Influences on water hammer wave shape: an experimental study
Water hammer phenomena are of strong interest in a number of different industrial fields, amongst which the space industry. Here the priming of feedlines during start up of an engine as well as the rapid closing of valves upon shutdown may lead to pressure peaks symptomatic of a water hammer wave. Test benches used to conduct tests on future as well as current engines are also sensitive to water hammer waves traveling along their feedlines. To enhance the understanding of water hammer, we investigated different configurations and their influence on the wave shape in the frequency domain. The configurations feature a coiled pipe setup with a support structure and without a support structure. Two other phenomena will be presented. We found a beat phenomenon which is likely to be the so called Poisson coupling beat. Finally we will show that the second water hammer peak can reach pressures a lot higher than the first peak by additive interference of the primary and secondary water hammer wave.