Contents

Abstract .......................................................................
................................................................................
.. 2
List of symbols ................................................................
...............................................................................
2
Introduction ...................................................................
...............................................................................
3
Objectives .....................................................................
................................................................................
3
Literature review ..............................................................
............................................................................. 3
Overview .......................................................................
............................................................................ 3
Clear water system .............................................................
...................................................................... 4
Dirty water system .............................................................
....................................................................... 5
Apparatus and procedures .......................................................
.................................................................... 5
Procedure/installation .........................................................
..................................................................... 5
Theoretical analysis ...........................................................
............................................................................ 6
Experimental analysis ..........................................................
......................................................................... 7
Calculating the velocity flow ..................................................
................................................................... 7
Electrical power ...............................................................
......................................................................... 9
Summarized calculations ........................................................
................................................................ 11
Conclusion .....................................................................
.............................................................................. 1
1
References .....................................................................
............................................................................. 12


Abstract

A conceptual design of the water abstraction system was carried and the followin
g information
was obtained: Commercial pump set selected for the application, Number of pump s
ets to be
used in the system, and the expected power cost for the dewatering of the mine b
ased on current
electrical rates from NamPower. Assumptions where made that we have a pit of 4 p
umps under
the shaft and the surface where water is being pumped away from mine is flat. Si
gnificant results
included the height of reservoir and diameter of PVC pipe carrying the water awa
y from mine to
reservoir which was 10m and 1m respectively.
List of symbols

K -surface roughness
V - Kinematic viscosity
- Density
- Dynamic viscosity
- Electrical power
f Coefficient of friction
Q Flow rate
- Head loss due to friction
V Velocity flow
A - Area
Reynolds number
- Electrical power cost
h - The differential head (m)
g Acceleration due to gravity







Introduction
A submersible pump (electric submersible pump (ESP)) is a device which has a her
metically
sealed motor close-coupled to the pump body. The whole assembly is submerged in
the fluid to
be pumped and the main advantage of this type of pump is that, it prevents cavit
ation, a problem
that is associated with high elevation difference between pumps. Water abstracti
on is the process
of taking water from any source, either temporarily or permanently. The aim of w
ater abstraction
is to pump water from underground mines to a reservoir using submersible pumps.
The principle
used in water abstraction is similar to how boreholes extract (pump) water from
underground. A
submersible water pump operates when immersed in a liquid because it pushes the
water up
instead of sucking. When the pressure switch is turned on, an electric current i
s sent down
through an electrical wire to the submersible pump. The impellers start turning
sucking the liquid
into the pump and then push it out up through the pipe to the tank. The process
continues until it
is switched off

Objectives
. To pump the water from the mine the water reservoir.
. Pump selection and to meet the requirements
. Estimate the electrical power cost




Literature review
Overview
Mining is one of the oldest and major industrial practices and arguably the most
sophisticated. In
the beginning, it mostly involved digging and crushing the ores but with age and
the studies that
brought about industrial revolutions, most of engineering practices all got invo
lved in the mining
industry. Mining is practiced either in an open pit mine or an underground mine.

Water is a major resource that is used almost in all industrial processes and mi
ning is no
exception. It is used for ore splashing and some ores are crushed in water. It i
s also used to
power turbines. Either way whether the mine is open pit or underground, this wat
er is usually
stored in a reservoir that is out of the mine and sometimes a bit far from the p
it.
The water needs to be pumped out of the mine and in the old age, buckets operate
d using pulleys
were used to do this. Whilst these days with all the technology, pumping water o
ut of the mine
called dewatering is done using pumps. The pumps to be used are selected accordi
ng to the
composition of the fluid to be pumped out of the mine, the pumping elevation, th
e temperature of
the fluid, the required flow rate and the availability of the space which determ
ines the installation
process. The most used pump is usually the centrifugal pump and this is encourag
ed by its
widely versatile operational features and impeller designs.

Mine dewatering systems are generally categorized into two broad methods: dirty
(unsettled)
water systems and clear (settled) water.
Clear water system
In the traditional method, mine water is collected into settling sumps where suspe
nded solids
are allowed to settle. The clarified water is pumped to surface using, in genera
l, multi-stage
centrifugal pumps. This method of mine dewatering has several major disadvantage
s, as it
requires:
1. High excavation costs for under- ground sumps and settlers. The sumps need to
be of
sufficient dimensions to allow for effective separation of solids as well as som
e surge
capacity in the dewatering system.
2. The addition of flocculent is often required to achieve effective water solid
s separation.
3. Extensive maintenance of the settling system is required.
4. Disposal of settled slimes can be a costly, labour intensive operation.
5. High maintenance cost on piston type slime pumps.
6. Carry-over of solids from the settling system cause high wears at close cleara
nces of
multistage centrifugal pumps. Pumps must be brought to surface and completely
disassembled for replacement of wear parts.
7. High electrical consumption due to inherent lower efficiency of multistage ce
ntrifugal
pumps. In addition, the efficiency deteriorates quickly as pump internal fine cl
earances
become worn by suspended solids.


Dirty water system
The objective of the dirty water system is to eliminate underground settling and
pump the
unsettled mine water directly to the surface.
It offers the following major advantages:
1. High costs of excavating large settling sumps are eliminated.
2. Only a relatively small pump sump is required.
3. The need for slimes handling and disposal is eliminated.
4. Chemical dosing of the thickener (as applicable) is carried out on surface.
5. There are no slurry columns in the shaft or dedicated sludge pumps to maintai
n.



Apparatus and procedures
The apparatus used in this project are:
. PVC pipes
. Four Submersible pumps
. Valves
. Electric motor
. Seal kit

Procedure/installation
Four submersible pumps were placed in underground water (8 m deep) and PVC pipes
where put
into the borehole and connected till they reach the reservoir. Water flows throu
gh these PVC
pipes. Valves are installed along the pipes to control the flow discharge of the
water in the pipe
into the reservoir. An electric motor is installed above the borehole to start a
nd stop the operation
of the submersible pumps.



Theoretical analysis

Certain calculations were made according to the installation such as flow rate,
head loss due to
friction, area, velocity flow through the ducts, total head, Reynolds number, el
ectrical power,
electrical cost of the pipes including certain numerical values required for cer
tain formula .


Calculating flow rate [Q]

The flow rate was calculated using the following procedure. It was given that fo
r every meter
drawn down 10 is taken out of the shaft, therefore for 192 m of water to be pump
ed out
the flow rate was found to be:



Calculating the velocity flow

The velocity flow is the flow of velocity through the duct and it was calculated
using the
following formula.


Calculating head loss due to friction

This is the friction loss experienced in the PVC pipe and it was found using the
following
formulae

In addition the total head of the pipe was calculated by considering the head lo
sses in the pipe by
using the following formulae.

Total head = static head + head loss due to friction + dynamic head

Is the friction coefficient and it was found using the following the following
formula

Whereby


Calculating the Reynolds number

The Reynolds number is defined to be the ratio of inertial forces to viscous for
ces and
consequently quantifies the relative importance of these two types of forces for
given flow
conditions.[5] Reynolds numbers frequently arise when performing scaling of flui
d dynamics
problems, and as such can be used to determine dynamic similitude between two di
fferent cases
of fluid flow. They are also used to characterize different flow regimes within
a similar fluid,
such as laminar or turbulent flow and it was calculating using the following for
mulae. And the
dynamic viscosity ( ) for PVC was found to be 0.653



Calculating the electrical power cost

Electrical cost is the cost of electricity used per hour, and it was calculated
by using the latest
unit rates of Nampower using the following formulae


Whereby

The unit cost was found to be N$1.428, 00 per unit and this are the current cost
for Nampower.



Experimental analysis

Calculating the velocity flow


And we know that v is the velocity and A is the area of the pipe.

A =

= 0.7853

Therefore



V = 2445 /h

V = 0.68 /s

Four pumps were selected therefore the flow rate for one pump is:

480 /h

0.1333 /s

Head loss due to friction was as well calculated using the following formula for
a pump of m
diameter




m

Whereby

K = is equal to surface roughness of the pipe selected, and for the PVC pipe is
0.0015



Reynolds number for m diameter



= 1033435

Therefore the total head including the losses of the pipe was found to be


for water is 1000

Pumping hours was calculated by:

Capacity to be pumped is

And the capacity pumped for 1 meter drown down in one hour is

Therefore the pumping hours are

And the number of days is

Electrical cost:



Whereby
Electrical power

It is the rate of doing work or the energy at which the pump is pumping water in
the system. It is
calculated as follows:

P =

Where Q = the flow rate ( )
= the density of the fluid ( )
g = 9.81 m/

h = the differential head (m)

Therefore the electrical power =
= 1104 kWh



The unit cost was found to be N$1.428, 00 per unit and this are the current cost
for Nampower.














Summarized calculations


Given DataFlow Rate (Q)m3/hr19200.53333m3/sINPUTSPipe Inside Diameter (D)mm10001
mCALCULATED VALUESKinematic Viscosity (.)cSt16.580E-07m2/sSpecific Roughness (.)
m1.50E-03Pipe Length (L)m719Calculated DataAverage Velocity - V (m/s)0.68Reynol
ds Number1032008Darcy Friction Factor 0.022Head Loss - Pipe (m)0.37TOTAL HEAD LO
SS, hf (m)0.72Calculated Head Loss in Fittings, Valves, Entrances & ExitsKQtySub
Total KAngle Valve500Ball Valve, Full Port0.0500Butterfly Valve0.600Check Valve
, Swing Type2.300Elbow 45 Degrees0.400Elbow 90 Degrees, Long Radius0.600Elbow 90
Degrees, Standard0.932.7Flow Meter, Turbine Type700Foot Valve0.900Gate Valve0.2
00Globe Valve1000Pipe Entrance, Inward Projected Pipe100Pipe Entrance, Sharp Edg
e0.542Pipe Exit111Tee, Standard, Flow Through Branch1.847.2Tee, Standard, Flow T
hrough Run0.631.814.7Head Loss - Valves & Fittings (m)0.35

Conclusion

The watering of the mine project objectives were achieved by selecting the pumps
required to
pump the water from mine to the reservoir which is 500 m away using 4 submerged
pumps. We
faced challenges during the design and completion process of the project, so we
had to work very
hard to come up with suitable solutions.
In addition calculations were made and so we could estimate electric power cost
of 1104 kWh.
The unit cost for electricity was found to be N$1.428, 00 per unit and this is t
he current cost at
NamPower, the cost of pumping water to the reservoir for 8 days is .



References

www.ritz.de
J.M. White (2002), Fluid Mechanics 5th Edition, Consulting Editors