Description of the building

Piping system for an apartment is being discussed in this report and its important
to know all the dimension and value that involve in calculation. This apartment
consists of 7 floors and each floor consists of 16 units. So, the total units that have
in
Item
Value
1

Area of one unit

People live in one unit

Total unit on one floor
Total Persons live in whole
Apartment
Height
Water uses by one person in a
day
Total volume of water uses for
whole residents in one day
Time taken to water fulfill the
upper tank
Water flow rate required in this
system

3
4
5
6
7
8

93.24

m2

3 persons
16 units
336 persons
22.3m
35-50 gallon/day
64

m3 /day

30 minutes
0.036

m /s .

that apartment are 112 units. Area of one unit is equivalent to 93.24

m 2 . As

assuming, 3 persons live in one house and total people that maybe live in these
apartment is equal to 336 persons. Refer to table 1, usually at resident area, one
person will use 35-50 gallon/day. So, the total volume of water needed for the whole
resident in one day is 64

m /day . It will takes 30 minutes to water filled the upper

tank . So, from the all value, the water flow rate can be obtained that equal to 0.036

m3 /s . The elevation different between the lower tank and upper tank is 22.3m in
this piping system.

Design basis
The selection of pipe size is very important to avoid any problems happen during
the pipe works. Selection of diameter and size of pipe is depends on the value of
velocity. Based on value water flow rate required in this system (0.036

m3 /s ), we

need to select size of pipe than can withstand this flow rate without causing any
problem. Size 4 inch of pipe will give the maximum value of velocity which is more
than 12 ft/s . So, any number that bigger that 4 inch is suitable to use in this piping
system and we decide to use size pipe of 6 inch in schedule 40. From all the
information that list in table 2, the area or the pipe is 0.0186
obtained from formula is 1.94

m2 and the velocity

m/s .

Selection material of pipe is very important to avoid any problems happen and to
know either the material is suitable for the application or not. Pipes must not
contaminate water, and must be suitable for the pressure, flow and temperature of
the water they are carrying. Material are used for these pipe is copper. The selection
of copper as a material use is because its have many advantages compare to other
material and its suitable for this application (apartment piping system). Copper has
long been used for all types of domestic water services and distribution because it:

is durable
has good corrosion resistance
is malleable and easy to bend
is self-supporting
has good flow characteristics
requires few fittings
can be recycled.

A fitting is used in pipe systems to connect straight pipe or tubing sections, to adapt
to different sizes or shapes, and for other purposes, such as regulating or measuring
fluid flow. Strainer is also using in this piping system to make sure water that supply
from the lower tank to upper tank is always clean without any contamination. List all
fitting that used in this piping system is already shown in table 3. The total value of
fitting or

KL

= 6.35. Value of friction factor, f is obtained from formula Halland

Approx and the value is 0.0141. All the value have been obtained and through the
energy equation we can get the value of head loses and head net pump. The total
value of head losses is 1.833 m and value of net head pump is 24.83m. So, the
value of

Qrequired

and

H required

that need in this system is already obtained and it

is easier to select a pump that suitable to this piping system that meet these
requirement.

1
2
3

Item
Length of pipe
Size pipe
Area of pipe

Value
35 m
6 inch (schedule 40)

4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Velocity
Inner Diameter
Material
Total minor losses
Friction factor, f
Head losses
Required Net Head

0.0186

m2

1.94 m/s
0.154 m
Copper
6.35 m
0.0141 m
1.833 m
24.83 m

Selection of pump that meet all the requirement may be the difficult task if we are
not know the value of

Qrequired

and

H required

in the piping system. But for this

piping system, we already know all the value and it will make the selection of pump
is easier. Pump that has accurate intersection between these two points is most
suitable pump used in this system. Based on finding on pump performance catalog,
APEX PUMP (centrifugal pump) model ISF 125x100-250 is chosen as a pump using in
this system. The selection of this pump because only this pump have accurate
intersection between value of

Qrequired

and

H required

(0.036

m3 /s

and the intersection on the graph also known as operating point.

and 24.83m)

Analysis and theory

By applying the steady energy equation in head form from point 1 to point 2,

P1 v 12
P2 v 22
+ + z + h = + + z +h
g 2 g 1 pump g 2 g 2 L,total

(1)

In Eq. 1, we may neglect the speed of point 1 as it is too small. At point 1, P 1 and P2
is equal to Patm. Thus, the pressure terms cancel out and Eq. 1 reduces to

h pump =z 2z 1+ h L,total

(2)

The total head loss in Eq. 2 is a combination of major and minor losses and depends
on the volume flowrate. Since the pipe diameter is constant,

h L, total=

fl
v2
+ K L
D
2g

(3)

The dimensionless relative roughness is /D = (0.0015mm)/(0.145m) = 9.7403 x 10 6

. The Reynolds number of the system is

DV D 4 VV
4 VV
=
=
2

D D

(4)

The Reynolds number varies with volume flowrate. When flowrate VV = 0.036m3/s,
then the Reynolds number is

4(0.036 m3 / s)
=333658.4
(1.94 m2 /s) (0.154 m)

(5)

From the formula and the roughness factor, the friction factor is f = 0.0141. The
sum of all the losses in the system are

h L, total

1407.69 vV 2

Substituting these values into Eq. 2, the required net head for the system is

h pump

23+1407.69 vV 2

Pump performance curve

The pump characteristic is normally described graphically by the manufacturer as

the pump performance curve. The pump performance curve describes the relation
between the flow rate and the head for the actual pump. Other important
information for a proper pump selection is also included like efficiency curves, NPSH
curve, pump curves for several impeller diameters and different speeds, and power
consumption.
Shutoff Head: The Shutoff Head is the head produced when the pump operates
with fluid but with no flow rate.
Free delivery: The Free Delivery condition is when no head produced when the
pump operates with maximum flow rate.

BEP: maximum value somewhere between the shutoff condition and the free
delivery condition; this operating point of maximum efficiency is appropriately
called the best efficiency point (BEP).

It is important to realize that for steady conditions, a pump can operate only along
its performance curve. Thus, the operating point of a piping system is determined
by matching system requirements (required net head) to pump performance
(available net head). In a typical application,

H required and,

H available

match at one

unique value of flow ratethis is the operating point or duty point of the system.

NPSH and Pump Cavitation

Net positive suction head (NPSH) is defined as the difference between the pumps
inlet stagnation pressure head and the vapor pressure head,

We may think of NPSH as the actual or available net positive suction head. On the
other hand, required net positive suction head (

NPSH required ) is defined as the

minimum NPSH necessary to avoid cavitation in the pump. As long as the actual
NPSH is greater than

NPSH required , there should be no cavitation in the pump.

Result
Pump selection

Based on finding on pump performance catalog, APEX PUMP (centrifugal pump)

model ISF 125x100-250 is chosen as a pump using in this system. The speed of the
pump is 1460 rpm and maximum pressure can apply is 16 bar. The selection of this
pump because only this pump have accurate intersection between value of

Qrequired

and

H required

(0.036

m3 /s

and 24.83m) and the intersection on the

graph also known as operating point.

This pump have many advantages compare to another pump and all the benefits
have been lists below:

Rotating element may be removed from the pump without disturbing the
pipework.
Low Nett Positive Suction Head protects the pump from cavitation damage.
Non-overloading power characteristics.

Based on graph above, we can get a value of Power input of the pump which is
10.8kW and the value of power output get from equation will give answer 8.77kW.
So, the efficiency of this system is 81.19 %. This percentage value show the right
selection of pump for this system will give the better performance for whole piping
system.