Turbulent flow at suction pipe

[ccc123]

To prevent the chipped off cement lining pieces that come from the water pipeline from entering the suction pipes of booster pumps and causing damage to pumps, it is recommended to install SS screens at the inlet of the horizontal booster pumps suction pipes inside the water tank, I need to know if screens may cause turbulent flow at the suction pipe of the pumps before we will run the system ?

 

[Yorkman]

A lot of that will depend on the size of the grid. I would be more concerned will debris blocking the the screen and causing the pumps N.P.S.H. dropping below an accepable level and causing the pump to cavitate.
Accesablity to these screens if or when they require cleaning would be a large concern to me.

I'm not a real engineer, but I play one on T.V.
A.J. Gest, York Int.

 

[Yorkman]

You know the more i think of it, are you drawing from an open tank? My main concern would be debris blocking the inlet to the tank,and if the water level drops you're not getting enough water to the suction line. At that point you would starve the pump, and air bind the system, the damage to the impellar over the long term, would be the same.

I'm not a real engineer, but I play one on T.V.
A.J. Gest, York Int.

 

[25362]

Let's remember that a strainer doing a good job will plug up. It would require cleaning when the collection of debris will increase the suction velocity to such levels that pumps' operation suffers. There are self-cleaning suction strainers in the market, look for them on the net (google).

See what this link says about strainers upstream flow meters:

http://www.sensus.com/pdf/tm002.pdf

 

[Artisi]

Why don't you simply re-position the pump inlet so that cement chips cannot be entrained in the inlet flow, this might entail lifting the inlet pipes away from the bottom of the tank or fitting an upward facing inlet.
You can also think about increasing the outlet diameter from the tank to lower the velocity so that the solids are not entrained in the flow, or installing a large surface area strainer in the tank, this lowers the velocities at the strainer with less likelyhood of foreign material being carried to the screen.

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand