Simulation of transient flows in a hydraulic system with a long liquid line

Abstract

The paper presents the problem of modelling and simulation of transients phenomena in hydraulic systems with long liquid lines. The unsteady resistance model is used to describe the unsteady liquid pipe flow. The wall shear stress at the pipe wall is expressed by means of the convolution of acceleration and a weighting function which depends on the (laminar or turbulent) character of the flow. The results of numerical simulation are presented for the waterhammer effect, which is caused by a sudden shift of the hydraulic directional control valve. The following cases of the system supply are considered: the first, with a constant delivery rate of the pump and the second, which additionally considers pulsation of the delivery of the pump. Computer simulations are compared with results of experiments. They are found to be very consistent in the case with the variable rate of the pump delivery taken into accent. Key words: unsteady pipe flow, transients, waterhammer, pulsation of pump