Applied Fluid Mechanics Lab Manual (Ahmari and Kabir)

1. Introduction

In waterworks and wastewater systems, pumps are commonly installed at the source to raise the water level and at intermediate points to boost the water pressure. The components and design of a pumping station are vital to its effectiveness. Centrifugal pumps are most often used in water and wastewater systems, making it important to learn how they work and how to design them. Centrifugal pumps have several advantages over other types of pumps, including:

The characteristic curves of commercial pumps are provided by manufacturers. Otherwise, a pump should be tested in the laboratory, under various discharge and head conditions, to produce such curves. If a single pump is incapable of delivering the design flow rate and pressure, additional pumps, in series or parallel with the original pump, can be considered. The characteristic curves of pumps

Many pumps are in use around the world to handle liquids, gases, or liquid-solid mixtures. There are pumps in cars, swimming pools, boats, water treatment facilities, water wells, etc. Centrifugal pumps are commonly used in water, sewage, petroleum, and petrochemical pumping. It is important to select the pump that will best serve the project’s needs.

The objective of this experiment is to determine the operational characteristics of two centrifugal pumps when they are configured as a single pump, two pumps in series, and two pumps in parallel.

Each configuration (single pump, two pumps in series, and two pumps in parallel) will be tested at pump speeds of 60, 70, and 80 rev/sec. For each speed, the bench regulating valve will be set to fully closed, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% open. Timed water collections will be performed to determine flow rates for each test, and the head, hydraulic power, and overall efficiency ratings will be obtained.

The hydraulics bench is fitted with a single centrifugal pump that is driven by a single-phase A.C. motor and controlled by a speed control unit. An auxiliary pump and the speed control unit are supplied to enhance the output of the bench so that experiments can be conducted with the pumps connected either in series or in parallel. Pressure gauges are installed at the inlet and outlet of the pumps to measure the pressure head before and after each pump. A watt-meter unit is used to measure the pumps’ input electrical power.

While pumping fluid, the pump has to overcome the pressure loss that is caused by friction in any valves, pipes, and fittings in the pipe system. This frictional head loss is approximately proportional to the square of the flow rate. The total system head that the pump has to overcome is the sum of the total static head and the frictional head. The total static head is the sum of the static suction lift and the static discharge head, which is equal to the difference between the water levels of the discharge and the source tank (Figure 10.4). A plot of the total head-discharge for a pipe system is called a system curve; it is superimposed onto a pump characteristic curve in Figure 10.5. The operating point for the pump-pipe system combination occurs where the two graphs intercept.