Fundamentals of !

Fluid Power

Week Three Homework Problems

1. An expression relating the flow rate through an orifice to the pressure drop
across it may be derived from Bernoulli’s equation,
r
2
Q = A0 (P1 − P2 ).
ρ
This expression does not provide accurate results for fluid power applications,
but a slight modification allows for increased accuracy. What is the corrected
expression, what is the name of the additional term, and what purpose does the
additional term serve?

2. The data sheet of an orifice lists the discharge coefficient to be 1.05. Is there
anything strange about this claim? Explain.

3. Hydraulic fluid (ρ = 840 kg/m3 ) passes through a knife-edged orifice, charac-

terized by Cd = 0.6, at a volumetric flow rate of 2 liters per minute. If the
pressure drop across the orifice is 2 kPa, what is the cross sectional area of the
orifice?

4. Two knife-edged orifices have the same cross sectional area, A0 , but one orifice
has a circular cross section and the other has a square cross section.

(a) Will the pressure drop be the same for these two orifices if the fluid is
inviscid?
(b) Will the pressure drop be the same for these two orifices if the fluid is
viscous?

5. A company uses a correlation,

∆P = 5Q2 ,

to predict the pressure drop across one of their flow control valves. What is the
orifice coefficient, K, associated with this control orifice?
 6. Earlier in the course we defined force and volumetric efficiencies for a cylinder.
What are the analytical force and volumetric efficiencies for a pump?

7. A hydraulic motor with 85% total efficiency drives a 5 kW application. If the

system power supply provides fluid at a rate of 3.155×10−4 m3 /s, what pressure
is required to satisfy the application power requirement?

8. Empirical correlations for pump/motor efficiency are typically required for de-
sign purposes. Example correlations are presented in the “Efficiency and Pump-
ing Theory” lecture. Manipulate these two expressions to find the total effi-
ciency, η, of a pump.

9. What is flow ripple? What characteristics of a piston pump determine the

frequency and amplitude of flow ripple?

10. A designer considers two mounting locations for a hydraulic filter: the first just
before the reservoir on the return line, and the second between the reservoir
and the pump. Which of these configurations is preferable? Explain.

11. The cracking pressure of a relief valve is the pressure drop required to unseat the
main stage poppet. At the cracking pressure, the relief valve passes a negligible
volumetric flow rate of hydraulic fluid. To increase the flow rate through the
valve, the pressure drop must be increased. The increase in pressure drop
(above that of the cracking pressure) required to achieve the valve’s rated flow
rate is called the pressure override. Do you expect the pressure override for
pilot-operated and direct-acting relief valves to be similar or different? Explain.

12. Describe the operation of the manual pump pictured below.