Creating a pump curve and pump

Step-by-step Guide

Pumps are widely used in water supply systems, so modelling them in InfoWorks WS Pro is vital. A Pump operates on a pump curve, which governs a pump’s operating characteristics.

In this example, there is a pressure deficit in a small network. Calculations are done for the pump RPM, duty head, and duty flow required to address the issue. The next step is to add a pump curve and a pump to the network.

First, create a new scenario:

1. In the Scenarios toolbar, click Create scenario.
2. In the Create New Scenario dialog box, type the name “Pump1”.
3. Click OK.

Next, add a pump curve:

4. In the Windows toolbar, expand the Grid windows drop-down and click New links window.

5. OR, in the Window menu, select Grid windows > New links window.

A grid opens with tabs along the bottom. Green tabs contain network objects and yellow tabs indicate data objects.

6. Click the Pump tab.

7. In the first row of the Pump ID column, enter “Pump”.
8. In the cell to the left of “Pump”, double-click to open the Pump Curve page.
9. On the Pump Curve page, enter a Nominal Speed value of “2800”.
10. Enter a Nominal Flow (l/s) value of “2.8”.
11. In the Generate Synthetic Pump Curve group box, click the Generate button.
12. In the Synthetic Pump Curve Generation dialog box, expand the Method drop-down and select InfoWorks 1 Point, if it is not selected.
13. In the Design/Nominal row, Head (m) column, enter a value of “35”.
14. Click OK.

The Pump Curve page updates to display the generated pump curve.

15. Click OK.
16. Close the grid window.

Next, add the pump station to the model:

17. In the GeoPlan, zoom into the right side of the network.
18. Double-click the short pipe with asset ID 102130, immediately downstream from the fixed head.
19. In the Properties panel toolbar, click Change type.
20. In the Change Object Type dialog box, select Pump Station.
21. Click OK.

A red warning box appears in the Pumps row, because the created pump station needs at least one pump.

22. In the Pumps row, click the More (…) button.

23. On the Pumps page, in the first row of the Pump Curve ID column, expand the drop-down and select Pump.
24. For Duty Flow (i/s), enter a value of “2.80”.
25. Set the Maximum Speed (rpm) to “2800”.
26. Set the Minimum Speed (rpm) to “1400”.
27. Click OK.

28. In the Properties panel, under Control Parameters, expand the Mode of Control drop-down and select PLAN (units).
29. Under Pump Control Data, in the Control Data row, click the More (…) button.
30. On the Pump Control Data page, set the Date & Time to April 20, 2020 at 00:00:00 in the proper date format for your region.
31. Set Pump Status Flags to 1.
32. Click OK.

33. Commit all changes to the database.
34. Click Yes in the following two notifications.
35. Click OK in the third notification.

Next, create a new run using the same network:

36. In the Scenarios toolbar, click Create scenario.
37. In the Create New Scenario dialog box, enter a name for the run. In this example, the name is “Pump Plan”.
38. Open the Scenarios tab.
39. Make sure only Pump1 is active.
40. Select Experimental.
41. Click Run.

To view the results:

42. Once the run is complete, from the Model Group window, under Pump Plan, drag-and-drop Pump Stations Control into the workspace.
43. Zoom into the area of the network with the added pump station.
44. In the Model Group window, under Selection List Group, drag-and-drop the LongSection selection list into the results GeoPlan.
45. In the Windows toolbar, click New long section.

Notice in the long section window that adding the pump station dramatically raised the hydraulic grade line, providing more than enough pressure.