Tutorial - Pumps

1. A centrifugal pump has a rotational speed of 1200 rpm. A design discharge of 0.5 m3/s and a
head of 30m. The corresponding head is 27m. The shut off head is 30m. For what speed will the
discharge be 0.60 m3/s? What will be the corresponding head? For what speed will the shut off
head be 22m?
[Shut off head is the max. head. At this max. height, Q=0]

2. A centrifugal pump running at 2950 rpm under test at peak efficiency gave the following results:
Effective head H= 75m of water, rate of flow Q= 0.05 m3/s, overall efficiency = 76%.
A dynamically similar pump is to operate at a corresponding point of its characteristic when
delivering 0.5 m3/s through a pipe 800m long and 1m diameter for which the friction coefficient
f =0.05. The pipe discharges 90m above reservoir level. Determine the rotational speed at which
the pump should run to meet the duty and ratio of its impeller diameter to that of the pump
mentioned above. What will be the power consumed by the pump.

3. A centrifugal pump running at 1500 rpm has the following characteristics. Draw the
characteristics of the pump and find the best efficiency point. What is the specific speed of the
pump? Estimate the shut off head.
Q (L/s) 10 15.5 21.5 30.3 36.0 42.5 48.0
H(m) 35.0 34.5 33.3 30.0 26.8 22.8 18.5
 (%) 60.0 67.5 72.0 73.5 71.0 66.0 60.0

4. The two centrifugal pumps A and B are available for use in a pipe flow system and their
characteristics are as follows:
Pump A Pump B
Discharge Q (m3/s) Head (H) Discharge Q (m3/s) Head (H)
0.00 40.0 0.0 45
0.10 38.0 0.1 43
0.20 29.0 0.2 38
0.25 23.0 0.3 28
0.30 16.0 0.4 14
Determine the head-capacity curves for these pumps when both pumps are connected in (i)
parallel and (ii) in series.

5. A centrifugal pump, impeller diameter 0.50m, when running at 750 rev min-1gave on test the
following performance characteristics:
Q (L/s) 0 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56
H(m) 40.0 40.6 40.4 39.3 38.0 33.6 25.6 14.5 0
 (%) 0 41 60 74 83 83 74 51 0
Predict the performance of a geometrically similar pump of 0.35m diameter and running at 1450
rpm.