Vent, Air valve --------------- VENT (class) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ .. figure:: ../media/image792.png :figwidth: 0.91667in :align: center Vent (air inlet and/or outlet) **Supplier type** +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+ | type label | description | active | +=============================+===============================================================================+========+ | VENT (discharge coeff.) | Vent with the possibility of air in/outlet, air inlet only or air outlet only | No | | | Capacity specified with discharge coefficients | | +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+ | VENT (inflow/outflow char.) | Vent with the possibility of air in/outlet, air inlet only or air outlet only | No | | | Capacity specified by inflow/outflow characteristics | | +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+ .. _mathematical-model-38: Mathematical model """""""""""""""""" The vent or air valve is a component through which air can enter into or be expelled from the hydraulic system. This is usually achieved by a floating-ball valve mechanism (figures 1, 2 and 3). The purpose of the vent is to prevent cavitation or intolerable under pressures. +----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | |image155| | |image156| | +----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | Figure 1: In/outlet vent in air inlet status | Figure 2: In/outlet vent in air outlet status | +----------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ If the internal pressure in the system drops below the elevation of the vent, the floating-ball valve opens and air can enter the system (figure 1). The air entering the system will expand due to the internal pressure being lower than atmospheric pressure. If the air remains in the vicinity of the vent (e.g. in case the vent is located at a "high" point in the system) it will be expelled through the same vent if the internal pressure rises again above the elevation of the vent (figure 2). In this case all entered air will be expelled through the same vent. Meanwhile the air will also be compressed due to the internal pressure being higher than atmospheric. The vent closes at the instant the amount of expelled air is equal to the amount of entered air (figure 3). This type of vent is denoted by "in/outlet". .. figure:: ../media/image795.png :figwidth: 2.39583in :align: center In/outlet vent in closed status If, however, the fluid flow causes the air to be moved away from the vent, the air will not be expelled through the vent. As soon as the system pressure rises again above the vent elevation the vent closes. This type of vent is denoted by "inlet". The vent types "in/outlet" and "inlet" are in fact not different physically, but only circumstantially. A third option is the vent that only allows air to be expelled from the system (figure 4). This is achieved by adding an "air check valve" to the vent. This valve is closed if the internal system pressure is below vent elevation (figure 5). A "sane" computation has to start with a positive initial air volume. This type of vent is denoted by "outlet". +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+ | |image159| | |image160| | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+ | Figure 4: Outlet vent in air outlet status | Figure 5:Outlet vent in closed air outlet status | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+ The air flow is compressible, with the consequence that due to local occurrence of supersonic velocities and shock waves, choking flow may arise. The air inlet capacity is therefore truncated to a certain level after which further reducing the internal pressure does not increase the air flow anymore. The expansion and compression of the air may be isothermal, adiabatic or polytropic. Since wanda is not a two-phase flow computer code it is not capable of describing the entrance and transportation of air in the pipeline as such. This means that the vent model is merely a boundary condition describing a pressure-discharge relation. In reality the amount of liquid within the system decreases when air enters the system. In the discharge supplied by the vent to the system the compressibility of the air is taken into account. The vent component supplies liquid to the system and therefore an error in the momentum balance (inertia forces) will be introduced. This error is small however if the amount of air is small compared to the pipeline volume. The continuity balance is not violated. Changing water levels due to air entrance or expansion/compression can be taken into account by specifying a level-area table. This table represents the storage area in the components in the neighbourhood of the VENT against the fluid level drop. As the entered volume of air increases, the fluid level drops according to this level-area table. If the fluid-level is taken into account (user-specified), then air enters the system more difficult and is expelled more easily, compared to the situation without fluid-level effect. For the description of the mathematical model four states are defined: - closed floating ball valve, - air inlet, - air outlet, - manual outlet. In case of "closed-in" air (states 1 and 4) the component behaves like an air vessel with adiabatic expansion and compression: .. math:: P V^{k}=C in which: = = ============================================= =============== P = absolute air pressure on fluid level [N/m\ :sup:`2`] V = air volume [m\ :sup:`3`] k = Laplace coefficient (ratio of specific heats) [-] C = Constant [Nm] = = ============================================= =============== The second equation governs the amount of supplying discharge *Q*: .. math:: Q=d V / d t In the "open" states 2 and 3 the change of air volume in time is dependent of two phenomena. Firstly the compression/expansion of the air, secondly the amount of air leaving/entering the system. The former is handled in the same way as with states 1 and 4. The latter is determined by either formula (3) to (6) or by the air valve characteristic, depending on which vent component has been selected. Both options are described here. Vent (capacity defined by coefficients) 1. Subsonic air flow in .. math:: Q_{\mathrm{air}}=\mathrm{C}_{\mathrm{in}} \mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{in}} \sqrt{7 \mathrm{R} \mathrm{T}_{0}} \sqrt{\left(\frac{\mathrm{P}}{\mathrm{P}_{0}}\right)^{1.4286}-\left(\frac{\mathrm{P}}{\mathrm{P}_{0}}\right)^{1.714}} ; \mathrm{P}_{0}>\mathrm{P}>0.53 \mathrm{P}_{0} in which: +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | *A*\ :sub:`in` | = | inlet area | [m\ :sup:`2`] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | *C*\ :sub:`in` | = | inlet discharge coefficient | [-] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | P | = | abs. internal pressure on fluid level | [Pa] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | *P*\ :sub:`0` | = | atmospheric pressure | [Pa] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | R | = | gas constant | [J/kg⋅K] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | *T*\ :sub:`0` | = | ambient air temperature | [K] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ | *Q*\ :sub:`air` | = | air flow (positive if into system: supplier!) | [m\ :sup:`3`/s] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------+ 2. Critical flow in .. math:: Q_{\text {air }}=C_{\text {in }} A_{\text {in }} \sqrt{7 \mathrm{R} \mathrm{T}_{0}} \cdot 0.259 ; \mathrm{P}<0.53 \mathrm{P}_{0} 3. Subsonic air flow out .. math:: Q_{\text {air }}=-C_{\text {out }} A_{\text {out }} \sqrt{7 R T_{0}}\left(\frac{P}{P_{0}}\right)^{\frac{k+1}{2 k}} \sqrt{\left(\frac{P_{0}}{P}\right)^{1.486}-\left(\frac{P_{0}}{P}\right)^{1.714}} ; \frac{P_{0}}{0.53}>P>P_{0} in which: +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+---------------+ | *A*\ :sub:`out` | = | outlet area | [m\ :sup:`2`] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+---------------+ | *C*\ :sub:`out` | = | outlet discharge coefficient | [-] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+---------------+ | k | = | Laplace coefficient (ratio of specific heats) | [-] | +-----------------+---+-----------------------------------------------+---------------+ 4. Critical flow out .. math:: Q_{\text {air }}=-C_{\text {out }} A_{\text {out }} \sqrt{7 \mathrm{R} T_{0}}\left(\frac{P}{P_{0}}\right)^{\frac{k+1}{2 k}} \cdot 0.259 \quad ; \frac{P_{0}}{0.53}