MEE 491 Lab #5: Performance of a Centrifugal Water Pump

Suggested Reading
Moran, Shapiro, Munson & Dewitt, Introduction to Thermal Systems Engineering, Ch. 12-14
Beckwith, Marangoni & Lienhard, Mechanical Measurements, Ch. 10, 13, 14, 15
Glich, Johann F., Centrifugal Pumps, Springer, New York, 2008. (electronically available
through ASU library)
TACO Learning Center, Pump CurvesHow to Read and Use (posted on blackboard).
Introduction
Liquid pumps are pervasive throughout engineering applications. These are critical for
delivering water to your home, operating automotive cooling systems, circulating working fluid
in power plants, enabling production in chemical processing plants, etc. Due to their common
use, it is important to understand and learn how to characterize pump performance. In this lab,
you will operate a centrifugal pump under various operating conditions with two different
impellers and determine its performance characteristics. In Parts I and II you will collect partially
complementary data sets on pump performance quantified in terms of the pump head (which can
be expressed in units of length or pressure), water and shaft powers as a function of water flow
rate (controlled by valves) and pump speed (controlled with software). In Part III, you will
explore conditions that lead to
the onset of cavitation. Good
engineering practice dictates
that cavitation should be
avoided because it can cause
significant impeller damage.
However we explore these
conditions in this lab for
instructional purposes.
Experimental Setup
The system used in this
experiment is an educational
pump setup developed by
Turbine Technologies, LTD.
Figure 1 shows the various
components of this system.
Flow
rates
will
be
controlled by the pump speed,
choice of impeller, inlet valve
setting, and outlet valve setting.
The inlet and outlet valves will
also allow you to simulate
different pressure conditions on
the pump (i.e. partially closing
the outlet valve creates a
similar effect to that of having a

Figure 1. Schematic of the educational pump system made by Turbine

Technologies, LTD that will be used in this experiment.

longer length and/or several pipe turns on the pump outlet). Note that the fluid reservoir is at a
lower elevation than the pump. This means that gravity cannot feed the water into the pump,
rather the pump must suck up the water. This is referred to as negative pressure head. This is
analogous to how one drinks a glass of water through a straw (ones mouth being analogous to
the pump and the glass of water being analogous to the water reservoir). A nice feature of this
system is its transparent housing that will allow you to see its components in operation.
Procedure:
Note: The TA can adjust speeds used by individual groups (i.e. different groups might not
necessarily have the identical data points).
1. Inspect the pump system and familiarize yourself with the components (fluid reservoir,
inlet/outlet pressure sensors, inlet/outlet valves, pump, motor, flow rotometer, etc.) as
well as well as the computer program running the pump.
2. Take note of the water temperature (i.e. temperature of the room) and barometric
pressure. Measure the height difference from the water level in the reservoir to the
centerline of the inlet (suction) tube. Label this dimension Z1. Then measure the height
from the centerline of the inlet (suction) tube to the centerline of the outlet (discharge)
tube. Label this dimension Z2. Note: Measuring to the centerline of each tube give us an
approximated location where the pressure is being measured by the system via the
pressure sensors located at the inlet and outlet.
3. Take note of the installed pump impeller design, which will be one of the following three:
a. Black Impeller Forward Sweep Vanes
b. Red Impeller Straight Vanes
c. Gold Impeller Rearward Sweep Vanes
Part I Pump performance measured by varying flow rate at constant pump speeds
4. Operate the pump while varying the outlet valve opening and repeat for different pump
speeds:
a. Set the outlet and inlet valves to fully open. Note that the outlet valve control can
continue to rotate after the valve is completely open, refrain from opening it
beyond the 40 mark.
b. Set the pump speed to 1700 RPM.
c. Once steady state is reached, record the system state (i.e. pump speed, torque,
flow rate, inlet pressure, and outlet pressure).
d. Close the outlet valve by ~1 full turn (in some cases this might vary from 0.5 to 2
turns, the goal is to attain evenly spaced data points) and repeat step 4c.
e. Repeat step 4d until the outlet valve is fully closed and flow rate is zero (it could
also temporarily become negative).
f. Repeat steps 4a 4e for 1500 RPM and 1300RPM or the set of speeds
recommended by the TA.
Part II- Pump performance measured by varying operating speeds at constant (highest) flow rate
5. Operate the pump across its full range of operating speeds
a. Set the outlet and inlet valves to fully open. Note that the outlet valve control can
continue to rotate after the valve is completely open.

b. Set the pump speed to 1700 RPM, and verify that the system reaches a steady
state (this implies that the pressures and volumetric flow rates are no longer
changing).
c. Once steady state is reached, record the state of the system (torque, speed, inlet
and outlet pressure and volume flow rate).
d. Decrease the pump speed by 200 RPM and repeat step 5c.
e. Repeat step 5d until the pump speed is 300 RPM.
Part III- Characterizing conditions leading to onset of cavitation
6. Operate the pump while varying the inlet valve opening and repeat for different pump
speeds:
a. Set the outlet and inlet valves to fully open. Note that the outlet valve control can
continue to rotate after the valve is completely open.
b. Set the pump speed to 1600 RPM
c. Once steady state is reached, record the system state.
d. Close the inlet valve by ~1 full turn (dependent on conditions, it might vary
between 0.5 and 2 turns) and repeat step 6c.
e. Repeat step 6d until the inlet valve is fully closed. In addition, record the system
state at the onset of cavitation and observe this phenomenon with the strobe light
(this will aid to visualize the bubbles). Periodically observe the cavitation with the
strobe light as you continue to close the inlet valve.
Analysis Objectives (note that you should have a set of curves for each used impeller)
1. Draw the characteristic curves of the pump at different constant speeds:
a) Pump head (expressed as length or pressure) vs. discharge (flow rate) curves for each
motor speed (step 4) on the same plot. Overlay the data collected in step 5.
b) Water horsepower vs. discharge curves for each motor speed (step 4). Water
horsepower is the power the pump delivers to the fluid. Overlay the data collected in
step 5
c) Shaft horsepower vs. discharge curves for each motor speed (step 4). Shaft
horsepower is the power delivered to the pump. Overlay the data collected in step 5
d) Pump efficiency vs. discharge curves for each motor speed (step 4). Overlay the data
collected in step 5
2. Draw the iso-efficiency curves of the pump system (see appendix). Is there an optimum
range of operating conditions (i.e. highest efficiency)? If so, what is it?
3. Graph the Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) vs. discharge for your data collected in step 6.
What was the NPSH when you observed cavitation? Does your measured NPSH equal zero
at cavitation as predicted by theory (see appendix). Explain your results. Note that bubble
formation can also mean that air dissolved in the water is degassing (analogous to opening a
soda can, which lowers the pressure and releases the dissolved CO2). You should also
consider the location of the pressure sensors when thinking about this analysis point.
4. Use your 1700 RPM data in step 4 and pump similarity analysis (see appendix) to predict the
performance of the system at 1600, and 1200 RPM. How does this compare with your actual
measurements at 1600 and 1200 RPM in step 4? (Hint: take a look at the pump laws in this
handout to determine the performance at those speeds and compare values in tabular form).

(General note: in your report you can use either imperial or SI units, just stay consistent. If you
are having issues with unit conversion, try using online resources like www.wolframalpha.com).
Appendix
Total head
The head (also known as the total head or total
dynamic head) of a pump is a measure of the net work
that can be done by the pump and can be thought of as
the height to which the pump can raise liquid in a pipe
connected to the discharge. Head is measured in
length (feet or meters) of a water column that it can
support. The head of a pump can be expressed as
pressure using the expression P=gH,. The head can

be determined by performing an energy balance Figure 2. Schematic diagram of a pump.
between the suction and discharge sides of the pump, Position 1 is the suction side and position 2 is
the discharge side.
as shown in Figure 2.
Assuming no heat transfer and introducing a
frictional loss (due to pipe length and fittings), the energy equation can be rewritten as
P V2
P V2

(1)
H h f = 2 + 2 + Z 2 1 + 1 + Z1
g 2 g
g 2 g

where P1 and P2 are the suction and discharge pressure, V1 and V2 are the suction and discharge
velocities, Z1 and Z2 are the heights, hf is the frictional head loss between 1 and 2, is the fluid
density, g is the gravitational constant, and H is the pump head. Keep in mind that this equation
is a modified Bernoullis equation (i.e. the Mechanical Energy Equation in your MAE 240/340
textbook by Moran, Shapiro, Munson, and Dewitt). Bernoullis equation assumes no work is
done to or by the working fluid. We add in H and hf into this equation to account for the work
done to and from the fluid, respectively. For this lab, one can assume that hf for the pump is zero.
Noting that the inner diameter on the suction side of the pump is 1.85 inches and the inner
diameter on the discharge side is 1.6 inches, equation (1) can be combined with conservation of
mass to calculate the pump head, H.
Efficiency, WHP and SHP
The hydraulic power delivered to the fluid is known as output power and is often denoted in
imperial units as the horsepower or water horsepower WHP. The power of a pump is simply the
flow rate multiplied by the hydrostatic head (gH) as:
WHP = QgH

(2)

The power required to drive the pump is known as the shaft horsepower (SHP) or brake
horsepower, and is calculated from the shaft angular velocity, , and shaft torque, T:

SHP = T
The efficiency of the pump is defined as:

(3)

WHP
SHP

(4)

Keep in mind that this is the efficiency of the pump itself. It is not the efficiency of the entire
pump system (which includes the motor, the pump head, and possibly some valves). To find the
use the electrical power supplied to the system (electric
total efficiency of the system one might
power = current * voltage) in the denominator of this equation.
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)
The net positive suction head (NPSH) is a measure of the suction characteristic of the pump.
Under some conditions, a pump can generate low pressure at the suction side of a pump which
can result in local cavitation (boiling at low pressure) and damage to the pump. Cavitation results
when the local pressure in the liquid is reduced to the vapor pressure. To characterize the
potential for boiling and cavitation, the difference between the total head on the suction side of
the pump (close to the impeller) and the liquid vapor pressure at the actual temperature, can be
used. NPSH depends on the vapor pressure, suction pressure and velocity of the liquid in the
suction pipe.
NPSH =

PS VS2 Pvp
+

g 2g g

(5)

Where Ps is pressure on the suction side of the pump in absolute units, Vs is the average velocity
on the suction side of the pump and Pvp is vapor pressure in absolute units. The suction head is

given by,
hS =

PS VS2
+
g 2g

(6)

The suction head pressure ghs must be greater than the vapor pressure Pvp to avoid cavitation
(you can find the water vapor pressure corresponding to the lab temperature on the given day in

steam tables or online).

Iso-efficiency Curves
Pump performance curves are typically drawn for a constant impeller diameter and constant
rotational speed of the pump as shown in Figure 3. In this plot, a single horizontal line of pump
head versus flowrate is drawn for a specific motor power output (e.g. in this case it is impeller
size but could be impeller rotation speed or HP). Several lines are drawn for changing impeller
size (e.g. 9.5, 10.25, 11 etc.). To construct your iso-efficiency curves you should plot head vs.
flow rate for different pump speeds (as opposed to different impeller sizes) on the same plot.
Each pump speed gets its own line. The efficiencies are written at different points on the curves
for different flow rates. Next lines are sketched joining the points of equal efficiencies, resulting
in lines of constant efficiency or iso-efficiency curves. Note that since you only have discrete
points, you may have to interpolate as to approximately where the iso-efficiency curves fall
along your graph. For the purposes of this lab, numerical interpolation is not necessary. You may
interpolate by eye. Iso-efficiency curve can be made by hand and a scanned copy can be
attached to the report.

Figure 3. Example of a pump performance curve.

Similarity Analysis of Specific Speed

Specific speed originates from a non-dimensional analysis and characterizes the type of
impeller in a unique and coherent manner. The specific speed values of pump heads are
independent of pump size and can be useful for comparing different pump designs, for example
radial, impeller, etc. The equation for the specific speed can be obtained by identifying the
dimensionless groups using the Buckingham Pi theory. This theorem provides a method for
generating sets of dimensionless parameters from physical variables involved in a process.
However, note that the choice of a set of dimensionless parameters is not unique (for more
information please refer to your MAE 240/340 textbook). A set of parameters is given as:

1 =

2 =

3 =

Q
ND 3
gH

N 2D 2
SHP

(7a)

(7b)

(7c)

N 3 D 5

where N is the rotational speed of the pump and D is the impeller diameter (note that the impeller
in this lab is 6.5 inches in diameter). Eliminating D between 1 and 2, another dimensionless
group 4 can be obtained as,

N Q

4 =
g

4H

(7d)

Since g does not very much from pump to pump (only location), it can be removed from the
group and the resulting expression is called the specific speed Ns of the pump given as,

NS =

N Q
H

(8)

Note that, now the expression Ns has a dimension since we removed the gravity term. So, it can
be expressed in many units. One common practice is to take Q in gpm, N in rpm and H in ft. This
the type of pump. For more on this, refer to Centrifugal
number is very important to determine
nd
Pumps by Johann Glich (i.e. 3 book in suggested reading).
Pump Laws
By rearranging 1, 2 and 3, we can write,

Q1 N1 = Q2 N 2

SHP1 N = SHP2 N 23
H1

N12
3
1

= H2

N 22

(9a)
(9b)
(9c)

These equations relate the head

H1 produced at one pump RPM condition, N1, to a second
condition (i.e. H2 and N2). These relations are useful because if you know the discharge flow rate,
head and power at one speed (condition 1), the quantities can be calculated at another (condition
2). The second condition should not exceed a 25% change of condition 1.