PAST BOARD EXAM PROBLEMS

DAY2

1. Water is pumped at 1.4 m3/s from a tank at a treatment plant to a tank at a local works through two
parallel pipes, 0.3 m and 0.6 m diameter respectively. What is the velocity in each pipe and, if a
single pipe is used, what diameter will be needed if this flow of water is to be transported, the
pressure drop being the same? Assume turbulent flow with the friction factor inversely proportional
to the one quarter power of the Reynolds number. (3.19 COULSON)
2. Hydrogenis pumped from a reservoir at2 MN/m2 pressure through a clean horizontal mild steel pipe
50 mm diameter and 500 m long. The downstream pressure is also 2 MN/m2 and the pressure of
this gas is raised to 2.6 MN/m 2 by a pump at the upstream end of the pipe. The conditions of flow
are isothermal and the temperature of the gas is 293 K. What is the flowrate and what is the
effective rate of working of the pump? Viscosity of hydrogenD0.009 mN s/m2 at 293 K.
(4.3 COULSON)
3. Over a 30 m length of 150 mm vacuum line carrying air at 293 K, the pressure falls from 1 kN/m2 to
0.1 kN/m 2. If the relative roughness e/d is 0.002, what is approximate flowrate? (4.8 COULSON)
4. A 150 mm gas main is used for transferring gas (molecular weight 13 kg/kmol and kinematic
viscosity 0.25 cm2/s) at 295 K from a plant to a storage station 100 m away, at a rate of 1 m3/s.
Calculate the pressure drop if the pipe can be considered to be smooth. If the maximum permissible
pressure drop is 10 kN/m2, is it possible to increase the flowrate by 25%? (4.13 COULSON)
5. A gas cylinder containing air discharges to atmosphere through a valve whose characteristics may be
considered similar to those of a sharp-edged orifice. If the pressure in the cylinder is initially 350
kN/m2, by how much will the pressure have fallen when the flowrate has decreased to one-quarter
of its initial value? The flow through the valve may be taken as isentropic and the expansion in the
cylinder as isothermal. The ratio of the specific heats at constant pressure and constant volume is
1.4. (6.14 COULSON)
6. Tests on a small scale tank 0.3 m diameter (Rushton impeller, diameter 0.1 m) have shown that a
blending process between two miscible liquids (aqueous solutions, properties approximately the
same as water, i.e. viscosity 1 mN s/m2, density 1000 kg/m3) is satisfactorily completed after 1
minute using an impeller speed of 250 rev/min. It is decided to scale up the process to a tank of 2.5
m diameter using the criterion of constant tip-speed. (7.7 COULSON)
7. Methane is to be compressed from atmospheric pressure to 30 MN/m2 in four stages. Calculate the
ideal intermediate pressures and the work required per kilogram of gas. compression to be
isentropic and the gas to behave as an ideal gas. Indicate on a temperature–entropy diagram the
effect of imperfect intercooling on the work done at each stage. (8.4 COULSON)
8. 1250 cm3/s of water is to be pumped through a steel pipe, 25 mm diameter and 30 m long, to a tank
12 m higher than its reservoir. Calculate the approximate power required. What type of pump
would you install for the purpose and what power motor (in kW) would you provide? Viscosity of
water = 1.30 mN s/m2. Density of waterD1000 kg/m3. (8.14 COULSON)
9. 600 litres/s of water at 320 K is pumped in a 40 mm i.d. pipe through a length of 150 m in a
horizontal direction and up through a vertical height of 10 m. In the pipe there is a control valve
which may be taken as equivalent to 200 pipe diameters and other pipe fittings equivalent to 60
pipe diameters. Also in the line there is a heat exchanger across which there is a loss in head of 1.5
m of water. If the main pipe has a roughness of 0.0002 m, what power must be delivered to the
pump if the unit is 60% efficient? (8.21 COULSON)