Manufacturing tolerances in today’s high-pressure hydraulic systems demand tight control of system contamination. Contamination that is built into systems during manufacture and assembly must be removed before start-up to insure proper and predictable system performance throughout its service life.
A new or rebuilt hydraulic system should be flushed before it becomes operational. The concept of flushing is to loosen and remove contamination particles inside the system by forcing flushing fluid through it at high velocity. In theory, this leaves the inside walls of the fluid conductors at the same cleanliness level as the new fluid that will be installed. Then, during normal operation, the system will experience only externally and internally generated contamination that can be controlled with filtration.
Instructions for flushing usually specify a level of system cleanliness that must be achieved, and sometimes a fluid velocity that must be maintained during the flushing procedure. Typical instructions state that flushing must be accomplished at normal system-fluid velocities for a certain period of time with a certain level of filtration. More-stringent specifications may call for a particular fluid-contamination level and require documentation by fluid-contamination analysis.
One shortcoming of all these flushing methods is that they are based on procedures to clean the fluid, but ignore the interior cleanliness of the system. Even if the tubing and conductors have been installed with the greatest of visual care, the human eye can only see particles that are larger than 40 µm — well below the needs of even the crudest and most-elementary hydraulic system.
How high a velocity?
The critical variable in flushing to achieve acceptable fluid and conductor cleanliness is fluid velocity. Traditional flushing methods usually establish this velocity in one of two ways:
• the velocity must be high enough to achieve a Reynolds Number (NR) of 3,000 or more, or
• the velocity must meet or exceed the system fluid’s normal operating velocity as designed.
Experience has shown that neither of these flushing velocities is sufficient to assure the cleanliness of the ID of the system’s conductors. A short review of basic fluid dynamics explains why.
Reynolds Numbers are dimensionless and used (along with other factors) to classify fluid flow as either laminar, turbulent, or somewhere in between, Figure 1. Reynolds Number depends on the fluid’s viscosity and velocity and the ID of the pipe. The flow condition is termed laminar when the Reynolds Number is less than 2,000, signifying orderly flow with parallel streamlines. When Reynolds Number exceeds 3,000, the flow is considered turbulent, defined as the condition when fluid stream lines are no longer orderly. When Reynolds Numbers fall between 2,000 and 3,000, flow exists in transition, sometimes called the critical zone.
The hydraulic-fluid velocity required to achieve turbulent flow is well within the recommended fluid-velocity guidelines for hydraulic-fluid conductors. This equation reinforces that statement:
NR = VD/v
where V = fluid velocity in fps, D = ID of the fluid conductor in ft, and v = fluid kinematic viscosity in ft2/sec.
Suppose the Reynolds Number is 3,000, the conductor is a 1-in. tube with a wall thickness of 0.049 in., and the fluid’s kinematic viscosity is 1.288 × 10-4 ft2/sec. Calculated fluid velocity, then, is 5.14 fps, which corresponds to a flow rate of 10.24 gpm in this instance.
The viscosity (and, therefore, the Reynolds Number) of a typical hydraulic fluid is influenced by temperature and pressure. That is, the hotter the oil, the higher the NR for the same fluid velocity and pressure. The higher the pressure, the lower the NR for the same fluid velocity and temperature. Thus, specifying that Reynolds Number should be 3,000 is not a stringent requirement but is well within the normal operating fluid velocities of a system. By definition, turbulent flow has been created because the fluid streamlines are no longer parallel, but sufficient fluid motion to clean the inside walls of the conductors has not been generated.
Even at the recommended maximum fluid velocities and NRs for hydraulic-system working conductors, fluid flow still is not turbulent enough to greatly affect contamination on conductor walls. Boundary layer fluid at the interior surfaces of the fluid conductor remains undisturbed.
The Reynolds Number for flow at normal system velocities next can be calculated using the same conductor size and kinematic viscosity as in the first example, but with the velocity increased to 20 fps. This higher velocity results in a Reynolds Number of 11,671, which corresponds to a flow rate of 39.8 gpm.
As Reynolds Number increases, flow conditions go from laminar, through the critical zone, to turbulent. Once the Reynolds Number exceeds 3,000, resistance to fluid flow is a combination of the effects of turbulence and of viscous drag at the conductor wall. (This region of viscous drag at the conductor wall is known as the viscous sublayer.) There is a transition zone within the turbulent flow range where flow resistance goes from being governed by turbulence effects to being governed by the roughness of the inside wall of the conductor.
This is shown clearly when inspecting the Moody diagram, Figure 2, which graphically demonstrates the relationship between Reynolds Number; friction factor, f; and the roughness of the conductor’s inside surface, e. Resistance to flow through a fluid conductor, f, is only affected by the surface roughness of the fluid conductor when the Reynolds Number exceeds 4,000. Thus, the majority of the resistance to flow is created by turbulence effects. Only when the Reynolds Number is high enough to cause surface projections of the conductor walls to extend beyond the viscous sublayer does the surface come in contact with the turbulent flow, thereby affecting the pressure drop in the conductor.
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For drawn tubing, average surface roughness, e, is 0.000005 ft. If the conductor is the same 1-in. tubing with 0.049-in. wall thickness, ratio e/D will be 0.000067. The Moody diagram indicates that the Reynolds Number for this conductor must be at least 25,000 before the inside surface exposes its resistance to fluid flow. To ensure the inside wall of the conductor will be cleaned, the Reynolds Number must be greater than 25,000. For flow to be fully in the rough zone of turbulent flow, the Reynolds Number must be greater than 3.25 × 107. Using 1.288 × 10-4 ft2/sec (the same fluid kinematic viscosity as in the first example), a Reynolds Number of 25,000 corresponds to a fluid velocity of 42.8 fps, or a flow rate of 85 gpm — still easily attainable with conventional hydraulic pumps.
One argument holds that if the walls of a conductor are not greatly affected by normal system fluid velocities, contaminants lodged there will have little chance of entering the fluid stream. This may be partially true, but the argument applies only to smooth, straight conductors at steady flows and pressures. It is not representative of normal installations that combine straight runs, bends, and numerous fittings where flow patterns are only predictable empirically and where pressure fluctuations and spikes are commonplace.
Depending on the severity of service that the system will experience, pressure spikes will dislodge contaminants held in the walls of the conductors and between fitting interfaces. In critical systems, 3 to 25-m particles can impact system performance significantly. The only way to guarantee that conductor contamination (that can be released at any time during operation) does not affect system performance is to protect each component with a filter, an option so costly that it would not be used in most systems. Although flushing hydraulic system conductors at fluid velocities encountered during normal operation can provide fluid velocities higher than flushing at a Reynolds Number of 3,000, the inside wall of the conductors still will not be cleaned.
High-velocity, high-pressure flushing
Flows that produce Reynolds Numbers greater than 25,000 ensure exposing conductor walls to turbulent flow. Because system conductors may consist of pipe, tube, hose, and associated fittings, the specification of a contractual Reynolds Number is difficult and still does not guarantee that conductors will be cleaned. The best you can do is establish conditions to maximize the Reynolds Number. This is done by using the highest possible velocity at the lowest possible fluid viscosity. Limiting factors are the conductor’s pressure rating and the fluid’s maximum operating temperature.
Safe flushing of a system requires valves actuators to be bypassed so that the only resistance to fluid flow is the pressure drop in the conductors and fittings. When flow becomes turbulent, the pressure drop is proportional to the square of the velocity. Extrapolating this relationship to its maximum, the highest possible velocity occurs when the pressure drop in the conductor generated by fluid flow is equal to the maximum test pressure of the conductor. Flushing a system at these high flows and pressures has the added advantage of expanding and contracting the conductors and fittings as the pressure fluctuates while inducing highly turbulent flow. This optimizes the flushing action.
Equating the pressure drop in a conductor to the maximum pressure rating of that conductor allows calculating the corresponding Reynolds Number and the maximum fluid velocity possible. The temperature of the fluid directly affects its viscosity and is the other variable that can control NR. Flushing pressure also affects viscosity, but this is difficult to quantify because pressure in the pipe being flushed will vary from maximum at the pumping source to atmospheric at the conductor outlet.
The equation used to calculate head loss in the turbulent zone is:
hl = fLV2/2D ,
where: hl = head loss, f = friction factor found in the Moody diagram, L = conductor length in ft, V = fluid velocity, and D = conductor’s ID in inches.
This equation will calculate the maximum velocities and Reynolds Numbers that can be achieved for any given maximum flushing pressure.
Determining the friction factor for pipe flow requires iterative calculations using the Moody diagram. Given the pressure rating, ID, length, and relative roughness of the conductor, assume a friction factor, then calculate the fluid velocity. Next, calculate the Reynolds Number and determine a new friction factor from the Moody diagram. Repeat the calculation until the friction factor converges.
The table above contains velocities and Reynolds Numbers that have been calculated for 200 ft of Schedule 80 pipe using the maximum test pressure for the pipe and a surface roughness of 0.00015 ft for wrought-iron pipe. These calculations did not take into account the pressure drop produced by the various fittings normally used, so the values for the attainable fluid velocities and Reynolds Numbers are optimistically high. Also, special fluids with lower viscosities or flushing at higher temperatures to reduce the fluid viscosity can increase the Reynolds Number.
The values determined for maximum flushing velocity and flow rate indicate that some of these conditions — mainly for lines with inside diameters smaller than ¾ in. — can be satisfied using conventional high-pressure pumps of appropriate flow capacity, although it may be difficult to induce the pressure fluctuations needed to dislodge contaminants. For systems with larger conductors, special methods must be used to achieve the necessary pressures, fluid velocities, and NRs to properly flush the lines.
Patrick Jones is founder of Consolidated Fluid Power Ltd., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.