Water hammer protection of one-way surge tanks considering the effect of check valve

Abstract

One-way surge tanks are commonly employed as water hammer protection devices. However, the action process of the check valve is often disregarded in the design of protective measure. In this study, a one-way surge tank model incorporating a check valve was developed based on the method of characteristics. The check valve action process and different installation positions for one-way surge tanks were investigated based on an actual water supply project. The results show that, compared with the existing one-way surge tank mathematical model, the pipeline pressure calculated by the new model is smaller and the water replenishment is slower, which means that there is a safety risk based on the calculation results of the existing model. As the opening process of the check valve slows down, the pipeline minimum pressure is reduced. When the valve opening rate reaches 0.5 s, negative pressure appears in the pipeline. In addition, for undulated terrain with two obvious high points, when the first one-way surge tank is installed at the node behind the pump, the second one should be installed at the highest point to ensure that the pipeline pressure is greater than 0 m.