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Fluid Mechanics For Gravity – Flow Water Systems and Pumps

Worked Example 1: Natural Flow

Sections: EPANET & System Modeling, Gravity Flow Spreadsheets & Calculations, Gravity Flow
Water Systems

Consider a collector or spring tank at an elevation h1, supplying a reservoir tank at an elevation h2.

Figure 14

Taking the equation from Section 8 i:

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And assuming the kinetic energy term is negligible gives us:

Simplifying gives us:

(31)

This means that for the natural flow condition the actual head (h1 – h2) must equal the frictional head
(fh) “burned off” by the pipe. This means scanning the frictional head loss chart (interpolating where
necessary) to find the frictional head loss that exactly equals the actual head for the given pipe
diameter and length. The following numerical example will demonstrate this process.

Numerical Example

A spring tank is 500m from a reservoir tank, the difference in height between the two is 5m. It is
proposed to use 1″ diameter pipe to link the two, what will be the volumetric flow rate of the water
assuming a natural flow situation ?

Answer

Knowing h1 – h2 = 5, we can write Equation (31) as:

Now there are 500m of pipe and we are looking for a frictional head loss in the chart per 100m of pipe.
So divide the actual head loss by 5 (as we have 500m of pipe). So we are looking for the frictional
head loss per 100m of 1m on the chart for 1″ dia. pipe.

Scanning the chart gives us the following values for 1″ dia. pipe:

Flow Rate (LPS) Frictional Head Loss (m/100m)

0.19 0.62
0.25 1.07

Using the interpolation method (see Appendix 5) we can find the flow rate to give us exactly 1m of
frictional head loss per 100m of 1″ dia. pipe.

The variables for the general interpolation Equation 30 are given below:

X1 = 0.62, X2 = 1.07, Y1 = 0.19, Y2 = 0.25 and X3 = 1.

Substitute these into the general interpolation Equation 30 to give:

And so, the approximation is Y3 = 0.2406 which can be rounded up to 0.24 LPS.

This is the flow that will produce a frictional head loss of 5m over 500m of 1″ dia. pipe and is therefore
the natural flow rate of the system.

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Fluid Mechanics For Gravity – Flow Water Systems and Pumps
Preface
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: General Concepts
Part 3: Derivation of the Continuity Equation
Part 4: The Continuity Equation for Multiple Pipe System
Part 5: Energy in a Perfect System – The Bernoulli Equation
Part 6. Imperfect Systems – Friction and the Bernoulli Equation
Part 7: Pumps and Turbines – The Bernoulli Equation
Part 8. Typical Scenarios
Part 9: Special Scenarios
Appendix 1: Kinetic Energy of a Fluid
Appendix 2: Potential Energy of a Fluid
Appendix 3. Friction Losses and the Reynolds Number
Appendix 4. Water System Design Parameters
Appendix 5: Interpolation
Appendix 6: Frictional Head Loss Chart
Worked Example 1: Natural Flow
Worked Example 2: Natural Flow With Pipes of Different Diameters and Lenghts
Worked Example 3: Simple Tap Syatem (Tap Open)
Worked Example 4: Simple Tap System (Tap Closed)
Worked Example 5: Pump Requirement
Worked Example 6: DistributionSystem – The General Equation
Worked Example 7: Parallel Pipes
Worked Example 8: Sources at Different Elevations
Worked Example 9: Sample Water System Design

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