ASSIGNMENT 1

University of Johannesburg
Department of Civil Engineering Science

PROGRAM : BEng Civil Engineering Science

SUBJECT : Hydraulics Engineering 3A
CODE : HMG3A
Instructor : Dr. Sophia Rwanga
Type : Assignment 2 – GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Date : 25 APRIL 2024

Deadline : 09 MAY 2024

INSTRUCTIONS : NOTE: ALL GRAPHS TO BE PLOTTED USING EXCEL

QUESTION 1 [ 15]
A centrifugal pump is pumping water at a rate of 2.2428 m3/sec. The pressures at the inlet, and outlet of the
pumps are 15582.15 N/m2 and 53206.842 N/m2 respectively. The outlet pipe is placed 0.254 m higher than
the inlet pipe. The inlet and outlet diameters of the pipe are 0.4699 m and 0.4064 m in respectively and
Shaft horsepower (SHP) produced by the pump rotating at 1593 rpm is 0.9650 HP. Calculate the following:
a) Total head
b) Water horsepower (WHP)
c) efficiency of the pump and
d) Net positive suction head.
Assume the water is at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. (Hint: Please convert gauge pressure
values to absolute pressures)

QUESTION 2 [10]
A centrifugal pump running at 1200rpm has the following variation of its prime variables:

Discharge
0 1200 2400 3600 4200 4800 5500 6000 6600 7200
𝑄( L/m)

Head,
30.0 29.0 27.0 24.0 22.5 20.5 18.0 16.0 12.0 8.0
𝐻𝑚 ( m)
Efficiency
0 35 60 80 84 85 83 78 65 45
(%)

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 i. Draw the pump (𝐻 − 𝑄) curve and the efficiency-head curve on the same 𝐻 and 𝑄 axes.
ii. Mark clearly the Best Efficiency point (𝐵𝐸𝑃) and
iii. Determine the specific speed of the pump.
iv. Identify which type of flow pump.

QUESTION 3 [ 25]
Water is being transferred from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir level using a centrifugal pump as
motive force between difference in fluid surface elevations as shown in Figure 1. The characteristic of a
centrifugal pump handling water is given in Table 2.

Table 2: The characteristics of a centrifugal pump

Q (m3/sec) 0.01 0.014 0.017 0.019 0.024
H(m) 9.5 8.7 7.4 6.1 0.9
Efficiency (%) 65 81 78 68 12

The existing system consists of 840 m of 15 cm diameter pipes with absolutes roughness 6x10-6 m joining
two reservoirs, the difference between water levels being 3 m through a pipe with a friction factor of 0.01.
Neglecting all losses except frictions.

Figure 1
As an engineer, you're responsible for specifying the final pipe sizes that will produce reasonably optimum
performance while considering system energy losses and pump power requirements. Therefore, it is
proposed to use pipe diameter as a control parameter to optimize the system and improve the pump's
operation at 80% efficiency. In this case, the optimum efficiency is described as the optimization point.
i. What is the volume flow rate and system head between two reservoirs?
ii. What is the power consumed by the pump?
iii. What is the optimal diameter that would enable the pump to operate at the 80 % efficiency?
iv. How does the optimised system will affect the volume flow rate, the system head and the power
consumed by the pump?

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 QUESTION 4 [35]
4.1 Determine the flow of each pipe as represented in the pipe network shown in Figure 2. Perform two
iterations only [USE EXCEL FOR CALCULATIONS]. For simplicity, take 𝑛 = 2.0 and use the value of
𝑓 for complete turbulence (equation below). All pipes are cast iron (for cast iron: 𝜀 = 0.00025 m) and are
at the same elevation. For initial flows, assume only values of 30, 15 , and 0 L/s the zeros in 𝑑𝑔 and 𝑓ℎ.
If the pressure head at 𝒂 is 40 m, find the pressure head at 𝒅 neglecting velocity heads.

4.2 Write matrix equations for the pipe network.

Figure 2
ℎ𝐿 = 𝐾𝑄 2 with 𝐾 = 8𝑓𝐿/(𝜋 2 𝑔𝐷5 ).

𝑒 = 0.00025 m

Using 𝑓 = 𝑓min for complete turbulence

3.7 −2
𝑓 = 𝑓min = [2log⁡ ( )]
𝜀/𝐷

Pipes 𝐿⁡(m) 𝐷 (m)

𝑎𝑏 250 0.30

𝑎𝑐, 𝑏𝑒 100 0.20

𝑐𝑑, 𝑒𝑑 125 0.20

𝑐𝑓, 𝑑𝑔, 𝑒ℎ 100 0.15

𝑔𝑓, 𝑔ℎ 125 0.25

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Use the initial flow assumptions (L/s) given below;

For example, etc.

Pipe 𝑄
𝑎𝑏 +30
𝑏𝑒 +30
dc -15
etc

For uniformity use the following table.

Pipes 𝑳, 𝐦 𝑫, 𝐦 𝒆/𝑫 𝒇𝐦𝐢𝐧 𝑲 𝑲𝑸𝒏 |𝑲𝒏𝑸𝒏−𝟏 | Qc

QUESTION 5 [15]
Calculate the Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) available for a pump, given the following parameters and
sketch the system:
Q = 0.011𝑚3/𝑠𝑒𝑐
Pipe Diameter (D): 0.15 meters.
Friction Factor (𝑓):0.018
The pump intake friction head losses: 0.015m
Suction Pipe Length (L): 5 meters.

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Negative Suction Lift: 2 meters
Entrance Loss: 0.3 meters
Atmospheric Pressure (P_atm): 101325 Pascal
Vapor Pressure (P_vapor): 1500 Pascal
Water temperature: 12°𝐶
Show your calculations and determine if the NPSH available is sufficient to prevent cavitation given the
required NPSH is 5𝑚.