Numerical study on effect of check valve closure flow conditions on pressure surges in pumping station with air entrainment

Abstract

This paper proposes a numerical procedure to better compute the characteristics of pressure surges when check valves close under different flow conditions in a pumping station. Studies have shown that the effects of check valve closure on the pressure transients are predominantly dependent on the magnitude and gradient of the flow velocities immediately downstream of the check valve at the instant of valve closure. Through the present study, it was noted that the transient flow velocities near the check valve of a fluid system are also dependent on the characteristics of the air entrained into the fluid system. An improved numerical computational procedure for the fluid system with air entrainment under different transient conditions downstream of the check valve is also proposed in this paper. With a fluid system operating within the critical range of air entrainment values, the present analysis showed that there is a possibility of 'high pressure surges' when the check valves were closed at flow rates other than the positive flow conditions. This phenomenon was confirmed through field observations. This study thus concludes that a detailed numerical transient analysis of the fluid system, with various assumed amounts of entrained air, is necessary whenever there is the possibility of air entrainment into the fluid system, and that the flow conditions at the instant of check valve closure need to be modelled.