Section Pipes Page 1 of 2

Section Pipes
In a transient simulation, a common time step must be used for all pipes. The Method of Characteristics
each pipe section satisfies the following:

(5.1)
where a is the wavespeed in the pipe, Dx is the length of the section and Dt is the time step. The length of a pipe section is
just the length of the pipe divided by the number of sections in that pipe:

(5.2)
The time step can be obtained by combining Equations 5.1 and 5.2:

(5.3)
The maximum time is obtained from the pipe with the smallest value of L/a. This pipe will have one section (n = 1) and thus the
time step will be:

(5.4)
In any pipe system there will be one pipe that is the controlling pipe The controlling pipe is that pipe which has the least
number of sections, frequently only one. Once the controlling pipe is identified, the time step is determined by solving Equation
5.4 for Dt. Then the number of sections in the remaining pipes is obtained from:

(5.5)
The Section Pipes window automatically determines which pipe is the controlling pipe. It also provides searching tools that
allow the user to identify a sectioning strategy that has acceptable error levels.
Error is introduced at this point because of an approximation that is usually required in multi-pipe systems. Because the
number of sections in pipes is derived from Equation 5.5, typically the number of sections, n, will not be a whole number.
Since partial sections in a pipe cannot be modeled, an alternative must be found.
The wavespeed for each pipe is the least certain parameter. Therefore, the wavespeed in each pipe is allowed to depart
slightly from its original calculated value in order to cause n to be a whole number. Introducing this error term modifies
Equation 5.5 to the following:

where y is the accepted uncertainty in wavespeed up to ±15% (Wylie, et al., 1993, pp. 54).
Figure 5.13 shows the Section Pipes window. The controlling pipe (#8) is shown at the right. The sectioning criteria is shown
at the upper left, where the average and maximum sectioning errors are shown. The table at the bottom shows the selected
sectioning strategy and resulting modified wavespeed. The resulting time step size is shown at the right.

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Section Pipes Page 2 of 2

Figure 5.13 The Section Pipes window automates the process of obtaining appropriate sectioning criteria

Related Topics
Pipe Sectioning: Detailed Information
Numbering Convention for Pipe Sectioning
Checklist

A solution method for a set of differential equations used to solve the transient waterhammer equations.
Method of Characteristics Mathematical Derivation

The speed at which a pressure disturbance propagates through a pipe. The wavespeed depends on the liquid acoustic
velocity, the pipe diameter and physical properties, and method of pipe support. Details are given in Wavespeed Mathematical
Description.

The pipe with the fastest end-to-end communication time in a pipe system. Its properties govern the choice of time step. The
controlling pipe is identified in the Section Pipes window.

mk:@MSITStore:C:\AFT%20Products\AFT%20Impulse%204.0\IMPULSE.CHM::/S... 06-09-2018