Effect of Water Hammer in Relatively Long Inclined Pipelines

Consideration is given in this paper to the numerical solution of transient flows in relatively long pipeline provoked by the water hammer phenomenon. Equations which describe these one-dimensional flows in a cylindrical pipe, of linear elastic behavior according to the Hooke’s law, are solved in the time domain by the method of characteristics using linear integration. The obtained results due to a rapid closure valve at the downstream end of a long pipeline show that the gravity lift may have an important effect on the maximum pressures, which may become very important near the valve and provoke the failure of the pipe especially in presence of defect. The safety factor, computed at equidistant sections of the pipe, determines the distance between the supplying reservoir and the defect from which the failure may happen.