Study on water hammer effect in turbulent flow through the pipe system

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study water hammer effect in turbulent flow through the pipe system. The water hammer occurs when the water flow in the pipeline is suddenly stopped by the valve. Water hammer can cause the pipe to break if the pressure is high enough. An experimental method has been conducted to investigate the effect of design parameters such as difference kind of material properties of pipes and the effect of the flow rate of fluid on the frequency (Hz) and the maximum acceleration of vibration signal (m/s2) during water hammer effect, the vibration signal is captured by using the DEWE-41-T-DSA signal analysis and piezoelectric accelerometer sensor. Data signal is transferred to DEWESoft software to be analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method. We found that the maximum acceleration vibration signal will increase the flow rate of fluid increase. Besides, the maximum acceleration vibration signal of UPVC pipe is higher than HDPE pipe. Meanwhile, for the frequency, the experimental result shows that the larger frequency is the UPVC pipe compare with the HDPE pipe. This is due to the compressibility of fluid and elasticity of the pipe. Therefore, it can be concluded that the UPVC pipe deal with more water hammer effect compares to the HDPE pipe due to the mechanical properties difference of UPVC and HDPE pipe.