A pump curve represents a graphical representation of the relationship between a pump’s flow rate and conditions at the inlet and outlet nodes. The pump curve allows the user to analyze the performance of pumps in water management systems, helping optimize the design and operation of water systems for various applications, such as irrigation, water supply, or flood control.
The Pump Curve Data command of GeoSTORM allows the user to define the pump curves used for storage areas. Using this command, the pump curve data can be defined for the storage area locations where water is stored, and pumps are necessary to manage the movement of stored water.
Follow the steps below to use the Pump Curve Data command:
- From the Input ribbon menu, click on Storage Areas dropdown menu and select the Pump Curve Data command.
- The Pump Curve Data dialog box will be displayed.
The following sections describe how to use the Pump Curve Data command and interact with the above dialog box.
Selecting Pump Curve
The Select Pump Curve section allows the user to select the pump curve for purposes of defining the pump curve data. The user can create a new pump curve, copy existing pump curve data to a new pump curve, and delete a pump curve. In addition, the user can navigate between pump curves and enter a description detailing the defined pump curve.
The following options are provided in this section:
- Pump curve ID
This dropdown combo box lists all the pump curves defined in the current scenario. Click on the edit option (i.e., the pencil icon) to edit the pump curve ID. The Up and Down arrow buttons allow the user to switch between downstream and upstream pump curves. Note that the Up and Down arrow buttons will be disabled (i.e., grayed out) if the current scenario contains only one pump curve. - Description
This optional text field allows the user to enter additional information that describes the current pump curve. - New
The [New] button allows the user to draw a new pump curve on the Map View. Note that the ID of every newly created pump curve must be unique. - Copy
The [Copy] button allows the user to create a copy of the current pump curve along with its associated data. - Delete
The [Delete] button allows the user to delete the current pump curve from the current scenario. - Less/More
The [< Less] and [More >] buttons at the Select Pump Curve section header allow the user to hide and display the right side of the dialog box containing the Pump Curve Plot. This allows the dialog box to be smaller when the user does not want to see the plot view.
Pump Curve Specifications
This section allows the user to define specifications for the selected pump curve. From the Pump curve type dropdown combo box, the user can select the type of pump curve being defined. The following pump curve types are available in the dropdown combo box:
- Head Differential vs Flow (Type 3) (default)
- Depth vs Flow (Type 4)
Head Differential vs Flow (Type 3)
This pump curve type is used to define the pump curve’s flow vs head difference data. A Head Differential vs Flow pump curve defines the pump characteristic curve at a nominal impeller speed to relate flow rate and delivered head. Selecting this pump curve type displays a data table with Head Difference and Flow columns. The Head Difference column allows the user to enter the head difference between the pump inlet elevation at the storage area and the pump outlet elevation at the discharge node. The Flow column allows the user to enter the flow rate. Once the curve data is defined, the corresponding graphical plot of the pump performance curve will be displayed in the Pump Curve Plot section as shown below.
Depth vs Flow (Type 4)
This pump curve type is used to enter the pump curve’s flow vs inlet node depth data. A Depth vs Flow pump curve defines the pump characteristic curve for a variable speed pump where flow varies continuously with inlet node water depth. Selecting this pump curve type displays a data table with Depth and Flow columns. The Depth column allows the user to enter the depth of water above the pump inlet elevation at the storage area. The Flow column allows the user to enter the flow rate. Once the curve data is defined, the corresponding graphical plot of the pump performance curve will be displayed in the Pump Curve Plot section as shown below.
Right-clicking within the data table displays context menu commands that allow users to cut, copy, and paste the data of the selected cells, as well as delete rows from the table. In addition, the user can copy the table data to the Windows clipboard or export it to Microsoft Excel or as a PDF format using these context menu commands.
Similarly, right-clicking within the Pump Curve Plot displays context menu commands such as zoom, pan, copy, save as image, etc. for the graphical plot.