POWER November 2021 - 16

FOCUS ON O&M
ture as part of our civil works mission.
In doing so, we use many submersible
pumps, so we reference ANSI/HI 11.6
'Rotodynamic Submersible Pumps for
Hydraulic Performance, Hydrostatic
Pressure, Mechanical, and Electrical Acceptance
Tests' for the unique testing
of submersible motor pumps. This standard
requires that the submersible pump
is guaranteed and tested as a complete
close-coupled unit.
" Another standard we utilize is ANSI/
HI 9.8, " he said. " ANSI/HI 9.8 'Rotodynamic
Pumps for Pump Intake Design' is
a major timesaver in helping our teams
determine the required dimensions including
height and length and width of
pumping stations. "
Paulus said the standard is designed
to help engineers optimize efficiency
and flow. " It addresses rectangular intakes,
formed suction intakes, circular
pump stations, trench-type intakes
for clear liquids and for solids-bearing
6. The Hydraulic Institute's standards for pumps include those that help users determine the
required dimensions for pump piping, including height, length, and width. Courtesy: Hydraulic
Institute
are so large in height and width that they
can easily create sub-optimal flow conditions.
ANSI/HI 9.8 is critical to moving as
quickly and smoothly through the design
process as possible.
" Additionally, HI is currently working on
an update to this standard that addressStandards
and guidelines will continue to
be important to future pump system design
and assessment, and will need to evolve as
the industry changes.
liquids, pump suction for tanks, can
vertical turbine pump intakes, and unconfined
intakes, " he said. " The standard
also helps engineers understand
how to configure a functional pumping
facility around pump geometry and the
size of inlet connection. This facilitates
uniform flow of liquid into the eye of the
impeller for efficient, reliable operations
with less vibration. "
Paulus said a " real-world example "
that illustrates the standard's importance
comes with the design of pump
station at an Army Corps' lock in Sault
St. Marie, Michigan, where space was
tight. " Physical modeling is sometimes
necessary but often takes significant
time, " he said. " While the software for
modeling pump stations has come a
long way, it's not advanced enough to
be solely relied upon without physical
modeling. We utilized ANSI/HI 9.8 and
our own engineering manuals [which HI
helped update] to save time while minimizing
the footprint.
" It's worth acknowledging the importance
of the sizing criteria since building
a scale model is both time-consuming
and expensive, and some pump stations
16
es computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
simulation parameters. Though a physical
model may always be necessary, it would
be a great leap forward for engineers to
rely on CFD modeling software and use
physical models for validation. That scenario
could be on the horizon. "
Determining Acceptable Pump
Piping and Vibration Requirements
A companion to ANSI/HI 9.8, ANSI/HI
9.6.6 " Rotodynamic Pumps for Pump
Piping " addresses pump piping requirements,
particularly straight-run
requirements and piping design guidance
(Figure 6). Steve Fehniger, principal
engineer with CDM Smith and a HI
standards partner, with a water/wastewater
market segment focus, said the
9.6.6 standard " has guided our designers
on minimum suction pipe straightrun
requirements and considerations if
unable to accommodate the minimum
values in retrofits. "
Fehniger said that another standard,
ANSI/HI 9.6.4 " Rotodynamic Pumps for
Vibration Measurements and Allowable
Values, " sets vibration acceptance criteria
and measurement methods for rotowww.powermag.com
dynamic
pumps. The standard is utilized
to provide guidance on vibration measurement
and the associated acceptance
criteria to determine if a new installation
is acceptable from a vibration perspective.
Fehniger said, " We use this standard
as a benchmark for existing pumps
to determine relative change from initial
baseline as well as to assess how much
the pumping units have migrated from
acceptable vibration characteristics due
to wear, system changes, conditions of
service changes, etc. "
Fehniger said standards and guidelines
will continue to be important to future
pump system design and assessment,
and will need to evolve as the industry
changes, adapting alongside new trends
or challenges. " The ANSI driven five-year
review cycle facilitates regular updates
and provides a means to consider the
market changes. For example, we've witnessed
a transition from a pump focus
to a system focus within many HI publications.
Now, industrywide attention is
shifting to the development of efficient
pumping systems designed to minimize
energy usage while also enhancing
pump service life. I expect Department
of Energy regulations could lead to pump
efficiency and pump system optimization
requirements and guidance expanding
within several HI standards, guidelines,
and guidebooks to a greater degree if
the regulation scope continues to grow
with additional market segments, pump
types, accessories, and more. " ■
-This article was written by a team
from the Hydraulic Institute (HI), which
centers the pump industry around excellence
and efficiency, with a mission to
advance pump manufacturing. For more
information, visit www.pumps.org.
For more information on ANSI/HI
Standards, visit: pumps.org/
Standards_and_Guidebooks.aspx
POWER | November 2021

http://www.pumps.org https://www.pumps.org/Standards_and_Guidebooks.aspx http://www.powermag.com

POWER November 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER November 2021