AFT Blog

Welcome to the Applied Flow Technology Blog where you will find the latest news and training on how to use AFT Fathom, AFT Arrow, AFT Impulse, AFT xStream and other AFT software products.

Ben is AFT's Technical Sales Manager. He can be found teaching many of AFT's technical seminars, stopping over for lunch and learns with our customers and managing the AFT booth at trade shows. Prior to joining AFT, Ben worked as a contract engineer for Eaton Corporation and WellbornYX Corporation. He holds a Bachelor's of Science in Chemical...

Ben is AFT's Technical Sales Manager. He can be found teaching many of AFT's technical seminars, stopping over for lunch and learns with our customers and managing the AFT booth at trade shows. Prior to joining AFT, Ben worked as a contract engineer for Eaton Corporation and WellbornYX Corporation. He holds a Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering (2009) from Colorado School of Mines. 

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Reference Densities for Pump Operation

You have just received a pump curve from a manufacturer to use in modeling your piping system.  However, the pump manufacturer only tested their pump with water while your system fluid has a density that is different than water.  These differences need to be accounted for with your flow model as well.  This may sound like a bit of a daunting task up front. But there is good news!  In AFT Fathom 8 and AFT Impulse 5, there are two very helpful features that will allow you to easily account for these differences with no trouble at all! The pressure rise...

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Making Use of the Quick Access Panel

With the release of AFT Fathom 8 and AFT Impulse 5, there is an incredibly useful new feature available on the Workspace called the "Quick Access Panel".  This feature allows you to quickly and easily work with several useful features of the software in one area such as the Scenario Manager, Pipe and Junction Inspection, Workspace Overview Map, the Checklist, and ability to activate the add-on modules. Scenario Manager Access to the full Scenario Manager capabilities exists in the Quick Access Panel.  Add new scenarios, clone scenarios, promote scenarios, re-order scenarios, add notes for scenarios, etc. Properties The Properties tab in...

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Estimating Pump Inertia, Specific Speed, and Four Quadrant Data within AFT Impulse 5

An excellent new feature of AFT Impulse 5 is that it is possible to estimate the pump inertia, specific speed, and four quadrant data sets directly within AFT Impulse 5!  No more need to perform external spreadsheet calculations for these estimates. In addition to that, AFT Impulse 5 can use the entered pump and power/efficiency curve to perform these estimates which makes things much easier and efficient!! First step is to enter pump curve data and generate the curve fits as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1:  Pump Performance Curve from Entered Data   Next, click on the "Transient" tab of...

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You’ve got a nice piping system! But how much will it cost?

You have just finished designing your system and built a model of your system in AFT Fathom and have convinced your team and the client that the system will achieve all the desired pressures, flow rates, and temperatures.  The next big question is, “How much will this system cost?”  With AFT Fathom, you have the ability to answer that question in great detail! You can easily determine the full cost of pipe materials and system components!  Not only that, but you can quickly figure out how much it will cost to install and operate the entire system!   You will even be...

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Use Control Valve Junctions to Size Valves and Orifice Plates

AFT Fathom can EASILY size valves AND orifice plates with a SINGLE Control Valve junction!  There is no need to perform strenuous hand calculations to determine a valve Cv or an orifice diameter.  Just specify the system boundary conditions, pipe input properties, and the desired flow rate (or pressure) and AFT Fathom will calculate the Cv, K factor, and equivalent orifice diameter/area for you all at once! Figure 1 illustrates a control valve junction at the location of a valve or an orifice plate.  For known flow, use a Flow Control Valve (FCV).  For known upstream pressure, use a Pressure Sustaining...

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Using Duplicate Special to Easily Model Different Cases of an Single System

With AFT products, the Scenario Manager is an incredibly powerful feature that allows one to model several different cases in only one model file.  This includes different operating conditions, multiple pump configurations, different piping, system expansions, etc.  The list of different cases to model is essentially endless! Now, what if you have a single system and you would like to quickly model several cases where perhaps only a few parameters are changing?  You can start by building a single system on the Workspace.  Then you can use the “Duplicate Special” feature in the Edit menu to duplicate the entire system and...

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Modeling Area Changes As Additional Pipe Fittings

If you have a system where there are several area changes throughout the piping, modeling every single area change and connecting pipe can become taxing and time consuming.  Also, the more pipes and junctions that are in a model, the higher the complexity. With AFT software, it is very simple to include the area change losses in the pipes themselves! As seen in the Pipe Fittings and Losses screen shot below, there are four area change types that can be used and either abrupt or conical shapes can be modeled.  The key to determining which expansion or contraction type to use...

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