Numerical study of anti-ram of hydraulic lines by an additional viscoelastic pipe

The purpose of this paper is to study numerically the effect of adding a short viscoelastic pipe in series with a main quasi-rigid pipe on water hammer phenomenon. The model takes into account the viscoelastic behaviour of the added pipe. The governing equations of such phenomenon are two coupled, non linear, hyperbolic, partial equations. The fluid pressure and velocity are considered as two principal dependant variables. The problem has been solved by the non linear method of characteristics. The obtained results show that the deformability of the additional pipe reduces the celerity of pressure waves and significantly alleviates the pressure fluctuations.