GRUNDFOS

NET POSITIVE SUCTION

WHITE PAPER
HEAD (NPSH)
by Steve Wilson

N et Positive Suction Head (NPSH) is one of

the most misunderstood factors that impact
pump performance and life cycle. In this White
Since all liquids have a natural tendency to
become gases, if allowed, these vapors can exist
in all fluid systems. When the amount of these
Paper, we will provide an overview of the fac- vapors (gases) exceeds an acceptable level, then
tors impacting NPSH and how to enhance the problems arise. This source of cavitation associ-
decision-making process of selecting a pump and ated with NPSH will be explained in this paper.
troubleshooting.
OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION Before discussing NPSH, it’s important to re-
Cavitation, which is the existance of “cavities” member the centrifugal pump basics: a pump
within the fluid in a pump, is unfortunately a is a machine that adds energy to a fluid for the
common occurence. The term itself brings to purposes of increasing the pressure or moving it
mind destroyed impellers, systems that are not along a pipeline.
operating properly, and the sound of “pumping A centrifugal pump accomplishes this through
gravel.” Cavitation, however, is not a problem but the actions of vanes. As fluid enters the vanes,
rather a symptom of a problem. energy is added in the form of velocity. Subse-
Two sources of cavitation exist, both of which quently, the velocity is reduced and the energy is
constitute what forms the cavities. The first converted to pressure or head.
source is entrained air in the fluid. This condition Therefore, the pump cannot add the velocity
exists because of the nature of the fluid being to a fluid that isn’t “present.” They do not add
pumped (such as air laden water) or the nature of energy effectively to a gas nor to fluids outside
the pumping system into which the pump is in- the pump. The fluid must enter the eye of the
stalled (such as in a pump where vortexing draws impeller and be impacted by the vanes before the
air into the suction of the pump). Entrained air energy transfer can be started.
has nothing to do with NPSH and will not be
discussed in this White Paper. With centrifugal pumps, conditions outside the
pump must “force” the fluid into the eye – there
The second source is the presence of fluid vapor must be enough energy available to the fluid at
in the fluid. This vapor can, and does, exist when the eye fo the pump to perform this and assure
there is no air in the system. Since the very that the fluid remains a fluid. This type of energy
nature of a fluid is toward the gaseous state, is called Net Positive Suction Head Available, or
external forces must be applied to maintain the NPSH (A) for short.
liquid state. The amount of energy required var-
ies with temperature and pressure and is called By design, each pump has certain characteristics
Vapor Pressure, which will be discussed in further (both physical and hydraulic) which determine
detail later in this White Paper. the amount of energy needed to force the fluid
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) GRUNDFOS WHITE PAPER | 2

into the impeller eye, ensure that is remains a on multistage pumps, etc. Make note that it is
fluid on its path through the impeller, and cause only the first stage which is impacted by NPSH
the amount needed to accomplish this. The problems as subsequent stages see the discharge
nature of the pump eye, the structure of the im- from the first stage at their suctions.
peller vanes, vane diameter, speed of operation, Individual modification to the suction eye and
and where the pump is operating on its curve are vanes may be tried, but it is costly and highly un-
just a few of the factors. The amount of energy predictable and typically not attempted until all
needed by a pump is called Net Positive Suction other “cavitation stopping” methods have been
Head Required, or NPSH (R). employed.
The energy available must be equal to or greater
than the amount of energy required, or the pump NPSH (A)
cannot do its job properly. The common NPSH NPSH (A) is a function of the system. Four basic
rule has been stated as: NPSH (A) ≥ NPSH (R). A factors in a system’s design can impact NPSH (A),
margin of safety should be given, and the rule is many of which may be controlled or changed.
best stated as: NPSH (A) > NPSH (R). This will be Understanding NPSH (A) is also important at the
discussed later in the paper. system design or modification stage to avoid
What happens if there is not enough NPSH (A), pitfalls upon installation.
or energy? The velocity of the fluid is increased The amount of energy to the fluid at the pump
upon entering the impeller, and, according to suction is a net amount of the “positive energies”
Boyle’s law, pressure is decreased. The reduction exerted on the fluid minus the “negative ener-
in pressure will allow some of the molecules of gies” that take away from the total. It is formu-
fluid to reach the gaseous state and form “bub- laically stated as:
bles” (cavities) of vapor.
Pump performance is immediately reduced, and NPSH (A) = Ha + Hs - Hvpa - Hf
as these bubbles pass through the impeller they
Where:
grow until the pressure inside the pump causes
them to implode. The violence of the implosion NPSH (A) = Net Positive Suction Head Available
is high, and this is what causes the characteris- Ha = Absolute pressure on the fluid
tic “gravel” sound as well as the eroding of the
Hs = Static suction pressure
impeller.
Hvpa = Vapor pressure of the fluid
This series of actions – the vaporization of the
liquid and the implosion of it back to a liquid – is Hf = Friction losses in the suction pipe
called cavitation. Cavitation can and often does
eventually cause catastrophic failure, which may Ha – ABSOLUTE PRESSURE ON THE FLUID
happen quickly or slowly. In the meantime, there The absolute pressure is the pressure exerted
will be a loss of pump performance, and this per- onto the surface of the fluid by an outside source.
formance loss may be pulsations in the pumpage In a closed system, this is the system pressure.
and/or loss of pressure. In an open system, it is atmospheric pressure. At
sea level, this pressure is given at “standard” as
NPSH (R) 29.92 in. of mercury, 14.696 psi, 1013.325 mil-
As previously stated, NPSH (R) is a function of libars, or 33.96 ft. of head (of any fluid having a
pump design; there is little than can be done specific gravity of 1.0, such as cool water).
to change it after its designed. Inducers may In computing NPSH (A), it is important (as in all
be added, special first stage impellers placed calculations) to assure that all units are in like
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) GRUNDFOS WHITE PAPER | 3

form. Keep in mind, too, that as altitude increas- on verticals. If the liquid level is above the pump,
es, or atmospheric conditions change, Ha will Hs will be a positive number. If if is below the
change (Table 1). It is this pressure that “pushes pump, it will be a negative number.
down” on a fluid. Let’s look at these two units (Ha and Hs) together,
for example: We have a cooling tower located at
Hs – STATIC SUCTION PRESSURE sea level and the pump is located 10 ft. below the
level of the sump.
The sum of Ha + Hs will be 33.9 + 10 = 43.9 ft. If the
Atmospheric pump were located 10 ft. above the level of the
Altitude Pressure sump, it would be 33.9 +(-10) or 33.9 - 10 = 23.9. In
order to ensure the pump maintained its prime
(Above Sea Level) Feet of Water PSIA when shut down, a foot valve would be required.

0 33.9 14.7 Hvpa – VAPOR PRESSURE OF THE FLUID

The vapor pressure of each fluid varies with
1000 32.8 14.2 the temperature. The higher the temperature,
the higher the vapor pressure. Since the vapor
2000 31.6 13.7 pressure defines the point at which the liquid
becomes a gas. Therefore, increasing the pres-
3000 30.5 13.2 sure elevates the boiling point and lowering the
pressure decreases the boiling point.
4000 29.4 12.7 Another way to explain vapor pressure is that the
pressure at which a liquid and its vapor exist in
5000 28.3 12.3 equilibrium at a given temperature. At boiling,
the vapor pressure equals the absolute pressure
6000 27.3 11.8 – they cancel each other out.
Vapor pressure tables for various liquids being
7000 26.2 11.3 pumped are available from a number of sources,
and many engineering programs now include
8000 25.2 10.9 them. Table 2 gives the vapor pressure of water.
Note the vapor pressure at 212°F and compare
9000 24.3 10.5 it to the atmospheric pressure above: The vapor
pressure equals the absolute pressure and the
10,000 23.4 10.1 liquid boils.
Therefore, at low temperatures, the Hvpa portion
Table 1. Atmospheric Pressure vs. Altitude of the NPSH (A) equation will be relatively low
(for water), but at high temperatures it will be
significant.
The static suction pressure, or head, is the head
above or below the suction of the pump. In other
words, how high above or below the pump suc-
tion is the level of fluid. Hs is measured to the
center of the pump suction eye on horizontal
pumps or center of the discharge of the impeller
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) GRUNDFOS WHITE PAPER | 4

Hf – FRICTION LOSSES IN THE SUCTION PIPE

Temperature
The friction head loss in the suction pipe must
Vapor Presure (Degrees)
be calculated through an application of Hazen
Williams, D’Arcy, or other methods, such as the
Ft. of Water PSIA C° F°
tabular “look up.”
0.2 0.0866 0 32 In design, the designer will often rely on state-
ments made about available suction pressure
0.29 0.126 5 41 to a pump as given municipalities. Those state-
ments typically do not include losses through
meters or valves, nor in the piping from the
0.4 0.173 10 50
street to the mechanical room.
0.56 0.242 15 59 Those losses would need to be considered. As
opposed to the other portions of the formula,
0.78 0.338 20 68 the friction losses in the suction pipe will change
with flow. Caution should be used at this point
since friction losses increase with flow – as does
2.47 1.07 40 104
NPSH (R) and if NPSH (A) is calculated at design
flow and the pump runs out on its curve – and
6.68 2.89 60 140 thus Hf will be higher than calculated.

15.87 6.87 80 176 Using the previous example, let’s finish the NPSH
(A) calculation: The water in the tower if 78°F. Us-
ing an online tool, we determine that the vapor
33.96 14.7 100 212
pressure is .475 PSIA (1.097 ft.). An interpolation
from Table 2 would have yielded similar results.
66.53 28.8 120 248
In this case, the pump is located very close to the
121.04 52.4 140 284 cooling tower, and losses are calculated at 1 PSI
(2.31 ft.). With the pump located as in the first
example, we find that we have the following
206.98 89.6 160 320
NPSH (A):
334.95 145 180 356 43.9 - 1.097 - 2.31 = 40.493 ft.
In the second example, we would have:
519.75 225 200 392
23.9 - 1.097 - 2.31 = 20.493 ft.
773.85 335 220 428 If we were pumping hot water, the results would
be quite different. For example: if the water tem-
Table 2. Vapor Pressure of Water (Absolute) perature is 176°F, then the vapor pressure would
rise to 15.87 ft. The two results would be:
43.9 - 15.87 - 2.31 = 25.72 ft.
and
23.9 - 15.87 - 2.31 = 5.72 ft.
We would need to compare those NPSH (A) results
with the NPSH (R) on the pumps we intended to
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) GRUNDFOS WHITE PAPER | 5

use to make sure we had sufficient energy avail-

able. If selections were otherwise excellent, we
might have to modify the NPSH (A) factors to ac-
commodate their use.
For example, we might relocate the pump,
increase the suction pipe size, change the piping
materials, modify valving, cool the temperature
through cold water addition, or deepen the
sump. In existing applications which exhibit
NPSH induced cavitation, similar modifications
might be indicated.
In either case, different pumps with lower NPSH
(R) requirements might be the most advanta-
geous solution.

CONCLUSION
Net Positive Suction Head deficiencies can cause
severe pump and system problems and failure.
The factors that impact NPSH (R) in the pump are
relatively fixed and will vary from pump to pump.
The NPSH (A) factors in the system will vary with
each system and are more susceptible to modi-
fication than are those in the pump. Because of
variances in installation, atmospheric conditions,
and values used in calculating, NPSH (A) should
always be calculated to be greater than NPSH (R).
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