Paper 2: The Velocity of Water Hammer Waves
Sudden flow changes in a pipeline cause water hammer waves to be transmitted up the pipe. The magnitude of these pressure waves is directly proportioned to the acoustic velocity. The value of the acoustic velocity depends on the bulk modulus or compressibility of the liquid. It is thus affected by pressure, temperature and gas content of the liquid, as well as by the elasticity of the pipe. For water, considerable data are available on the variation of acoustic velocity with temperature and pressure. These are summarized and it is shown that, whereas temperature causes changes of the order of 1 per cent per 5 degC, the variation due to pressure is negligible except at very high pressures. The presence of free gas causes a considerable increase in compressibility, and it is shown that even as little as 1 part of air in 104 parts of water by volume causes a 50 per cent reduction in acoustic velocity. The damping of the pressure waves, which has an overall beneficial effect, is also greatly increased by the presence of free gas, and data are given on these effects. Solids in liquid have a similar but less drastic influence. Experimental results are given of some tests on two sewage pumping stations in which good agreement was obtained between theory and experiment. The elasticity of the pipe also affects the acoustic velocity and a summary is given of the data available for steel, concrete, and rock-lined tunnels, with different types of pipe fixing.