Experimental study of a Gate Valve for Improvement in its

Hydraulic Efficiency

Sneha R1, Soujanya T H1, Sowmya M1, Yash Jain1

Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram2
1
Student, Under graduate Civil Engineering, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Shavige
Malleshwara Hills, Kumarswamy Layout, Bangalore 560078, Karnataka, India
2
Professor & Head of Department of Civil Engineering, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Shavige
Malleshwara Hills, Kumarswamy Layout, Bangalore 560078, Karnataka, India. Email: naghydro@gmail.com

Abstract
The principle types of valves are classified based on operation of the movable valve element. In conventional
gate valve, the valve element descends perpendicularly across the flow stream as the valve is closed. The
resistance of various types of valves depends upon valve geometry, surface resistance of valve material,
position of valve element, direction of flow and Reynolds number. The main pressure drop is obtained when
valve is in fully opened position and the resistance of the valve will increase as the valve is closed.

The loss co-efficient (KL) for 12.7mm, 19.05mm and 25.4mm Gate valves are studied experimentally in
hydraulics laboratory for partial openings and values are compared with the value at full valve opening. The
research paper is aimed to understand the hydraulic performance of the gate valves normally used in the
hydraulics laboratory. The hydraulic characteristics are studied with various percentages of openings;
corresponding pressure drops are obtained for various flow rates and compared with theoretical values.

The detailed experimentations have clearly shown that there is a significant change in the resistance of valves
at partial openings that need to be optimized with improved valve design by changing the flow passage near
valves and decreasing the roughness of valve material. Data is collected for hydraulic performance of gate
valves at various line pressures and Reynolds value. The Reynolds number varied in the range 15000 to 107.
The loss co-efficient calculated for various openings of the gate valves show a drastic decrease in the value of
“KL” when the valve opening is increased below 45% otherwise the loss co-efficient nearly remains the same
till the full opening. The valve losses in valves are mainly attributed to the turbulence, line pressure and size
of the pipe.

Key Words: Valves, Angle, Partial openings, Loss coefficient, Pipe, Reynold’s Number, Pressure, Turbulence.

Corresponding Author: Dr. Nagaraj Sitaram

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Recently, the industry fields have been using
variety of the control valves for effective control of
a flow rate. Valve is a fluid device for the control
of the fluid characteristics such as flow rate,
direction, pressure and temperature. It basically
performs four functions such as on-off, throttling,
non-return and overpressure. In general, a variety
of control valves such as the butterfly valve, the
ball valve, the globe valve and the gate valve are
used.
A gate valve, also known as a sluice valve, is
a valve that opens by lifting a round or rectangular
gate/wedge out of the path of the fluid. The distinct
feature of a gate valve is the sealing surfaces
between the gate and seats are planar. The gate
valves are often used when a straight-line flow of
fluid and minimum restriction is desired. The gate
faces can form a wedge shape or they can be
parallel. Because of their ability to cut through
liquids, gate valves are often used in the petroleum
industry.
On opening the gate valve, the flow path is
enlarged in a highly nonlinear manner with respect
to per cent of opening. This means that flow rate
does not change evenly with stem travel. Also, a
partially open gate disk tends to vibrate from the
fluid flow. Most of the flow change occurs near
shutoff with a relatively high fluid velocity causing
disk and seat wear and eventual leakage if used to
regulate flow. Typical gate valves are designed to
be fully opened or closed. When fully open, the
typical gate valve has no obstruction in the flow
path, resulting in very low friction loss.
Gate valves (Fig.1) are operated entirely by the
obstruction of circular area operated by a movable
valve element. The Gate valve utilizes a flap/disc
of same diameter as bore of the pipe, which angles
down to obstruct the flow. Any reverse in the flow
due to the obstruction will cause it to slam against
the seat and stop the flow going back. In general,
the minimum pressure drop is obtained in the valve
design which allows the flow to pass unobstructed
when the valve is in fully open position. There is a
significant uncertainty in the resistance of valves
because of wide variety of valve design, lack of
geometrical similarity within various sizes and
paucity of data which taken into account the
downstream influence of the valve.
Fig. 1 A Typical Gate Valve
2.0 THEORY
Head losses, in addition to those due to straight
pipe friction, are always incurred at pipe bends,
junctions, contractions, expansions and valves.
These additional losses are due to eddy formation
generated in the fluid at the fitting. In the case of
long pipelines of several kilometres, these local
losses may be negligible, but for short pipelines
they may be greater than the straight pipe frictional
losses (Chadwick & Morfett, 1993). A general
theoretical treatment for local head losses is not
available, but it is usual to assume rough turbulence
(where the friction factor is independent of the
Reynolds number) since it leads to a simple
equation (Chadwick & Morfett, 1993).
2.1 Valve loss co-efficient
Flow through valves is very complex, and a
theoretical analysis is generally not plausible.
However, this loss called the Valve loss coefficient
(KL) is determined experimentally and expressed as
another representation of relation between pressure
difference, fluid density and fluid average velocity.
The prediction of losses in pipe fittings is either
based on (King, 2002):
The resistance of a valve will increase as the valve
is closed. The valve resistance cited in the Standard
Tables (Blevins 1977) are considered accurate with
±15%when applied to a particular design and errors
of twice this magnitude may occur. The resistance
of a partially closed Gate valve is a function of
position of valve element and size of the valve.
Earlier experimental data (Miller DS, BHRA –
1976) indicate that the flow resistance decreases
with increase in the valve diameter.
The Gate valves (Fig.2) are normally used in the
hydraulics laboratory to control the flow rate in
pipes and pumping systems. A predetermined
partial opening of the valve is required for control
purposes, in order to have good control
characteristics of the Gate valve. The objective of
the experiment is to understand static performance
of existing gate valves in the laboratory and suggest
improvement for their hydraulic performance.
Fig. 2 Cross-sectional Opening of Gate Valves
a. The fitting will contribute to the energy
dissipation an amount equivalent to an additional
length of pipe that is calculated as a multiple of the
pipe diameter.
b. The kinetic energy is dissipated as the fluid
flows through the fitting and the loss is calculated
in terms of the number of velocity heads that are
lost. Here, the losses in pipe fittings will be
expressed as the number of velocity heads lost. On
dimensional grounds, the head loss in a fitting will
depend upon the fluid velocity, fluid properties and
the geometry of the fitting as follows (Edwards et
al., 1985): This can be expressed as a function of
the velocity energy head given by
𝑣2
ℎ𝐿 = 𝐾𝐿 Eq.1
2𝑔
Where “hL” is the head loss and KL is the valve loss
coefficient.
The loss coefficient, KL, is computed by
(Miller, 1978).
∆𝑃
𝐾𝐿 = 1 2 Eq.2
2
𝜌𝑉
2.2 Reynolds Number
In fluid mechanics, the Reynolds number (Re) is
a dimensionless quantity that is used to help predict
similar flow patterns in different fluid flow
situations. The Reynolds number is defined as
the ratio of momentum forces to viscous forces and
consequently quantifies the relative importance of
these two types of forces for given flow
conditions. Reynolds numbers frequently arise
when performing scaling of fluid dynamics
problems, and as such can be used to
determine dynamic similitude between two
different cases of fluid flow. They are also used to
characterize different flow regimes within a similar
fluid, such as laminar and turbulent flow:
 Laminar flow occurs at low Reynolds
numbers, where viscous forces are dominant,
and is characterized by smooth, constant fluid
motion;
 Turbulent flow occurs at high Reynolds
numbers (Re > 4000) and is dominated by
inertial forces, which tend to produce more
loss of head due to chaotic eddies, vortices and
other flow instabilities.
Fig.3 Experimental Set-up for Gate Valve Testing
3.2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
The temperature of water is recorded at the
beginning and end of each set of experiments. A
total of 3- sizes (25.4mm, 19.05mm and 12.7mm)
are tested at various flow rates and line pressures.
Water is allowed to pass through the experimental
setup as shown above (Fig.3) for full valve opening
and at various partial opening of gate valve
positions and their corresponding pressure
difference across the valve and discharge values are
 VD 
Re   
  
Eq.3
𝑉×𝐷
𝑅𝑒 =
0.00903
Where V= flow velocity in cm/s; D=diameter of the
pipe in cm
3.0 EXPERIMENTATION
3.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental study is planned at the
Hydraulics Laboratory, Daynanada Sagar College
of Engineering, Bangalore. A pump of 1.5 HP with
a recirculating arrangement is installed with a
127mm manifold at the entry of the pipe. The pipe
lines of 12.7mm, 19.05mm and 25.4mm diameter,
made of Galvanized Iron are connected with a flow
meter, pressure gauges and control valve as shown
in the schematic diagram below (Fig. 3)
noted down to calculate the Valve loss co-efficient
(KL). The Reynolds Number based on the diameter
and mean velocity of flow is obtained for all the
readings (Table-1).
The temperatures of water at the beginning and at
the end of the experiment are noted to obtain the
average value of temperature and the corresponding
value of kinematic viscosity is noted.
3.3 DATA COLLECTION: The experiments are The pipeline pressure varied between 1.8 Kg/cm2 to
conducted at Hydraulics laboratory of Dayananda 2.1 Kg/cm2. The temperature of water varied from
Sagar College of Engineering Bangalore and data 24C to 28C due to re-circulation of water.
for head loss is collected for 3-sizes of gate valves.

Table-1 PRESSURE LOSS COEFFICIENTS FOR GATE VALVES

PIPE Dia. = 19.05mm PIPE Dia. = 19.05mm

PIPE Dia. = 12.7mm PIPE Dia. = 25.4mm
(Arrangement-1) (Arrangement-2)
Q Q Q Q
KL Re KL Re KL Re KL Re
(cm3/s) (cm3/s) (cm3/s) (cm3/s)
259.74 0.8039 28832 277.77 0.479 20562 296.3 0.458 21931 193.69 1.009 16303

309.6 0.6712 34366 380.95 0.211 28199 340.43 0.303 25197 250.5 0.6126 18850

353.36 0.4145 39224 503.77 0.078 37291 400 0.188 29607 289.11 0.3974 21600

414.94 0.3725 46059 609.75 0.051 45135 413.8 0.117 30633 330.86 0.3192 22475

448.43 0.2501 49777 694.44 0.027 51404 479.99 0.087 35527 401.51 0.193 25006

495.05 0.1436 54942 763.35 0.011 56506 500 0.08 37008 434.85 0.1094 27146

510.2 0.1298 56634 793.6 0.004 58748 459.59 0.0581 28838

491.7 0.003 30586

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The collected data is analysed based on the
pressure loss co-efficient, flow rate and Reynolds
Number. The variations of KL with discharge show
the effect of diameter. The data clearly shows that
KL value increases at a higher rate for higher
diameter. It also shows that the resistance offered
by the Gate Valve at full opening is least for higher
diameter which is expected. The experimental
results clearly indicate the Gate Valve geometry is
complex and care should be taken to streamline its
geometry during the partial openings. Phenomenon
of cavitation should be avoided behind the Gate
Valves during partial closures as it will induce
noise, vibration and material loss. The student
should be advised to take readings between 65%-
100% opening of the Gate Valves.

Variation of Pressure Loss Coefficient Variation of Pressure Loss Coefficient

with Discharge for 12.7mm PIPE with Discharge for 19.05mm PIPE
1.2 1.2
1 1
0.8 0.8
KL 0.6 KL 0.6
0.4 0.4
0.2 0.2
0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Q(cm3/s)
Q (cm3/s)
 Variation of Gate Valve KL with Variation of Gate Valve KL with
1.5 Discharge for 25.4mm Pipe Discharge
1.5
12.7mm
1 1 19.05mm
KL KL 25.4mm
0.5 0.5

0 0
0 200 400 600 800 0 200 400 600 800 1000
Q (cm3/s) Q (cm3/s)

Fig 4: Variation of Pressure Loss Coefficient with Discharge

Variation of Pressure Loss Coefficient with

Reynolds Number
1.2
Pressure loss coefficient (KL)

12.7mm
1
19.05mm
0.8 25.4mm

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000
Reynolds Number (Re)

Fig 5: Variation of Pressure Loss Coefficient with Reynolds Number

5.0 CONCLUSION

i. The characteristics of Gate Valves are v. The hydraulic characteristics of

understood in the laboratory 12.7mm valve (Fig 5) clearly
conditions. illustrates that it should not be used in
ii. The Valve loss co-efficient (KL) is the laboratory due to higher value of
obtained for various flow rates and loss coefficient.
Reynolds Number and the critical vi. Suggestions are made to obtain the
Reynolds Number value is suggested least resistance at various positions of
for the laboratory. disc to encounter the minimum flow
iii. The importance of non-linearity of resistance based on the size of the
Gate valve characteristics is obtained Gate valve.
through experiments for 3-sizes of vii. The range of percentage opening of
Gate valves at various flow rates. the full valve is suggested for
iv. It is suggested to perform hydraulic hydraulic experiment in the laboratory
experiments preferably with Reynolds for a given size of Gate Valve.
Number 25000 and more for viii. The phenomenon of flow discharge
19.05mm and 25.4mm diameter behind the Gate valve body is well
valves.
 understood with the experimental
data.

References: IV. “Flow of Fluids Through Valves, Fittings,

and Pipes”, Technical Paper 410, Crane
I. Miller, D.S., Internal Flow Systems, Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1969.
BHRA Fluid Engineering, Cranfield, V. API 594-1997 “Check Valves: Wafer,
England, 1978 Wafer lug and double flanged type”.
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in Valves and Pipes of One Half to Hydro Power, VDI- Verlag GmbH, 1985
Twelve Inches Diameter”, University of VII. Winn, W.P. and Johnson, D.E., Cavitation
Wisconsin Engineering Experimental Parameters for Outlet Valves, Proc.
Station, Bulletin of the University of A.S.C.E., J. Hydraul. Div., 96, HY12,
Wisconsin, Engineering Series, Vol.9, pp.2519-2533, 1970
No.1, 1922 VIII. Thllis, J.P. and Ball, J.W., Cavitation Data
III. Idel’chik, I.E., Handbook of Hydraulic for Valves and its Application, Conf. on
Resistance, U.S Department of Cavitation, Heriot-Watt Univ., Edinburgh,
Commerce, National Technical Inst. Mech. Eng., paper C153/74, pp. 55-
Information Service, Report AEC- TR- 63, 1974
6630, 1960

Authors:

1. Sneha R
Ph.: 8147561769; E-mail id: sneharajendra26@gmail.com
2. Soujanya T.H
Ph.: 9916162011; E-mail id: soujanyagowda.94@gmail.com
3. Soumya M
Ph.: 9342315740; E-mail id: soumyasprings24@gmail.com
4. Yash Jain
Ph.: 9620862636; E-mail id: yashsethijain23@gmail.com