PUMPS/RELIABILITY NPSHA—how much is enough? Follow these guidelines to avoid pump damage T. HENSHAW, Consulting Engineer, Magnolia, Texas pump characteristic than net positive suction head (INPSH). ‘Many pump installations are plagued by cavitation problems, With centrifugal pumps, excessive cavitation causes reduction in head and efficiency, but less cavitation can cause increased ‘mechanical problems that range from an eroded impeller to shore life of seals and bearings. Industry standards! call for NPSH requirements to be based, on. cool-water (one-stage) pump head drop of 396. So, by defini- tion, ifthe net postive suction head available (NPSHA ) is equal to the net positive suction head required (.NPSHR), pump head will be reduced (3% if pumping cool water—less if pumping hot water ora hydrocarbon), Since chat 3% standard was established, we've learned more about NPSH, and, a result, a number of authorities hav ommended that users provide a margin over the NPSHRs, that ‘ypicaly ranges up to 150% (a multiplier of 2.5 times the tested NPSHR;) Annumber of technical papers 6 though, have shown that the maximam damage rate, at lease in water services, typically ‘occurs when the IVPSEIA is in the range of cwo to three times the 'NPSHRs, Therefore, although providing additional NPSHA will increase pump head and efficiency, ic wil also push the NPSHA toward, or into, the range where maximum erosion rate occurs to the impeller. Providing such & margin may revul in increased damage to pump components Te appears that these recommended margins are insufficient for many applications ‘The guidelines chat seem most reasonable are offered by Vlam- ing.” He concluded, from field observations, that to obtain a 40,000-r (Give) life oF a properly designed stainless steel impel- Jer pumping cool water, the NPSHA should be a minimum ofthat calculated with the following equation: & uy |we wan, -isfom (al PE o | know of no more important, and yet more misunderstood, jae This equation applies only to the capacity (owrate) that results in nonprerotating, shockless entry of the pumpage into che ‘impeller vanes.* This capacity s normally about 20% higher than the best-efficiency capacity, but can be even higher ‘Eq, 1 can be rewriteen in terms of Uj and By as *vonng poi ast ta xr NPS pci shove dco be ‘Meprn shais pay whch sent bt DSH Ng bert capes (theron tdi specie speed vs ipelr eye peripheral aloty io hb eye darter ae.0/0, 0 40,000 he impeller life (Viring)| 4 1), 2502p, +028+( 1] | 2g cos*B, ee 00 Converting to suction specific speed results in: Sox ep SE ® tanp,] 5 , 028+( 25) sin’ B, Eq, 3 is plotted in Fig. 1 for Dy = 0 and B, = 17° (which is the angle for which Sjoyis maximum). Vlaming stated that his experience did nor exceed aU, of 220 fsec 50 the Sy ales above 220 félsec must be recognized as extrapolated. This author's work? supported by Yedidiah,"” has demon- strated that, based on the 3% head drop, the approximate suction specific speed calculated at Qj varies with Ui as follows: HrOROCARSON FROcESSNG OCTOBER 2008|75PUMPS/RELIABILITY s,=cuy™ @ Gongwer's work"? allowed this euthor to determine that Ss reaches its peak value when By = 10°, With By = 10°, Eq. 4 becomes Sy, =2,52009 © Eq, 5is also plotted in Fig. 1 ‘Note thar che 396 head drop curve is based on Quy and Bi 10° and the 40,000-he curve is based on Qypand By = 17°, so the ‘wo curves are not directly comparable. Bus che figuee provides « general comparison and emphasizes the diversion of S values as U, increases. Conditions that apply to the 40,000-hr curve are: 1, Cool water 2. Scainless steel impeller 3. Impeller vanes properly ewisted and tapered (for plain vanes, Sis lower) 4.8; 5. Nonpreroration shocklessentry capacity 6. No hub, shaft or fastener blocking parc of the eye. Ifthe eye is partially blocked by a hub, shaft or fastener, multiply $ from the figure by: NOMENCLATURE Br Angle ofthe inler edge of te impeller vane athe poine where the vane joins the fon shroud, measured in plane angen 0 ‘he shroud sustace, degrees bop Reatelliiency-point—The capaci (owrateat which pump efficiengy ata maximum 4, Byearea The atl sea jase upszeam of the impeller vanes, ink wtb? De) Gar Metidooa componens ofthe liquid wlocay jureupeeam of the imple vanes, Fee 0.321 QM, Dy Diameter ofthe crcl prescribed by the inlecege of che impeller vane, athe pone where te vane joins the one shroud (pial his is equal eo che diameter ofthe impale oon. Dy Diamcserafimpelec aby shaft Bane in the plane defined by te oe point fthe eng ge ofthe rp vane i £_Aeclencon of rain 32.2 fuse? INPSH Suan ere ins vapor prt the usp inlet noe ‘withthe pum ring ~ Hay LNPSHA NSH sible fom thee. [NPSHR NPSH qed by the pump, & [NPSEi, _ NPSH2lbeco she pup coincides wih 3% pump had lose NPSHige As defined by Veming” the NPSH required bya pump witha ‘snl sel impel: pumping cool war abn an impeller fe of 0,00 he Fy —— Meridona veloccy hough dhe imple eye required obtains Fight wingle with Uj and 7, es UyanB 2 Capacity owes), US alin (gm) iy Par epacty owrar) when pump eceny iti peak, fom Capac wrt) through each pelle ye, gpm 176| OCTOBER 2004 HYOROCARGON PROCESSING Gur Capi Bows) chough exch neler, when Om = Ps {no prerotation, shockless entry), gpm; 3.12 PA, s ‘Suction specific speed, (pm-gpm-f); N Qe>SINPSH®7S Sig Setin sei pnd xine erbep por gpmefD Sin Sesion specie aie st Qn paps Nog NPS Ss Soctin sei pend wit cviaron alee roses 396 Ie up head parapet) Qe /NSER® Sam Approve uence speed with cavacon uienco LECT af ung es y= MF pga) Saxe Sain spec ped eed oon 0,000. Endy Vang tpmegpne tO QMS 1, Reiger oc teint ee ofthe impeller nese pot witha foarte fon sear lice Da29 1; Liquid veloc rine to temple ju pan fhe inpeller vane, 5c LITERATURE CITED * Kylie Inte Stender, BydeaulicInsuce, 9 Sylvan Way, Site 360, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054-2802. ° Canofgl Pane for Generel Kener Sersice, API Standard 610, Areva Pexoleun Insitute, 1220 L Sueec NW, Washington, DC 20005, 2 Deepose, WM. and P J. MeNaly, “Cavitation Noise in Pumps,” Proc 4h Confrence of Pid Machinery Hungarian Academy of Senet, Bulaper, 1972 * Gait "Noe Tosve Suction Head Reqiemens for AvidanceofUnacrpable (Cavason Boson in Cenuifgal Pumps Paper No, C163/74, 1974 » Deeprose, WM, King, N.W, FJ MaNuly and 1A. Pearl, “Cavition Noite, Flow Noite and Erion,” National Engineering, Laborstons Deparment of Industry Eas Kilbride, Glasgow 1974, Raw, RR, “TheotetialPrdicion of NPSHR fr Caisaion ree Operation ‘of Censfigal Pumps Usied Cena Purpe, cies 1982. 7 Viaming, D. "Anais of Cavtasion Provides Adranced NPSH Exizates {or Cenuifugal Pumps,” Oil & Ges fun, Nov. 18,1986 " Scapanoff, A, Cen and Axil How Pumps, Jan Wiley 8 Sons, Ine, 1948, Henshaw, T. Ly Advanced NPSH Worksop, PsmpUsess EXPO 99, Nashville Tennese, September 1999. edi, S, “Factor Punp Ste inte NPSH Compusons," Powe June 1973 " Gongwes, CAs "A. Theory of Caving Flow in. Cena Pump Impellers” ASME Hydraulic Div. Semi-Anaual Meeting, Miwauke, “Waconsin, Jane 1940, Terry Henshaw consulting engine He designs certsfuge and ecrocatng pups and rated high-pressure equipment, enclts for companies that bul and we pumps nd conduct ‘seinen pur. ot 30 yews, Me Henshaw was employed by IngeslRand and Union Purp in Hew York Houston and etl Cres, MICIgan, Seningin the pastons of sls engieer, manage ofthe recreating pump dion and manager of research and dewdopment. Ha sed In vatous postions of the Hydraulic inst, ncludng caiman of te Recorocatg Pump Secon, chlman of the Meteo Subcom, ards a meebo acu grerl and caetgal mp subcemmitees. hr. Hershaw a sed a a rember of ANS! Subcommite 1.732, when not the standard en nine ctl pumas channan of the {167 manufacturers aucommste, which wrote the standard on recprocatng pumps and asa member o the ASME Performance Test Code Commitee PTC 7.2 eas authored book onreprocing pumps, several magezne artes on pumps and ster, and the section on dislacement pumpsin te 1th edition of Mars Handbock. tr. Henshaw nas been anardedsk patents, Hels lensed pofesion@! engiear in Texas ana vichigan is fe elo of ASME, and hols enginerng degrees rm ice Univesity ae the Univesity of Houston,