Author(s): Huan-Feng Duan; Mohamed Ghidaoui; Pedro J. Lee; Yeou-Koung Tung

Linked Author(s): Mohamed S. Ghidaoui, Pedro Jose Lee, Yeou-Koung Tung

Keywords: Energy analysis; fluid transients; Fourier transform; pipe system; unsteady friction; visco-elasticity; 2D model

Abstract: The current waterhammer models coupled with friction models cannot adequately represent the pressure wave attenuation observed in real-world pipe systems, because the pressure wave damping is affected by additional effects not accounted for. One such effect is pipe visco-elasticity from the material behaviour of pipe-wall to be investigated herein. The numerical results indicate that the pressure head attenuation attributable to unsteady friction is comparable to the visco-elastic effect during the initial transient stage, while the visco-elastic effect becomes dominant both in terms of damping and phase shift at later stages. An analytical analysis shows that the visco-elastic effect is more critical if the visco-elastic retardation time is less than the wave travel time along the entire pipeline length. In addition, it is demonstrated that the visco-elastic term in waterhammer models is wrongly referred to in the literature as energy dissipation instead of energy transfer between fluid and pipe-wall by the work done by the pressure force.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221681003726247

Year: 2010