Lesson 4 : Fittings, valves and pipes

In lesson 4 we will look at how fittings are added automatically to the pipework as you draw the system and how you can add additional elbows, tees, valves and pipe length manually if you need to.

 

•Fittings - Tees and elbows (automatic allocation)

•Fittings - Tees and elbows (manually allocation)  

•Additional pipe length

•Adding Valves 

 

 

 

 

Fittings - Tees and elbows (automatic allocation)

 

As you draw the hydraulic modal in the FHC drawing area, add pipes and change direction, FHC will automatically added the correct fitting. If we add a pipe going in the UP direction and then a seconded pipe in the NORTH direction we have created a 90 deg turn, FHC will add an Elbow fitting and the equivalent length automatically. If we add a seconded pipe in the SOUTH direction we will have changed the elbow to a TEE fitting and FHC will again add the correct fitting and equivalent length. We can see which fittings FHC has allocated in the drawing area by right clicking the mouse button in the drawing area and then selecting Fittings, you should now see 1E or 1T for each elbow and tee which has been allocated.

 

 

When FHC calculates the hydraulic model it will look at the number of Elbows and Tees which have been allocated and then lookup the equivalent length in the Pipe Data Table (PDT) which has been specified in the FHC project data setting Edit -> Project Data or [Ctlr+P], the length value will depend on the pipe size, pipe materiel, design authority and the Pipe Data Table which you have selected.

 

Fittings – Tees and elbows (manually allocation) 

We can also add additional elbows and tee pipe fittings in addition to the ones automatically allocated, we can do this in the ADD or EDIT pipe fittings dialogue. This can be very useful as we can draw a pipe and additional fittings, we may wish to do this to simplify the hydraulic model which we are drawing. For instance if you have a very long main between the pump set and valve set we do not necessary need to draw its full length or each turn.

In the example below we we have used the pipe edit command Edit -> Pipe Edit and added 5 additional Elbows and 2 additional Tees.  When FHC calculates a system it will add these fittings onto any which it is automatically allocated to correctly calculate the total equivalent length of pipe.

 

Additional pipe length

We can also add an additional pipe length to the length you have drawn in the FHC model again this can be useful particularly website has a pump house or water supply which is some distance from the control valve.  We have used the pipe edit command to add 50 m of pipe to a pipe which has been drawn 20m in length FHC will now use the total length of 60 m to calculate the pressure loss.

 

 

Adding Valves

In any hydraulic model we are going to need to add valves to the system they may be an installation control valves a non return valves or some other device which restricts the water flow. In FHC you need to add these valves when you add the pipe or you can can use the pipe edit command.  You can only add one valve to each section of pipe so if you require a stop valve and installation control valve we will need to pipes.

In the example below we have used the pipe edit command to add a gate valve by using valve type drop-down to select the valve.