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Abstract. Check valve in a pipeline is supposed to prevent the reverse flow and to allow the flow in the positive direction. The construction of check valves follows these requirements, but the check valve must not cause pressure pulsations in transients. It means when the fluid is accelerating or decelerating. The article describes an experimental investigation of a swing check valve when the flow is changing its direction. The check valve was placed in an experimental circuit, where the pressure on the upstream and downstream side of the valve was measured and the current value of flow rate was determined. The goal was to simulate conditions in the real system, where the check valve slam had been observed.

Abstract. 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-Wendroff 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.

Cavitation is a phenomenon with both positive and negative effects and with dynamic manifestations in hydraulic, food, chemical and other machinery. This article deals with the detection and dynamic behavior of cavitation clouds in water flows through a rectangular cross-section convergent-divergent nozzle. Cavitation was measured by methods applicable in engineering practice. Pressure, flow rate, noise, vibration, and amount of air dissolved in the liquid were measured and cavitation region was recorded with a high-speed camera. Evaluation of acquired images in connection with measured pressure pulsations and mechanical vibrations was performed with the use of the FFT method. In certain cases, dimensionless parameters were used to generalize the measurements. The results will be used to specify multiphase mathematical cavitation model parameters.

A pumping station in a fuel storage suffered from pressure pulsations in a petrodiesel pipeline. Check valves protecting the station against back flow made a big noise when disc hit a seat. Due to employees complaints we were asked to solve the problem, which could lead to serious mechanical problems. Pressure measurement in the pipeline showed great pulsations, which were caused by self-excited oscillation of control valves at the downstream end of pipeline. The operating measurement did not catch it because of too low sampling frequency. One dimensional numerical model of the whole hydraulic system was carried out. The model consisted of check valve, pipeline and control valve, which could oscillate, so it was possible to simulate the unsteady flow. When the model was validated, a vessel with nitrogen was added to attenuate pressure pulsations. According to the results of numerical simulation, the vessel was installed on the location. Subsequent measurement proved noticeably lower pulsations and almost no noise.