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Pump and Pipe Sizing
Pump and Pipe Sizing
This article will demonstrate how you can balance a pump curve against a system curve to calculate liquid velocity with
First, we'll develop the equations that determine the liquid velocity in a simple pump and pipe system. Then we'll discus
these equations be solved using Excel's Goal Seek feature. Finally, we'll show Visual Basic code that can be used to autom
Goal Seek so that any parameter change will automatically calculate the new liquid velocity.
The spreadsheet can be downloaded here, but read the rest of this article if you'd like to understand the theory.
First consider the pump. Its flowrate-head curve is can be described by a polynomial derived from empirical data, where
and c are best-fit coefficients, and Q is the volumetric flowrate
Equation 1
Equation 2
where A is the cross-sectional area of the pipe and V is the liquid velocity through the pipe. Substituting Equation 2 into
Equation 1 to eliminate Q gives
Equation 3
This equation now describes the head produced by the pump as a function of the liquid velocity through the pipe.
Now consider the pipe. Frictional head loss through the pipe can be described by the Bernoulli equation and written as
Equation 4
We'll call Equation 4 the System Curve. f is the friction factor, given by the Haaland Equation.
Equation 5
Equation 6
The Haaland equation is only valid in turbulent flow, i.e. if the Reynolds Number is over 2500.
For our pump and pipe system, the pump head is equal to the head loss in the pipe. Hence
Equation 7
We can now use Excel to find the liquid velocity that satisfies Equation 7 (effectively determining the intersection betwe
pump curve and the system curve).
Excel Implementation
The Excel spreadsheet uses this cell coloring convention.
Step 1. First define the parameters and calculate the cross-sectional area of the pipe.
Step 4. Go to Data > What-If Analysis > Goal Seek. Make the changes such that we find the liquid velocity that makes
difference between pump curve and the system curve equal to zero.
You should now have the correct value of the liquid velocity.
Ensure that the Reynolds number is greater than 2500 so that our assumption of turbulent flow (and hence the use of the
Haaland equation) is verified.
Whenever any value in the worksheet is changed, the Worksheet_Change() event is initiated . The VB code then asks Go
to find the liquid velocity ("C18") that makes the difference between the pump and system curve ("C23") equal to zero.
Determining Flowrates Through Pump and System Curve
http://excelcalculations.blogspot.com
For complete documentation click here
Parameters Legend
-3
Liquid density (kg m ) 1000 Parameters specified by user
Liquid viscosity (Pa s) 0.001 Intermediate calculations
Gravity (m s-2) 9.81 Cells used in Goal Seek
Pipe diameter (m) 0.1
Pipe length (m) 10
Pipe roughness (m) 0.0001
Pipe cross-sectional area (m2) 0.00785398
Calculations
Guess value for liquid velocity 0.94379131 Set to an initial guess value
Reynolds number 94379.1314 With Goal Seek, vary this number…
Friction factor (Haaland) 0.02208255
Pump curve 0.10025409
System curve 0.09999258
Pump curve - System curve 0.00026151 …so that this number is zero
d System Curves