Department of Mechanical, Energy and Industrial Engineering

MECE 521: Design of Thermal Systems

Pumping to higher Levels

The total loss along a pipe line is given by:

 l  2
h  4 f  k V (1)
 d  2g
Where the first term on the right expresses the total loss by friction and the
second term represents the sum of minor losses.

When pipe line is long such that l/d > 2000 and it has no valves of small openings all
minor losses may be neglected. In general for urban water pipes V = 1 – 1.5 m/s is
typical for long pipe runs, while up to approximately 2.5 m/s is typical for short pipe
runs. For the headrace of a hydraulic power plant, V ranges from 2 to 5 m/s.

Fig 1: Storage pump:-H = total head, Ha = actual head, Ha,s = suction head, Ha,d = discharge
head, hs = losses on suction and hd = losses on discharge side.

A pump can deliver to higher levels since it gives energy to the fluid as depicted in the Figure.
The head H across the pump is called the total head. The differential height Ha between the
two water levels is called the actual head and

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 H  Hah (2)
where h is the sum of hs and hd expressing the total loss.

The volume of water which passes through a pump in unit time is called the pump
discharge. Since the energy which a pump gives water in a unit time is H per unit weight, the
energy Lw given to water per unit time is:

P w   gQH (3)

This is sometimes known as water horsepower.

The power Ps needed by a pump is called the shaft power and

Pw =
Ps (4)

where  is the efficiency of the pump which is always less than unity.

Practice

1) For flow in a circular pipe with constant pipe friction coefficient, show that the
frictional head loss is inversely proportional to the fifth power of the pipe diameter.
Also if the diameter is measured with β% error, what would be the percentage error
in head loss?
2) What is the necessary shaft power to send 1 m3/min of water through a conduit 100
mm in diameter as shown in the figure below? Assume pump efficiency of 80%,
loss coefficient of sluice valve k45 = 0.175, of 90o elbow k90 = 1.265, of 45o elbow k45
= 0.320 and pipe frictional coefficient, f = 0.026.

FLUID MACHINES

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Turbomachines are commonly employed devices that either supply or extract energy from a
flowing fluid by means of rotating propellers or vanes. A pump adds energy to a system, with
the result that the pressure is increased; the rate of flow is also increased. The fluid in a
pump is a liquid. A compressor transmits power to a gas to achieve a high pressure but with
little velocity. A fan imparts motion to a gas with small change in pressure. A blower imparts
substantial velocity and pressure to a gas.

A turbine extracts energy from a system and converts it to some other useful form, typically
electric power. Most turbines utilise internal flows. A wind turbine, on the other hand, makes
use of the surrounding external flow to convert the energy of the atmospheric air into useful
electrical power.

Turbomachines may be classified in the first instance according to the predominant direction
of the fluid flow in the rotor. In a radial flow machine, the fluid enters the rotor at one radius
and leaves it at a different radius e.g. centrifugal pump and the Francis turbine. In the axial
flow machine the main flow direction is parallel to the axis of rotation so that the fluid passes
through the rotor at a constant radius e.g. the axial flow pump. In the mixed flow machine the
flow is partly radial and partly mixed.

There are many similarities between turbines and pumps and several formulae are equally
applicable to both types of machines.

The quantities in all Turbomachines are:

Q = flow rate
H = the head
P = power
N = speed
D = size
 = efficiency
They are all important parameters but the emphasis placed on certain quantities is different
for pumps and turbines.

The output of a pump running at a given speed is the flow rate delivered by it and the head
developed. A plot of head against flow rate at constant speed gives the fundamental
characteristic of a pump. For this performance, power input is required which also involves
efficiency. It is usual to plot the power and efficiency against Q as well to obtain a complete
set of performance characteristics of a pump, see figure below.

In the case of turbines, the output is the power developed at a known speed so that the
fundamental turbine characteristic is a plot of power against speed at constant head. The
input in this case is the fluid flow rate which as well the efficiency is then plotted against the
speed to obtain a complete set of turbine characteristics.

The performance characteristics represent in a graphical manner the relationships between

variables relevant to a turbomachine. Each hydraulic machine has its own set of
characteristics which represent its performance. These should be available from the

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manufacturer. Pump performance charts are useful in determining most efficient uses of
pumps.

NOTE: Perform experiment in the laboratory to obtain the Pump characteristics.

Similarity laws for Turbomachinery

The development and use of turbomachines in engineering practice has benefited greatly
from the application of dimensional analysis and similarity laws. A small number of
turbomachines (pumps and turbines etc) can be developed and tested and then a series of
commercial units can be produced to cover a broad range of applications. Dynamic similarity
must however be ensured. Geometric and kinematic similarities are required for dynamic
similarity. For fluid machines, geometric similarity must apply to all significant parts of the
system, namely, the rotor, the entrance and discharge passages, tail race, sump etc.
Machines that are geometrically similar are called homologous series and the members are
therefore either enlargements or reductions of one another.

Kinematic similarity implies that the velocities at inlet and outlet of the rotor for one machine
must be similar to the corresponding velocities in the other machine.

Dynamic similarity implies that certain dimensionless parameters are the same for the
systems or machines being compared. These parameters are now determined for
turbomachines.

Dimensionless Coefficients

The following parameters can be considered significant for a turbomachine: power, rotational
speed, outer diameter of rotor, discharge, pressure change across the machine, density of the

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fluid and viscosity of the fluid. These are provided in the table along with the relevant
dimensions. In functional form the relation between these variables is given by:

f  P, N, D, p,  ,   = 0 (5)

Table: Turbomachinery Parameters

Parameter Symbol Dimensions

Power transferred between fluid & rotor P ML2T-3

Rotational speed N T-1

Outer diameter of rotor D L

Discharge (volume rate of flow through Q L3T-1

machine)
Pressure change p ML-1T-2

Density of fluid  ML-3

Viscosity of fluid  ML-1T-1

Four dimensionless numbers (or  s ) may be expected. If Q, p ,  and P are chosen

as the numerators of the  s respectively, then:
Q
1  (flow rate coefficient) (6)
N D3

p
2 (pressure coefficient) (7)
 N 2D2

P
3 (power coefficient) (8)
 N 3D5

 N D2
4 
(Reynolds number) (9)

It is customary to equate p to  gH where H represents the difference of head across the

machine, then:

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 gH
2 2 2
(head coefficient) (10)
N D

Another dimensionless parameter can be obtained by grouping  3 with  1 and 2 in the

form

3
(11)
 1 2
P
and this gives (12)
 QgH

and is called hydraulic efficiency of the turbine.

For a pump, the efficiency grouping is

 QgH
p (13)
P

The output power of a turbine is les than P because of losses (i.e mechanical) so that

 o=  m h (14)
where
 o = overall efficiency of the turbine
 m = mechanical efficiency
h = hydraulic efficiency

The efficiency of turbomachines is an important similitude parameter.

The effects of Reynolds number are negligible and  4 may be omitted. Then relation
connecting the s is

 Q gH P 
 2  , , 5
 =0 (15)
 ND
3
ND
2 2
N D 
3

or
 gH P 
 2  , , 5
 =0 (16)
 ND
2 2
N D  3

Thus similarity relationships between any 2 turbines (suffixes 1 & 2) from the same geometric
family can be developed as:

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 3 5
   
Power coefficient: P 2  2  N 2   D 2  (17)
P1  1  N1   D1 

2 2
H 2  g1  N 2   D2 
Head coefficient:     (18)
H 1 g 2  N1   D1 

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Q  
Flow rate coefficient 2  N 2  D 2  (19)
Q1 N 1  D1 

Equations 17 -19 are called turbomachinery similarity rules and are used to design or select a
turbomachine from a family of geometrically similar units.

Equation 16 is particularly useful to show the characteristics of turbines under

conditions of constant speed and head. For a particular machine and a particular
gH
incompressible fluid, D and density are constant and thus 2 2
is a constant. The efficiency
N D
is then a function of P.

Problem: A centrifugal pump, impeller diameter 0.50 m, when running at 750 rev/min gave
on test the following characteristics:

Q (m3/min) 0 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56
H (m) 40.0 40.6 40.4 39.3 38.0 33.6 25.6 14.5 0
 (%) 0 41 60 74 83 83 74 51 0

Predict the performance of a geometrically similar pump of 0.35 m diameter and running at
1450 rev/min. Plot both sets of characteristics.

Solution:
Let suffix 1 refer to the 0.5 m diameter pump and suffix 2 refer to the 0.35 m diameter pump..
Since they are similar, then, from equation 6, we have
Q1 Q2
3
 3
N 1D1 N 2D2

Therefore

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  D 
Q 2  Q1  N 2   2 
 N 1   D1 

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 3
 1450   0.35 
Q 2  Q1     0.663Q1
 750   0.5 

And from equation 10, we have,

H1  H 2
2 2 2 2
N 1 D1 N 2 D 2

Therefore,
2 2
N   D2 
H 2  H 1 2   
 N1   D1 

2 2
 1450   0.35 
H 2  H 1    1.83H 1
 750   0.50 

Since the values of Q1 and H1 have been given, we can tabulate the values of Q2 and H2.
These together with the same values of efficiency constitute the predicted characteristic of
pump 2 as follows:

Q (m3/min) 0 4.64 9.28 13.92 18.56 23.2 27.8 32.5 37.0

H (m) 73.2 74.3 74.0 71.9 69.5 61.5 46.8 26.5 0
 (%) 0 41 60 74 83 83 74 51 0

You may now plot the characteristics of both pumps.

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Specific speed

Every machine is designed to meet a specific duty, referred to as the design point. For a
pump this would be stated in terms of the flow rate and the head developed and thus
represents a particular point on its basic performance characteristic. The design point is
normally associated with the maximum efficiency of the machine. It is informative to quote
the flow rate coefficient, head coefficient and the power coefficient corresponding to their
design points.

Since for pumps the flow rate coefficient and the head coefficient are the two most important
parameters, their ratio would indicate the suitability of a particular pump for large or small
volumes relative to the head developed. The ratio can be obtained so that the impeller
diameter D is eliminated and comparison is then independent of machine size. This is
achieved by raising flow rate coefficient to power ½ and the head coefficient to power ¾ .
The specific speed for a pump is obtained as :

 1
1/ 2

ns 
 4 
3/ 4

(20)
1/ 2
NQ
=
 gH 
3/ 4

The specific speed of a turbine is obtained in a similar fashion but the diameter is eliminated
from the power and head coefficients. The power coefficient is raised to the power of ½ and
the head coefficient to the power 5/4 to obtain:

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.
 3
1/ 2

ns 
 2 
5/ 4

rev (21)
1/ 2
= NP
5/ 4
1/ 2 gH 

The rotational speed may be either in rev/s or rad/s. Thus two forms of the specific speed are
possible.

Q
1/ 2 1/ 2
NQ
ns  or s  for pumps
 gH   gH 
3/ 4 3/ 4

and
1/ 2 1/ 2
P P
N   
   or    for turbines
ns =  =
 gH   gH 
5/ 4 s 5/ 4

With the aid of specific speed the various types of pumps and turbines may be classified and
compared. Since the specific speed refers to the design point, it is used as the most
important design parameter.

Problems

1) A pump delivers 0.300 m3/s against a head of 200 m with a rotating speed of 2000
rpm, calculate the specific speed.

2) How much head loss will be produced by sending 0.5 m 3/min of water a distance of
2000 m using commercial steel pipes of diameters 50 mm? Also, what would be the
head loss if the diameter is 100 mm? The water temperature is assumed to be 20 oC.

3) Water flows through a sudden expansion where a circular pipe of 40 mm diameter is

directly connected to one of 80 mm. If the discharge is 0.08 mm 3/min, find the
expansion loss.

Summary
For ease of analyzing and selecting pumps the three important variables (discharge Q, head,
H and impeller speed, N are often combined into another parameter known as specific speed.

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Turbines usually handle liquids (cold water) for which ρ and g are invariant. Thus in place of
equation 16, it has been common industrial practice to use specific speeds in dimensional
form:

1/ 2
= NP
Ns 5/ 4 rev/s
H

When two tanks with a water level differential h are connected by a pipe line, then,
 l V 2
h   f   k + 1
 d  2g

Professor MT Oladiran

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