25316 Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

10. Water Supply and Transport

Mathis von Ahnen

Technical University of Denmark
DTU Aqua
Section for Aquaculture

Spring 2022
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 Basics about pressure

Pressure (p) is an expression of force per unit area and is split

into static and dynamic pressure. The sum of the two pressures
is the total pressure:

ptot = pstat + pdyn [Pa]

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Basics about pressure

Dynamic pressure can be transformed into

static pressure and vice versa.
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Basics about pressure

Dynamic pressure can also be calculated

when the velocity (V) and fluid density are
known:

Pdyn = ½*ρ*V2 [Pa]

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 Centrifugal Pumps

Conversion of the dynamic pressure rise

generated by the impeller into static pressure.

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Centrifugal Pumps – Impeller Designs

high pressure medium pressure low pressure

low flow rate medium flow rate high flow rate

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Propeller Pumps

Used when a lot of water needs to be pumped

at low head.
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 Airlift
Airlifts can also be used when a lot of water needs
to be pumped at very low head.

…as for example in raceway systems of Model Trout Farms

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Pump curves

A ‘pump curve’ or ‘QH curve’ shows the head (H) as

a function of the flow (Q).

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 Pump curves

A QH curve can be determined in an installation with

an open pipe after the pump:

H is exactly the height of the

fluid column in the open pipe,
measured from inlet level.
As the valve is gradually
opened, Q increases while H
decreases.

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Pump curves

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Pump curves - Efficiency

η = P /P [*100%]
hyd hyd 2

η = P /P [*100%]
tot hyd 1

P > P > P [W]

1 2 hyd

ηtot = ηcontrol * ηmotor

* ηhyd
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Cavitation

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 Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)
NPSH defines the absolute lowest pressure the water must have when flowing into
the pump chamber (in other words: the actual height of water over the impeller)

If the water pressure is lower than the NPSH, the pump will cavitate.

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Pumps connected in parallel – equal sized pumps

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Pumps connected in parallel – equal sized pumps

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Pumps connected in parallel – different sized pumps

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Pumps connected in series – equal sized pumps

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Pumps connected in series – equal sized pumps

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Pumps connected in series – different sized pumps

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 Multistage Pumps

High pressure, low flow rate (e.g. for drumfilter backwash)

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Duty point

If system characteristics change, pump

performances may need to be adjusted.
One way to adjust the pump performance
is by regulating its speed.

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 Pumps with speed regulation
Speed control of pumps is normally made by a frequency converter unit.
Speed-controlled pumps only use the amount of energy needed to solve a
specific pump job. Compared to other control methods, frequency-
controlled speed control offers the highest efficiency and thus the most
efficient use of the energy. Compared to fixed speed pumps, it is possible
to reduce the energy consumption by up to 50% with a speed-controlled
pump.

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Pumps with speed regulation

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Pumps with speed regulation

Flow, head and power consumption vary with

pump speed.

Pump curves can only be compared if they are

stated for the same speed.

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Piping system/pump environment

To run a pump efficiently, the piping system needs to be designed as simple

as possible and must prevent high flow velocities/high friction head.

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 Pipe material

Thermoplastic pipes:

- Polyethylene, PE weldable

- Polyvinyl chloride, PVC glueable

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Pipes – Pressure classes

Each pipe and pipe parts need to be thick enough to tolerate the
pressure of water flowing through the system.

The pressure (PN) classes indicate the maximum pressure that the
pipes and pipe parts can tolerate. Different PN classes have different
wall thicknesses.

Example:
PN 4 = 4bar = 40m water column

PN 4, PN 6, PN 10 and PN 16 are commonly used in aquaculture

systems.

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 Factors affecting pump performance:

- Pipe line length

- Pipe cross section
- Head
- Fittings

The total resistance that a pump needs to overcome is the sum of the
factors above. Furthermore, each of the individual resistances is
dependent on the flow velocity.

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 Friction loss in pipes

Depends on:
- Fluid velocity in the pipe (m/s)
- The hydraulic diameter of the pipe (m)
- Pipe length (m)
- Inner surface roughness (-)

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Pipe length

The longer the pipe, the higher the friction loss.

→ Keep pipe length as short as possible

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 Pipe cross section

The smaller the pipe cross section, the faster the water needs to flow at equal
flow rate. The higher the flow velocity becomes, the more turbulence occurs
and friction losses increase.

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 Continuity equation

Q:

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Pipe cross section

Rule of thumb:

Pump suction side: 0.5-1 m/s (due to risk of

cavitation)
Pump pressure side: 1-2 m/s

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Excercise

The water flow to a farm is 1000 l/min (0.0167 m3/s). The

acceptable velocity in the pipeline is set at 1.5 m/s. Find the
necessary pipe dimensions if one pipe is to be used.

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 Pipes and hoses

Pipes are classified according to the outer pipe diameter!

(at equal outer diameters, different inner diameters according to pressure numbers (PN) can be found)

Hoses are classified according to the inner hose diameter!

Outer pipe diameters used in aquaculture in mm:

20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, 75, 90, 110, 125, 160, 180, 200, 225, 250, 280, 315, 355, 400, 450, 500, 560, 630

The internal diameter is used when calculating water velocity (inner diameter = outer diameter – 2*wall
thickness)

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 Pipe vs. Hose
When to use which?

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Pipes – inner surface roughness

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Pipes – inner surface roughness

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Pipes – inner surface roughness

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 Exercise

Calculate the head loss in an old PE pipe with internal

diameter of 110 mm (0.11m). The length of the pipe is 500
m and the velocity in the pipe is 1.5 m/s; the friction
coefficient is 0.03.

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 Reynold’s number (Re)

Re < 2300 : Laminar Flow

2300<Re<5000 : Transition Zone
Re>5000 : Turbulent Flow

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 Head
The greater the pumping height, the greater the head loss due to
the geodetic pressure.
Geodetic pressure difference:

Δpgeo = Δz * ρ * g [Pa]

Energy equation for an ideal flow (Bernoulli’s equation):

p/ρ + V2/2 + g * z = constant [m2/s2] or:

Bernoulli’s equation is valid if the following conditions are met:

1. Stationary flow – no changes over time
2. Incompressible flow – true for most liquids
3. Loss-free flow – ignores friction loss
4. Work-free flow – no supply of mechanical energy

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Siphon effect

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Fittings
Branching, reducing, expanding or deflecting the flow.

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 Fittings
h = K * v2 / 2*g

h = pressure loss in terms of fluid head

K= resistance coefficient fitting (found in tables for K-values)
v = velocity of fluid
g = accelaration due to gravity

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 Exercise
Water must flow through a 90°elbow: either two 45°elbows or
one 90°elbow with k values of 0.26 and 0.9, respectively, can be
used to achieve this. The flow velocity is set to 1.5 m/s. Calculate
the head loss for the two cases.

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 Valves

Beware of water hammer effect!

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 Flow velocity
Increase in flow velocity in the pipe results in an
exponential increase in friction losses.

H loss, fitting = K * V2 / 2*g

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 Estimating the true pump performance
A pump installed in a system often gives only about 50% of its
maximum capacity due to all the pressure losses present.

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