Slurry pumping downhill

[JohnWeal]

I have a pump which transfers grout through a 40mm sch40s stainless steel pipe downhill. The drop in elevation is 9.6m from the pump discharge to the outlet. (there are some horizontal sections also but the trend is mainly downwards as the overall length of the pipe is 12.5m

From the calculations I have done, the velocity or flowrate wants to discharge faster than the pump even given that the slurry is viscous / laminar flow.

The Fluid is a cement grout with a density of 1773 kg/m3 and viscosity of 122.5 cP

My fear is that because it is a grout, no restrictions can be put in the pipeline except for either reducing the pipe diameter or adding more bends.

Any advice appreciated.

Regards
John

 

[LittleInch]

You could always increase flow until you achieve a pressure drop greater than your vertical drop.

Bends in any slurry are always very vulnerable to erosion so I wouldn't go for that myself.

I can't see your system, but have you thought about PE pipe and bend the pipe instead of using steel?

It does prompt the question as to what you need the pump for - can't gravity do it?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[JohnWeal]

Thanks BigInch.

Agree with your comments. We are looking at a flexible pipe with very smooth bore. This of course will reduce the resistance making it more difficult to control / run away from the pump.

Will look at reducing the pipe to 1" from 1.5" and re-run the calc.

Regards
John

 

[LittleInch]

BigInch???

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[bimr]

As LittleInch suggested, your best option is to use a hose instead of a pipe. One would not expect that the flow conditions may be successfully calculated without knowing the details and properties of the pumped fluid. Even with that information, there will be some parameters that will be developed empirically.

You may desire to contact Chemgrout, a company with experience in this field in a number of industries. They may be of assistance in sizing of the hoses as this is one of the products that they sell.

http://www.chemgrout.com/products-by-industry/heavy-construction

I noticed your post in another forum and this post involved radioactive waste encapsulation. One question is, are you using any aggregate in the cement? Some time ago, an application came up where we used a stationary concrete mixing drum to mix radioactive waste and concrete for encapsulation. This is the same type of mixing drum that is commonly used on concrete trucks. Are you planning to mix the radioactive waste and grout?

 

[JohnWeal]

Many thanks for the replies everyone.

Apologies littleInch recently spoke to 'biginch' on another thread.