The “Best Paper” award from the 2017 Hydrotransport Conference was presented to several experts at GIW Industries Inc., including Robert Visintainer, John Furlan, and George McCall II, who co-wrote an extensive research paper titled, “Comprehensive loop testing of a broadly graded (4-component) slurry,” along with input from long-time GIW collaborators and slurry course instructors Anders Sellgren of the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden and Václav Matoušek of the Czech Technical University in Prague.
The research was developed to validate and enhance the four-component model for settling slurry pipeline friction losses, which was originally developed by A. Sellgren and K.C. Wilson. The findings outlined in their paper enables people to more accurately predict slurry pipeline friction loss, pump spacing, and motor sizing, providing knowledge that should support more efficient power usage and slurry transport.
“With this model, we can better predict friction losses as a function of pipe velocity, pipe diameter, and slurry properties,” explains John Furlan, GIW Senior Hydraulic Engineer. “It allows you to space the pumps appropriately and know how many pumps you need, what types of pumps you need, and how much power to supply to the pumps.” This will be especially beneficial for pump engineers, owners and operators in the mining industry who can rely on the results of this study to select the best pumps and position them for efficient operation in their mining-specific applications.
