Gravity Flow through Side Exit Pipe
Gravity Flow through Side Exit Pipe
(OP)
Greetings,
I am working with a cooling tower where the water outlet from the collection basin is a horizontal-side exit 14 inch pipe. I am trying to get a handle on the flow rate through the exit as a function of the height of water filling the pipe. The exit system is based on gravity flow. After the exit, there is a 7 inch section of straight horizontal pipe followed by a 90 degree elbow straight down into a cooling water supply pit. The pipe essentially behaves like an outlet weir. Does anyone know of a reference where I can find some flow calculation methods for this scenario?
Thanks in advance,
JoeChem
I am working with a cooling tower where the water outlet from the collection basin is a horizontal-side exit 14 inch pipe. I am trying to get a handle on the flow rate through the exit as a function of the height of water filling the pipe. The exit system is based on gravity flow. After the exit, there is a 7 inch section of straight horizontal pipe followed by a 90 degree elbow straight down into a cooling water supply pit. The pipe essentially behaves like an outlet weir. Does anyone know of a reference where I can find some flow calculation methods for this scenario?
Thanks in advance,
JoeChem





RE: Gravity Flow through Side Exit Pipe
In the past when I have needed rough heights I have approximated the pipe area with a trapezoidal weir. If you only need a +/- 20% answer this is good enough. If you have only 7" of straight pipe before the down leg this approach should work. It depends on how accurate you want to be.
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