Unsteady Flow

Pipe Lines

Dr. Shahid Ali

Professor & HOD
Civil Engineering Department
NUCES-FAST Lahore
 • Most of the problems encountered in engineering are of unsteady type.

• Two main types of problems under unsteady conditions are:

• The first is where the water level in a reservoir or pressure tank is steadily
rising or falling so that rate of flow varies continuously but where change
takes place slowly.
• The second is where the velocity in a pipeline is changed rapidly by the fast
closing or opening of a value

As far as discharge under varying head is concerned, the rate of discharge will
continuously vary.
 • Let VL represent the volume of liquid contained in the tank at a particular
instant of time.
• The inflow is Qi and outflow is Qo
• The change in volume during a small instant of time dt can be expressed as

dVL  Qi dt  Qo dt
If As is the surface area of volume and dz is the change in level of the surface then

dVL  As.dz
Asdz  Qi dt  Qo dt
Either Qi or Qo or both may be variable. The outflow Qo is usually a function of z. If a liquid is
discharged through a pipe of area A under differential head z,

Qo  CdA 2 gz
Cd is the numerical discharge coefficient and z is variable. If the liquid flows over a weir or

Q  CLh
spillway of length L, then 3/ 2
o
 • C is the appropriate coefficient and h is the head on the weir or spillway.

• Z or h is the variable height of the liquid surface above some appropriate datum.

• Qi in (a) is assumed to be either zero or constant as its variation with time makes
the case much more complicated.
(a) can also be written for time t, the time for water level to change from z1 to z2, by
integrating it.
z2 As dz
t
z1 Q  Q
i o
The RHS of above eq. can be integrated if Qi is constant and if As and Qo can be
expressed as function of z.

• In the case of natural reservoir the surface area cannot be expressed as a simple
mathematical function of z but values of it may be obtained from a topographical
map.
• In such a case, the above eq. can be solved graphically by plotting values of
As /(Qi  Qo ) against simultaneous values of z.
• the Area under such a curve to some scale is the numerical value of the integral
This is Known as Reservoir Routing or Level Pond Routing
Unsteady flow of Incompressible Fluid in Pipes

Pressure force Potential difference Frictional force Acceleration Term

 Velocity of Pressure Wave in Pipes
Inelastic Pipe

Wave Front covers a distance =

Piston covers a distance = 𝑉𝑑𝑡

Increase the

⍴ 𝐴 𝑉 𝑑𝑡 = 𝐴 𝑐 𝑑𝑡 𝑑⍴
Modulus

v
Elastic Pipe

c2
 2t∆σ𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙

t
c2

β1

β1

β1

β1
𝛽1 𝛽1
Previous Example
 Water hammer
• If the velocity of a liquid in a pipeline is abruptly decreased by a
valve movement, the phenomenon encountered is called water
hammer.
• This is very important problem in case of hydroelectric plants, where
the flow of water must be rapidly varied in proportion to the load
changes on the turbine.
• Water hammer can burst large penstocks, causing great damage to
hydraulic and power generating facilities, in addition to loss of life.
 Instantaneous closure
V

Even though, practically this case is impossible, but still will be

used to develop concept of water hammer.

• Consider that the valve at “N” is closed instantly ( as shown in

figure)

• This results in the pressing of the liquid against the valve by the rest of
the liquid column.
• Walls of the pipe are also stretched due to the pressure being applied.
• In a similar way, the next upstream lamina will also be brought to rest
and so on
V=V0
(V
V=V0 V=0

V0

V=-V0 V=0
• .

V=V0 V=0

V=V0 V=0
Sequence of Pressure at Intermediate point
• This stopping of flow and the pressure increase due to it, move
upstream like wave with velocity cp.

g 1
cp  K c
 1
D Ev
t E
Ev Ev
c K
 1  D / t E v / E 

Ev is the volume modulus of elasticity

E is the modulus of elasticity of material of pipe.
D and t are the diameter and wall thickness.
c is the velocity of pressure wave
• After a short time interval, it is possible that the liquid might have
come to rest in the length BN but it might still be flowing in MB.
• When the pressure wave, travelling backward, reaches point M, the
entire mass of water will be at rest in the length L.
• At the same time, the entire mass will be under tremendous pressure.

• During the pressure wave travel from N to M, there will be a

transient hydraulic grade line parallel to the original steady flow
line “XP” but at a height ph/γ.

• ph is the water hammer pressure.

• It is impossible for pressure to exist at “M”, that is greater than

that due to “MX”.
 • So when the pressure wave arrives at M, the pressure at M drops
instantly to the value it would have for zero flow.

• The entire pipe now becomes under excess pressure so the liquid in it
is compressed and the pipe walls are stretched.

• Then some liquid starts flowing back into the reservoir and a wave
of pressure unloading travels from M to N.

• Assuming that there is no damping, at the instant this unloading wave

reaches N, the entire mass of the liquid will be under normal pressure
indicated by XP.

• But on the other hand, the liquid is still flowing back into the
reservoir.

• This will result in drop in pressure at N

• This pressure drop will be as far below the normal steady flow
pressure as the pressure an instant before was above it.

• This leads to a travelling of wave back from N to M.

• Ideally there would be a series of waves travelling back and forth and
alternating between high and low pressures.

• The time for a round trip of a pressure wave from N to M and back
again is given by

L
Tr  2
• L is the pipe length. Cp

• So for instantaneous closure of valve, the excess pressure remains

constant for this length of time.
 • After which it is affected by the return of the unloading pressure
wave.

• So the pressure deficit remains constant for this length during

rarefaction.

• At a distance x, say B, the time for the round trip of pressure wave
will be
x
2
Cp
• So the time duration at B for excess or deficient pressure will be the same.

• At inlet M, where x=0, the excess pressure only occurs for an instant.
• A close up of the scenario created in the vicinity of the valve is shown in
figure
• On abrupt closure, a pressure wave travels up the pipe with velocity cp.

• In a short time interval, an element of length cpdt is brought to rest.

 • From Newton’s second law

Fdt  MdV
[pA  (p dp) A] dt  (  A cp dt) dV
 dp  cp dV
Δp   cp ΔV
• For the case of instantaneous valve closure, the velocity is reduced from V to
zero.

•
 V   V
Δp represents the increase in pressure due to valve closure.

• So water hammer pressure ph= Δp

The total pressure at the valve immediately after closure is ph+p where p is the
pressure in the pie just upstream of the valve prior to closure.
Slow and Rapid Closure

Previous case
Figure below
Fig.
The

Previous case
Solution
 dV V|V|
k

V
k

dV
V2
k k

dV
V2
dV
V2
Surge Tank
 Surge
Surge is the instantaneous rise in pressure due to sudden partial or complete closure of
valve on the downstream end of a long pipeline. Surge tanks are generally built as a
part of hydroelectric plant. In a long pipeline (Penstock), conveying water from a
reservoir to the turbines, there will be sudden fluctuations in the discharge at the outlet
of the pipeline with the varying load on the generator coupled to the turbine. There will
be need for the generator speed to be cut down suddenly due to decrease in load which
in turn decreases the discharge. This affects over a long pipeline instantaneously
increasing the pressure at the outlet, thereby bursting the pipe. If there is an open tank
whose level is kept well above the supply reservoir, located closer to the outlet, it can
temporarily accommodate the additional supply of water coming from both the
reservoir and the backwater from the control valve.

Similarly, there will be need for the generator speed to be increased suddenly due to
increase in the load which in turn increases the discharge. This additional supply of
discharge which has to be obtained from the reservoir in turn immediately increases
the flow velocity in the pipeline thereby decreasing the pressure. This results in
crushing of the pipe as the external pressure is far more than the internal pressure. The
surge tank if provided can augment the supply of water due to sudden increase in
discharge temporarily and prevent the damage to the pipeline.
Surge tank is an open topped large chamber provided so as to
communicate freely with the pipe line bringing water from the reservoir. The
upper lip of the surge tank is situated at a suitable height above the maximum
water level in the reservoir.

Other Types of Surge Tanks, Besides the simple cylindrical surge tank,
other types are also adopted. (i) Conical surge tank (ii) Surge tank with
internal bell-mouthed spillway (iii) Differential surge tank Fig. a shows a
conical surge tank which is similar to the simple surge tank described earlier,
except in this case the tank has a conical shape.
Fig. below shows a surge tank provided with internal bell-mouthed spill way.
This arrangement allows the overflow to be conveniently disposed of. Fig. c
shows a differential surge tank. This has the advantage that for the same
stabilizing effect its size can be very much less than that of the ordinary
surge tank. Inside the surge tank there is a riser pipe provided with ports at its
bottom. When there is an increase in pressure in the pipe, some small
quantity of water enters the surge tank through these ports but the major bulk
of the incoming flow mounts to the top of the riser and then spills over into
the tank. Thus this provides a substantial retarding head while in the ordinary
surge tank the head only builds up gradually as the tank gets filled- It may
further be realized that the water is not allowed to waste in the differential
tank
 Considering Friction
Momentum Equation

Continuity Equation