Theoretical and experimental study of transient flows in pressurised pipelines

The aim of the study is the investigation of unsteady flows due to pump rundown in pressurised steel pipeline systems. The numerical results are found by means of a computer program using characteristics method. Theoretical computations realised by Fortran computer programs and experimental results obtained from pressure transient data logger were compared to each other and all results were evaluated. Centrifugal pump was shut down manually and developed pressure heads were drawn on the same graphics. Experiments are carried out for different steady state discharges. Results are observed and examined about the response behaviour of the computer programs against to more realistic results provided by the pressure transient data logger. It is observed that the theoretical and experimental results are in an acceptable accord in the first system. This accordance is better for lower and moderate discharges. The accord between theoretical and experimental results may be improved by translating the behaviour of the check valve more realistically in second system. Keywords : Unsteady Flows, Centrifugal Pump, Pump rundown, Method of Characteristics, Steel Pipeline, Reduced Bore Ball Valve, Disc Type Check Valve