A worked pump and piping case study — velocity-based pipe sizing, a full total dynamic head buildup, pump selection verified against the actual system-curve operating point, and an NPSH available vs. required cavitation check.
The project brief: transfer 250 gpm of a process liquid from an atmospheric tank to an elevated, pressurized tank roughly 40 ft higher, through about 480 ft of new pipe, a control valve, a check valve, and eight elbows. This is the project in the program where fluid mechanics, pump hydraulics, and mechanical selection come together into one procurement-ready deliverable — pipe size, total dynamic head, and NPSH margin are all real, load-bearing calculations, not illustrative estimates.
This module walks the whole design the way a real process engineer would: a velocity-band pipe sizing check that rejects an undersized option before any friction calculation, a term-by-term total dynamic head buildup (static elevation, tank pressure, piping friction, control valve drop), a pump verified at the true system-curve-and-pump-curve intersection rather than picked off a nameplate, and an NPSH check with a calculated margin traced back to a specific suction-piping decision. The full worked numbers, the complete bill of materials, and the finished design reasoning are part of the unlocked module below.