BOSfluids 8.0 adds support for modeling reciprocating pumps and compressors. This makes it possible to study transient phenomena in piping systems driven by reciprocating equipment. By specifying a speed curve you can assess how changes in the running speed affect the flow and pressure distribution in the system. This can be particularly important when the system involves equipment that is sensitive to under or over pressure conditions.
The reciprocating equipment flow elements result in a pulsating flow rate that is determined by the geometry of the cylinders and the crank shaft, and the properties of the suction and discharge valves. Different models are available to simulate the opening and closing of those valves, and to account for the pressure losses over the valves. When reciprocating compressors are part of an inter stage compression system, then the steady state solver will determine a pressure and gas density distribution in such a way that the mass flow rate at the suction side is balanced with the mass flow rate at the discharge side.
With the reciprocating equipment model you could use BOSfluids for performing pulsation analyses of pump and compressor systems. However, this would involve a lot of post processing in order to obtain a break down of the pressure pulsations in the frequency domain. If pulsation analyses are of your interest, then you are recommended to use our dedicated pulsation analysis application BOSpulse instead.
Check out the rest of the release highlights:
- Unified application data model
- Support for NFPA analyses
- Addition of a PIPENET file import interface
- Extension of special flow elements
- Improvement of the flood and drain model
- Improved cavitation models
- Improved and more efficient user interface
- Other improvements
For more information:
- Learn more about BOSfluids
- Schedule a demo to see BOSfluids in action