Work down the sections in order. Each one feeds the next, and the panel
validates each input as you enter it, and reports the engineering results when you press RUN CALCULATION. Nothing here needs
a vendor quotation to get started.
Starting a new pump? Press RESET first. The panel keeps the previous project's inputs
(and its Suction Source Type, machine data and results) sitting in every field until you clear
them — beginning a fresh design on top of an old one is how numbers from two different pumps
end up mixed together. RESET returns every field, chart and report to its untouched starting
state before you enter a single value.
Set your units first. The unit system selector in the top bar drives the whole suite —
SI (m, bar, kg/hr), US customary (ft, psi, GPM, HP) or mixed metric (cm, kg/cm², L/min, g/s).
You may switch at any time, including after a run: every input, output, chart, schematic and report
converts together. Switching units never changes the answer, only how it is written.
Step 1 — 01 · Design data sheet
Company, project location, pump tag number, service description, engineer, date and revision.
None of it affects the calculation; all of it is printed on the report and the schematic, so fill it
in if the output is going into a document package.
Step 2 — 02 · Fluid properties
- Service Fluid — pick from the list. Density, viscosity and the vapour-pressure basis
are filled in for you.
- Liquid Density and Dynamic Viscosity — overwrite the filled values whenever you
have datasheet figures. Viscosity above roughly 20 cSt triggers the ANSI/HI 9.6.7 viscous
correction automatically.
- Vapor Pressure — calculated from the operating temperature by the Antoine equation,
with constants from Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, Table 2-8. It is editable: type over it if
you have a measured figure. Choosing user defined as the fluid leaves it blank for you to fill in.
Petroleum cuts (crude, diesel, condensate, LPG, fuel oil) are evaluated through a
named pseudo-component of similar volatility, and the substitution is stated under the field.
A real cut's vapour pressure is set by its light ends — confirm against the assay RVP before you
commit the NPSH margin.
Step 3 — 03 · Operating temperature
One temperature drives the vapour pressure, and through it the NPSH available. The
vapour pressure vs temperature graph beside it is drawn for the fluid you selected, with your
operating point marked. If the temperature falls outside the range the Antoine constants were fitted
over, the figure is still given but flagged as extrapolated.
Step 4 — 04 · Process sizing flowrates
Enter Normal Vol Flow only. Mass flow and volumetric flow are derived from it and the density.
Design Flow Margin is a percentage added on top; the Design Flowrate that results is the flow
every downstream calculation uses.
Step 5 — 05 · Suction line & elevation
- Tank Arrangement — choose open flooded suction, open suction lift, or closed tank. Open
tanks use ambient pressure; closed tanks use the entered gauge pressure plus atmospheric pressure.
- Vessel Pressure — gauge. The absolute equivalent is shown beside it.
- Plant Grade Elevation is the datum, normally zero. Vessel Elevation is the height of the
vessel base above it, and Pump CL Elevation the pump centreline.
- LLL is entered as a percentage of vessel height, not as an elevation. The static head the
pump sees is the resulting liquid level minus the pump centreline — negative when the pump sits
above the level, which is a suction lift.
- Suction Line ΔP Reference — see the box below.
Choosing the line loss. The ΔP table is one choice, made once:
- Short / normal / long run — a pipe-layout approximation. Use it for early work when the
routing is not drawn yet.
- User defined — a figure you already have from a line-sizing study.
- Calculated from the piping — opens the calculator below the table. Enter NPS, schedule,
run length and fitting counts; the loss is worked out by Darcy–Weisbach with Colebrook friction
over ASME B36.10M bores and Crane TP‑410 fitting K values.
The calculator always shows its result, and states whether that result is the one in force. Only the
row you select governs.
Step 6 — 06 · Discharge side
Max Destination Pressure (absolute) and Discharge Elevation set where the liquid has to
arrive. The discharge ΔP works exactly as the suction side, with its own calculator.
Shut‑off Head Margin sets the head rise used when checking the curve to shut‑off.
Elevations are measured against plant grade, but the lift the pump does is
measured from its own centreline — raising the pump reduces the differential head, it does not
increase it.
Step 7 — 07 · Power calculations configuration
Two reference tables, one for pump efficiency and one for motor efficiency. A band is highlighted
automatically to match the calculated power. Select a row yourself to override it — your choice is
then held and is not overwritten on the next recalculation. The AUTO button beside each table hands
the choice back to the software. Motor Service Factor is applied when sizing the motor.
Step 8 — 08 · Machine data
Optional machine data for pump curve screening, speed-dependent performance and the selected-family 3D animation.
- Pump Speed, Stages, Impeller Suction (single or double) — feed specific speed and
suction specific speed.
- Design Suction Sp. Speed (Nss) — the eye the pump would be built to. 9000 is a conventional
process pump; a conservative eye is nearer 7000–8500.
- Rated Flow as % of BEP — where your duty sits on the machine. API 610 §6.1.4 wants the
rated point between 80 % and 110 % of best efficiency.
- Predict the pump curve — when ticked, and when you have not entered an NPSHr, the software
models head, efficiency, NPSHr and power against flow, and finds the operating point where the pump
curve crosses the system curve.
Step 9 — 09 · Nozzle selection
Both nozzles default to AUTO, which selects the smallest standard bore meeting the target
velocity (2.0 m/s suction, 3.5 m/s discharge by default — both editable in section 08). Nozzle sizes
are input data, so pick them yourself when the pump is already chosen; the software then reports the
velocity you would actually get and whether it is acceptable, alongside what it would have selected.
Step 10 — Run
The amber REQUIRED INPUTS panel above the run button lists the eleven compulsory entries and
strikes each one through as you supply it. Press RUN PUMP CALCULATION when it is clear.
Choose the pump principle first. Centrifugal / impeller pumps normally suit larger continuous flow. Positive-displacement pumps suit controlled flow, viscous liquids or higher differential pressure and need an appropriate relief path. Rotary PD includes vane, lobe, screw, gear and peristaltic; piston is reciprocating. A peristaltic uses hose connections, so its hose size and allowable vacuum/pressure govern instead of the normal flanged nozzle ratio.
Reading the results
- NPSH cavitation margin — the gauge shows NPSHa against NPSHr with the margin marked. Its
scale is set by the duty, so read the end labels rather than assuming a fixed span.
- Pump curve chart — head, system head, NPSHr and efficiency against flow, with the API 610
preferred operating region (70–120 % of BEP) shaded and the operating point marked.
- Pump family selection — reads the entered flow, head, viscosity and suction condition, then classifies the candidate as centrifugal/impeller, reciprocating piston, rotary positive displacement, or submersible centrifugal. A submersible is an installation below the liquid level, not a self-priming pump above it.
- Industrial 3D view — switch to Industrial to see the selected family, transparent internal mechanism where applicable, calculated flow route, suction/discharge ports, bore sizes and any fitting-loss set. Drag to rotate; click a component to identify it. Flow particles illustrate direction and relative rate, not CFD.
- Analytical view — keeps the hydraulic pressure and elevation model. Use it to read the calculated system, and use Industrial to inspect the selected equipment.
- Compact by default, full detail one click away — the longer ranked lists (family
selection, materials, seal plans, the Bill of Materials, the operator inspection
points) open showing the top pick or only the rows that need attention, with a "View full list"
disclosure on each section to see every entry. Nothing is deleted or hidden permanently, and a new
RUN CALCULATION always resets back to the compact view. Printing or downloading the report always
includes every row regardless of what is currently collapsed on screen.
Auto‑design
When a check fails, the design assistant lists the correction with an APPLY button that writes the
value into the input it belongs to. When nothing fails you get a green
“DESIGN IS SOUND — NO AUTO‑DESIGN CORRECTION NEEDED” banner naming every margin that was
checked and the value it passed on, so a clear design is as obvious as a failing one.
Report
Download the PDF from the report button. It carries the design data sheet, all inputs and outputs,
the schematic, selected-pump classification, performance graphs, and — once the sections below have
run — the mechanical design, materials, documentation and reliability content described next.
The performance-graphs page includes the pump/system curve and nozzle-velocity charts, the family
selection envelope map, the material pressure/temperature envelope, the affinity-law curve, the
internal flow diagram, and both 3D visualizations (impeller viewer, digital twin) — a snapshot
of each one exactly as it stood when the report was built, regardless of which sections you currently
have collapsed on screen.
What is predicted and what is not. Where you have not supplied a figure, NPSHr and efficiency are
predicted from suction specific speed and Hydraulic Institute attainable-efficiency data, and the whole
pump curve is a model, not a rating. The panel labels every predicted figure as predicted. They exist so a
duty can be placed on a machine and checked before an enquiry goes out —
replace them with the vendor curve before purchase.
Beyond hydraulic sizing — sections 10–34
Running the calculation above also drives a mechanical, materials, documentation and reliability
layer built on the same one duty — nothing below asks for it twice, and nothing below can change
the hydraulic result above. Every section states plainly when a figure is predicted, a
preliminary assumption, or genuinely data required because this suite does not model it
(a vendor equipment weight, for instance) — it is never invented.
Family, configuration and mechanical design. From the duty and viscosity, the panel ranks
pump families (centrifugal shapes through positive-displacement types) and, for a centrifugal
winner, an API 610 configuration (OH/BB/VS class). From there it works out an impeller
shape and size from specific speed, a casing pressure class and volute throat velocity, a
material of construction screening for casing/impeller/shaft/wear rings against your fluid's
corrosivity, a shaft sizing (torque, deflection, first critical speed), a bearing
selection (L10 life), a mechanical seal plan (API 682) and face/secondary materials, and the
driver's enclosure, coupling and starting method.
Operating modes. Affinity & trim lets you explore a speed or impeller-diameter
change against the same system curve without touching the base calculation. Multiple pump
operation combines identical units in parallel, series or duty-standby against that curve. If
Phase 2's top-ranked family turns out to be a positive-displacement machine, a dedicated
safety-screening section takes over (relief protection is mandatory and checked, pulsation
dampening for reciprocating types, volumetric efficiency vs. viscosity) — the centrifugal-
specific panels above stay visible but are marked illustrative only. A slurry top family adds
a minimum-transport-velocity check; a hygienic one adds FDA/3-A material screening and a
CIP/SIP checklist.
Visualization, documentation and field use. A 3D digital twin lets you click any
component (casing, impeller, shaft, bearings, seal, coupling, driver, baseplate) for its computed
result, drawn with a real-metal PBR look and cast shadows. The internal flow diagram plots
the velocity this calculation already found at six points along the wetted path — clearly
labelled as schematic, not CFD — and offers three interchangeable views of that same data:
2D DIAGRAM (the original flat station-by-station line), 3D PATH (the same colored
segments laid along a 3D pump-shaped curve), and INDUSTRIAL (that same path threaded through
simple shaded casing/pipe hardware). Switching views never recalculates anything. A Bill of
Materials and a P&ID line list (seal support piping, minimum-flow line, relief/
pulsation items) are assembled from the same results, ready to hand to drafting. A 14-point
operator inspection list and a set of maintenance clearance / foundation envelopes give
field and layout content for the plant walkthrough.
Reliability, cost and comparison. Reliability & failure analysis is a diagnostic
aid: report a symptom you are observing and it is checked against this duty's own results — a
cause this suite cannot verify from a calculation (misalignment, lubrication) is always marked as
requiring field inspection, never guessed at. Life-cycle cost estimates the energy share of
total cost (typically 85–90% for a continuously-run pump) from an electricity rate and
operating hours you supply; capital, installation and maintenance cost are not modelled and say so.
Pump comparison saves two calculated snapshots side by side so a design change's effect is
visible at a glance.
