Citation

Pozos O, Gonzalez CA, Giesecke J, Marx W, Rodal EA. Journal of hydraulic research 2010; 48(3): 338-347.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, International Association for Hydraulic Research)

DOI

10.1080/00221686.2010.481839

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Large air pockets entrapped in pipelines reduce the effective pipe cross-section, causing an increase in energy loss. Air accumulates at high points along the line throttling the flow and may ultimately cause a complete conduit blockage. Despite researchers having studied these phenomena, air binding is still commonly found in aqueducts, since there is a lack of understanding on the movement of air bubbles and pockets in closed conduits. This study proposes a simplistic method to predict the movement of air bubbles and pockets in downward sloping pipes which can be used either to solve air binding in existing pipelines or to prevent its occurrence in new pipelines from design stage. An experimental investigation was conducted to validate the proposed analytical method. The analysis revealed that problems related with entrained air are commonly unnoticed until a major operational failure such as an increase in head losses, violent blowbacks, or overflowing structures occurs.

Keywords: Pipeline transportation