Mechanical Engineering

Critical Thickness

Critical Thickness of Insulation – Critical Radius. In a plane wall the area perpendicular
to the direction of heat flow adding more insulation to a wall always decreases heat
transfer. The thicker the insulation, the lower the heat transfer rate. This is due to the fact
the outer surface have always the same area.

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Heat Exchanger

Q: Why does a heat exchanger work at constant pressure?

*All the answers answered are correct. But let me tell you in the thermodynamics point
of view.
As we know that
At constant pressure
Q=Cp dT
&
At constant volume
Q=CvdT
For a fluid Cp is always greater than Cv.
So, At at constant pressure, we got greater heat exchange we will prefer constant pressure.
But pressure drop it's inevitable because of friction, change in direction of flow, etc.
*Pressure drop is inevitable in a heat exchanger as many of the other answers have
highlighted already. The key thing to note is that pressure drop correlates to heat transfer in
some respect, so a higher pressure drop is better heat transfer (sod’s law as pressure drop is
unwanted since it means more energy has to be added for example by a pump). This is due to
turbulence, and the higher the turbulence the better the heat transfer, i.e. the more chance a
particle of the fluid has of touching the heat transfer surface of the heat exchanger and giving up
its heat. It so happens that higher turbulence also means more conversion of pressure energy
and hence pressure drop. Heat exchanger designers use something called the Reynold’s number
to measure turbulence and it is a dimensionless number defined as the density x the velocity x
channel diameter divided by the fluid viscosity. So pressure drop in a heat exchanger is related
to those parameters of a fluid/the heat exchanger.
There is always a trade-off when designing a heat exchanger between unwanted pressure drop
due to pumping requirements and wanted pressure drop to get decent heat transfer. There is
normally a maximum reached within a particular heat exchanger design so long as the heat
transfer area required is greater than that required for the pressure drop. This has led to rules of
thumb as a starting point, e.g. 50kPa. If the heat transfer area required is small then often the
area can be extended to reduce the velocity in the heat exchanger and hence reduce the pressure
drop. This would be an oversized design - installing a bypass can remove the need to oversize a
heat exchanger.

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Mach number
In fluid dynamics, the Mach number is a dimensionless quantity representing the ratio of flow
velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. where: M is the Mach number, u is the local
flow velocity with respect to the boundaries, and c is the speed of sound in the medium.

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Q: How does mach number affact compressibility?

As an aircraft moves through the air, the air molecules near the aircraft are disturbed and move
around the aircraft. If the aircraft passes at a low speed, typically less than 250 mph, it is observed
that the density of the air remains constant. For higher speeds, some of the energy of the aircraft
goes into compressing the air and locally changing the density of the air. This compressibility
effect alters the amount of resulting force on the aircraft since the aerodynamic force depends on
the air density. The effect becomes more important as speed increases. Near and beyond the speed
of sound, about 330 m/s or 760 mph at sea level, small disturbances in the flow are transmitted to
other locations isentropically or with constant entropy. Sharp disturbances generate shock
waves that affect both the lift and drag of the aircraft, and the flow conditions downstream of the
shock wave. On this slide, we will investigate the dependence of the density change on the Mach
number of the flow.
The Mach number is the ratio of the speed of the aircraft, or the speed of the gas, to the speed of
sound in the gas. The speed of sound is equal to the speed of transmission of small, isentropic
disturbances in the flow. To determine the role of the Mach number on compressibility effects. we
begin with the conservation of momentum equation:

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rho * V dV = - dp
where rho is the fluid density, V is the velocity, and p is the pressure. dV and dp denote
differential changes in the velocity and pressure. From our derivation of the conditions
for isentropic flow, we know that:
dp/p = gamma * drho/rho
dp = gamma * p / rho * drho
where gamma is the specific heat ratio. We can use the ideal equation of state to simplify the
expression on the right:
p = rho * R * T
dp = gamma * R * T * drho
where R is the specific gas constant and T is the absolute temperature. We recognize that:
gamma * R * T = a^2
where a is equal to the speed of sound. So,
dp = a^2 * drho
Substituting this expression for the change of pressure into the conservation of momentum
equation gives:
rho * V dV = - a^2 drho
- (V^2 / a^2) dV / V = drho / rho
- M^2 dV / V = drho / rho
where M is the Mach number.
What does this expression tell us about the role of the Mach number in compressible flows?
For low speed, or subsonic conditions, the Mach number is less than one, M < 1 and the square of
the Mach number is very small. Then the left hand side of the equation is very small, and the
change in density is very small. For the low subsonic conditions, compressibility can be ignored.
As the speed of the object approaches the speed of sound, the flight Mach number is nearly equal
to one, M = 1, and the flow is said to be transonic. If the Mach number is near one, the square of
the Mach number is also nearly equal to one. For transonic flows, the change in density is nearly
equal to the change in velocity, and compressibility effects can’t be ignored.
As the speed increases beyond the speed of sound, the flight Mach number is greater than one M
> 1 and the flow is said to be supersonic or hypersonic. For supersonic and hypersonic flows, the
density changes faster than the velocity changes by a factor equal to the square of the Mach
number. Compressibility effects become more important with higher Mach numbers.

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 Cavitation

Q: What is Vapor Pressure and How does it

Impact Pump Selection?
Last week, we had a post that focused on two
important fluid properties- density and
specific gravity- and took a look at how those
factors can affect pump selection. Today,
we’ll look at another commonly overlooked
fluid property, vapor pressure, and how it
affects pump sizing.
Vapor Pressure of Water
To begin, there are three classic phases of matter- gas, liquids, and solids. The state of matter
that we are generally pumping are fluids. Fluids will evaporate unless prevented from doing to
by some external pressure. For most the fluids we see every day, like water, atmospheric
pressure is generally enough to keep water from becoming vapor. The vapor pressure of a fluid
is the pressure, at a given temperature, at which a fluid will change to a vapor. Each fluid has its
own vapor pressure/temperature relationship.
So, you may ask, is the vapor pressure also the fluids boiling point? In short, yes, but the answer
is not that simple. As a general trend, vapor pressures at ambient temperature increase with
decreasing boiling points. To illustrate this point, let’s look at water. At 32 F, the vapor pressure
of water is 0.087 psia. This means that for water at 32 F, if the external pressure drops below
0.087 psia (pretty serious vacuum), the water will flash off and boil. At 68 F (more or less ambient
water temperature), the vapor pressure of water is 0.334 psia (still a pretty strong vacuum). At
212 F, the vapor pressure of water is 14.7 psia, or atmospheric pressure.
Finally, before we get into how this affects pump sizing and selection, you may wonder if there
is a similar point where a liquid will become a solid. There is- and this temperature is known as
the fluids heat of fusion, enthalpy of fusion, or more generally as the melting point. In fact, there
exists a point, where at a given temperature and pressure a substance can be solid, liquid, and
gas. This point is known at the triple point of a substance.
Back to the point- how does vapor pressure affect pump selection? In pump sizing, vapor
pressure is a key check in evaluating suction conditions and the net positive suction head
available to the pump. In order to pump a fluid, we need to deliver fluid to the inlet of the pump.
This can become a real issue with either self-priming pumps or when pumping hot fluids. Pumps
work by creating an area of very low pressure near the inlet of the pump. Some pumps, like
the Quattro flow quarter nary diaphragm pump, will even suck and pump air. If the pump
pressure at the inlet of the pump drops below the fluids vapor pressure, the fluid will flash off.

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This will wreak havoc on your system, causing cavitation, pump life deterioration, and other
inefficiencies.
Another condition we have issues with this is with high temperature fluids. In liquid sugar or hot
fluid applications, where the temperatures are sufficiently high to cause vapor pressure decrease,
we can theoretically satisfy the NPSHR requirement of the pump, but not have enough pressure
to keep the product liquid, resulting in cavitation.
To conclude, each of application should be evaluated independently and take into consideration
not just fluid rheologic properties, but physical properties as well. Common things we can do to
increase suction pressure and avoid cavitation include running pumps slower, increasing inlet line
size, and using a booster pump to supply additional suction pressure. If you have a tricky sanitary
pump application, don’t just call anyone, contact a Holland Sales Engineer today and we’ll get
you sorted out.

Q: What is vapor pressure and cavitation?

Vapor Pressure: The pressure exerted by the vapour of a

liquid/solid on the liquid/solid when in thermodynamic
equilibrium. Vapour pressure is constant at a given
fluid/solid temperature.
Cavitation: One of the mechanism by which fluid
machinery,etc. get worn out. Let me explain it abit.
Vapor Bubble Formation & Vapor Pressure
Imagine water & water vapor in a closed cup/beaker,etc.
Observe the fluid-vapour interface carefully.
If the fluid pressure is more than vapour's,more fluid molecules would escape into vapour form.
On the contrary,if the fluid pressure is less than vapour's, the vapour molecules would want to
form a bubble inside the bulk fluid. This is the basic concept behind cavitation.
Cavitation Process & Vapour Pressure
1. Take a venturi tube/orifice. When water passes through the venturi contraction,its velocity
increases (as per mass continuity equation), thereby decreasing the water pressure (as per
Bernoulli equation)
2.If the water pressure drops below the vapour pressure at that temperature,vapour bubbles are
formed.
3. When the fluid decelerates again after passing through the venturi tube,the pressure
increases, forcing the water vapour bubbles to collapse.

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4. Now, when these bubbles collapse near any surface (like pump impeller blade,etc.) it generates
a shockwave (somewhat like ripples in a pond when a bubble on the surface bursts)

5.Repeated formation & collapse of such vapour bubbles sends shockwaves repeatedly that
collide with the impeller or any other nearby surface. Thus,the impeller is stressed in a cyclic
manner.
6.This gives rise to fatigue loading of the impeller,resulting in severe wear of the fluid machine's
parts.
7.Wear of the blades isn't a pretty thing for good operation of your machine. It can lead to
dynamic shaft unbalance,leading to dangerous operation of the pump,bearings,etc.

We can truly see here why cavitation is of prime importance in the design,operation &
maintenance of the fluid machinery.

Hope that helped :)

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