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Stea
Trap

January 9th,
2021

Reb Fundamentals of Fluid

Sele
Ess Pumping
December
31st, 2020 umps are vital equipment in every refinery and
P petrochemical plant. They are the mostly used

Intro rotary equipment in oil, gas and energy industry.

to Therefore, it is important to understand the principles and
Mat
hydraulics of pumps. They provide the required pressure
in
Oil for the low pressure liquid. Pumps use either electrical
and power (electromotor driven) or an external flow of steam
Gas
Indu (turbine driven) as their source of energy. They converts
November this energy to fluid’s pressure.
27th, 2020
In this article, which is the first part of pump series, we will
review Fundamentals of Fluid Pumping. First, we will
How
study the important concepts of energy and Bernoulli’s
to 
 Des equations. Then, we will review the system curve in a
a
pumping circuit. Finally, we will focus our attentions into
Vert
Sep cavitation phenomenon and NPSH terms and theories for
December 6th, centrifugal pumps.
2020

Main Contents:

Hum
Energy balance
Term
and Bernoulli’s principle
The Hydraulic system of fluid transfer
February 7th,
Cavitation
2021
NPSH

Energy balance
Categories
The total energy of a fluid in motion is the sum of four
 Catalyst individual energies. Internal, potential, pressure and
(1) kinetic energies. For a convenient analogy, these energies
are expressed in unit mass of fluids:
 Design
(2) Internal energy is the energy of atoms and
molecules resulting from their motion and
 Fundamental
configuration. For Incompressible fluids like liquids,
(3)
internal energy is a function of temperature. It is
increases with a rise in temperature. The internal
 General
energy per unit of mass is denoted by “U”.
(2)
Potential energy is the energy of the fluid relative to
 Heat its elevation from an arbitrarily level in the earth’s
exchanger gravity field (g). Literally, it is the work required to lift
(1) up a unit mass of fluid to a particular height (z) from
an arbitrarily chosen place. Potential energy is
 Humidity express by “zg”.
(1) Pressure energy is equal to the work required to
enter a fluid into the system in a constant volume.
 Machinery Therefore, this energy can be defined by PV/m.
(2) Where P is pressure and V is the volume of mass By
substituting fluid density (ρ), the pressure energy
 Material
becomes equal to “P /ρ”.
(2)

 Kinetic energy is the energy of liquid due to its
 Mechanical
motion. It’s equal to u2/2, where u is the velocity of
(2)
the fluid.
 Piping (3)
Thus, total energy E is defined by the following equation:

 Process P u2
(7) E = U + zg + ​
+ ​
ρ 2

 Pump (3) For a steady state process, where there is no

accumulation in the system, the change in total energy of
 Reactor a fluid is equal to the sum of heat (Q) and work (W)
(1) transferred to the fluid. According to thermodynamic law,
the energy balance is:
 Selection
Guide (4) E2 ​ − E1 ​ = Q + Wp ​ + Wf ​

Where Wp is the work transferred into the fluid by means

 Separator
(1) of a pump and Wf is the work done by the fluid to
overcome viscous frictional forces. If no heat transfer
 Utility (1) takes place and assume the temperature remains
constant, the energy balance may be written as:
 Water
P1 ​​ u12 ​​
(z1 g + ) + Wp ​ =
Treatment
​
+
(1) ρ 2
P2 ​​ u22 ​​
(z2 g +
​
+ ) + Wf ​
ρ 2

In engineering calculations, it is more convenient to deal

with this equation in terms of length dimension.
Therefore, dividing throughout by g, the final energy
equation becomes:

P1 ​​ u12 ​​
(z1 ​ + + ) + hp ​ =
ρg 2g
P2 ​​ u22 ​​
(z2 ​ + + ) + hf ​
ρg 2g

These terms are known as potential, pressure and velocity

heads. hp is the head produced by the pump and hf is the

head loss due to friction. They are all have the unit of
length.

Head

In fluid mechanics, head is defined as fluid pressure

divided by fluid’s density and earth’s gravitational
acceleration:

P
H=
ρg
Head is a type of pressure. It has a unit of length. In fact,
engineers prefer using head quantity to pressure for the
ease of calculations and comparison of different systems.

Bernoulli’s principle
Bernoulli’s equation is the simple form of energy balance
in incompressible fluids. It is expressed in terms of heads
usually without pump and frictional heads:

P1 ​​ u12 ​​ P2 ​​ u22 ​​
z1 +
​ + =  z2 +
​ +
ρg 2g ρg 2g
Bernoulli’s principle implies that the total energy of a fluid
always remains constant if there is no friction loss and
pump’s works. The total energy which is the sum of
potential, pressure and kinetic energies is known as
energy grade line. Since these forms of energy are
interchangeable, energy is converted from one form to
another. This equation is a handy tool for engineers to
calculate potential, pressure and kinetic head of a stream
at different positions.

Assumption to derive Bernoulli’s equation:

The fluid is incompressible.

Internal energy of the fluid remains constant. This is
not the case where frictional dissipations causes a

 rise in fluid’s temperature. In such a case, the
internal energy increases.
The flow is at steady state condition
It is only valid between two points along the same
streamline. Fluids flowing along different
streamlines have different total energy.

Bernoulli’s equation is very accurate for turbulent flow of

liquid across a pipe or duct. However, for a Newtonian
laminar flow, it shall be used by caution. The reason is the
kinetic energy of an element flowing at the center of the
pipe in laminar flow is different from that of an element
flowing near the wall due to the lower velocity near the
pipe. Therefore, the kinetic head shall be multiplied by a
dimensionless correction factor of “2”, which account for
the velocity distribution across the pipe or duct.

Example of Bernoulli’s equation

According to figure 1, water is flowing through a pipe with

internal diameter of 8” and a pressure of 4 bara at point A.
Then it enters an inclined pipe with a diameter of 6”.
Calculate the pressure at point B. The flowrate is 200,000
kg/hr and the density of water is 1000 m3/kg. Assume
friction loss is negligible.

Figure 1

Solution:


Using Bernoulli’s equation and applying the law of
continuity for point A & B:

4 × 105 ​ uA2 ​ ​
0+ + =
1000 × 9.8 2 × 9.8
PB ​ uB2 ​ ​
10 + ​
+
1000 × 9.8 2 × 9.8
ṁA ​ = ṁB ​ → ρSA ​uA ​ = ρSB ​uB ​

Where ṁ is mass flow rate and S is pipe’s cross sectional

area. From equation of continuity uA=1.8 m/s and uB=3.1
m/s. By substituting uA and uB into Bernoulli’s equation, PB
is calculated as 3 bara. Note that in this example the
kinetic term have a minor effect on the final answer due to
the low velocity.

Hydraulic system of fluid

transfer
Consider a system consisting of two tanks with specific
liquid level relative to the reference level (ground). A pump
is used to pump the liquid from tank 1 to 2. These tanks
are under the static pressure of P1 and P2. The overall
pipeline has an overall velocity friction factor of K due to
the pipes and the fittings pressure loss. Figure 2 illustrates
this system.

Figure 2

By applying the Bernoulli’s principle for point 1 and 2 and
adding the terms related to pump and friction loss heads,
the following equations is obtained for the above system:

P1 ​​ u12 ​​
(z1 +​ + ) + hp ​ − hf ​ =  
ρg 2g
P2 ​ u22 ​
  (z2 + ​ ​ + ​)

ρg 2g
up2 ​
hf = K ​
​

2g
Where up is the fluid velocity inside the pipes. Since the
velocity of fluids in the tanks is negligible, the kinetic
energy can be ignored. Solving the equation for pump’s
head:

− up2 ​
hp ​ = (z2 ​ − z1 )​ + ( ​) + K
P2
​
P1
​
​

ρg 2g

In the above equation, all of the parameters are pre-

defined and constant except up . In addition, since up is
directly proportional to volumetric flowrate Q, we can
simply replace this equation with the following relation:

hp ​ = A + BQ2

Where A and B are equivalent constant coefficients. This

relation illustrates that pump’s head is a quadratic
function of volumetric flowrate.


 Figure 3

Figure 3 is a famous curve, known as system hydraulic

curve. As shown in the figure, the required pump’s head
becomes larger as flowrate increases. This is because of
an increase in piping pressure loss due to the higher
fluid’s speed. Engineers often utilize this curve as an
important tool for selecting a proper pump. In order to
estimate the operating point of a centrifugal pump
engineers draw the system curve and pump’s
performance curve in a same plot. The point at which
these two curves intersect is the estimated operating
point of the system.

Cavitation
Cavitation is a negative physical phenomenon occurs
when fluid’s static pressure becomes less than liquid
vapor pressure (P < P*). In this case, the liquid partially
vaporizes forming localized bubbles. When fluid’s
pressure exceeds liquid vapor pressure again, these
bubbles collapse releasing a strong destructive pressure
wave. We often observe this phenomenon behind a boat’s
propeller under the water when the boat starts moving. In
the following video clip, we can see the formation and the
collapse of cavitation bubbles with a diameter of
approximately 9 mm in slow motion. This process takes
about 4 milliseconds in real time.


In oil, gas and petrochemical applications, cavitation
mostly occurs at pump’s suction side especially at the eye
of impeller. Where the liquid static pressure becomes less
than liquid vapor pressure. As the vapor bubbles are
carried into higher pressure region of the pump, they
collapse resulting in noise and vibration. The noise caused
by cavitation sounds as if sand particles passing through
the pump.

Cavitation causes the following problems to the pump:

Reduce efficiency
Pulsation in discharge liquid flowrate
Impeller damage
Internal parts surface erosion
High vibration and noise

Impeller cavitation corrosion (courtesy of KSB Group)

Suction side static pressure and liquid temperature are

two important parameters affecting the rate of cavitation.
The less the suction pressure the more the rete of
cavitation. In addition, the more the temperature the more
the liquid vapor pressure which, again, increase the rate of
cavitation.


Signs of cavitation in centrifugal pumps
Occurrence of cavitation in centrifugal pumps have some
particular signs. It is very important to identify these signs
and take action promptly prior to any serious damage to
pump. Some of the main symptoms of cavitation in
centrifugal pumps are:

Pumps stars making lots of noise

Vibration increases dramatically
Discharge pressure and flowrate decreases
Bearings fail so quickly
Failure of pump’s internal parts

NPSH- Net Positive Suction

Head
Net positive suction head, known as NPSH, is one of the
most important terms in pump’s design. It is the
difference between the suction head and the liquid vapor
pressure head at pump’s inlet nozzle. As its name
suggests, NPSH is reported in unit of length.

NPSH Physical definition

For a liquid at suction of a pump if there is a head

reduction equal to NPSH value, cavitation occurs causing
the formation of bubbles. In other words, the static
pressure of the suction liquid shall be always greater than
its vapor pressure. NPSH main usage is to prevent
cavitation at the inlet of the pump. Pump’s manufacturers
design their pump based on the available NPSH reported
by the purchaser in order to guarantee no cavitation
occurs at normal pump operation. There are two kinds of
NPSH: NPSHa and NPSHr.

NPSHa

 the
NPSHa, in which “a” stands for available, is one of
system characteristics. It is calculated by pump’s
purchaser based on the suction side conditions of the
pump. NPSHa is the difference between suction head and
liquid vapor pressure. Therefore, if calculated NPSHa is
too small (e.g. less than one meter), there is a high risk
that cavitation occurs. NPSHa can be calculated as the
total static head at upstream equipment minus suction-
side pressure loss head minus liquid vapor pressure head:

1​
N P SHa = (Pue ​ − ΔPs ​ − P ∗ )
ρg
Where Pue is the pressure at upstream equipment and
ΔPs ​ is the pressure loss of suction side.

Example of NPSHa calculation

Calculate NPSH available for a pump which is used

downstream of an atmospheric tank with a liquid level of
10 meters relative to pimp’s centerline. Suction side
friction loss due to pipes and fittings is 0.1 bar and liquid
vapor pressure at operating temperature is 0.5 bara.
Liquid density is 1000 kg/m3.

Solution: (SI units)  

1​
N P SHa = z − (ΔPs ​ + P ∗ )
ρg
N P SHa =  

 1
10 − ​
(0.1 × 105 + 0.5 × 105 )
1000 × 9.8
= 3.9m 

NPSHr
NPSHr, also called NPSH3, is related to pump’s
characteristic. It is dictated by pump’s geometry. “r” letter,
at the end of NPSHr, stands for required. Literally, NPSHr
indicates the minimum NPSH required at the suction of
the pump in order for the pump to operate without
cavitation.

In order to guarantee a smooth operation without

cavitation, NPSHa shall be always greater than NPSHr by
a safe margin.

N P SHr < N P SHa

The above inequality shall be satisfied for the whole range

of flowrate of centrifugal pump from minimum flow to
maximum allowable flow. The more the difference
between NPSHa and NPSHr the less probable the
cavitation to occur. It’s recommended that:

If NPSHa – NPSHr < 2 ft : Do not use the pump

If NPSHa – NPSHr < 3 ft : NPSH test is necessary

How to obtain NPSHr for centrifugal pumps

There is no exact theoretical equation to calculate NPSHr.

Thus, this value has to be determined experimentally or by
numerical analysis of fluid flows. Pump’s manufacturers
often obtain NPSHr of their pumps by means of
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. However,
this value has to be tested for most pumps individually
after fabrication. There are some methods presented in
“ISO 9906 standard” as well as “API standard 610” to


determine NPSHr for centrifugal pumps. One of the most
popular methods is as follows:

“While the pump is in operation, at constant flowrate,

decrease the NPSHa gradually by closing a throttling valve
installed on the suction line of the pump. As soon as there
is a sudden reduction of 3% in pump’s head, cavitation
occurs. In this point NPSHa becomes equal to NPSHr. By
calculating the available NPSH at this point, NPSHr can be
obtained according to the following equation:”

1 ∗ uin2 ​
N P SHr = ​
(Pin − P ) +
​ ​

ρg 2g
Where Pin is the absolute pressure at pump’s inlet at 3%
head drop and uin is the liquid velocity at pump’s inlet.

Typical methods to decrease NPSHa for an NPSH test:

Use a throttling valve on suction line

Decrease the liquid level in upstream suction tank
Decrease the pressure in suction tank by means of a
vacuum pump
Different combinations of the above methods

As a result, NPSHr can be determined by performing an

NPSH test. When the pump’s discharge head drops by 3%,
NPSHr becomes equal to available NPSH at the suction of
the pump. This is the point where cavitation begins. API

refers to NPSHr as “NPSH3” because of the 3% drop in
head.

Hydrocarbons liquids in oil, gas and petrochemical plants,

have higher vapor pressure than water. However,
experimental data shows that they have lower NPSHr
comparing to water. some reasons for this strange fact
are:

Collapsing of hydrocarbon’s bubbles releases less

energy comparing to water.
Hydrocarbons have lower vapor volume. Therefore,
if they vaporize, they occupy less area.

As a result, since NPSH test is always carried out by liquid

water, there are some hydrocarbon correction factors
which is used to compensate for hydrocarbons properties.

Techniques to prevent cavitation in

centrifugal pumps
There are two practical ways to stop cavitation from
happening in centrifugal pumps. Increase NPSHa and
decrease NPSHr. Since NPSHa is a system parameter,
there are limitations to increase it. On the contrary, NPSHr
is related to pump’s specifications and can be altered by a
more efficient pump’s design.

Increasing NPSHa

Increase suction tank’s pressure

Increase suction tank’s liquid level
Cool down the liquid in order to decrease its vapor
pressure
Install the pump at the lower elevation
Install a suction line with greater pipe’s diameter and
minimum fittings

Decreasing NPSHr

Use an impeller with larger eye


 Decrease pump’s rotational speed
Install a booster pump at suction
Use double suction impeller
Install an inducer before impeller
Use smaller pumps in parallel arrangement

Conclusion

Hydraulic principles and concepts of liquid pumping plays

an important role in designing/selecting a proper pump
for engineers. Criteria used in oil, gas and petrochemical
industry are stricter than others are. Therefore, a better
understanding of pumping system’s fundamentals is
necessary. In this article, we reviewed the energy laws of
fluids system and explained the important concepts of
Bernoulli’s principle. Then we talked about the principle of
pumping system hydraulic. Finally, we reviewed the
complete definitions and theories of cavitation and NPSH
according to practical industrial applications.

By S-Pourazimi | February 24th, 2021 | Fundamental, Pump | 0

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