Numerical simulation of water hammer in low pressurized pipe: comparison of SimHydraulics and Lax-Wendroff method with experiment

• Main Author: Himr D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2013-04-01
• Series: EPJ Web of Conferences
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20134501037

Article describes simulation of unsteady flow during water hammer with two programs, which use different numerical approaches to solve ordinary one dimensional differential equations describing the dynamics of hydraulic elements and pipes. First one is Matlab-Simulink-SimHydraulics, which is a commercial software developed to solve the dynamics of general hydraulic systems. It defines them with block elements. The other software is called HYDRA and it is based on the Lax-Wendrff numerical method, which serves as a tool to solve the momentum and continuity equations. This program was developed in Matlab by Brno University of Technology. Experimental measurements were performed on a simple test rig, which consists of an elastic pipe with strong damping connecting two reservoirs. Water hammer is induced with fast closing the valve. Physical properties of liquid and pipe elasticity parameters were considered in both simulations, which are in very good agreement and differences in comparison with experimental data are minimal.