Reducer Fittings Decrease Pipe Size to Avoid

Failure (First of Two Parts)

Design of the pump inlet piping can protect overall
operation.
First of Two Parts

The design of pump inlet piping defines the resulting hydraulic conditions
experienced at the pump inlet/impeller. If the design fails to produce a uniform
velocity distribution at the pump inlet, noisy operation, random axial load
oscillations, premature bearing or seal failure, cavitation damage to the impeller
and inlet portions of the casing, and occasional damage on the discharge side due
to liquid separation can occur. Any of these issues could lead to pump failure
(ANSI/HI 9.6.6., 2009). Part of the pump inlet piping design includes the selection
of reducer fitting type.
A reducer fitting is typically used in pump station pipe work to reduce the size of
the suction pipe to match the size of the pump suction end flange. Reducer fittings
used in pump inlet pipe work are divided into two typesconcentric and eccentric
reducers. The two types of reducer fittings can be described as:

Concentric reducerThe reduction of the pipe size is achieved by

decreasing the diameter of the fitting at a constant rate over a specified
length, maintaining symmetry around the fitting (see Figure 1).

Eccentric reducerThe reduction of the pipe size is achieved by decreasing

the diameter of the fitting at a constant rate over a specified length,
maintaining one side of the fitting horizontally (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Difference between eccentric and concentric reducers in pump inlet piping
(Article graphics courtesy of the authors.)

Design guidelines, pump operating manuals and design standards mostly prescribe
the selection of an eccentric reducer with the flat side on top for horizontal flow to
the pump. This configuration prevents air pocket accumulation at the upstream end
of the reducer (see Figure 1). The non-uniform velocity distribution results from
the acceleration of flow along the eccentric reducers sloped side resulting in an
unbalanced force that is not addressed. An unbalanced force on the impeller could
lead to potentially detrimental radial thrust harmonics.
Abstract from the Design Standards

ANSI/HI 9.6.6 American National Standard for Pump Piping for Rotodynamic
Pumps (P4, 2009) specifies the following for the selection of reducer type in pump
inlet piping: A concentric reducer is recommended for vertical inlet (suction)
pipes or horizontal installations where there is no potential for air vapor
.accumulation
Eccentric convergent reducers are normally used for horizontal installations where
there is potential for air vapor accumulation. The flat side shall be located on top,
unless the inlet (suction) line approach from above, in which case either a
concentric reducer or eccentric convergent reducer (with the flat side on the
.bottom) should be used
ANSI/HI 9.8 American National Standard for Pump Intake Design (P21, 1998)
states, There shall be no flow disturbing fittings (such as partially open valves,
tees, short radius elbows, etc.) closer than five suction pipe diameters from the
pump. Fully open, non-flow disturbing valves, vaned elbows and reducers are not
.considered flow disturbing fittings
This standard eliminates any reference to the possible flow distribution that could
be generated by the reducer. This standard (P28, 1998) also requires that, Time-

averaged velocities at the pump suction in a piping system shall be within 10

.percent of the cross-sectional areas average velocity
This requirement can be used to assess the extent of flow disturbance caused by a
reducer. ANSI/HI 9.8 also recommends a maximum flow velocity of 2.4 meters per
.second (m/s) in the suction pipe work

ANSI/AWWA C208 American Water Works Association Standard Dimensions

for Fabricated Steel Water Pipe Fittings (P7, 2008) directs the length of a reducer
.(Lr) to be calculated with the following formula

Equation 1
Lr = 4 (DL Ds)

Figure 2. Calculation of reducer angles

The reducer angles for the ANSI/AWWA C208 were calculated with the method in
Figure 2 to compare it to the requirements in Table 1. The calculated angles are:

ANSI/AWWA C208 Eccentric Reducer Angle = 14.04

ANSI/AWWA C208 Concentric Reducer Angle = 7.13

The minimum number of straight pipe lengths required is determined by the

number of pipe reductions, regardless of the reducer angle staying constant. For a
single pipe reduction, the standard ANSI/AWWA C208 reducer has no requirement
.for downstream pipe lengths before the pump

Table 1. Minimum straight length required before suction inlet

In the second part of this series, the recommendations presented in ANSI/HI 9.6.6
will be assessed using computational fluid dynamics and compared to the ANSI/HI
9.8 and ANSI/AWWA C208 requirements.
References
1. ANSI/AWWA C208-07. 2008. Dimensions for fabricated steel
water pipe fittings. American Water Works Association,
Denver.

2. ANSI/HI 9.8-1998. 2000. American National Standard for

pump intake design. Hydraulic Institute, New Jersey.
3. ANSI/HI 9.6.6-2009. 2009. American National Standard for
rotodynamic pumps for pump piping. Hydraulic Institute, New
Jersey.
4. VAN VUUREN, S.J., VAN DIJK, M and STEENKAMP, J.N. 2004.
Guidelines for effective de aeration. WRC Report No.
1177/2/04. Water Research Commission, Pretoria.
Second of Two Parts
Part One of this series (Pumps & Systems, August 2014), discussed the new American
National Standards Institute/Hydraulic Institute (ANSI/HI 9.8) design standard requirements.
It also discussed how to calculate the length of a reducer (see Equation 1) and the angle of a
.reducer (see Figure 1)

Lr = 4 (DL Ds) Equation 1

:Where
Lr = Length of the reducer
DL = Larger pipe diameter
Ds = Smaller pipe diameter
.Part Two covers the assessment of the standard using computational fluid design (CFD)

A recent study observed the velocity distributions resulting from different

concentric and eccentric reducer angles (a constant diameter reduction with a
variation in reducer length). During the study, the velocity distributions for the
recommended allowable eccentric angle (20 degrees) without the requirement of
additional pipe length fell outside of the time averaged velocity distribution
.requirements presented by ANSI/HI 9.8 (see Table 1)
CFD Assessment of the Design Standards

The CFD assessments were performed with upstream flow velocities [at DL (larger
pipe diameter)] of 1 meter per second (m/s), 1.5 m/s, 2 m/s and 2.4 m/s. The range
represented the typical flow velocities experienced in suction pipe work. To assess
the criteria specified by ANSI/HI 9.8, the velocity distributions at the downstream
end of the reducer along the y-axis were recorded and plotted together with 1.1
times the average velocity and 0.9 times the average velocity for a visual
presentation of the results. The position of this axis for velocity measurement is
illustrated in Figure 2 (for a 10-degree concentric reducer). Time averaged
.velocities were not used because a steady state CFD analysis was performed
The reducers studied were modeled on a nominal diameter (DN) 200 (210.1millimeter inner diameter) to DN 150 (156.7-millimeter inner diameter),
.representing a single pipe reduction
The concentric reducer angles ranged from 2 to 20 degrees. The eccentric reducer
angles ranged from 2.5 to 30 degrees. Twelve reducer geometries were modeled.
Lengths of 3 DL were added upstream and downstream of the reducer to assess the
.extent of the velocity distribution
Typical results from the study are provided in Figures 3 and 4 (page 100), which
show the CFD velocity scalar scenes for a concentric reducer with an angle of 10

degrees and an eccentric reducer with an angle of 20 degrees at a flow velocity of

.2.4 m/s
Table 2 provides the upstream, downstream, and minimum and maximum
.velocities for the ANSI/HI 9.8 acceptance criteria
The velocity distribution results along the y-axis for the 10-degree concentric
reducer, 5-degree eccentric reducer and 10-degree eccentric reducer are provided in
Figures 5, 6 and 7, respectively (Figures 6 and 7, page 102). The results show the
velocity distribution for the 10-degree concentric reducer is symmetrical with
respect to the x-axis and falls within the ANSI/HI 9.8 criteria for all four velocities
modeled. ANSI/HI 9.6.6s requirement of zero straight lengths of pipe at the pump
suction for a one-pipe-size-reduction 10-degree concentric reducer is confirmed in
this study and corresponds to the ANSI/American Water Works Association
.(AWWA) C208 standard concentric reducer (see Table 1)
For the 5-degree and 10-degree eccentric reducers, the flow is not symmetrical
with respect to the y-axis. This asymmetry is caused by an acceleration of flow
along the sloped (bottom) side of the reducer. The velocities for the 5-degree
eccentric reducer (excluding the near-wall velocities, which tend to zero) fall
within the ANSI/HI 9.8 10 percent velocity distribution criteria for all four of the
.velocities modeled
However, the 10-degree eccentric reducers velocities extend past or are on the
limit of the ANSI/HI 9.8 10 percent velocity distribution criteria. The extent of the
asymmetrical acceleration through the eccentric reducer increases as the reducer
angle increases. If the 10 degrees do not pass the ANSI/HI 9.8 10 percent velocity
distribution criteria, eccentric reducers with an angle greater than 10 degrees will
.also not pass the criteria
The ANSI/HI 9.6.6 requirement of zero straight lengths of pipe at the pump suction
for a one-pipe size reduction, 20-degree eccentric reducer is therefore insufficient
and should be questioned (see Table 1). The superior performance of the concentric
reducer explains why ANSI/HI 9.6.6 prescribes a concentric reducer for vertical
inlet (suction) pipes or horizontal installations where there is no potential for air
.vapor accumulation
The requirement for a minimum length of straight pipe upstream of the pump inlet
that is based on the number of pipe size reductions as presented by ANSI/HI 9.6.6
is also not confirmed by the results. The velocity distribution resulting from a

reducer is directly related to the reducer angle, not the number of pipe reductions.
A five-pipe size reduction with a concentric angle of 10 degrees or an eccentric
angle of 5 degrees will result in velocity distributions that fall within the ANSI/HI
.9.8 10 percent velocity distribution criteria
A concentric reducer with an angle that is large enough to allow air to be
hydraulically transported past it or an additional straight length of pipe to be placed
after the eccentric reducer should be investigated as alternative options for the
.ANSI/HI 9.6.6 eccentric reducer prescription
The capacity of a reducer to hydraulically transport air through a concentric
reducer can be determined similarly to the assessment of the hydraulic
transportation of air through a pipeline with the same angle as that of the reducer.
Van Vuuren, van Dijk and Steenkamp (2004) provides details on the assessment of
.the hydraulic transportation of air
References
1. ANSI/AWWA C208-07. 2008. Dimensions for fabricated steel
water pipe fittings. American Water Works Association, Denver.
2. ANSI/HI 9.8-1998. 2000. American National Standard for pump
intake design. Hydraulic Institute, New Jersey.
3. ANSI/HI 9.6.6-2009. 2009. American National Standard for
rotodynamic pumps for pump piping. Hydraulic Institute, New
Jersey.
4. Van Vuuren, S.J., Van Dijk, M. and Steenkamp, J.N. 2004.
Guidelines for effective de-aeration of large diameter water
pipelines. WRC Report No. 1177/2/04. Water Research
Commission, Pretoria.