Practical Design Against Pump Pulsations

Abstract

One of the foremost concerns facing pump users today is that of pulsation problems in their piping systems and manifolds. In cases where a fluid excitation is coincident with both an acoustic resonance and a mechanical resonance of the piping system, large piping vibrations, noise, and failures of pipes and attachments can occur. Other problems that uncontrolled pulsations can generate include cavitation in the suction lines, valve failures, and degradation of pump hydraulic performance. The potential for problems greatly increases in multiple pump installations due to the higher energy levels, interaction between pumps, and more complex piping systems involved. The aim of this tutorial is to provide user it a basic understanding of pulsations, which are simply pressure disturbances that travel through the fluid in a piping system at the speed of sound, their potential for generating problems, and acoustic analysis and, also, to provide tips for prevention of field problems. The target audience is users who have had little previous exposure to this subject. Accordingly, the tutorial neglects the high level mathematics in the interest of presenting fundamental concepts in physically meaningful ways in the hope that benefit will be provided to the layman.