x PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES «Rubbing of rotating parts against the casing. resulting in increased wear and mechanical damage. This in turn may increase the rotating imbalance, leading to a further increase in vibration level and potential catastrophic f failure. = Increayed load on bearings. This in turn may increase bearing wear, leading to even further increases in vibration level and potential catastrophic bearing or pump failure. Pump Testing Pump Test Codes “There are two ASME PTCs that apply to pumps: PTC 5.1-1962, Displacement Pumps and PTC 8,2-1965, Centrifugal Pumps (with 1973 Addendum). Many pump manufacturers guarantee their pumps according toa testing standard developed and published by a trade organization. the Hydraulic Institute. Pump testing standards are given in Hydraulic Pump Standards, published in 1983. This publication has standards for all types ‘of pumps and considerable design information. ‘A comparison of the Hydraulic Institute centrifugal pump testing standards with PTC 8.2 shows very little difference, apart from format and homenclature. In many cases, even the illustrations are essentially the same, ‘The Hydraulic Institute does cover some areas not addressed by PTC 8.2. One area is hydrotesting, and another is model testing. Both of these tests would likely be done in a factory situation rather than in the power plant. Other minor differences exist in the tolerance permitted in variation of parameters from design during the test, for instance. However, the issues of substance, such as the definition of pump efficiency and the methods of measurement. are very similar. The description of testing requirements that follows applies equally to both codes unless otherwise noted. “The objective of the testis to establish values of the following parameters: + Total Head y (Flow) + Capa = Pump Power Input * Efficiency + Pump NPSH Requirements Determination of these values requires that the following parameters be measured with the maximum allowable fluctuations as shown in Table 5-1. ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERSe ORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Pumps Table 5-1 Maximum Allowable Pump Measurement Fluctuations 2 ecieene | MES ee Pump Differential Pressure — 22% Discharge Head 2% 22% Suction Head 23% 23% Capacity How) 20.5% 22% Speed 20.3% 209% [ Power input to Pump 21% 21% “The ASME also specifies the maximum allowable deviation from the design values for these parameters. Maximum allowable deviation in speed. for instance, is 3% from design. Basic measurement of pressure, temperature, and flow are required for determination of the above parameters, For pressure measurement, the Tocation of the pressure measurement should be in a location where flow is steady, The Hydraulic Institute specifies that the measurement point be five to ten diameters of straight pipe away from any flow obstruction, change of pipe diameter. or elbow. The ASME requires that four sreasurements, at equally spaced intervals around the pipe, be made and the average value used. Both codes specify that pressure tap connections be flush to the inside diameter of the pipe. Pressure measurement may be by manometer, bourdon gauges. deadweight gauges, or pressure transmitters, Pressure must be measured at the pump suction and harge. Particular attention must be given to the relative elevation of the pressure gauges, ax well as the water leg corrections. For pumps that take suction from a sump. the suction head may be determined by he liquid level in the sump and knowing the liquid density Determination of density generally requires the liquid temperature inthe rowever, density can also be determined by use of a pycnometer. n of temperature should be made as close to the test section as possible. l' may be made by liquid-in-glass thermometers, thermocouples. ot RTDs. The ASME specifies that the temperature be measured only at the pump suction. The Hydraulic Institute points out that win inerease in temperature results ina change in pump performance. Also, ‘where the specific volume of the liquid changes because compressibility becomes a factor (as in boiler feed pumps) and temperature increases, the Hydraulic Institute recommends that the effeet be considered. Thus, the Hydraulic Institute requirements speeify that temperature must be taken at both the suction and the discharge of the pump. ANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS: Pace 5-23fa Pumes PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Capacity or low can be measured by many different methods, Both the Hydraulic Institute and the ASME indicate that measurement by volume ‘OF Weight using a volumetric tank or weight tank is the preferred. Both allow the use of head-type flow meters including orifices. nozzles, and ‘Yenluris. The Hydraulic Institute also recognizes more recent innovations ‘in flow measurement, such as acoust Doppler flow meters, @lectromagnetic induction velocimeters, and vortex shedding flow meters. Measurement of pump power input iy accomplished either with some type ‘of dynamometer or by measuring the power input to the pump driver. Dynamometers may be of the transmission, torsion-, or strain gauge-type. ‘Measurement of pump driver power is easily done when the driver is an electric motor. Calibrated electric motors are recommended to consider motor efficiency. Electrical power input must be measured with calibrated electrical instruments. If voltmeters and ammeters are used instead of ‘wattmeters, power factor and corrections for three-phase power must be taken into account, Speed is measured using a calibrated tachometer, a revolution counter with timer, an electronic instrument, or a stroboscope. In addition to these methods, the Hydraulic Institute recognizes eddy current drag. vibrating reed (Frahm tachometer), photocell, and other types devices. Stroboscopes are not the preferred method because of their limited accuracy. Both the ASME and Hydraulic Institute specify determination of the cavitation coefficient, 0, which is defined as: NPSH H Cavitation coefficient NPSH = Net positive suction head Total pump head This determination is made using a test setup as shown in Figure 5-14. In this setup. a tank with heating/cooling coils and connections to a vacuum pump is used. By varying the temperature and pressure in the tank, the liquid vapor pressure and the NPSH can be changed. This setup is clearly not possible under field conditions for most cases. ‘Tests may be run in two different ways. The speed, temperature, and capacity of the pump may be held constant while changing the NPSH. This process may be repeated at several different capacities. The results ‘are commonly plotted as shown in Figure 5-15.sf "ERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ Series gure 5-14 rangement | . 5.15 rant = RD eee fow fae OR EsECTOR oisimiguron — &_,_yACuUM Pu ‘ HEATING on COOLING COS # nH. AND BHP AS FUNCTIONS. OAT DIFFERENT OPERATING POINTS — (OF 0 AT CONSTANT SPEED CONSTANT PRESSURE {Ay = | The second method of performing the testis to hold speed temperature, and NPSH constant while varying the capacity. In this case. the result commonly plotted as shown in Figure 5-16, are 0200 400 600800 4000 When performing these tests, it is important not to operate the pump beyond the tart of cavitation, commonly called the eavitatioy point Determination of this point can be dificult and several different methods, including change in sound or vibration have been used. The most Commonly accepted criterion is a 3% drop in head. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS _ ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS: Pace 5.25i PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Routine Pump Testing It should be obvious from the previous section that most of the provisions in the codes and standards for pump testing assume that the te performed in a test setup at the pump manufucturer’s plant. In fact, For ‘most pumps where it is important to the customer that the pump performance be verified, there iy an acceptance test of the pump run in the manufacturer's plant that is witnessed by the customer. Another common practice for less critical pumps is for the customer to accept the performance test results fora pump that the manufacturer certifies to be identical (within some tolerance) to the purchased pump. tis not common for pumps to be tested in accordance with the ASME code or the Hydraulic Institute standard in the field with the pump installed, Since field pump testing is not common, provisions for testing. such as pressure taps, thermowells, and so on, are generally not provided during the design/construction phase of the plant, This means that when efficiency testing ix performed, considerable expense is incurred to install test taps and instrumentation. In practice, when testing is done for smaller pumps in power plant, many simplifications are commonly made. For most pump testing. a single pressure measurement is made at the pump suction and discharge. Only ‘one temperature at the suction or discharge is measured. Flow is me: ured ina variety of ways: most often using installed plant instrumentation such ‘as an orifice. For pumps that have no installed plant flow measuring device. either a Doppler oF transit time-type ultrasonic flowmeter is often temporarily installed. Power input is nearly always determined by measuring motor current and voltage; and using design values for power factor and motor efficiency. The average velocity of the fluid is calculated using the flow rate and the pipe inside diameters of the suction and discharge pipes. which are generally different. The test is run at various points, varying the flow by throttling the discharge valve, For smaller pumps. the shutoff head is also determined by closing the discharge valve ‘and any recirculation valve. Care should be exercised not to operate with the discharge valve closed for any longer than necessary, of course. Determination of shutoff head for large pumps that are equipped with minimum flow. recirculation arrangements is generally not done to av damaging the pump. Further, if testing of the more critical pumps is done, itis likely testing designed to trend parameters that provide an indication of the condition of the pump. These parameters generally are pressure and, for the boiler feed pump temperature at the suction and discharge. vibration at critical points such as bearings, flow and, for motor driven pumps, motor current. These parameters are often determined using station instrumentation, atleast i ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS PAGE 5-26 FOR PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERSDove data is taken. itis possible to calculate pump ciency lor the points where the testis performed. The accuracy ofthe Pe ve atll Hea function of the accuracy of the data taken, which may not be very good if station instrumentation is used. This makes it difficcl ny compare with the curves of pump performance supplied by the manufacturer, However. it may have good repeatability, which is useful for trending pump condition, Rigorous testing of the boiler teed pump is perhaps the most likely, as Compared to the other pumps in the plant, since it generally has the strates! impact on overall plant efficiency and capacity. Several areas of difficulty ler feed pump test, First, accurate determination of flow is often difficult. Ifa calibrated flow cl cycle testing, is employed, ACcurate determination of flow is possible with little additional work, In many plants. however. there is only one such flow section and two pumps. ‘This requires shutting down one of the pumps for the test. I that teen possible, another method of flow measurement is necessary. Ultrasonic flow meters ofthe transit time type are used with some success, However, is found that pump noise, par ticularly from it pump that is in poor condition. can interfere with the operation of such flow meters: isure pump suction and commonly found, there is only one or two - located close to the pump suction and discharge, and thus close to flow disturbances, id determination of the coupling efficiency is very difficult. For ‘motor driven pumps with such couplings and for turbine driven pumps, the use of a dynamometer, usually a strain gauge type, is required. ‘The testing of the boiler feed pump is also complicated by the fact that itis not easy (0 vary the parameters required for determination of performance independently during the plant operation, This means that it may be necessity 10 establish one or more test points and always perform the tests ay liese points (obtain repeatability. Wis desirable io make these points ax close to the design conditions as possible so that actual pump performs ! can be compared with design, PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS. Pace 5-27fe PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Alternative Boiler Feed Pump Test Procedure When field testing boiler feed pumps. particularly those driven by mechanical drive turbines (MDT). the determination of actual efficiency can be extremely difficult and costly because shaft torque measurement is not readily available, Measuring the various steam pressures. temperatures, flows. and steam quality of an extracting MDT leads to a high degree of uncertainty when calculating brake horsepower of the drive turbine, Because of these difficulties, an alternative test method using the pump affinity laws is described below and is included, in its entirety. with the test protocols in GPCALCS™, The altemate method provides a practical approach for determining the general condition of a boiler feed pump with acceptable levels of repeatability and uncertainty. without the need to directly determine shaft power into the pump. The method requires measurement of suction pressure and temperature (usually deaerator pressure at saturated conditions plus a small gravity head), discharge pressure, and pump flow. The flow measurement is made with an ultrasonic (UT) flowmeter temporarily mounted on the boiler feed pump discharge piping and the pressure measurements using pressure gages with an accuracy of 0.25%. Accurate speed measurement is essential and is taken with two independent sensors. Proper test conditions are cruciall and include stable unit operation (off AGC): and isolation of the minimum flow. recirculation line, as well as the reheat attemperator line. Before testing. the pump is stabilized at or near its rated (guarantee point) speed and placed in the manual control mode. ‘The Affinity Laws state that test flow, head, and water horsepower can be extrapolated from test speed values to design speed values by multiplying cach parameter by a correction factor. For flow. the correction factor is the ratio of design speed to test speed, For total head, itis the ratio squared and for water horsepower, itis the ratio cubed. The test is conducted for approximately 12 hour and data is collected at five-minute intervals. A spreadsheet is used to calculate the total head in feet using the test data collected and calculated specific volume values from the steam tables. Pump performance is evaluated by the parameter “percent of design flow.” This is the field test curve flow at rated speed and head divided by the shop test curve flow at that point. Pump efficiency is determined on the basis that brake horsepower is constant between the two curves at any given head value. The degree of deficiency is the inability of the pump to Geliver rated flow. This approach is presented below mathematically: [ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERSSf PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES whp, bhp, " whp, bhp, bhp = Brake horsepower Design data ield data Therefore: ott, =( HPs bar Php, eff, =eff, xpdr pdf = Percent of design flow 5.6 Centrifugal Pump Performance Troubleshooting Pump operating problems can be classified as either mechanical or hydraulic in nature. Unfortunately, there is interdependence between these categories, Aside from “external” mechanical problems such as coupling misalignment, failed bearings, and over-tightened packing, pump apacity/performance problems can be broken into six general categories, Each of these categories is briefly described below along with typical * tested” pump curves. {n addition to these six general categories. the troubleshooting chart shown in Table 5-2 can assist in determining the cause of abnormal pump performance, The chart is generally redundant with the curves discussed in the following sections, but does provide an additional means of diagnosing the root eause(s) of poorer than design performance, 5.6.1 Damaged Impeller Ifthe pump develops less head and consumes less power over its entire working range (see Figure 5-17 A), while efficiency remains design values at design speed, the pump has a worn or da ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS Pace 5-29LL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES jluced Throat Area ‘When the developed head versus design head falls off rapidly with increased flow and the shutoff head is virtually unchanged (see Figure 5-17 B). internal friction losses within the pump are indicated, and most likely problems include: Reduced throat area of the volute Reduced area between diffuser vanes ‘An obstruction between the impeller outlet and the point of discharge pressure readings or Wear Ring Leakage / Worn Impeller Vanes With a closed impeller pump, if the test flowrate is lower than rated by a constant amount at any given head (see Figure $-17 C), excessive (but not too excessive) leakage through the wearing rings is indicated. Note that if the pump is of the semi-open impeller design, the same characteristic pump performance curve results from worn impeller vanes. sive Wear Ring / Wear Plate Clearances (Leakage) When developed head. capacity, efficiency. and horsepower are all lower than design over the entire operating range (see Figure 5-17 D). excessive clearances in the wearing rings or between the impeller vanes and the wearplates (semi-open impellers) are indicated. er/Casing Surface Roughness With developed head and efficiency reduced, but horsepower unchanged (see Figure 5-17 E), rust or scale on the impeller and/or casing is suspected. icient NPSH Ifthe tested head versus capacity curve drops off earlier than specitied in the design, insufficient suction pressure is suspected. This is often accompanied with an audible crackling noise and can result trom reduced suction source level (i.c., hotwell). too high of a suction lift, an obstruction in the suction line (i.e, plugged suction strainer), suction bell damage/dislocation, or inadequate casing venting, Continued operation results in rapid impeller damage due to caviLe PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Pumes Figure 5-17 Field Test Curves ADVANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS Pace 5-31x PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Table 5-2 Troubleshooting Chart a ole eee pace | Seca | cea | Gen | Sone epaciy | requires | e9KIG° | ‘or Noise | heating ae with hot iid 3 betwoen shalt and bore of pump of stufing box too great eal contains in honed shah wih impolerincaroct or excessive lubrication onsins [Beanngs incorrectly fited Sno inguticenty pamed st not postivex PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE™ SERIES Pumps BIBLIOGRAPHY Performance Test Codes PTC 8.2-1965. Centrifixgal Pumps (with 1973 Addenda), New York: ASME, Additional References Baumeister, T., Avallone, E. A...and Saumeister Ill, T., Marks’ Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers, 8th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1979. General Physics Corp... Heat Transfer Thermodynamics and Fluid Flow-Fundamentals, Columbia, MD: GP Courseware, 1981 Hydraulic Institute, Hydraulic Institute Standards, Cleveland Ohio, Hydraulic Institute, 1983, /ANCED PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS. PLANT ENGINEERS AND MANAGERS. Pace 33