Tutorial questions 2002 ANSWERS ONLY - Pump lectures - Thermofluids 312

Question 1
You recently purchased a large plot of land in the Amazon jungle at extremely low cost. You are
quite pleased with yourself until you arrive there and find that the nearest source of electricity is
1500 km away, a fact that your brother in law, the real estate agent, somehow forgot to mention.
You decid to build a small hydroelectric generator under a 75 m high waterfall located nearby.
The flow rate of the waterfall is 105 m3/h and you anticipate needing 750 kW.h/wk to run your
lights, beer fridge and TV. Calculate the maximum power theoretically available from the
waterfall and see if it is sufficient to meet your needs.
Reference: Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes 3rd Ed. Felder & Rousseau

Solution:
E! p = 20.4 x106 W
kWh
Demand = 3.43 x103
h

Question 2
An aqueous solution of SG=1.12 flows through a channel with variable cross section. Data taken
at two axial positions in the channel are shown in the table. Point 2 is 6 m higher than Point 1.
a. Neglecting friction, calculate the velocity at Point 2.
b. If the pipe diameter at Point 2 is 6 cm, what is the diameter at Point 1?

Point 1 Point 2
P(gauge) 1.5 x 105 Pa 9.77 x 104 Pa
v 5.00 m/s ?

Solution:
A v2=0.825 m/s
b. d1=2.4 cm

Reference: Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes 3rd Ed. Felder & Rousseau

Question 3 Used in lecture

A storage tank contains water at 15 deg C. The height of water above the pump centreline is 10
m. Water is pumped through a 200 mm line at 100 l/s to a reservoir 30m elevation above the
pump. What is the static head on the pump in m?

Answer: Static head = 20 m

Question 4
A vertical pump with a 5.2m suction pipe draws water from a sump. The water level in the sump
is 4 m below the ground and delivers it to an open tank 11 m above the ground. The centreline of
the pump is 1 m above the ground level. What is the static head on the pump in m?

Answer: Static head = 15 m

Question 5
Calculate the static head on the pump for each of the following conditions, the pressure guage is
installed at the centreline of the pump. For each situation the gauge reads 100 kPa

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a. Water at 15 deg C
b. Gasoline at 15 deg C
c. Water at 80 deg C
d. Silica slurry of SG 1.25

Answers: Head in m = kPa * 0.01 * 10.2/SG

a. 10.2 m
b. 13.6 m
c. 10.4 m
d. 8.2 m

Question 6
A storage tank has an ID of 5 m and a 200 mm diameter nozzle in the side at its base. When the
water level in the tank is 8 m above the centreline of the nozzle, what is the flowrate (cu.m/hr) of
the water leaving the nozzle

ANSWER
Flowrate cu.m/s = 0.393 cu m/s = 1413 cu m/hr

Question 7
You are required to move 1000 l/min of slurry from one tank to another, what is an acceptable
size or range of sizes of pipe internal diameter for both the suction and discharge of the pump ?

Answer :
What is v if D=100 mm ? v=4Q/(!D2) = 2.1 m/s acceptable
What is v if D=125 mm ? v= 1.35 m/s - low but maybe acceptable depending on viscosity and
particle size

Discharge side
Acceptable line velocity 1.5-2.5 m/s
From above D=100 mm is acceptable

Question 8
There is a steel pipe connecting a reservoir to a drain. The difference in elevation between the
reservoir exit and drain is 30 m and the pipe length is 300 m. A valve is opened at the top of the
pipe which is 100mm diameter, what is the head loss due to friction in the pipe as the water flows
at 50 l/s down to the drain?
Refer to Table on Formula Sheet for appropriate friction factor

Answer: Head loss due to friction in pipe hL=107 m

Question 9
Using the same information as Question 8. Recalculate the head loss due to friction if the pipe
diameter is 150 mm.

Answer: hL = 12.3 m

Question 10
A pump draws water at 15 deg C from a sump and delivers it to an elevated tank through 380 m
of new 4" diameter asphalt dipped cast iron pipe. The suction pipe is vertical, 1.5 m long and

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equipped with a foot valve. The centreline elevation of the pump is 8.7m and the elevation of the
water is 7.3m.
What is the suction lift of the pump when the flow is 12.6 l/s and the pipe friction loss is
2.75m/100m of pipe and the resistance coefficient for the foot valve k=0.8.
Ignore entrance loss

Answer:
Suction Lift = + 1.54 m

Question 10
A pump at elevation 8.7 m draws water at 15 deg C from a sump and delivers it to an elevated
tank at 88 m through 380 m of new 4" diameter asphalt dipped cast iron pipe. The suction pipe is
vertical 1.5 m long and equipped with a foot valve. The discharge pipe contains two regular 90
degree flanged elbows with R/D = 1.4, a swing check valve and an open wedge-disc gate valve.

What is the discharge head and total head of the pump when the flow is 12.6 l/s ? The pipe
friction loss is 2.75m/100m of pipe and the resistance coefficient for the valves are
Regular flanged elbow k=0.31
Swing check valve k=2.0
Wedge disk gate valve k=0.17
Let exit loss K=1.0
Ignore entrance losses

Answer:
Discharge head = 90.2 m

Total Head = 91.7 m

Question 9
Look at the pump curve for the Southern Cross ISO-PRO 200x150-400 pump, fixed speed 1475
rpm

a. If the total head on the pump is 60m and you are using a full size impeller, what is the expected
flowrate in l/s and efficiency (%) ? What standard size motor is required ?

b. If you wanted to deliver 107 l/s at 50 m of total head, what is the optimum impeller diameter ?

c. Calculate the hydraulic power and the motor power draw at 107 l/s and 50 m head for the
impeller diameter selected in b.?

d. If the pump was running as in b and you slowly closed a discharge butterfly valve to achieve
60 l/s, what would happen to the total head and the pump efficiency?

e. From the conditions in d. what would be the calculated power draw on the pump?

Answer:
a. Full size impeller is 438 mm, flowrate at 60 m total head is 107 l/s, efficiency = 82.5%. Motor
size 90 kW.
b. 410 mm
c. Hyd power = 107 * 3.6 * 50 * 1/368 = 52 kW
Efficiency from graph = 0.83

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Power draw on motor = 52/0.83 = 63 kW
d. The head value would increase to 57 m as the system curve would steppen due to greater
friction head component. The intersection of the pump and system curve would move to the left
along the line of the impeller diameter. The efficiency would decrease to 71%.
e. Power draw on motor = 60 * 3.6 * 57 / (368 *0.71) = 47 kW

Question 10
Look at the pump curve for the Southern Cross ISO-PRO 200x150-400 pump, fixed speed 1475
rpm

a. An engineer sizes a pump at 100 l/s at 47 m total head . However his/her manager decided to
buy a bigger pump in case of future expansion. The new pump is sized at 120 l/s and 58 m total
head with a 438 mm impeller, the static head on the system is 20m. When the new pump is
installed only 100 l/s flow is required so the pump is always operated with the discharge valve
partially closed. What is the total head and efficiency on the system when the pump is delivering
100 l/s ?

b. What is the power consumption when the new pump is running with the valve partially closed
delivering 100 l/s as in (a).

c. Eventually the manager realises that there are no funds for an expansion. As a result the
existing pump is oversized for current requirements ? What are the options available to the
engineer ?

d. If the 438 mm impeller is replaced with a 398 mm impeller, what is the resulting brake
horsepower ? If power costs are 7 c/kwh, what is the annual power savings ?

ANSWER

a. 100 l/s, 61 m total head, 81% efficiency with valve partially closed.

b. Use the equation:

Pump output of motor to pump = =74 kW
c. Most cost effective solution is to replace the 438 mm impeller with a 398 mm impeller.
Efficiency will increase to 82.5 % and there is the option of replacing the 90kW motor with a 75
kW motor.
d. Brake horsepower = 56 kW.
Annual power savings = $ 11037 per annum

Question 11

Look at the pump curve for the Southern Cross ISO-PRO 200x150-400 pump, fixed speed 1475
rpm

A variable frequency drive unit is installed on this pump. Assuming an installed impeller of 425
mm, recalculate the pump curve for operation at 1200 rpm.

Answer:
Affinity laws Q = Q1 (n/n1) = Q1 (D/D1)
H = H1 (n/n1)2 = H1 (D/D1)2
P = P1 (n/n1)3 = P1 (D/D1)3

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n = new desired speed, D = new desired diameter
n1=speed in rpm, D1 = diameter, for known characteristics Flow Q1, Head H1 and Pump Power P1

RPM Head Flow Power

Points A B C A B C A B C
Original 1475 63 60 52 40 80 120 25 47 61
Desired 1200 42 40 34 33 65 98 13 25 33
Ratio n/n1 0.81
Ref: Southern Cross 425 mm impeller

Change in head and flow w ith VFD Change in hydraulic pow er and flow
w ith VFD
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 1475 rpm 40
1475 rpm
30 1200 rpm 30
20 1200 rpm
20
10 10
0 0
0 50 100 150 0 50 100 150
F lo w l/s F lo w l/s

Question 15
A pump delivering toluene/ketone mix at 20.9 m3/hr has suction and discharge gauges reading 19
and 657 kPag respectively. The toluene/ketone mix has a temperature of 130 deg C, density 796
kg/ms, viscosity of 1.5 cP and vapour pressure of 90 kPa abs. The line sizes are 100 mm and 50
mm and the gauges are installed along the centreline of the pump.

What is the total head on the pump ?

What is the brake horsepower (hydraulic) power of the pump ?

ANSWER
Total Head (m) = Gauge reading (m) + Velocity Head correction (m)
Velocity head correction = v2/2g
Total head = 82.2 m
Hydraulic power = 3.7 kW

Question 16
Calculate the NPSHA for the following situations

a. Pump handling 15 deg C water at sea level with total suction lift of 0 m.
b. Pump handling 15 deg C water at sea level with total suction lift of 4.6 m.
c. Pump handling 15 deg C water at 5000 m above sea level with 2 m suction head.
d. Repeat b. with water at 80 deg C
e. Pump drawing water at 80 deg C from a closed vessel with overpressure of 30 kPag and
friction losses in the suction line of 4m. The static suction head is 10 m.

ANSWER

a. 10.16 m
b. 5.56 m
c. 6.56 m
d. 0.74 m
e. 14.9m

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Question 17
Given the following information about a pump application, estimate the NPSHA

Suction pressure : 40 kPag

Discharge pressure: 657 kPag
Vapour pressure: 10.3 kPa abs
Liquid : oil
Temperature: 164 deg C
Viscosity : 1.5 cP
Density : 796 kg/m3
Design flow = 36.7 m3/hr
Suction line = 100 mm
The pressure gauges are mounted in line with the pump centreline, close to the pump.

ANSWER

NPSHA = 16.9 m

Question 18

Water at 15 deg C is pumped from an open storage tank to a vessel pressurised to 100 kPa. The
water level in the tanks is 10m and 40 m respectively above the centreline of the pump. The steel
suction pipe is 200 mm diameter,5 m long and has an isolation gate valve. The discharge line is
150 mm diameter, 60m long and has a swing check valve, butterfly valve and 4 standard 90's.
The pump installed in this application with a 425 mm diameter impeller has a characteristic curve
as follows

Head m 64 64 60 55 47
Flow l/s 0 40 80 110 140

a. Calculate the head, flow and hydraulic power of the pump? Sketch the system and pump curves
for this application.
b. Due to scaling in the line, it has been suggested that the discharge line be changed to 200 mm.
What would be the new head and flow for this pump? On a graph show the change in system
curve resulting from a change in line size.
The process is designed for 95-105 l/s. Suggest what might modifications could be made to the
pump to achieve this delivery range if a the pipe size is changed to 200 mm. Illustrate the
modification on the same graph.
c. On the sketch from a, show the effect on the system curve of drop in discharge pressure in the
tank from 100 kPa to atmospheric.
d. With the existing system (150mm discharge line) the operators have been closing the butterfly
valve on the discharge line in periods of low throughput. This has the effect of increasing the K
value on the valve substantially from 45f to 355f. Sketch the effect on the System Curve and
calculate the head, flow and hydraulic power for the pump.

Suggestion: You are advised to construct a simple spreadsheet for the calculation of the System
Curve and Power calculation for the different head/flow combinations.

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Answer:
a. 97 l/s, 58 m, 55 kW
b. 134 l/s, 49 m, 64 kW
Process changes:
1. Reduce impeller diameter. Calculate new diameter using affinity laws
Impeller diameter change to 398 mm will deliver 105 l/s at 45m and 47 kW
2. Reduce RPM using variable frequency drive n=1155 rpm.
c. See graph
d. 83 l/s, 60 m, 49 kW.

Effect of variables on system curve

80

70

60
200/150
Head m

50 200/200
40 200/150 No DP

30 200/150 closed valve

PUMP CURVE 425mm
20
PUMP CURVE 398 mm
10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Flow l/s

Question 19

The operators are claiming that a pump is not giving them the flow they need to operate the
circuit optimally. They want to know the flow through the pump and suggest that an orifice plate
be installed.
a. Derive the equation for sizing the flow through an orifice plate.(Assume an ideal situation
where friction loss is zero)
b. Can this equation be used in practice in this form? What modification is usually made?

Answer

2 ( p1 p2 )
Q = A2

( )
2
1 A2
A1

In practice the measured flow rate will be smaller than this and a factor Q=CoQcalc is used. The
value of Co is a function of the d/D (diameter of orifice/ diameter of pipe) and the Reynolds
number. Typical values can be found on charts in Fluid Dynamics books.

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