m when

the water level in the pump sump is at -1.5m. Similar simulation for the case when water
level in the pump sump is at -2.93m has shown that the worst down surge pressure has
reduced to 4.4m, with the worst up surge pressure also remains at 25.7m. The results of
the simulation are shown in Graph 2, which has shown that with the present of the
vacuum relief air release valves, the down surge pressures can be controlled efficiently.
Summaries of the results of the transient response of the pumping system, together with
the tabulated results of the surge pressures are presented in Figure 1.
The reverse flow starts 3.7 seconds after pumps stop, hence, the non-return valves used
should be rapid closing types. Shock due to closure of the disc shall be reduced through
the action of a dashpot or similar devices, which retards closure over the last 10 percent
of the closing position.

Figure 1: - Schematic Diagram

6. Conclusion
The proposed vacuum relief air release valves is able to control the transient effect on
the pumping systems. Therefore, vacuum relief - air release valves (vacuum relief with
attached air release valves) are recommended for this pumping system. The performance
graph of the proposed vacuum relief - air release valve, is shown in the Graph 3.
Graph 3: - Vacuum Relief and Air Release Valve Performance Graph for 75mm dia.
Inlet & 1.6mm dia. Outlet

The proposed locations of the vacuum relief - air release valves are shown in Figure 1, all
vacuum relief - air release valves shall have a 6 bars pressure rating.
Appendix A at the end of this report shows the graphical presentations of the transient
responds of the pumping system without protection and with vacuum relief air release
valves respectively.

10