Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Water hammer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Water hammer (or, more generally, fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced
to stop or change direction suddenly (momentum change). Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a
pressure wave propagates in the pipe. It's also called hydraulic shock.
This pressure wave can cause major problems, from noise and vibration to pipe collapse. It is possible to reduce the effects of the water hammer pulses with
accumulators, expansion tanks and other features.
Rough calculations can be made either using the Joukowsky equation,[1] or more accurate ones using the method of characteristics.
Contents
1 Cause and effect
1.1 Related phenomena
2 Water hammer during an explosion
3 Mitigating measures
4 The magnitude of the pulse
4.1 Instant valve closure; compressible fluid
4.1.1 Equation for wave speed
4.2 Slow valve closure; incompressible fluid
5 Expression for the excess pressure due to water hammer
6 Dynamic equations
7 Column separation
8 Simulation software
9 Applications
10 History
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
1/11
10/22/13
Related phenomena
Steam distribution systems may also be vulnerable to a situation similar to water hammer, known as steam hammer. In a steam system, water hammer most often
occurs when some of the steam condenses into water in a horizontal section of the steam piping. Subsequently, steam picks up the water, forms a "slug" and hurls it
at high velocity into a pipe fitting, creating a loud hammering noise and greatly stressing the pipe. This condition is usually caused by a poor condensate drainage
strategy.
Where air filled traps are used, these eventually become depleted of their trapped air over a long period of time through absorption into the water. This can be
cured by shutting off the supply, opening taps at the highest and lowest locations to drain the system (thereby restoring air to the traps), and then closing the taps
and re-opening the supply.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
2/11
10/22/13
Mitigating measures
Water hammer has caused accidents and fatalities, but usually damage is limited to breakage of pipes or
appendages. An engineer should always assess the risk of a pipeline burst. Pipelines transporting hazardous
liquids or gases warrant special care in design, construction, and operation.
The following characteristics may reduce or eliminate water hammer:
Reduce the pressure of the water supply to the building by fitting a regulator.
Lower fluid velocities. To keep water hammer low, pipe-sizing charts for some applications
recommend flow velocity at or below 1.5 m/s (4.9 ft/s)
Fit slowly-closing valves. Toilet fill valves are available in a quiet fill type that closes quietly.
High pipeline pressure rating (expensive).
Good pipeline control (start-up and shut-down procedures).
Water towers (used in many drinking water systems) help maintain steady flow rates and trap large
Expansion joints on a steam line that have been
pressure fluctuations.
destroyed by steam hammer
Air vessels work in much the same way as water towers, but are pressurized. They typically have an
air cushion above the fluid level in the vessel, which may be regulated or separated by a bladder.
Sizes of air vessels may be up to hundreds of cubic meters on large pipelines. They come in many shapes, sizes and configurations. Such vessels often are
called accumulators or expansion tanks.
A hydropneumatic device similar in principle to a shock absorber called a 'Water Hammer Arrestor' can be installed between the water pipe and the
machine, to absorb the shock and stop the banging.
Air valves often remediate low pressures at high points in the pipeline. Though effective, sometimes large numbers of air valves need be installed. These
valves also allow air into the system, which is often unwanted.
Shorter branch pipe lengths.
Shorter lengths of straight pipe, i.e. add elbows, expansion loops. Water hammer is related to the speed of sound in the fluid, and elbows reduce the
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
3/11
10/22/13
The pressure profile of the water hammer pulse can be calculated from the Joukowsky equation [6]
So for a valve closing instantaneously, the maximum magnitude of the water hammer pulse is:
where P is the magnitude of the pressure wave (Pa), is the density of the fluid (kgm3), a0 is the speed of sound in the fluid (ms1), and v is the change in the
fluid's velocity (ms1). The pulse comes about due to Newton's laws of motion and the continuity equation applied to the deceleration of a fluid element.[7]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
4/11
10/22/13
, the peak pressure depends on the fluid compressibility if the valve is closed abruptly.
where
a = wave speed
K = bulk modulus of elasticity of the fluid
= density of the fluid
E = elastic modulus of the pipe
D = internal pipe diameter
t = pipe wall thickness
c = dimensionless parameter due to system pipe-constraint condition on wave speed[7]
where:
F = force, N
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
5/11
10/22/13
where P1 is the inlet pressure in psi, V is the flow velocity in ft/sec, t is the valve closing time in seconds and L is the upstream pipe length in feet.[8]
In this expression:[9]
overpressurization P is expressed in Pa;
Q is the volumetric flow in m3/s;
Zh is the hydraulic impedance, expressed in kg/m4/s.
The hydraulic impedance Zh of the pipeline determines the magnitude of the water hammer pulse. It is itself defined by:
with:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
6/11
10/22/13
; in which E is the
Dynamic equations
The water hammer effect can be simulated by solving the following partial differential equations.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
7/11
10/22/13
Column separation
Column separation is a phenomenon that can occur during a water-hammer event. If the pressure in a pipeline drops rapidly to the vapor pressure of the liquid, the
liquid vaporises and a "bubble" of vapor forms in the pipeline. This is most likely to occur at specific locations such as closed ends, high points or knees (changes in
pipe slope). When the pressure later increases above the vapor pressure of the liquid, the vapor in the bubble returns to a liquid state, which leaves a vacuum in the
space formerly occupied by the vapor. The liquid either side of the vacuum is then accelerated into this space by the pressure difference. The collision of the two
columns of liquid, (or of one liquid column if at a closed end,) results in cavitation and causes a large and nearly instantaneous rise in pressure. This pressure rise can
damage hydraulic machinery, individual pipes and supporting structures. Many repetitions of cavity formation and collapse may occur in a single water-hammer
event.[10]
Simulation software
Most water hammer software packages use the method of characteristics [7] to solve the differential equations involved. This method works well if the wave speed
does not vary in time due to either air or gas entrainment in a pipeline. The Wave Method (WM) is also used in various software packages. WM lets operators
analyze large networks efficiently. Many commercial and non commercial packages are available.
Software packages vary in complexity, dependent on the processes modeled. The more sophisticated packages may have any of the following features:
Multiphase flow capabilities
An algorithm for cavitation growth and collapse
Unsteady friction - the pressure waves dampens as turbulence is generated and due to variations in the flow velocity distribution
Varying bulk modulus for higher pressures (water becomes less compressible)
Fluid structure interaction - the pipeline reacts on the varying pressures and causes pressure waves itself
Applications
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
8/11
10/22/13
The water hammer principle can be used to create a simple water pump called a hydraulic ram.
Leaks can sometimes be detected using water hammer.
Enclosed air pockets can be detected in pipelines.
History
Water hammer was exploited before there was even a word for it: Marcus Vitruvius Pollio describes in the 1st century before Christ the effect of water hammer in
lead pipes and stone tubes of the Roman public water supply.[11] In 1772, Englishman John Whitehurst built a hydraulic ram for a home in Cheshire, England.[12] In
1796, French inventor Joseph Michel Montgolfier (1740-1810) built a hydraulic ram for his paper mill in Voiron.[13] In French and Italian, the terms for "water
hammer" come from the hydraulic ram: coup de blier (French) and colpo dariete (Italian) both mean "blow of the ram".[14] As the 19th century witnessed the
installation of municipal water supplies, water hammer became a concern to civil engineers.[15] Water hammer also interested physiologists who were studying the
circulatory system.
The theory of water hammer began in 1883 with the work of German physiologist Johannes von Kries (1853-1928), who was investigating the pulse in blood
vessels.[16] However, his findings went unnoticed by civil engineers.[17] Kries's findings were subsequently derived independently in 1898 by the Russian fluid
dynamicist Nikolay Yegorovich Zhukovsky (1847-1921),[18] in 1898 by the American civil engineer Joseph Palmer Frizell (1832-1910),[19] and in 1902 by the
Italian engineer Lorenzo Allievi (1856-1941).[20]
See also
Blood hammer
Cavitation
Fluid dynamics
Hydraulic ram makes constructive use of the water hammer effect
Hydraulophone musical instruments employing water and other fluids
Impact force
Watson's water hammer pulse
References
1. ^ Kay, Melvyn (2008). Practical Hydraulics (http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0415351154&pg=PA120) (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-35115-4.
2. ^ http://communities.bentley.com/products/hydraulics___hydrology/f/5925/p/60896/147250.aspx#147250
3. ^ http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/73646
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
9/11
10/22/13
4. ^ Flight Propulsion Laboratory Department, General Electric Company, Idaho Falls, Idaho (November 21, 1962), Additional Analysis of the SL-1 Excursion: Final
Report of Progress July through October 1962 (http://www.id.doe.gov/foia/PDF/IDO-19313.pdf), U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Technical
Information, IDO-19313; also TM-62-11-707
5. ^ Bruce, S.; Larock, E.; Jeppson, R. W.; Watters, G. Z. (2000), Hydraulics of Pipeline Systems, CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-1806-8
6. ^ Thorley, A. R. D. (2004), Fluid Transients in Pipelines (2nd ed.), Professional Engineering Publishing, ISBN 0-79180210-8
7. ^ a b c Streeter, V. L.; Wylie, E. B. (1998), Fluid Mechanics (International 9th Revised ed.), McGraw-Hill Higher Education
8. ^ "Water Hammer & Pulsation" (http://www.plastomatic.com/water-hammer.html)
9. ^ Faisandier, J., Hydraulic and Pneumatic Mechanisms, 8th edition, Dunod, Paris, 1999 (ISBN 2100499483)
10. ^ Bergeron, L., 1950. Du Coup de Blier en Hydraulique - Au Coup de Foudre en Electricit. (Waterhammer in hydraulics and wave surges in electricity.) Paris:
Dunod (in French). (English translation by ASME Committee, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1961.)
11. ^ Ismaier, Andreas (2011), Untersuchung der fluiddynamischen Wechselwirkung zwischen Drucksten und Anlagenkomponenten in Kreiselpumpensystemen
[Investigation of the fluid dynamic interaction between system components and pressure surges in centrifugal pumping systems], Schriftenreihe des Lehrstuhls fr
Prozessmaschinen und Anlagentechnik, Universitt Erlangen; Nrnberg Lehrstuhl fr Prozessmaschinen und Anlagentechnik (in German) 11, Shaker, ISBN 978-38322-9779-4
12. ^ Whitehurst, John (1775), "Account of a machine for raising water, executed at Oulton, in Cheshire, in 1772" (http://books.google.com/books?
id=nXg1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA277#v=onepage&q&f=false), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 65: 277279 See also plate preceeding page
277.
13. ^ Montgolfier, J. M. de (1803), "Note sur le blier hydraulique, et sur la manire den calculer les effets" [Note on the hydraulic ram, and on the method of calculating
its effects] (http://annales.ensmp.fr/articles/1802-1803-1/32-38.pdf), Journal des Mines (in French) 13 (73): 4251
14. ^ Tijsseling, A. S.; Anderson, A. (2008), "Thomas Young's research on fluid transients: 200 years on" (http://www.win.tue.nl/analysis/reports/rana08-16.pdf),
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Pressure Surges (Edinburgh, U.K.): 2133 see page 22.
15. ^ See, for example:
Mnabra, L. F. (1858) "Note sur les effects de choc de leau dans les conduites," (http://books.google.com/books?
id=rdtZMAY7tvAC&pg=PA221#v=onepage&q&f=false) (Note on the effects of water shocks in pipes), Comptes rendus, 47 : 221224.
Michaud, J. (1878) "Coups de blier dans les conduites. tude des moyens employs pour en attneur les effects" (Water hammer in pipes. Study of means
used to mitigate its effects), Bulletin de la Socit Vaudoise des Ingnieurs et des Architects, 4 (3,4) : 5664, 6577.
16. ^ See:
J. von Kries (1883) "Ueber die Beziehungen zwischen Druck und Geschwindigkeit, welche bei der Wellenbewegung in elastischen Schluchen bestehen"
(http://books.google.com/books?id=KqpRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67#v=onepage&q&f=false) (On the relationship between pressure and velocity, which exist in
connection with wave motion in elastic tubing), Festschrift der 56. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und rzte (Festschrift of the 56th Convention of
German Scientists and Physicians), (Tbingen, Germany: Akademische Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1883), pages 67-88.
J. von Kries, Studien zur Pulslehre (http://books.google.com/books?id=ByAoAAAAYAAJ&vq=Pulselehre&pg=PP5#v=onepage&q&f=false) (Studies in Pulse
Science) (Tbingen, Germany: Akademische Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1892).
17. ^ See:
Arris S. Tijsseling and Alexander Anderson (2004) "A precursor in waterhammer analysis rediscovering Johannes von Kries," Proceedings of the 9th
International Conference on Pressure Surges, Chester, U.K., pages 739-751. Available on-line at: Technical University of Eindhoven
(http://www.win.tue.nl/analysis/reports/rana04-02.pdf).
Arris S. Tijsseling and Alexander Anderson (2007) "Johannes von Kries and the history of water hammer," Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 133 (1) : 1-8.
18.
^
See:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
10/11
10/22/13
18. ^ See:
Joukowsky, N. (1898). "ber den hydraulischen Stoss in Wasserleitungsrhren" (On the hydraulic hammer in water supply pipes), Mmoires de l'Acadmie
Impriale des Sciences de St.-Ptersbourg (1900), series 8, 9 (5) : 1-71.
Arris S. Tijsseling and Alexander Anderson, (2006) "The Joukowsky equation for fluids and solids". Available on-line at: Technical University of Eindhoven
(http://www.win.tue.nl/analysis/reports/rana06-08.pdf).
19. ^ See:
Frizell, J.P. (1898) "Pressures resulting from changes of velocity of water in pipes," (http://books.google.com/books?
id=ZlNDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false) Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 39 : 1-18.
R. A. Hale (Sept. 1911) Obituary: "Joseph Palmer Frizell, M. Am. Soc. C. E.," (http://books.google.com/books?
id=l9FMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA501#v=onepage&q&f=false) Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 73 : 501-503.
20. ^ Allievi, L. (1902), "Teoria generale del moto perturbato dell'acqua nei tubi in pressione (colpo dariete)" [General theory of the perturbed motion of water in pipes
under pressure (water hammer))], Annali della Societ degli Ingegneri ed Architetti Italiani (Annals of the Society of Italian Engineers and Architects) (in Italian) 17
(5): 285325
External links
What is Water Hammer/Steam Hammer? (http://www.tlv.com/global/TI/steam-theory/what-is-waterhammer.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Water_hammer&oldid=577814187"
Categories: Hydraulics Plumbing Irrigation
This page was last modified on 19 October 2013 at 07:33.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use
and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
11/11