|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Velocity in Gravity Discharge Pipe | |||
| Post Reply | Forum | ||
| Posted by: tiberon ® 03/15/2007, 23:26:56 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
I would like to know the average velocity and friction loss in a gravity discharge line. I am pumping water (it is actually a chemical feed that is mostly water so let's just analyze the problem as if it were water) at constant (the pump is positive displacement type with sufficient head to overcome moderate discharge pressures) flow rates (anywhere from 1 to 5 gpm) to a vertical line that runs straight down (vertically) 200 feet into a water reservoir. The vertical pipe is PVC and 1 inch nominal inside diameter (during design it may range for 0.5 inch to 1.0 inch with the exact ID dependent on wall thickness/schedule). The pipe is immersed (i.e., submerged) in the water reservoir 50 feet down (so PVC pipe is actually 250 vertical feet long). There is a backpressure valve at the top of the vertical pipe that will keep the feed line full for immediate discharge to the top of the vertical pipe when the pump is turned on. It is very important in this process application to know how long it will take for the feed to travel the vertical 200 feet distance as immediate (or as near as practical) feed to the reservoir is desired when the process logic turns on the feed. Question No. 1 - Assuming that the vertical line is sealed (i.e., no air can enter or escape at the surface) at the top, how long will it take (i.e., velocity) for the initial flow to reach the reservoir elevation? Head loss? Question No. 2 - If I add a vent at the top (e.g., open air vent with no significant inlet restriction or vacuum-breaker vent that releases at 1 psi differential) will this help, hurt, or make no difference to the answer in Question No. 1 above? Head loss? I sort of see this problem as bracketed between 'plug flow' of a full line (minutes) and 'free fall' in a large empty line (seconds); however, the process can accept seconds (but not minutes) as the travel time from top (elevation 0 feet) to bottom (elevation -200 feet). Due to space limitations I can not go to a much bigger line and due to large turndown flow rates (5:1) I imagine that my head loss could be a problem (don't know for sure). Also, I may be missing some element of this dynamic process of which I should be aware. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. |
| Post Reply Tell a Friend (must be logged in) Alert Admin About Post |
View All | | | |
| Replies to this message |
| Re: Velocity in Gravity Discharge Pipe | |||
| Re: Velocity in Gravity Discharge Pipe -- tiberon | Post Reply | Top of thread | Forum |
| Posted by: zekeman ® 03/16/2007, 09:17:56 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
I think you may have underestimated your socalled "free fall" since you have entrained air that gets compressed. As far as the steady state condition where the flow velocity is constant you write the flow equation
P+p1v1+h V^2/2g=p2v2+ V^2/2g+ fl/d V^/2g where the velocity head,V^2/2g is constant and since p2v2-p1v1=h you get the pumping head P= friction loss in 200 feet. So if you pick out the gpm and look up the friction in tables you get the required pumping head and power. |
| Post Reply Tell a Friend (must be logged in) Alert Admin About Post |
Where am I? Original Top of thread | | | |
| Re: Re: Velocity in Gravity Discharge Pipe | |||
| Re: Re: Velocity in Gravity Discharge Pipe -- zekeman | Post Reply | Top of thread | Forum |
| Posted by: zekeman ® 03/16/2007, 19:28:10 Author Profile eMail author Edit |
Also, if you maintain a reservoir above the pipe at the top, say h1, then the flow equation is
h1=fl/d V^2/2g where the pumps only function is to fill the reservoir surrounding the pipe and does not appear in the flow equation. |
| Post Reply Tell a Friend (must be logged in) Alert Admin About Post |
Where am I? Original Top of thread |
Powered by Engineers Edge
© Copyright 2000 - 2024, by Engineers Edge, LLC All rights reserved. Disclaimer
