Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Influence of Specific Gravity On Total Head
The Influence of Specific Gravity On Total Head
The pump
manufacturers will
sometimes
identify the unit of
the total head axis Figure 1 Typical pump characteristic curve.
as feet of water,
or sometimes there will be a notice somewhere on the chart saying: tested with water at 70F.
This is the manufacturers way of telling the user that the pump was tested with water and that
the power curves are ONLY valid for water, but careful there are other pitfalls.
Total head is the amount of specific energy that can be produced by the pump, the unit in North
America is feet. What is specific energy? Specific energy is the amount of energy per unit
weight of fluid displaced.
head specific energy
energy ( E ) E (lbf ft )
E
( ft )
weight (W )
W (lbf )
W
[1]
Here is the question that you need to think about. Say that you measure the shut-off head of a
pump with water, will you get a different value if the fluid is a dense salt solution (assuming the
viscosity is the same)? The answer is NO.
The unit for weight in North America is the pound, one pound of water weighs the same as one
pound of mercury or one pound of salt solution. Therefore the amount of specific energy
required to displace a pound of water or a pound of salt water will be the same. That is why the
total head value or specific energy produced by a pump is independent of how heavy or dense
a fluid is. The definition of head makes density irrelevant, which you must admit is very
convenient, otherwise the manufacturers would have to produce curves for 100s of fluids. As
we say in Quebec, its organized with the guy that makes the movie (it sounds better in French).
Power does depend on the specific gravity (SG). Equation [2] provides the relationship between
SG, flow (Q), head (HP) and efficiency () of the pump with respect to power (P). If you read
power off the performance chart, keep in mind that it is based on water and that you should
multiply the value read by the SG of the fluid.
P ( hp ) SG
Q ( gpm) H P ( ft )
3960
[2]
Two other factors need to be considered. One is the viscosity of the fluid and the other the
rheological properties (Newtonian or non Newtonian) or the way the fluid behaves under shear.
Viscosity effect
The viscosity of the fluid affects all the operational parameters of the pump: total head, flow and
efficiency. The viscosity of water at 70 F is 1 cSt (centiStoke). If the viscosity of the fluid is 5 cSt
or more a correction for viscosity has to be applied. The Hydraulic Institute has produced a chart
(see Figure 2) that provides correction
factors for flow, head and efficiency.
From this chart you can see that a fluid
with 400 cSt will have a low correction
factor for efficiency, meaning that the
motor size will have to be much larger
than its equivalent for water
(disregarding the effect on flow and
head). In that case, you should consider
using a positive displacement pump
instead of a centrifugal pump.
[3]