2012

Vemco,Inc.

[CALCULATINGSYSTEMCURVE]
Advanced Analysis of Pumping Systems Requires and Understanding of "System Curve"

Calculating System Curve

Inordertoanalyzemanypumpingsystems,athoroughunderstandingof"SystemCurve"isrequired.
Understandingvariablespeedsystems,parallelpumpsystems,andseriespumpsystemsallrelyon
understandingthesystemcurve.Also,predictingtheenergyusageofapumpwithdifferentdiameter
impellersreliesonanunderstandingofsystemcurve.Keystounderstandingthesystemcurveare:
1. Eachpipingsystemhasauniqueperformancecurvecalleditssystemcurve.
2. Thesystemcurvedefinestherelationshipbetweenflowquantitythroughthesystemandthetotal
resistancethatthesystemofferstoflow.UnitsmostoftenusedintheEnglishsystemareGPMfor
flowand"feet"fortotalresistancewhereGPMisshortforgallonsperminuteand"feet"isshortfor
feetofhead.
3. Thesystemcurveiscompletelyindependentofanypumpcurve.Onecouldinstallanypumpina
givenpipingsystem,andthesystemcurvewouldnotchange.
4. Thesystemcurveisparabolicshaped.Itcanbecompletelydefinedandplottediftwooperating
pointsareknown.
5. Whenapumpisinstalledandoperatedinasystem,thepointofoperation(expressedinflowand
head)willbeatasinglepointwherethepumpcurveandthesystemcurveintersect.Thisislogical,
becausethesystemmustoperateonitscurve,andthepumpmustoperateonitscurve,sothepoint
ofoperationofaninstalledpumpmustbecommontobothcurves.
6. Whenwe"balance"apumpscapacitybythrottlingavalve,weactuallyshiftthesystemcurveby
addingorsubtractingresistancetoflow.Thebalancedpointofoperationiswherethepumpcurve
and"new"systemcurveintersect.

CalculatetheDesignFlowandHeadasaFirstSteptoDrawtheSystemCurve
Todrawasystemcurve,itisfirstnecessarytocalculatetheresistancetoflowthroughthesystem(the
"head")atoneoperatingpoint.Thisisnormallydoneatthedesignflowpoint.Forexample,ifthedesignflow
is200GPM,theheadiscalculatedat200GPM.Themethodfordoingsoisbeyondthescopeofthispaper.
(ForadiscussionofthistopicgototheToolstaboftheVemco,Incwebsite,andseethearticleentitled,
"CalculatingthePumpHead").Anunderstandingofthatarticleisnecessarytounderstanddevelopmentof
thesystemcurve.

SystemCurveforClosedSystems
Asdiscussedintheaforementionedarticle,theresistancetoflowforaclosedsystemconsistsonlyoffriction
head(alsocalledpressuredrop).Velocityhead,statichead,andpressureheaddonotaffecttheresistanceto
flowinaclosedsystem.
Itisgenerallyacceptedthattheresistancetoflowvarieswiththesquareofthequantityofflow.Assumethat
aflowrateof100GPMresultsinafrictionheadof75ft.inagivensystem.
o
o

Doublingtheflowinthesamesystemto200GPMwouldresultinafrictionheadof:(200
GPM/100GPM)2X75ft.=300ft.
Reducingtheflowto80GPMinthesamesystemwouldresultinafrictionheadof:
(80GPM/100GPM)2X75ft.=48ft.

Thissquaredrelationshipallowsustoplotacompletesystemcurveveryquicklyoncewehavecalculatedthe
designflowanddesignhead.BycompletingTable1,wecanquicklydeterminesixpoints,whichshouldbea

Calculating System Curve

sufficientnumbertoconstructareasonablysmoothcurve.Tousethistable,onemustfirsthavecalculated
thedesignflow(DF)andthedesignhead(DH).
Table1,ClosedSystemCurve(FrictionHeadOnly)
SystemFlowRate,GPM

FrictionHeadFormula

1.1XDF

1.21XDH

DF

DH

.75XDF

0.56XDH

.50XDF

0.25XDH

.25XDF

0.06XDH

0Flow

0.00XDH

FrictionHead,Ft.

DH

Letslookatanexample:
Example1:Assumeadesignflow(DF)of200GPMatadesignhead(DH)of30.0ft.Calculatethesystem
curvepoints.Thepointsarecalculatedasfollows:
Table2,(ClosedSystem)
SystemFlowRate,GPM

FrictionHeadFormula

FrictionHead,Ft.

1.1XDF=220

1.21XDH

36.3

DF=200

DH=30

30.0

.75XDF=150

0.56XDH

16.9

.50XDF=100

0.25XDH

7.5

.25XDF=50

0.06XDH

1.8

0Flow0

0.00XDH

0.0

Rememberthatinclosedsystems,thefrictionheadisthetotalheadaswell,sothevaluesintherighthand
columnrepresenttheheadsforthesystemcurve.

Calculating System Curve

CalculatingSystemCurvePointsforOpenSystems
Foropensystems,theformulaforthesystemheadis:
TotalSystemHead=FrictionHead+StaticHead+PressureHead+VelocityHead
Velocityheadappearsinitalicstoremindusthatvelocityheadisgenerallyignored,asitisinsignificantin
hydronicapplications(seethearticlecalled,"CalculatingthePumpHead"onthisWEBsiteforamore
completeexplanation).
Neitherstaticheadnorpressureheadvarywithflow.Thisislogical,becausetheheightofthesystem(static
head)remainsfixedregardlessoftheflowrate;thepressuresinthe"beginning"and"final"vesselsare
independentofflowrateaswell.Soeachpointconsistsoffrictionheadwhichvarieswithflow,andstaticand
pressureheads,whichdonot.
Considerthefollowingexample:
Aprocesssystemconsistsofanopentank,apressurizedtank,andpipingbetweenthetwo.Apumpdelivers
waterfromtheopentanktothepressurizedtank.Thefrictionheadforthepipinghasbeencalculatedat30
ft.at200GPM.Thewaterlevelinthepressurizedtankislocated5abovethelevelintheopentank.The
pressurizedtankoperatesat4PSIG.Calculatethepointsforthesystemcurve.
Notethatthefrictionheadisexactlythesameasinthepreviousexample,sothereisnoneedtorecalculate
that.Theotherheadsare:
o
o

StaticHead=5
PressureHead=(4PSIG0PSIG)X2.31ft./PSIG=9.2ft.

Rememberthatthestaticheadandpressureheadarefixed.Wecanconstructthefollowingtable(Table3).
Table3(OpenSystem)

SystemFlow
Rate,GPM

Friction
Head,Ft.

StaticHead,
Ft.

Pressure
Head,Ft.

TotalHead,
Ft.

220

36.3

5.0

9.2

50.5

200

30.0

5.0

9.2

44.2

150

16.9

5.0

9.2

31.1

100

7.5

5.0

9.2

21.7

50

1.8

5.0

9.2

16.0

0.0

5.0

9.2

14.2

Calculating System Curve

ThecurvesfromTable2(foraclosedsystem)andTable3(foranopensystem)havebeenplottedbelowin
Figure1.Notethateachcurvedemonstratescharacteristicsofitsparticularsystemtype.
1. Theclosedsystemcurveisparabolashapedandpassesthroughtheorigin(0GPMat0ft)
andthroughthedesignpoint(200GPMat30ft.).Allclosedsystemcurvespassthroughthe
origininthedesignpoint.
2. TheopensystemcurveisparabolashapedandmeetstheYaxisataheadequaltothesum
ofthestaticheadplusthefixedhead.Italsopassesthroughthedesignpoint.Allopen
systemcurvesexhibitthesetraits.

Figure1,TypicalSystemCurvesforOpenandClosedSystems
Summary
Thesystemcurvetellsuslittleinandofitself.However,whencombinedwithpumpcurves,itisanessential
elementinpredictingthepointofoperation.Therefore,itisimportanttounderstandhowtoconstruct
systemcurvesforbothclosedandopensystems.

Formoreinformation,contactyourlocalVemco,Inc.office.
www.vemcoinc.com