Question

A farmer wants to pump water from a river to a very big open storage tank nearby using a 55-m long, 16-cm diameter plastic pipe with 5 threaded 90° regular bends, 5 threaded 45° regular bends, and one fully open gate valve. The water velocity near the river surface is 2.7 m/s and the pipe's inlet is placed in the river normal to the direction of water flow to take advantage of this water speed. The elevation difference between the river and the free surface of the tank is 8.0 m. For the flow conditions inside the pipe, the friction coefficient may be assumed constant at 0.015. The farmer will use a pump with a curve represented by:

h = 23 - 0.84 Q²                where h is in meters and Q in gal/min.

Calculate the volumetric flow rate at which the water is transferred to the tank at these conditions.

Answer 1