Dynamic modeling of reciprocating pump valves with considering the interaction effects between pump and pipeline

Abstract

The components of a pump–pipeline system are coupled and interact with each other, but the dynamic analysis of reciprocating pump valves is usually executed without considering the effects of pipeline. In this article, a theoretical study is carried out to investigate the interaction effects between pump and pipeline on the motions of suction and discharge valves. Based on the principle of force balance and the law of mass and energy conservation, a new dynamic model of reciprocating pump valves is presented in order to obtain the motions of pump valve and the flow characteristics of pipeline simultaneously. The computational results are compared with the prior experimental data and the computational fluid dynamics simulation results to validate the proposed model, and good agreement is obtained. With the proposed model, the influences of piping parameters as well as the interaction effects on dynamic behaviors of pump valves and discharge flow rate are analyzed and discussed. It is found that the error between computational and prior experimental maximum valve lifts is less than 5%, and the proposed model has higher precision than the Adolph model in predicting the actual working characteristics of pump valves. The lift of pump valve and the flow rate in pipe are coupled with each other because the cylinder pressure and the leakage are directly related to the working load and the pressure drop of pipeline. The flow resistance of pipe could reduce the maximum value of valve lift but has slight influence on the lag time of valve opening. With the increasing of spring stiffness, the maximum value of valve lift decreases nonlinearly. The variation characteristics of flow rate versus pump operating speed relationships are significantly influenced by the flow resistance of pipeline, which means that the piping effects are significant and non-negligible for the pump design.