12/13/2019 Viscosity corrections to pump curve – Mc Nally Institute

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Viscosity corrections to pump curve

Viscosity corrections to the pump curve 14-04

Viscosity means resistance to pouring. The higher the viscosity the thicker the
uid. If you are not familiar with the term viscous uid please refer to my
paper Volume 7 , Number 8 (http://www.mcnallyinstitute.com/07-html/7-8.html).
Here is what is going to change when you pump viscous uids with a centrifugal
pump:

The brake horsepower requirement will increase.

You will notice a reduction in the head the pump will produce.
Some reduction in capacity will occur with moderate and high viscosities.
The pump’s e ciency will decrease.

The attached chart is typical of the charts supplied by the hydraulic Institute and
other similar publications. You can use it to:

Act as an aid in selecting the pump you need for your application.
Determine the performance of a conventional centrifugal pump pumping a
viscous uid when its performance with only water is known.

In this section we will address the rst use of the chart and let it assist us in
selecting the centrifugal pump for viscous uids. Centrifugal pumps have been
used with viscosities below 3,000 SSU (660 centistokes) and as high as 15,000 SSU
(3,300 centistokes) but they are sensitive to changing viscosity.

High viscosity uids are better handled with positive displacement pumps that are
a ected di erently than centrifugal pumps by a change in uid viscosity:

At a constant speed, changes in viscosity will have very little a ect on capacity.
The total head will probably increase with viscosity because of higher system
resistance.

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The brake horsepower (kilowatts) will increase with capacity.

The e ciency probably will not be a ected because of less leakage through
the internal pump clearances. In some cases the e ciency will incease

Viscous uids are very common in the petroleum industry so the attached chart
was prepared using petroleum oils as the test uid, and like all charts of this type
the information is general.

If you need very accurate information you will use this chart only as a guide and
then conduct your own test with your speci c uid. This information will get you
into the “ball park”. Use the chart only for:

Conventional centrifugal pump hydraulic designs only.

Pumps operating close to their BEP, and not at the far ends of the pump curve.
Pumps operating with enough net positive suction head available (NPSHA) to
prevent cavitation.
Newtonian uids. These are the type that do not change their viscosity with
agitation. Non-Newtonian uids can increase or decrease their viscosity with
agitation. As an example if you agitate cream it will increase in viscosity and
become butter.
The information in the chart and formulas is generally valid for both open and
closed impellers.

We will be using the following conventional symbols in our formulas with the
exception of the “N” for e ciency. The e ciency symbol used in most formulas is a
Greek letter and looks a little di erent, but this is the best I can do at this time, so
bear with me:

Qvis Viscous capacity in gpm. (m 3/hr). The capacity

when pumping a viscous uidHvis Viscous head in feet
(meters). The head when pumping a viscous uid.

N vis Viscous e ciency in percent. The e ciency when

pumping a viscous uid

bhp vis Viscous brake horse power. The horsepower (

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12/13/2019 Viscosity corrections to pump curve – Mc Nally Institute

Kilowatts) required by the pump for the viscous

conditions.

Q w Water capacity in gpm.(m 3/hr) The capacity when

pumping water.

H w Water head in feet (meters). The head when

pumping water.

N w Water e ciency in percent. The e ciency when

pumping water.

 Speci c gravity.
S

C q Capacity correction factor.

C h Head correction factor.

C n E ciency correction factor.

Q nw Water capacity at which maximum e ciency is

obtained

The following equations are used for determining the

viscous performance when the water performance of
the pump is known. As you can see they are not very
hard to understand or calculate once you get the
terms straight.

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12/13/2019 Viscosity corrections to pump curve – Mc Nally Institute

Cq , Ch and Cn are determined from the correction chart which is based on water
performance.On the chart they are shown as CQ, CH and CN
The following equations are used for approximating the water performance when
the desired viscous capacity and head are given and the values of Cq and Ch must
be estimated from the chart using Qvis and Hvis as :

If you are not comfortable working with formulas all of these numbers look real
scary, but the formulas are really quite basic and require nothing more than the
ability to multiply and divide simple numbers.

Almost every calculation in the pump and seal business can be done with a low
cost hand calculator. So jump right in and get wet.

With all of that said, we will use this information to select a pump for a given head-
capacity-viscosity condition. The rst two examples will be in inch units and then
we will show an example in metric units.

We are looking for a pump to pump 750 gpm to a total head (this includes the
static, pressure and friction heads combined) of 100 feet with a liquid having a
viscosity of 1000 SSU and a speci c gravity of 0.90 at the pumping temperature.

Please take a look at the following chart:

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At the bottom of the chart enter at 750 go up to 100 feet, over to 1000 SSU and
then up to the correction factors shown below :

Cq = 0.95
Ch = 0.92 (for 1.0 Qnw water capacity))
Cn = 0.635
Qw = 750/0.95 = 790 gpm (see the last formulas shown above)
Hw = 100/0.92 = 108.8 or 109 feet head (see the formula above)
S = 0.90

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12/13/2019 Viscosity corrections to pump curve – Mc Nally Institute

This means that you need a pump with a water capacity of 790 gpm. At a head of
109 feet.

If the pump selected has an e ciency of 81% when it is pumping water the
e ciency pumping the viscous uid will drop to Nvis = 0.635 x 81% = 51.5 percent
e cient.

The brake horsepower for the viscous uid will become:

That wasn’t too bad was it? Here is another example. See if you come up with
similar results. This time the pump is going to handle 500 gpm (114 m3/hr) of 3000
SSU (660 centistokes) liquid against a head of 150 feet (46 meters) Looking at the
chart :

Cq = 0.80 and Ch = 0.81

The water capacity becomes:

In USCS units Qw = 500/0.80 = 625 gpm

In SI units Qw = 114/0.80 = 142 m3/hr

The water head is :

In USCS Qh = 150/0.81 = 185 ft.

In SI units Qh = 46/0.81 = 57 meters

Going to the graph for 625 gpm (142 m3/hr), 185 feet (57 meters), 3000 SSU (660
cSt), the graph shows Cq = 0.83

Adjusting the water capacity we get

Qw x (0.80/0.83) = 602 gpm or 137m3/hr.

Adjusting the water head we get

Hw x (0.81/0.84) = 178 feet (55 meters)

The e ciency will drop to Nvis = 0.75 x 42% = 31.5 percent

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In USCS units the brake horsepower for the viscous uid will become:

In SI units the brake kilowatts for the viscous uid will become:

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