UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, INDUSTRIAL AND AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

MECN 3007 THIRD YEAR ENGINEERING LABORATORY

FORMAL REPORT

Title: Pump Performance Laboratory

Name: Kyle Bailey Group 29

Student Number: 442 563

Date: 13th March 2012

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 UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, INDUSTRIAL AND

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

INDIVIDUAL DECLARATION WITH TASK SUBMITTED FOR ASSESSMENT

I, (name) ___________________________________________, (Student number: _______________) am registered for

Course No. ____________, (course name) __________________________________

_____________________________________________________________ in the year 20 _________.

I herewith submit the following task, (title) ______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the above course.

I hereby declare the following:

o I am aware that plagiarism (the use of someone elses work without their permission and / or without acknowledging
the original source) is wrong;

o I confirm that the work submitted herewith for assessment in the above course is my own unaided work except
where I have explicitly indicated otherwise;

o This task has not been submitted before, either individually or jointly, for any course requirement, examination or
degree at this or any other tertiary educational institution;

o I have followed the required conventions in referencing the thoughts and ideas of others;

o I understand that the University of the Witwatersrand may take disciplinary action against me if it can be shown that
this task is not my own unaided work or that I have failed to acknowledge the source of the ideas or words in my
writing in this task.

Signature: ____________________________ Date: __________________________ 20 ______

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ABSTRACT

A pump performance experiment was conducted on a Matheson and Bremner Norma Flow NF 32 160 centrifugal type water
pump. Head rise, efficiency of the pump and power were analysed with varying flow rate and a series of dimensionless pump
performance curves set up to better observe the results and determine the performance of another pump within the same
family and compare our own data with that supplied by the manufacturers. Initially, calibration testing on the static head of
the system and the output motor torque (converted and read as a force) had to be conducted and curves set up to ascertain
whether or not the data would be accurate. The flow rate of the system was varied by means of a spear (control) valve and
the pressure was measured by means of a differential pressure transducer placed in the system. The experiment was
conducted for 3 different motor speeds whilst varying the flow rate at ten different intervals for every speed setting and
recording the resulting pressure and force. The dimensionless coefficients for this family of pumps were then computed and
the dimensionless curves for the system sketched. Upon comparing the estimated performance values of another pump with
those of the manufacturers specification, deviations were found and as such, no conclusive evidence was determined that
the performance curves obtained by plotting the experimental data were valid. The discussion section of this report discusses
possible reasons for these deviations.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES v

LIST OF TABLES vi

NOMENCLATURE vii

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 BACKGROUND 1

1.2 MOTIVATION 2

1.3 OBJECTIVES 2

2. APPARATUS 3

3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE 4

3.1 CALIBRATION 4

3.2 METHOD 4

3.3 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS 4

4. OBSERVATIONS 5

4.1 CALIBRATION TABLES 5

4.2 CALIBRATION RUNNING PLOTS 6

4.3 PRIMITIVE RECORDED DATA 7

5. DATA PROCESSING 8

6. RESULTS 9

7. ESTIMATING PERFORMANCE VALUES 13

8. DISCUSSION 14

9. CONCLUSION 15

10. APPENDIX A CALIBRATION CURVES 16

11. APPENDIX B UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS 17

12. APPENDIX C MANUFACTURERS SPECIFICATIONS 21

13. REFERENCES 22

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: A Centrifugal Pump.................................................................................................................................................vii

Figure 2: Diagram of Norma Flow Centrifugal Pump..............................................................................................................ix
Figure 3: Pressure reading vs. Flow Rate Running Plot..........................................................................................................xii
Figure 4: Force Reading vs. Flow Rate Running Plot............................................................................................................xiii
Figure 5: Power Versus Flow Rate........................................................................................................................................xvii
Figure 6: Efficiency Versus Flow Coefficient.......................................................................................................................xvii
Figure 7: Head Coefficient Versus Flow Coefficient.............................................................................................................xvii
Figure 8: Power Coefficient Versus Flow Coefficient..........................................................................................................xviii
Figure 9: Head Versus Flow Rate........................................................................................................................................xviii
Figure 10: Head Versus Flow Rate For 165mm Impellor Pump..............................................................................................xx
Figure 12: Calibration Curve For The Transducer................................................................................................................xxii
Figure 13: Calibration Curve For The Strain Gauge.............................................................................................................xxii

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Transducer Calibration Results..................................................................................................................................xi

Table 2: Strain Gauge Calibration Results..............................................................................................................................xii
Table 3: Raw Data Taken At n = 1230 RPM .....................................................................................................xiv
Table 4: Calibrated Values for n = 1230 RPM.........................................................................................................................xv
Table 5: Calibrated Values For n = 1840 RPM.......................................................................................................................xvi
Table 6: Calibrated Values For n = 2450 RPM.......................................................................................................................xvi
Table 7: Estimated Performance Values For Pump.................................................................................................................xx

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NOMENCLATURE

Variable Description Units

Rotational speed [rad/s]

Density of water [kg/m]

CH Dimensionless head coefficient [1]

CP Dimensionless power coefficient [1]

CQ Dimensionless flow coefficient [1]

d Impeller diameter [m]

g Gravity [m/s]

H Head rise [m]

h Height [m]

n Impeller rotational speed [rev/s]

P Power [W]

Q Flow rate [m/s]

T Torque [N.m]

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