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Presentation #(1)

Industrial Pumps:
Selection, Operation and
Maintenance

Basics of Fluid Flow in

Pumping systems
Dr. Mohsen Soliman
Mechanical Engineering Dept

And with
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO
School of Sciences and Engineering
Engineering Services

Dr. Mohsen Soliman

Basics of Fluid Flow in pumping systems (also called Piping systems)

1st Basics of Fluid Flow in Pipes. Why?

Relation between fluid flow in Pumps

and fluid flow in Pipeline systems:
1- Pipes and pumps are very essential main
parts of industrial engineering applications.
2-Piping systems must be used at all pumps
inlet sections& also at pumps outlet sections
3- All fluid flow characteristics in the attached
pump-piping systems are very inter-related
and affect each other such as ( flow-rate, flow
speed, pressure and friction loss, fluctuations,
water hammer, flow reversals, cavitation, .etc)
4- Design of, operation &maintenance of any
pumping system must deal with both flow in
pumps and pipes as well at the same time.
5-Pumping systems must include other fittings, fluid control & measurement components
such as elbows, tees, various types of manual or automatic control valves, flow-meters.
6- So the design of, operation & maintenance of any pumping system must deal with both
pumps, pipes, pipe-fittings, valves, and flow-measuring devices as well at the same time!!
7- Availability, efficiency, & extended performance of pipelines, power plants, and pumping
stations & all similar facilities are greatly influenced by accurate design, selection, efficient
operation, and the proper maintenance of pumping equipment and their associated piping
Dr. Mohsen Soliman
system and other pipe-fittings, valves and flow measurement devices.

Dr. Mohsen Soliman

What is a Piping (or a Pipeline) System?

It is a system that includes the flow of one type of fluid (or many fluids) from one/some
point/s to another point/s through a single/multiple pipe/s (A/C systems have non-circular
ducts). Pipes are connected through many fittings& control elements. The fittings may
include but not limited to: manual/automatic valves, flow-meters, strainers, steam-traps,
bends, elbows T-joints, enlarging/decreasing flow area,.etc. Note that the other involved
power components (as pumps, compressors, turbines, separators,etc) are also included
in numerical analysis of piping system.
Types of piping systems include:
- a single pipe system (same diameter)
- multiple pipes (series/parallel) systems
- a pipe network system

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V8_5.mov

breathingprofile.mov

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Generally, pressure and kinetic energy losses must occur in any type of piping systems
(with the exception of water hammer effects). These losses are due to fluid flow viscous
effects (of any real fluid) and also due to many variations in the geometry and direction
of the flow field. Some other considerations may also contribute to these energy losses
such as cavitations, sudden condensation or evaporation (if heat transfer is involved).

What is meant by Designing of a Piping System?

Designing of piping system is to apply all what is needed from Fluid Mechanics
concepts concerning flow in pipes and ducts to solve various practical problems
of engineering importance that are related to fluid motion in the piping systems.
Some of these involved main fluid mechanics concepts:
- characteristics of laminar and turbulent pipe flows,
- critical Reynolds numbers,
- major pressure and head losses,
- types of minor losses,
- types and characteristics of different valves and flow-meters,etc

The general design process may include some Heat and Mass Transfer and
Thermodynamics concepts if the piping system involves some fluid heating or
cooling or phase change. The design can also use information regarding stress
analysis of pipe materials and its hangers and supports. Expansion & flexibility
of6a piping system is also an additional design aspect. Dr. Mohsen Soliman

From fluid mechanics point of view, the main idea in designing piping system
is to apply the energy equation between appropriate locations within the flow
system, with head/pressure loss written in terms of friction factor and minor loss
coefficients. Those locations are usually between pumps/power machineries
and/or tanks/reservoirs.
Analysis of piping systems considers two classes of pipe systems:
1- Piping systems containing a single pipe (whose length may be interrupted by
various components such as fittings, valves, flow-meters, .etc.),
2- Piping systems containing multiple pipes interconnected in-parallel, in-series,
or in various network configurations.

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Not just pump and pipe! To do a proper design

of any piping system you have to deal also
with many types of manual/automatic valves:
Valves are the manual or automatic
fluid controlling elements in piping systems.
Valves control any/some of the flow
parameters:
(flow-rate, pressure, direction, other)

Valves control the flow of fluid in one

or more of 5 ways:
z

Starting and stopping the flow

(on/off).

Throttling: controlling the flow by

reducing its rate.

Direction control: change the flow to

different pipes

Regulating: valve is operated

manually or automatically according
to pre-defined pressure changes in
the line.

Relieving: emergency, in case of

over pressure/flow

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Main
Control
valve

actuation
signal

Electrical or
Mechanical
or valve-type
Control signals

Main flow

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Note: Valves are also related to

Automatic Control Systems and Water Hammer

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Components of Pumping/Piping systems

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All pipes, fittings, and valves must be designed, selected, and installed as per Some
International Standards (e.g., ASTM, API, ASME, ..etc). See the specifications-PDF files

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Also To do a design of any piping/pumping system

you may have to deal with some types of Flow Meters
Flow meters are essential components of a Piping system

Flow meters may be used to measure:

mass or volume flow rate average or local fluid velocity- fluid quantities

Types of Flow Meters:

Venturi Flow-meter
Orifice Plates
Nozzle Flow-meter
Elbow-meters
Rota-meter
Positive-Displacement
Meters
Segmental Wedge
V-Cone
Pitot Tube
Magnetic Flow-meters
Turbine-meters
Ultrasonic Flow-meters
Hot
21 Wire & Hot Film

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Design of Practical Piping Systems (must have some pumps & other components)

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Review of Some Pipe Flow Concepts and Fundamentals:

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Start.mov

Is the flow in the pipe laminar or turbulent ?

reynolds2.mov

8_1.m

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ful_trb_flw_h1.mov

Lam-turb.mov

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turbulent_laminarcombo.mov

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simple_anim.mov

For a non-horizontal pipe :

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Dimensionless Analysis of Fully-developed Laminar flow in horizontal pipe

Dimensional analysis can be used to put flow parameters into dimensionless groups.

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It is common to write all types of fluid energy as Head in meter-units

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2_07030_diffusion.mo

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V8_3.mov

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Some Theoretical Analysis of Turbulent shear Stresses:

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Theoretical Turbulent Velocity Profile: Logarithmic Law of the Wall:

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