3 Pump Performance

3 Pump Performance Fig. 50

Pump performance is the result of the interaction

between pump and rising main or pressure pipe-
line. An introduction to pump selection and the
calculation of rising main resistance characteris-
tics are presented.

3.1 Pump Head

3.1.1 Submersible Pumps
In the following the concept of head is applied to
submersible pumps. For practical reasons the
pressure in the pump well, or lower well, is
assumed to be equal to the pressure prevailing in
the receiving, or upper container. Should these
containers be under different pressure, the pres-
sure difference would have to be taken into
account. The difference in atmospheric pressure
can also be disregarded in all practical installa-
tions, since the difference in atmospheric pres-
sure between a receiving container situated, for
instance, 100 m above the pump well is only 0,001
bar or 0,01 m of water.
Head components in submersible pump installations.
Figure 50 shows how the head is defined in a
submersible pump installation. The following
units are used:
H = pump total head (m) The sum of the static head and the dynamic head
Hst= pump static head (m) is the pump total head, thus
Hd = pump dynamic head (m)
H = Hst + Hd (18)
Hgeod= geodetic head (m)
HJ = pipeline losses (m) According to international agreement (Standard
pL = atmospheric pressure in pump well ISO 2548), the total head H according to equation
pU = atmospheric pressures in upper container 18 is used when plotting characteristic curves for
v2 = flow velocity at outlet (m/s) submersible pumps.

g = acceleration of gravity (9,81 m/s2)
If an observation pipe is installed at the pump
outlet flange, the pumped liquid will rise in it to a
height Hst from the well level. This height repre-
sents the pump static head. In addition, the liquid
has a velocity v2 at the pump discharge, which
can be converted to pressure or dynamic head Hd
with the following equation:
v
2 the pump well and the receiving container. Pipe-
H d = -----2- (17)
2g
The total head H is thus available to pump the liq-
uid through the rising main. The pressure or head
required to pump a given flow through a pipeline
is made up by the geodetic head and the flow
losses. Thus can be written:
H = Hgeod + HJ (19)
The geodetic head Hgeod is the actual physical
difference in height between the liquid levels in
line flow losses consist of pipe friction losses, local
losses from various fittings in the pipeline

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(elbows, valves, etc.) and the outlet loss at the
point of discharge.
Losses due to liquid flow in the well to the pump
are considered as pump losses in submersible
pump installations. If a suction pipe is installed
before the pump, it will have to be taken into
account when calculating pipeline losses.
3.1.2 Dry-installed Pumps
When calculating heads of dry-installed pumps,
the situation before the pump will also have to be
considered. Figure 51 illustrates the situation.
In this case it is assumed that the suction well and
the receiving container are open to the atmo-
sphere and that the pressure at the liquid surfaces
is constant. Thus the pump head is the sum of the
geodetic head and the flow losses in the suction
and pressure pipelines. Thus
H = Hgeod + HJt + HJp
where HJt represents flow losses in the suction
pipeline and HJp flow losses in the pressure pipe-
line.
Fig. 51
Pipeline loss components for dry-installed pumps.
Pump Performance 3
3.2 Pump Performance Curves
Centrifugal pump characteristics are normally
presented as a set of curves, where the data has
been established through the testing of the
pumps or assessed by the manufacturer for e.g. a
special impeller diameter. For submersible pumps
the following important information is normally
plotted as curves against the flow rate Q:
• H head curve
• η efficiency curve(s)
• P power curves
Figure 52 shows a typical pump performance
curve sheet with information important for the
user.
Fig. 52
(20)
Typical pump performance curve sheet for submers-
ible pump. The dashed sections of the curves indicate
areas, where pump prolonged use is prohibited. The
reasons for the limitations may be cavitation, vibra-
tions or motor overload.
3.2.1 H Curve
The head or H curve gives the pump total head as
a function of the flow Q. The curve may contain
additional information on pump usage, such as
limits due to cavitation, vibration or motor over-
load.
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