Hydraulic Transients Following Valve Closure

An experimental rig has been constructed to measure the transient response of a water pipeline following rapid valve closure. The experimental results were compared with theoretical predictions based on two methods of digital computer simulation. The first approach is based on the Method of Characteristics and the second on the Finite Element method. The procedure adopted does not require the introduction of explicitly prescribed end conditions. Both methods give a good correlation with experimental data and the Finite Element method is shown to possess the additional advantage of being stable for time steps exceeding that permissible by the Method of Characteristics.