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Why The Centrifugal Pump

Performance Curves Are Plotted as
Head vs Flow, Not as Pressure Versus
Flow?
Published on May 23, 2020

Mina Milad 10 articles Following

Surge Protection Lead Engineer

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1- Brief physics background: Try Premium F
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First of all, we need to remember that Centrifugal Pumps are machines we use to increase
the kinetic energy, the main function is not to increase the pressure. But due to the kinetic
energy increase and the resistance of pipes and elevation differences part of this energy is
converted to another form (pressure and hydraulic grade increasing line). To easily
understand you can imagine throwing a stone towards the sky,

Fig.1

your exerted energy is converted to kinetic and this kinetic is converted to a potential at the
stagnation point. the pump does the same. and we can imagine that if we connect the pump
to an infinity vertical pipe, the water will reach the shut-off head as height and stop
increasing. the relation between Velocity, Gravity, and height is:

v^2 = 2*g*h [1]

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This velocity (in case of a centrifugal pump) is the tangential velocity that throws the fluid Try Premium F
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by the impeller, and it will be a simple calculation to get the tangential velocity from the
rotational velocity.

What we can see here that the falling body equation [1] is simplified with no relation to the
mass of the stone or water density. It means that the same pump theoretically will produce
the same
Like headComment
whatever theShare
density of the fluid is. which means if we neglect the 15viscosity
· 7 comments

effects, we can apply the same pump Performance curve HQ to any fluid, Fig.2 shows that if
we have Water, Brine, and Kerosene, the pump head would be the same (neglecting
viscosity effects), but the pressure will be variable depending on the density.

Pump head vs density and pressure

Fig.2

But take care!

We need to check the pump motor power after calculating the required hydraulic power!

The higher density the higher power we need, the relation between required hydraulic power
(not the motor power) and density is described as following:

P= Q*h*g*Ro [2]

P = Hydraulic Power in Watt Messaging

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Q = Flow rate m^3/s Try Premium F
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h = fluid head in meter

g = Gravity acceleration 9.81 m/s^2

Ro = the fluid density

Also, we need to request the pump manufacturer for the HQ curve tested and calibrated with
the desired fluid; Fig.3 Shows the HQ curves of the same pump for different viscous fluids,
2000SSU is higher viscosity than 500SSU and 500SSU is higher viscosity than water. You
can find the Power-Flow, Head-Flow, and Efficiency-Flow changes due to viscosity

No alt text provided for this image

Fig.3

Why the Pump performance curves are plotted as Head vs Flow, not as Pressure versus
Flow:

The Pump Performance curve and all related graphs are made by testing with calibrated
instruments after finishing the pump design and before the production. At this test, the
manufacturer will use a specific fluid with his pump which results in Power and Head, and
the Head is resulting Pressure.
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So, the graphs will be generated as an HQ graph and not pressure, because the pressure will Try Premium F
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be varied based on the density of fluid [P=Ro*g*h] refer to Fig.2. so, the manufacturer does
not need to change his datasheet based on minor changes of density, and the density in the
datasheet is written to consider the power consumption related graphs.

Why there are 3 graphs below? what does it mean?

No alt text provided for this image

Fig.4

As per Equation no. [1], the head of the pump is related to the tangential velocity which is
related to the impeller Radius, so in some case, the manufacturer trims the impeller to limit
the maximum flow in the system in case of oversize pumps and to make sure the pump
power is limited.

Note: Fig.1,2,and 3 are taken from "A Brief Introduction to Centrifugal Pumps

Joe Evans, Ph.D" http://www.pumped101.com

Fig. 4 is taken from a KSB Pump datasheet Messaging

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Published by
Mina Milad 10 articles Following
Surge Protection Lead Engineer
Published • 10mo

#Centrifugal #Pumps #performance #curves

Reactions

+3

7 Comments

Add a comment…

Maqsood Nishat • 1st 10mo

Project Manager | Engineering Expert | Design Engineer at Rural Water Supply & Sanitation (RWS&S, Odisha)

Isn't it "kinetic" instead of "kinematic"..??

Like · 1 Reply · 1 Reply

Mina Milad • 1st 10mo

Surge Protection Lead Engineer

I am a bit confused :)

Like Reply

Yeremias K Lusi • 2nd 6mo

Mechanical Engineer

Very insightful article about centrifugal pump performance. Thanks for sharing Mina Milad .

Like · 1 Reply · 1 Reply

Mina Milad • 1st Messaging

6mo
 Surge Protection Lead Engineer 3
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You are welcome Yeremias K Lusi :)Home My Network Jobs Messaging Notifications Me Work for 1 Month

Like · 1 Reply

Mina Milad
Surge Protection Lead Engineer

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