AFT Blog
In AFT Fathom and AFT Impulse, it is possible to model a submerged pump where a short and possibly frictionless suction pipe for the pump’s inlet does not need to be modeled. When modeling a submerged pump, there are two options available for specifying the system inlet boundary condition at the pump suction. As shown in Figure 1 below, the Submerged Pump’s Suction Pressure can either be specified as “Head (HGL)” or “Pressure”. Modeling a submerged pump is not the only time where the “Head (HGL)” or “Pressure” choices will arise. If an Exit Valve (i.e., a valve that discharges...
Have you ever finished running an AFT Impulse model and then received the following Warning message shown in Figure 1 and then wondered what it means? During a waterhammer analysis, the flowrates are constantly changing all throughout the system, therefore, the velocities and Reynold's numbers are also constantly changing. The friction factors will also be constantly changing during the transient. By default, AFT Impulse will use the friction factors that are obtained during the steady-state analysis and then use the same friction factors during the transient and they will be assumed to remain constant. Since it is possible for the flowrates...
Amongst the vast multitude of superbly efficient features within AFT Software, the customization and Database capabilities are certainly of significant importance. If you are not familiar with how to use the Databases within our software to manage your customized information, then getting familiar should be a top priority for what you learn how to do next in our software. Making effective use of Databases will save you and your team of AFT users incredible amounts of time! The vast amounts of data that you can customize within our software includes: Components (junctions)Fluid propertiesPipe materialsPipe insulationFittings & Losses (that get lumped into...
Each AFT software product employs five Primary Window tabs in which you would build, define, and analyze the model of your system. Of these, the Visual Report window is incredibly useful in that you are able to overlay your model input or output parameters directly on top of the graphical layout of the system itself. This is an excellent feature to use when you want to provide the bottom line results to clients and colleagues at a high level (or a detailed level). Figure 1 is an example of what the Visual Report for a particular system might look like. As...
AFT software products have had powerful graphing capabilities for a very long time. Many types of graphs can be created with AFT products such as pump vs. system curves, profile plots along a flow path, gradelines and elevation profiles, transient plots (with AFT Impulse or the AFT Fathom XTS module), slurry system curves (with AFT Fathom SSL or AFT Impulse SSL modules), and selected solutions that allow you to plot various output parameters for desired pipes. All of these graphing capabilities are incredibly important to engineers as they analyze the hydraulic behavior of their system. The ability to customize the graphs...
One of the newest features of AFT Fathom 9 that will add a lot more efficiency to analyzing your results is the new Design Alert Manager! In addition to the new Design Alert Manager, it is also possible to add general Design Alerts for junctions such as inlet or outlet pressure, or perhaps the pressure loss across a junction. In previous versions of our software, it would be possible to create different Design Alerts for pipes where you could specify a minimum or maximum value for a particular output parameter such as a maximum pressure limit, minimum flow rate, maximum velocity,...
Well, if the answer is "more than one", then you are probably struggling to deal with way more model files than you need to be. With all AFT products, the Scenario Manager is an incredibly powerful feature that allows one to model several different cases within a single model file. This includes different operating conditions, multiple pump configurations, different piping, system expansions, hot days, cold days, insulation, fouling and pipe scaling, etc. The list of different cases that can be modeled is essentially endless! So, I have said it once, and I will say it again...The Scenario Manager is one of...