Microsoft Word - Mode of Failure

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    The yield strength or yield point of a material is defined in engineering and materials

    science as the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically. Prior to the yield

    point the material will deform elastically and will return to its original shape when the

    applied stress is removed. Once the yield point is passed some fraction of the

    deformation will be permanent and non-reversible.

    In the three-dimensional space of the principal stresses (1,2,3), an infinite numberof yield points form together a yield surface.

    Knowledge of the yield point is vital when designing a component since it generally

    represents an upper limit to the load that can be applied. It is also important for the

    control of many materials production techniques such as forging, rolling, orpressing.

    In structural engineering, this is a soft failure mode which does not normally cause

    catastrophic failure orultimate failure unless it acceleratesbuckling.

    Definition

    Typical yield behavior for non-ferrous alloys.

    1: True elastic limit

    2: Proportionality limit

    3: Elastic limit

    4: Offset yield strength

    It is often difficult to precisely define yielding due to the wide variety ofstressstrain

    curves exhibited by real materials. In addition, there are several possible ways to

    define yielding:[1]

    True elastic limit

    The lowest stress at which dislocations move. This definition is rarely used, since

    dislocations move at very low stresses, and detecting such movement is very difficult.Proportionality limit

    Up to this amount of stress, stress is proportional to strain (Hooke's law), so the stress-

    strain graph is a straight line, and the gradient will be equal to the elastic modulus of

    the material.

    Elastic limit (yield strength)

    Beyond the elastic limit, permanent deformation will occur. The lowest stress at

    which permanent deformation can be measured. This requires a manual load-unload

    procedure, and the accuracy is critically dependent on equipment and operator skill.

    Forelastomers, such as rubber, the elastic limit is much larger than the proportionality

    limit. Also, precise strain measurements have shown that plastic strain begins at low

    stresses.

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    Yield point

    The point in the stress-strain curve at which the curve levels off and plastic

    deformation begins to occur

    Offset yield point (proof stress)

    When a yield point is not easily defined based on the shape of the stress-strain curvean offset yield pointis arbitrarily defined. The value for this is commonly set at 0.1 or

    0.2% of the strain. The offset value is given as a subscript, e.g., Rp0.2=310 MPa. High

    strength steel and aluminum alloys do not exhibit a yield point, so this offset yield

    point is used on these materials

    Upper yield point and lower yield point

    Some metals, such as mild steel, reach an upper yield point before dropping rapidly to

    a lower yield point. The material response is linear up until the upper yield point, but

    the lower yield point is used in structural engineering as a conservative value. If a

    metal is only stressed to the upper yield point, and beyond, Lders bands can develop.

    In practice, buckling is characterized by a sudden failure of a structural member

    subjected to high compressive stress, where the actual compressive stress at the point

    of failure is less than the ultimate compressive stresses that the material is capable of

    withstanding. For example, during earthquakes, reinforced concrete members may

    experience lateral deformation of the longitudinal reinforcing bars. This mode of

    failure is also described as failure due to elastic instability. Mathematical analysis of

    buckling makes use of an axial load eccentricity that introduces a moment, which

    does not form part of the primary forces to which the member is subjected. When load

    is constantly being applied on a member, such as column, it will ultimately become

    large enough to cause the member to become unstable. Further load will cause

    significant and somewhat unpredictable deformations, possibly leading to complete

    loss of load-carrying capacity. The member is said to have buckled, to have deformed.

    In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that

    occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress

    values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress

    limit of the material.

    Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the

    loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the

    surface. Eventually a crack will reach a critical size, and the structure will suddenlyfracture. The shape of the structure will significantly affect the fatigue life; square

    holes or sharp corners will lead to elevated local stresses where fatigue cracks can

    initiate. Round holes and smooth transitions or fillets are therefore important to

    increase the fatigue strength of the structure.

    Poisson's ratio (), named afterSimon Poisson, is the ratio, when a sample object isstretched, of the contraction or transverse strain (perpendicular to the applied load), to

    the extension or axial strain (in the direction of the applied load).

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    When a material is compressed in one direction, it usually tends to expand in the other

    two directions perpendicular to the direction of compression. This phenomenon is

    called the Poisson effect. Poisson's ratio (nu) is a measure of the Poisson effect. ThePoisson ratio is the ratio of the fraction (or percent) of expansion divided by the

    fraction (or percent) of compression, for small values of these changes.

    Conversely, if the material is stretched rather than compressed, it usually tends to

    contract in the directions transverse to the direction of stretching. Again, the Poisson

    ratio will be the ratio of relative contraction to relative stretching, and will have the

    same value as above. In certain rare cases, a material will actually shrink in the

    transverse direction when compressed (or expand when stretched) which will yield a

    negative value of the Poisson ratio.

    The Poisson's ratio of a stable, isotropic, linearelastic material cannot be less than

    1.0 nor greater than 0.5 due to the requirement that Young's modulus, the shear

    modulus andbulk modulus have positive values.[1] Most materials have Poisson's

    ratio values ranging between 0.0 and 0.5. A perfectly incompressible material

    deformed elastically at small strains would have a Poisson's ratio of exactly 0.5. Most

    steels and rigid polymers when used within their design limits (before yield) exhibit

    values of about 0.3, increasing to 0.5 for post-yield deformation (which occurs largely

    at constant volume.) Rubber has a Poisson ratio of nearly 0.5. Cork's Poisson ratio is

    close to 0: showing very little lateral expansion when compressed. Some materials,

    mostly polymer foams, have a negative Poisson's ratio; if these auxetic materials are

    stretched in one direction, they become thicker in perpendicular directions.

    Anisotropic materials can have Poisson ratios above 0.5 in some directions.

    Assuming that the material is stretched or compressed along the axial direction (the xaxis in the diagram):

    where

    is the resulting Poisson's ratio,is transverse strain (negative for axial tension (stretching), positive for

    axial compression)is axial strain (positive for axial tension, negative for axial compression).

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    Young's modulus

    Young's modulus is a measure of the stiffness of an elastic material and is a quantityused to characterize materials. In solid mechanics, the slope of the stress-strain curve

    at any point is called the tangent modulus. The tangent modulus of the initial, linear

    portion of a stress-strain curve is called Young's modulus, also known as the tensile

    modulus. It is defined as the ratio of the uniaxial stress over the uniaxial strain in the

    range of stress in which Hooke's Law holds.[1] It can be experimentally determined

    from the slope of a stress-strain curve created during tensile tests conducted on a

    sample of the material. In anisotropic materials, Young's modulus may have different

    values depending on the direction of the applied force with respect to the material'sstructure.

    It is also commonly, but incorrectly, called the elastic modulus ormodulus of

    elasticity, because Young's modulus is the most common elastic modulus used, but

    there are other elastic moduli measured, too, such as thebulk modulus and the shear

    modulus.

    Young's modulus is named afterThomas Young, the 19th century British scientist.

    However, the concept was developed in 1727 by Leonhard Euler, and the first

    experiments that used the concept of Young's modulus in its current form were

    performed by the Italian scientist Giordano Riccati in 1782, predating Young's work

    by 25 years

    Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deformation by an applied force along

    a given degree of freedom (DOF) when a set of loading points and boundaryconditions are prescribed on the elastic body. It is an extensive material property.

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    Calculations

    The stiffness, k, of a body is a measure of the resistance offered by an elastic body to

    deformation. For an elastic body with a single Degree of Freedom (for example,

    stretching or compression of a rod), the stiffness is defined as

    where

    Fis the force applied on the body

    is the displacement produced by the force along the same degree of freedom (for

    instance, the change in length of a stretched spring)

    In the International System of Units, stiffness is typically measured in newtons permetre. In English Units, stiffness is typically measured in pound force (lbf) per inch.

    Generally speaking, deflections (or motions) of an infinitesimal element (which is

    viewed as a point) in an elastic body can occur along multiple Degrees of Freedom

    (maximum of six Degrees of Freedom at a point). For example, a point on a

    horizontalbeam can undergo both a vertical displacement and a rotation relative to its

    undeformed axis. When the Degrees of Freedom is M, for example, a M x M matrix

    must be used to describe the stiffness at the point. The diagonal terms in the matrix

    are the direct-related stiffnesses (or simply stiffnesses) along the same degree of

    freedom and the off-diagonal terms are the coupling stiffnesses between two different

    degrees of freedom (either at the same or different points) or the same degree offreedom at two different points. In industry, the term influence coefficient is

    sometimes used to refer to the coupling stiffness.

    It is noted that for a body with multiple Degrees of Freedom, Equation (1) generally

    does not apply since the applied force generates not only the deflection along its own

    direction (or degree of freedom), but also those along other directions (or Degrees of

    Freedom). For example, for a cantilevered beam, the stiffness at its free end is

    12*E*I/L^3 rather than 3*E*I/L^3 if calculated with Equation (1).

    For a body with multiple Degrees of Freedom, to calculate a particular direct-related

    stiffness (the diagonal terms), the corresponding Degree of Freedom is left free while

    the remaining Degrees of Freedom should be constrained. Under such a condition,

    Equation (1) can be used to obtain the direct-related stiffness for the degree of

    freedom which is unconstrained. The ratios between the reaction forces (or moments)

    and the produced deflection are the coupling stiffnesses.

    The inverse of stiffness is compliance, typically measured in units of metres per

    newton. In rheology it may be defined as the ratio of strain to stress,[1] and so take the

    units of reciprocal stress, e.g. 1/Pa.

    Rotational stiffness

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    A body may also have a rotational stiffness, k, given by

    where

    Mis the applied moment

    is the rotation

    In the SI system, rotational stiffness is typically measured in newton-metres perradian.

    In the SAE system, rotational stiffness is typically measured in inch-pounds per

    degree.

    Further measures of stiffness are derived on a similar basis, including:

    shear stiffness - ratio of applied shearforce to shear deformation

    torsional stiffness - ratio of applied torsion moment to angle of twist

    Relationship to elasticity

    In general, elastic modulus is not the same as stiffness. Elastic modulus is a property

    of the constituent material; stiffness is a property of a structure. That is, the modulus

    is an intensive property of the material; stiffness, on the other hand, is an extensiveproperty of the solid body dependent on the material andthe shape and boundary

    conditions. For example, for an element in tension orcompression, the axial stiffness

    is

    where

    A is the cross-sectional area,Eis the (tensile) elastic modulus (orYoung's modulus),

    L is the length of the element.

    Similarly, the rotational stiffness is

    where

    "I" is the moment of inertia,"n" is an integer depending on the boundary condition (=4 for fixed ends)

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    For the special case of unconstrained uniaxial tension or compression, Young's

    moduluscan be thought of as a measure of the stiffness of a material.

    Use in engineering

    The stiffness of a structure is of principal importance in many engineering

    applications, so the modulus of elasticity is often one of the primary properties

    considered when selecting a material. A high modulus of elasticity is sought when

    deflection is undesirable, while a low modulus of elasticity is required when

    flexibility is needed.

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    Factor of safety.

    Factor of safety (FoS), also known as safety factor (SF), is a term describing the

    structural capacity of a system beyond the expected loads or actual loads. Essentially,

    how much stronger the system is than it usually needs to be for an intended load.

    Safety factors are often calculated using detailed analysis because comprehensivetesting is impractical on many projects, such as bridges and buildings, but the

    structure's ability to carry load must be determined to a reasonable accuracy.

    Many systems are purposefully built much stronger than needed for normal usage to

    allow for emergency situations, unexpected loads, misuse, or degradation.

    Two definitions of factor of safety

    There are two distinct uses of the factor of safety: One as a ratio of absolute strength

    (structural capacity) to actual applied load. This is a measure of the reliability of aparticular design. The other use of FoS is a constant value imposed by law, standard,

    specification, contract orcustom to which a structure must conform or exceed.

    Careful engineers refer to the first sense (a calculated value) as afactor of safety or, to

    be explicit, a realized factor of safety, and the second sense (a required value) as a

    design factor, design factor of safety orrequired factor of safety, but usage is

    inconsistent and confusing.

    The cause of much confusion is that reference books and standards agencies use the

    term factor of safety differently. Design Codes and Structural and Mechanical

    engineering textbooks often use the term to mean the fraction of total structural

    capability over that needed[1][2][3] (first sense). Many undergraduate Strength of

    Materials books use "Factor of Safety" as a constant value intended to be a minimum

    target for design[4][5][6] (second sense).

    Calculating safety factors

    There are several ways to compare the factor of safety for structures. All the different

    calculations fundamentally measure the same thing, how much extra load beyond

    what is intended a structure will actually take (or be required to withstand). The

    difference between the methods is the way in which the values are calculated andcompared. Safety factor values can be thought of as a standardized way for comparing

    strength and reliability between systems.

    There is a near universal push towards conservatism in the calculation of safety

    factors, i.e. in the absence of highly accurate data, using the worst case configuration

    possible to make sure the system is adequate (to err on the side of caution).[citation needed]

    Design factor and safety factor

    The difference between the safety factor and design factor (design safety factor) is as

    follows: The safety factor is how much the designed part actually will be able to

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    withstand. The design factor is what the item is required to be able to withstand. The

    design factor is defined for an application (generally provided in advance and often

    set by regulatory code or policy) and is not an actual calculation, the safety factor is a

    ratio of maximum strength to intended load for the actual item that was designed.

    This may sound similar, but consider this: Say a beam in a structure is required tohave a design factor of 3. The engineer chose a beam that will be able to withstand 10

    times the load. The design factor is still 3, because it is the requirement that must be

    met, the beam just happens to exceed the requirement and its safety factor is 10. The

    safety factor should always meet or exceed the required design factor or the design is

    not adequate. Meeting the required design factor exactly implies that the design meets

    the minimum allowable strength. A high safety factor well over the required design

    factor sometimes implies "overengineering" which can result in excessive weight

    and/or cost. In colloquial use the term, "required safety factor" is functionally

    equivalent to the design factor.

    For ductile materials (e.g. most metals), it is often required that the factor of safety bechecked against both yield and ultimate strengths. The yield calculation will

    determine the safety factor until the part starts toplastically deform. The ultimate

    calculation will determine the safety factor until failure. On brittle materials these

    values are often so close as to be indistinguishable, so is it usually acceptable to only

    calculate the ultimate safety factor.

    The use of a factor of safety does not imply that an item, structure, or design is "safe".

    Many quality assurance, engineering design, manufacturing, installation, and end-use

    factors may influence whether or not something is safe in any particular situation.

    Design load being the maximum load the part should ever see in service.Margin of safety

    Many government agencies and industries (such as aerospace) require the use of a

    margin of safety (MoS orM.S.) to describe the ratio of the strength of the structure

    to the requirements. There are two separate definitions for the margin of safety so careis needed to determine which is being used for a given application. One usage of M.S.

    is as a measure of capacity like FoS. The other usage of M.S. is as a measure of

    satisfying design requirements (requirement verification). Margin of safety can be

    conceptualized (along with the reserve factor explained below) to represent how much

    of the structure's total capacity is held "in reserve" during loading.

    M.S. as a measure of structural capacity: This definition of margin of safety

    commonly seen in textbooks[7][8] basically says that if the part is loaded to the

    maximum load it should ever see in service, how many more loads of the same force

    can it withstand before failing. In effect, this is a measure of excess capacity. If the

    margin is 0, the part will not take any additional load before it fails, if it is negative

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    the part will fail before reaching its design load in service. If the margin is 1, it can

    withstand one additional load of equal force to the maximum load it was designed to

    support (i.e. twice the design load).

    Margin of Safety = Factor of Safety 1

    M.S. as a measure of requirement verification: Many agencies such asNASA[9]

    and AIAA[10] define the margin of safety including the design factor, in other words,

    the margin of safety is calculated after applying the design factor. In the case of a

    margin of 0, the part is at exactly the required strength (the safety factor would equal

    the design factor). If there is a part with a required design factor of 3 and a margin of

    1, the part would have a safety factor of 6 (capable of supporting two loads equal to

    its design factor of 3, supporting six times the design load before failure). A margin of0 would mean the part would pass with a safety factor of 3. If the margin is less than 0

    in this definition, although the part will not necessarily fail, the design requirement

    has not been met. A convenience of this usage is that for all applications, a margin of

    0 or higher is passing, one does not need to know application details or compare

    against requirements, just glancing at the margin calculation tells whether the design

    passes or not.

    Design Safety Factor = [Provided as requirement]

    For a successful design, the realized Safety Factor must always equal or exceed the

    required Safety Factor (Design Factor) so the Margin of Safety is greater than or equal

    to zero. The Margin of Safety is sometimes, but infrequently, used as a percentage,

    i.e., a 0.50 M.S is equivalent to a 50% M.S. When a design satisfies this test it is said

    to have a "positive margin," and, conversely, a negative margin when it does not.

    Reserve factor

    A measure of strength frequently used in Europe is the Reserve Factor (RF). With

    the strength and applied loads expressed in the same units, the Reserve Factor is

    defined as:

    RF = Proof Strength / Proof Load

    RF = Ultimate Strength / Ultimate Load

    The applied loads have any factors, including factors of safety applied.

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    Choosing design factors

    Appropriate design factors are based on several considerations, such as the accuracy

    of predictions on the imposed loads, strength, wearestimates, and the environmental

    effects to which the product will be exposed in service; the consequences of

    engineering failure; and the cost of over-engineering the component to achieve that

    factor of safety. For example, components whose failure could result in substantial

    financial loss, serious injury, or death may use a safety factor of four or higher (often

    ten). Non-critical components generally might have a design factor of two. Risk

    analysis, failure mode and effects analysis, and other tools are commonly used.

    Design factors for specific applications are often mandated by law, policy, or industry

    standards.

    Buildings commonly use a factor of safety of 2.0 for each structural member. The

    value for buildings is relatively low because the loads are well understood and most

    structures are redundant. Pressure vessels use 3.5 to 4.0, automobiles use 3.0, andaircraft and spacecraft use 1.2 to 3.0 depending on the application and materials.

    Ductile, metallic materials tend to use the lower value whilebrittle materials use the

    higher values. The field ofaerospace engineering uses generally lower design factors

    because the costs associated with structural weight are high (e.g. an aircraft with an

    overall safety factor of 5 would probably be too heavy to get off the ground). This low

    design factor is why aerospace parts and materials are subject to very stringent quality

    control and strict preventative maintenance schedules to help ensure reliability. The

    usually applied Safety Factor is 1.5, but for pressurized fuselage it is 2.0, and for main

    landing gear structures it is often 1.25.

    In aerospace, there are additional requirements. Before and up to Limit Load, thestructure may not have failed nor have permanent deformation. In excess of this,

    plastic deformation is allowed, but failure is not. Reaching the Ultimate Load (usually

    the Limit Load multiplied by the Safety Factor), the structure is allowed to fail.

    Civilian aircraft structures are required to meet both Limit Load and Ultimate Load

    criteria.

    For loading that is cyclical, repetitive, or fluctuating, it is important to consider the

    possibility ofmetal fatigue when choosing factor of safety. A cyclic load well below a

    material's yield strength can cause failure if it is repeated enough.

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    Pressure drop is a term used to describe the decrease inpressure from one point in a

    pipe or tube to another point downstream. "Pressure drop" is the result of frictional

    forces on the fluid as it flows through the tube. The frictional forces are caused by a

    resistance to flow. The main factors impacting resistance to fluid flow are fluid

    velocity through the pipe and fluid viscosity. The flow of any liquid or gas will

    always flow in the direction of least resistance(less pressure). Pressure drop increasesproportional to the frictional shear forces within the piping network. A piping network

    containing a high relative roughness rating as well as many pipe fittings and joints,

    tube convergence, divergence, turns, surface roughness and other physical properties

    will affect the pressure drop. High flow velocities and / or high fluid viscosities result

    in a larger pressure drop across a section of pipe or a valve or elbow. Low velocity

    will result in lower or no pressure drop. [1]

    Pressure Drop can be calculated by 2 values the Reynolds Number, NRe, (determining

    laminar or turbulent flow) and the relative roughness of the piping, /D. NRe = Dv/

    Where D is the pipe diameter in meters, v is the velocity of the flow in meters per

    second, is the density in kilograms per cubic meter, and is in kilograms per meter-second. The relative roughness of the piping is usually known and then these two

    values can be cross referenced.

    Hydraulic head orpiezometric head is a specific measurement ofwater pressure

    above a geodetic datum.[1][2] It is usually measured as a water surface elevation,

    expressed in units of length, at the entrance (or bottom) of apiezometer. In an aquifer,

    it can be calculated from the depth to water in a piezometric well (a specialized water

    well), and given information of the piezometer's elevation and screen depth.

    Hydraulic head can similarly be measured in a column of water using a standpipe

    piezometer by measuring the height of the water surface in the tube relative to a

    common datum. The hydraulic head can be used to determine a hydraulic gradient

    between two or more points.

    Head" in fluid dynamics

    In fluid dynamics, headis a concept that relates the energy in an incompressible fluid

    to the height of an equivalent static column of that fluid. From Bernoulli's Principle,

    the total energy at a given point in a fluid is the energy associated with the movement

    of the fluid, plus energy from pressure in the fluid, plus energy from the height of the

    fluid relative to an arbitrary datum. Head is expressed in units of height such as

    meters or feet.

    Thestatic headof apump is the maximum height (pressure) it can deliver. The

    capability of the pump can be read from its Q-H curve (flow vs. height).

    Head is equal to the fluid's energy per unit weight. Head is useful in specifying

    centrifugal pumps because their pumping characteristics tend to be independent of the

    fluid's density.

    There are four types of head used to calculate the total head in and out of a pump:

    Velocity headis due to the bulk motion of a fluid (kinetic energy).

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    Elevation headis due to the fluid's weight, the gravitational force acting on acolumn of fluid.

    Pressure headis due to the static pressure, the internal molecular motion of afluid that exerts a force on its container.

    Resistance head(orfriction headorHead Loss) is due to the frictional forcesacting against a fluid's motion by the container.

    Components of hydraulic head

    A mass free falling from an elevation (in a vacuum) will reach a speed

    when arriving at elevationz=0, or when we rearrange it as a

    head:

    where

    gis the acceleration due to gravity

    The term is called the velocity head, expressed as a length measurement. In a

    flowing fluid, it represents the energy of the fluid due to its bulk motion.

    The total hydraulic head of a fluid is composed ofpressure headand elevationhead.[1][2] The pressure head is the equivalent gaugepressure of a column of water at

    the base of the piezometer, and the elevation head is the relativepotential energy in

    terms of an elevation. The head equation, a simplified form of the Bernoulli Principle

    for incompressible fluids, can be expressed as:

    where

    h is the hydraulic head (Length in m or ft), also known as the piezometric head.

    is thepressure head, in terms of the elevation difference of the water columnrelative to the piezometer bottom (Length in m or ft), and

    zis the elevation at the piezometer bottom (Length in m or ft)

    In an example with a 400 m deep piezometer, with an elevation of 1000 m, and a

    depth to water of 100 m:z= 600 m, = 300 m, and h = 900 m.

    The pressure head can be expressed as:

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    where

    Pis the gauge pressure (Force per unit area, often Pa or psi),

    is the unit weight of water (Force per unit volume, typically Nm3 orlbf/ft),

    is the density of the water (Mass per unit volume, frequently kgm3

    ), andgis the gravitational acceleration (velocity change per unit time, often ms2)

    Fresh water head

    The pressure head is dependent on the density of water, which can vary depending on

    both the temperature and chemical composition (salinity, in particular). This means

    that the hydraulic head calculation is dependent on the density of the water within the

    piezometer. If one or more hydraulic head measurements are to be compared, they

    need to be standardized, usually to theirfresh water head, which can be calculated as:

    where

    is the fresh water head (Length, measured in m or ft), and

    is the density of fresh water (Mass per unit volume, typically in kgm3)

    Hydraulic gradient

    The hydraulic gradientis a vector gradient between two or more hydraulic head

    measurements over the length of the flow path. It is also called theDarcy slope, since

    it determines the quantity of aDarcy flux, or discharge. A dimensionless hydraulic

    gradient can be calculated between two piezometers as:

    where

    i is the hydraulic gradient (dimensionless),dh is the difference between two hydraulic heads (Length, usually in m or ft),and

    dlis the flow path length between the two piezometers (Length, usually in mor ft)

    The hydraulic gradient can be expressed in vector notation, using the deloperator.

    This requires a hydraulic head field, which can only be practically obtained from a

    numerical model, such as MODFLOW. In Cartesian coordinates, this can be

    expressed as:

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    This vector describes the direction of the groundwater flow, where negative values

    indicate flow along the dimension, and zero indicates no flow. As with any otherexample in physics, energy must flow from high to low, which is why the flow is in

    the negative gradient. This vector can be used in conjunction with Darcy's law and a

    tensorofhydraulic conductivity to determine the flux of water in three dimensions.

    Hydraulic head in groundwater

    The distribution of hydraulic head through an aquiferdetermines where groundwater

    will flow. In a hydrostatic example (first figure), where the hydraulic head is constant,

    there is no flow. However, if there is a difference in hydraulic head from the top to

    bottom due to draining from the bottom (second figure), the water will flow

    downward, due to the difference in head, also called the hydraulic gradient.

    Atmospheric pressure

    Even though it is convention to use gauge pressure in the calculation of hydraulic

    head, it is more correct to use total pressure (gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure),

    since this is truly what drives groundwater flow. Often detailed observations of

    barometric pressure are not available at each well through time, so this is often

    disregarded (contributing to large errors at locations where hydraulic gradients are

    low or the angle between wells is acute.)

    The effects of changes in atmospheric pressure upon water levels observed in wells

    has been known for many years. The effect is a direct one, an increase in atmospheric

    pressure is an increase in load on the water in the aquifer, which increases the depth to

    water (lowers the water level elevation). Pascal first qualitatively observed these

    effects in the 17th century, and they were more rigorously described by the soil

    physicistEdgar Buckingham (working for the USDA) using air flow models in 1907.

    Head loss

    In any real moving fluid, energy is dissipated due to friction; turbulence dissipates

    even more energy for high Reynolds numberflows. Head loss is divided into two

    main categories, "major losses" associated with energy loss per length of pipe, and

    "minor losses" associated with bends, fittings, valves, etc. The most common equation

    used to calculate major head losses is the DarcyWeisbach equation. Older, more

    empirical approaches are the Hazen-Williams equation and the Prony equation.

    For relatively short pipe systems, with a relatively large number of bends and fittings,

    minor losses can easily exceed major losses. In design, minor losses are usually

    estimated from tables using coefficients or a simpler and less accurate reduction of

    minor losses to equivalent length of pipe.

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