Numerical aspects of improvement of the unsteady pipe flow equations

Abstract

Abstract The paper presents an analysis of some recently proposed improvements of the water hammer equations, which concern the friction term in the momentum equation. A comparison of the experimental data and numerical results shows that the required damping and smoothing of the pressure wave cannot be obtained by modification of the friction factor only. In order to evaluate the significance of the introduced improvements into the momentum equation, the accuracy of the numerical solution has been analysed using the modified equation approach. The analysis shows why the physical dissipation process observed in the water hammer phenomenon cannot be reproduced with the commonly used source term in Darcy–Weisbach form, representing friction force in the momentum equation. Therefore, regardless of the proposed form of the friction factor for unsteady flow, the model of water hammer improved in such a way keeps its hyperbolic character. Consequently, it cannot ensure the expected effects of damping and smoothing of the calculation head oscillations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.