Incompressible isothermal flows
The more simple computation available with such tools is the incompressible isothermal flow. We will see in the next chapters how each product is able (or not) to compute compressible, transient, thermal and multiphase flows, but this chapter will give more details on how to calculate:
- Pressure Drop
- Flowrate Distribution
- Piping System Sizing
For each project, the flowrate through a given piping is creating a pressure difference. If you give inlet and outlet pressures and the system dimension, you would obtain the flowrate, if you give the flowrate and the system dimension, you would obtain the pressure difference and, last option, if you define pressures and flowrate, you would be able to size your system.
How to calculate the pressure drop and losses, and flowrate, in FloMaster and Flownex
The basic FloMaster of Flownex option allow isothermal steady state.
The network component models included are namely reservoirs, pipes, ducts, pumps, fans, compressors, turbines, heat exchangers, valves and orifices.
This configuration also includes visualization graphs, text outputs, result layers, data logger and result export to excel.
Apparently no videos available, but the behavior is quite similar to hydrosystem (see videos below)
How to size your piping system in FloMaster
We will se below that to size a piping system into hydrosystem, you just need to define, for any branch the requested flowrate.
The situation is quite different with FloMaster, you will have two different option.
The first one, called Flowbalancing, will compute the flow rate in the full system branches.
Flow Balancing is an analysis option within Flowmaster that performs incompressible pressure loss calculations for individual components but allows flow rates for components to be specified as an input parameter. The analysis calculates the pressure conditions at those components, referred to as balancing components, and reports results which allows the user to optimise components or set component data to achieve the desired flows.
In the Fire Protection System above, water is pumped from a constant head reservoir by the fire water pump through a control valve and into a branched network of sprinkler nozzles. The required analysis is to calculate the orifice plate diameters that will achieve a specified flow rate through each sprinkler nozzle.
Volumetric flow rate can be specified in most components, but it is most appropriate to components that can be set up to give the desired flow rate at the pressure conditions prevailing in the network. The components most suited to the use of balancing flows are control valves, orifices, pipes, pumps, reservoirs and accumulators.
The second option, that allows a single branch to be sized is using PID controller that would regulate the position of a valve, for example.
How to size your piping system in Flownex
The design and analysis module includes advanced features such as the designer routine, stochastic routines used in probabilistic analyses (Sensitivity Analysis, Parametric Study). This capability can be applied to all libraries and on both steady state and transient modules.
How to calculate the pressure drop and losses in Hydrosystem
How to calculate the flowrate distribution in Hydrosystem
How to size your piping system in Hydrosystem
Additional remarks for Hydrosystem
Hydrosystem includes a List & Label report generator by Combit GmbH for printing input and output data. The software allows you to print, preview and save documents (as a List & Label file with an LL extension). The saved files can be viewed and printed using Combit List & Label Viewer, installed with Hydrosystem. Reports can also be saved in other formats for inclusion in various documents (for example, pdf files for Adobe Acrobat). The document template can also be changed (for example, editing title block format, adding company logo, etc.) using the included form editor, List & Label Designer.
Each situation is different
The needs of your company are not necessarily the same as another society, they may also have changed with years.
Do not hesitate to contact Fluids & Co to have a personalized study of your project.