Experimental Investigation of the Dynamics of Laboratory Simple Surge Tank

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  Saib A. Yousif   |      Ali Nasir Kalaf   |   

The surge tank is one of important control devices in reducing water Hummer effect on distributed network piping system and hydropower stations. An experimental study was conducted into a simple surge tank of 0.044 m in a diameter with upstream constant head reservoir of a height, 0.881 m and a water transporting pipe of a size 0.0202 m. Results indicate that rapid closure of a downstream valve causes under-damped stable oscillation in a surge tank. Experimental response agreed well with theoretical results when friction factor is considered to be variable, but with 85 % increases in settle time and more oscillations when constant friction factor is recognized at initial value before valve closure. Doubling surge tank area does not improve the dynamics properties; otherwise, Thoma area must be avoided for small sizes. Comsol multiphysics software 3.5 is used to deal with the dynamics of the surge tank numerically.