Water Hammer Analysis by use of Superposition Principle

Very strong pressure pulses or surges, also referred to as water hammer; often occur in fluid-conducting pipes. A water hammer event or hydraulic transient results when the velocity of flow changes in a pipeline that can cause extreme damage and burst in pipes. So it is important to analyse water hammer phenomenon accurately in pipelines. In many cases the main liquid transmission line conducts the fluid from several plants which feed the main line in different points. In such cases if the water hammer phenomenon occurs due to the valve closure or pump failure, the amount of pressure pulses that created by it are complicate to be calculated and need a simplification. So the main objective of this paper is to reperesent the application of superposition principle in water hammer analysis of a main pipeline which is fed with several branch pipes. After the introduction of water hammer concept and equations in this paper, the superposition method are explained. In the last part a case study in one of Iranian oil fields is presented in details. The results show a near estimation of real results. So the principle of superposition can be an acceptable method for water hammer analysis in multiple branches pipelines.