PIPE-FLO decided to introduce a new thread to the “Ask an Engineer” series: Piping System Brain Teasers! We’d like to test your understanding of piping systems and challenge the way you think about them. As engineers, we constantly apply our experiences and what we’ve learned to how we view piping systems, but once in a while we’re presented with a problem that challenges our way of thinking about fluid flow in piping systems.
For example, the calculation for static head in a system may be easily done, but there are some nuances that can make you ponder what you really understand about it. From a pump’s perspective, static head is the amount of energy that it has to add to the fluid to overcome the difference in elevation head and pressure head between the source of fluid and the end users the pump is delivering the fluid to.
So let’s test your understanding of static head with the following systems. All tanks in the systems are open to atmosphere, so there is no pressure component to the static head, just static head due to elevation changes. Match these potential answers to the each system (answers can be used more than once):
A: 87 ft B: 90 ft C: 95 ft D: 100 ft E: 105 ft F: 120 ft
System 1: _______________
System 2: _______________
System 3: _______________
System 4: _______________
System 5: _______________
