Water Hammer Simulator

This model simulates water hammer due to rapid valve closure in a pipeline conveying water from a reservoir. The movement of a transient wave in a pressurized pipeline moves very fast. Because of this, GoldSim uses time steps shorter than 1 second for a 5 second total simulation time. Within that time, the model calculates the transition of a pressure column moving back and forth between the boundary conditions of this model. The wave is dissipated by losses in the system.

The bulk of calculations are done inside a Script element. The first part calculates the initial conditions by equating the difference in reservoir levels (start vs end) to the friction and valve loss. Next we solve for the Q and H for the interior points of the pipeline then upstream boundary condition. Next we solve the valve boundary condition and store the flow and head to be used as starting conditions for the next time step. 

The algorithms in this model are based on working examples described in the book "Hydraulics of Pipelines; Pumps, Valves, Cavitation, Transients" by J. Paul Tullis, 1989.

If you are interested in playing with this model but you do not have a commercial license of GoldSim, no problem. You can use our free Player and play with the Player model linked below (files saved with "*.gsp").

You can download the model using the links below.