SOLVING LIQUID HAMMER PROBLEMS, USING PIPENET VISION and CAESAR II Prepared By: Farhad Salehi INTRODUCTION: Liquid

hammer is the destructive force, pounding noises and vibration in a pipin g system when liquid flowing through a pipeline is stopped abruptly. When sudden changes in flow occur, the energy associated with the flowing liquid is suddenl y transformed into pressure at that location. This excess pressure is known as s urge pressure and is greater with large changes in velocity. Characteristics of the pipe such as the materials used in construction, the wall thickness, and the temperature of the pipe all affect the elastic properties of the pipe and how i t will respond to surge pressures. The thicker pipe wall and stronger pipes and fittings the faster shock wave. Thi n walled plastic pipe will only bounce a shock wave back at 914 m/s while heavy wall steel pipe will bounce a shock wave back at 2438 m/s. Liquid does not actua lly travel down a pipe line at these speeds. For example 1.5 to 2 meters per sec ond is very fast for water to flow in a pipeline. A pressure wave or shock wave in liquid happens when one liquid molecule pushes on another liquid molecule and the second molecule pushes on a third and so on. If you have a pipeline 1,000 m eters long full of water, injecting a thimble full of water in one end of the pi pe, will cause another thimble of water to almost instantaneously come out of th e other end of the pipe. The non compressible nature of most liquids is what tra nsmits a shock wave through pipelines at such unimaginable speeds. Stronger or t hicker walled pipe and fittings are better able to withstand the repeated impact s of liquid hammer but, as the strength of the pipe and fittings increases, the velocity of the shock wave increases causing more damage. CAUSES OF LIQUID HAMMER: The causes of liquid hammer are varied. There are, however, four common events t hat typically induce large changes in pressure: 1. Pump startup can induce the rapid collapse of a void space that exists d ownstream from a starting pump. This generates high pressures. 2. Pump power failure can create a rapid change in flow, which causes a pre ssure up-surge on the suction side and a pressure down-surge on the discharge si de. The down-surge is usually the major problem. The pressure on the discharge s ide reaches vapor pressure, resulting in vapor column separation. 3. Valve opening and closing is fundamental to safe pipeline operation. Clo sing a valve at the downstream end of a pipeline creates a pressure wave that mo ves toward the reservoir. Closing a valve in less time than it takes for the pre ssure surge to travel to the end of the pipeline and back is called sudden valve closure. Sudden valve closure will change velocity quickly and can result in a pr essure surge. The pressure surge resulting from a sudden valve opening is usuall y not as excessive. 4. Improper operation or incorporation of surge protection devices can do m ore harm than good. An example is over sizing the surge relief valve or improper ly selecting the vacuum breaker-air relief valve. Another example is to try to i ncorporate some means of preventing liquid hammer when it may not be a problem.

MANUAL LOAD CALCULATION:

dp = .c.dv Whe e: dp - The p essu e ise due to the fluids instantaneous stopping - The fluid density c - The speed of sound in the fluid dv - the change in velocity of the fluid The speed of sound in the fluid can be estimated f om c = [Ef / ( + (Ef / E) (d/t) )] 0.5 Whe e: Ef - The bulk modulus of the fluid E - The modulus of elasticity of the pipe d - The pipe mean diamete t - The pipe wall thickness - The fluid density The magnitude of unbalanced load can be computed f om: F = dp . A ea PIPENET MODEL: In the following piping system, Wate Hamme phenomenon happens when stop valve closes in 4 seconds. Instead of the manual calculation, its fa bette to use flu id t ansient analysis softwa e like PIPENET T ansient to simulate p essu e su ge i n piping systems. The pa t of the piping system shown in figu e 1, is ou inte e st fo analysis.

Figu e 1 This is a 10, Std. WT, A106-B pipe. Wate is flowing th ough the pipe with 11.2 b a p essu e and 20C tempe atu e. Suddenly, valve closes in 4 seconds. Figu e 2 illust ates the specification appl ied to valve closu e with powe - amp time function.

Figu e 2 The best candidate fo wate hamme load is segment 200-300 (fo ce 2), shown in figu e 1. The magnitude of applied dynamic fo ce due to p essu e su ge in elbowelbow pai 200-300 illust ated in figu e 3 below. This load spect um is uni-axia l fo ce along pipe which its di ection must be specified in CAESAR II dynamic mo del co ectly, late . Figu e 3 CEASAR II MODEL: Afte c eating the same model in CAESAR II and pe fo ming static analysis shown in figu e 4, we see that the suppo t loads and the maximum st ess a e ve y low a

nd acceptable. (Code St ess Ratio is 13.0 at Node 410 LOADCASE: 2 (SUS) W+P1)

Figu e 4 PERFORMING DYNAMIC CALCULATION: PIPENET c eates .FRC file fo each defined fo ce in the model. CAESAR II can ea d .FRC files and c eate dynamic input file automatically. We can impo t .FRC fil e in CAESAR II by using Tools>Exte nal Inte faces>PIPENET f om CAESAR II main me nu. Afte pe fo ming dynamic analysis, we ll see st ess failu e and excessive fo ces on some of pipe suppo ts shown below. RESTRAINT REPORT, Loads on Rest aints (OCC)COMBINATION # 1 NODE 100 250 410 600 ------Fo ces( N.)------FX FY FZ 4140 0 0 13618 2063 14733 10935 7591 1451 0 0 1164

-----Moments( N.m. )----MX MY MZ 2063 0 0 1308 21443 0 0 8335 23 0 0 7723 Rigid Rigid Rigid Rigid ANC +Y +Y ANC

**** B31.3 -2006, May 31, 2007 **** CODE STRESS CHECK FAILED HIGHEST STRESSES: ( KPa ) CODE STRESS %: 106.1 @NODE 298 STRESS: 194578.8 ALLOWABLE: BENDING STRESS: 183613.0 @NODE 298 TORSIONAL STRESS: 5011.1 @NODE 300 AXIAL STRESS: 11947.4 @NODE 298 3D MAX INTENSITY: 201337.9 @NODE 299 THE FIX: 1. In long pipelines, su ge can be elieved with a tank of wate di ectly c onnected to the pipeline called a su ge tank. When su ge is encounte ed, the tank will act to elieve the p essu e, and can sto e excess liquid, giving the flow a lte native sto age bette than that p ovided by expansion of the pipe wall and c omp ession of the fluid. Su ge tanks can se ve fo both positive and negative p essu e fluctuations. 2. Ai chambe s a e installed in a eas whe e wate hamme is encounte ed f equently, and a e typically seen behind sink and tub fixtu es. Shaped like thin, upside-down bottles with a small o ifice connection to the pipe, they a e ai -f illed. The ai comp esses to abso b the shock, p otecting the fixtu e and piping . 3. In this situation, the best fo m of wate hamme p evention is to have a utomatically-cont olled valves, which close slowly. Closing the valve slowly can mode ate the ise in the p essu e when the downsu ge wave - esulting f om the valve closing - etu ns f om the sou ce o ese voi . Going back to the PIPENET model and changing the valve closu e time to 6 sec. (f igu e 5) will cause less wate hamme loads, as shown in figu e 6.

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Figu e 5 NOTE: Lowe values of the exponent cause the majo ity of the flow cutoff to occu at the end of closu e, while la ge values of the closu e exponent cause the m ajo ity of flow cutoff to occu at the beginning of closu e.

Figu e 6 Now, dynamic analysis is pe fo med fo this model again with new .FRC file. At t his time, suppo ts loads a e fa bette than p evious situation and code st ess also passed as shown below. RESTRAINT REPORT, Loads on Rest aints (OCC)COMBINATION # 1 NODE 100 250 410 600 ------Fo FX 1991 0 0 6844

ces( N.)------FY FZ 2063 701 9607 0 8885 0 6824 584

-----Moments( N.m. )----MX MY MZ 2063 10648 18 Rigid ANC 0 0 0 Rigid +Y 0 0 0 Rigid +Y 680 4230 5943 Rigid ANC

**** B31.3 -2006, May 31, 2007 **** CODE STRESS CHECK PASSED HIGHEST STRESSES: ( CODE STRESS %: KPa ) 57.0 @NODE 298

STRESS: BENDING STRESS: TORSIONAL STRESS: AXIAL STRESS: 3D MAX INTENSITY: CONCLUSION:

104517.9 94708.5 2521.1 10331.8 110781.1

ALLOWABLE: @NODE 298 @NODE 300 @NODE 399 @NODE 299

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Wate hamme will continue to challenge enginee s, ope ato s, and manage s of wa te systems because it is associated with systems that cannot be exactly defined due to the size and length of the wate dist ibution system with undulating p o file o the lack of definition of the system components such as valves o pumps. By knowing how to avoid situations that will c eate wate hamme o pulsations du ing the p ocess, o while t ouble shooting, you can eliminate a lot of p oble ms, failed valves and equipment, and costly downtime.