A centrifugal pump has the following measured performance when tested

with water at 20C:

a) Calculate the corresponding efficiency values.

b) Estimate the best efficiency point and the maximum efficiency.
c) Estimate the most efficient flow rate, and the resulting head and
brake horsepower, if the diameter is doubled and the rotation speed
increased by 50% assuming the efficiency remained constant.

Consider the following data for a family of centrifugal pumps running at

1760 rpm.
a) Identify the precisely the BEP of the 9-in diameter pump.
b) Consider a pump geometrically similar to the 9-in diameter pump to
deliver 1200 gpm of water at 1500 rpm. Determine the a)
appropriate impeller diameter, b) maximum efficiency using the
Moody formula (

1 2
D
( 1 )1/ 5 ), and c) BEP horsepower
1 1
D2

An 18-in-diameter centrifugal pump running at 880 rpm has the following

measured performance when tested with water at 20C:

a) Calculate the corresponding efficiency values.

b) Estimate the best efficiency point, the maximum efficiency and the
corresponding brake horsepower.
c) Find the appropriate speed in rpm and diameter in inches for a
geometrically similar pump to deliver 400 gpm against a head of 200
ft.
d) What brake horsepower would be required?

The 32-in-diameter pump in the figure below is used at 1170 rpm in a system whose head
curve is Hs(ft) 100 1.5Q2, with Q in kgal/min. The pump characteristic curve is
approximated by Hp(ft) 500 0.3Q2, with Q in kgal/min. What is the best pump
configuration to use? (i.e. single, parallel, or series). Show your answer both graphically
and numerically.

Solution:

Assume plain old water, g 62.4 lbf/ft3.

Try 3 different cases:

(a) One pump: Hp 500 0.3Q2 Hs 100 1.5Q2: Q 14.9 kgal/min Ans. (a)
(b) Two pumps in parallel: 500 0.3(Q/2)2 100 1.5Q2, Q 15.9 kgal/min Ans. (b)
(c) Two pumps in series: 2(500 0.3Q2) 100 1.5Q2: Q 20.7 kgal/min Ans. (c)
Clearly case(c) is best, because it is very near the BEP of the pump. Ans.
Two 32-inch pumps (characteristic curve of one pump is shown in figure) are combined
in parallel to deliver water at 20C through 1500 ft of horizontal pipe. If f 0.025, what
pipe diameter will ensure a flow rate of 35,000 gal/min at 1170 rpm? Find brake
horsepower required and efficiency of the parallel system.
For water at 20C, take 1.94 slug/ft3 and 2.09E5 slug/fts

Solution: As in Prob. 11.74, a reasonable curve-fit to the pump head is taken from Fig.
11.7a: Hp(ft) 500 0.3Q2, with Q in kgal/min. Each pump takes half the flow, 17,500
gal/min, for which
H p 500 0.3(17.5)2 408 ft.

Then Qpipe

35000
ft 3
78
and the pipe loss is
449
s

2
2
5740
1500 [78/( d /4)]
Hsyst 0.025

408 ft,

d
2(32.2)
d5

solve for d 1.70 ft

Ans.

Efficiency stays constant

Ptotal = QH/2 x P (of single pump)
Determine how many of the smallest pump (i.e. 10 in diameter) in the figure below, running in
series at 1160 r/min, can efficiently pump water at 20C through 1 km of horizontal 12-cmdiameter commercial steel pipe. What is the efficiency of the system. For water at 20C, take =
998 kg/m3 and = 0.001 kg/m-s. For commercial steel pipe, = 0.046 mm.

Solution:

Then /D = 0.046 mm/120 mm = 0.000383.

For the smallest pump in Fig. P11.24, the BEP is at about 400 gal/min, with a head of
about 41 ft. See what friction head loss results from this flow rate:
Q (400 6.309E 5)m3 / s
m
VD (998)(2.23)(0.12)
V
2.23 ; Re D

267, 000
2
A
s

0.001
( / 4)(0.12m)

0.000383;

Eq.(6.48) : f Moody 0.0177 ,

L V2
1000 (2.23)2
(0.0177)(
)
37.4m 123 ft
D 2g
0.12 2(9.81)
So three small pumps in series, each with 41 ft of head, would be an efficient system.
Efficieny is 65% (from figure).
hf f