Waterhammer Caused by Startup and Stoppage of a Centrifugal Pump

The waterhammer has recently become more important because the pumping stations were big and the systems conveying the fluid through the large and long transmission pipelines were complex. When the pumps are started or stopped for the operation or tripped due to the power failure, the hydraulic transients occur as a result of the sudden change in velocity As the pressure waves are propagating between the pumping station and the distributing reservoir, the pressure inside the pipe drops to the liquid vapor pressure with the pipeline profile, at which time a vapor cavity forms, and finally the column separation occurs. If the pressure in the pipe is less than the atmospheric pressure, the pipe can be collapsed and destroyed after the water columns separated by the vapor cavity rejoin. During the reverse flow, the pressure is so abnormally increased at the pumping station that the accident of flooding may happen due to the failure of system. In this paper, the field tests on the waterhammer by the startup, stoppage, and power failure of a centrifugal pump were carried out for Yongma transmission pumping station in Seoul. The experimental results were compared with that of the numerical calculations, in which results the procedure of controlled pump normal shut-down and the two-step closing mode of controlling the ball valve for pump emergency stop are proposed to reduce the pressure surge.

원심펌프의 시동 및 정지에 따른 수격현상