This simulator follows a fluid parcel through an inlet, a raised and re-bored middle test section, and an elevated exit, accounting for pressure head, velocity head and elevation head at each of three stations on an instrumented energy bench. Adjust imposed flow, inlet/exit bore, inlet pressure, middle bore, elevation rise and an explicit loss coefficient, and watch every metre of head get tracked from station to station.
• A real-time 3D scene of the inlet pressure/flow station, the sloped riser and support rail, the interchangeable middle test section (cutaway to show the internal passage), the elevated exit/recovery spool, three flush-tap pressure gauges, an energy-head ledger and a loss insert/audit station, with home view, focus-selected-part, show-full-enclosure, exploded view, auto-rotate, expand and show/hide labels controls. • An Equipment laboratory tab with a labeled parts index (inlet, riser, middle section, exit, taps, ledger, loss insert) and click-to-inspect component callouts. • Six experiment controls: imposed volume flow (0–8 L/s), inlet/exit bore (60–120 mm), inlet gauge pressure (5–180 kPa(g)), middle test-section bore (30–100 mm), middle/exit elevation above inlet (0–4 m) and total loss coefficient on a middle-velocity basis (0–3, dimensionless). • Playback controls: pause/resume, advance 0.1 s, advance 1 s, and four playback speeds (10× slow motion, real time, 10× faster, 1 minute per second), plus start/stop animation and remove-head-loss (ideal) actions. • A Curves & measurements tab with a three-station head balance chart, two live charts (station pressures and total head history), the governing energy equations (continuity, energy-head balance, loss allocation) and snapshot measurement readouts. • An Experiments tab with four guided fixtures (ideal rising passage, elevation only, add irreversible loss, low-pressure boundary) and a Model verification bench that runs independent deterministic checks against a fresh model without disturbing your live experiment, plus a timestamped event log and a copyable trial report. • A Learn & assess tab with guided lessons, a knowledge-check quiz with reset, and a written model-scope statement with a technical-background reference link.
Bernoulli's principle states that along a streamline, pressure head, velocity head and elevation head sum to a constant total head in the absence of losses. The simulator's three-column ledger makes each contribution visible at every station: a smaller middle bore raises velocity (and therefore velocity head) while conserving volume flow via Q = A·v, which must come from somewhere — either pressure head or elevation head falls to compensate.
Raising the middle and exit sections' elevation at fixed flow and bore requires an equal reduction in pressure head, since velocity head is unchanged; the simulator shows this directly as the pressure gauge readings drop when you increase the elevation control, even though total head stays the same in the ideal (zero-loss) case.
Introducing a nonzero loss coefficient K models irreversible head loss as hL = K·v₂²/(2g), split explicitly 40% before the middle station and 60% afterward — a deliberate teaching allocation, not a fitting correlation. Total head therefore decreases monotonically from inlet to exit whenever K is nonzero, which the total-head chart makes visible as a step down at each station rather than a flat line.
This is a steady, one-dimensional, incompressible-water model (density 1000 kg/m³, kinetic-energy correction factor 1) where flow and inlet pressure are imposed independently by an external supply — it is not a pump/system operating-point or CFD solution. Below 2.34 kPa absolute pressure, single-phase validity is flagged rather than silently assumed, and the model has no resolved velocity profile, compressibility or cavitation physics.
Yes. If velocity decreases (a larger passage at the same flow), velocity head converts back into pressure head. This can raise the pressure gauge reading even though total head is constant (ideal case) or decreasing (with loss) — pressure recovery does not mean energy was created.
With velocity and loss unchanged, the pressure-head term must fall by 1 m to keep the energy balance consistent — the simulator's 'elevation only' experiment demonstrates exactly this: equal bores at the middle and exit stations give equal velocity, so both stations lose exactly the elevation change in pressure head relative to the inlet.
The model assumes a continuous single-phase liquid. If the calculated ideal pressure at any station falls below roughly 2.34 kPa absolute (using 101.325 kPa atmosphere), that assumption is no longer physically valid — real water could begin to vaporize. The simulator flags this rather than modeling actual cavity formation.
No. Flow and inlet pressure are independently imposed by an assumed external supply in this bench — the simulator is not solving where a pump curve intersects a system curve. It is a controlled energy-balance teaching tool, not a pump selection or CFD tool.