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You guys need to learn about Hydraulic Engineering.

404 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  SynchronicBoost 
#1 ·
I have never watercooled in my life but I notice a lot of talk about water pressure, height of the tank from the piping, gravity, etc. and having a background in engineering I can tell you, you can learn a lot about those things with very little study.

Google about water pressure, open or closed pipes (closed are in pressure, open are not, you deal with closed ones here), the energy height of water, how it is affected by gravity (i.e. potential energy), affected by pressure but also affected by fluid velocity. Excuse my English, I was taught those things in another Language.

To go about it properly you have to start with Fluid Mechanics. Don't go too deep into it, perhaps what is taught in the first 4-5 lectures of a common course will do.

Then you can go on with some Applied Hydraulics, they deal with more practical matters involving piping, energy potential, maybe reservoirs, etc. (Fluid Mechanics is more generic and may not even deal with piping a lot of the time but it serves the basics).

Then you can even go into Civil/Urban works of Hydraulic Engineering which is even more practical but don't ignore it, it's perhaps even more relevant to this. They deal more directly with pumps and actual networks of reservoirs, systems under pressure, external and internal networks.

I think a general understanding of those things will make a system of a pump, piping, reservoirs more clear.

Then you go to thermodynamics which is a completely different field!
 
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#3 ·
You can get good estimates using the methods we see commonly, like adding up measured pressure drops. But that only applies to 1 gpm, and it's only an estimate. If you want to design it and be more specific you need some more techniques.
And heat transfer/thermodynamics can help you figure out things like the optimal flow rate.
Of course to make a functional loop you don't need all this...but if you want to make the most efficient loop possible and you want exact answers this is the way to go.

Edit: pascals law is an important concept but you also need the Bernoulli equation and the reynolds number. As well knowledge about friction, calculating pressure drop, and converting that into a power requirement for the pump.
 
#6 ·
The scale people are working at with water cooling is so small in comparison to standard commercial/industrial practises, its not really be a big deal in this application. Most builds arent large enough to see too many benefits from really delving into it at the level you are describing.

These systems are all very small, the variables are easy enough to control. I am not saying all builds are at their optimum, but just that, at the level people are working at, the complexity of the rules are reduced to basics.

Plumbing, flow design, thermal conductivity, they can all be played with quite easily. Fan/pump controllers and easy access to the internal plumbing make it easy for people to make adjustments. Or even post here for advice, most of the build logs or project threads are basically people looking for second opinions and guidance. All the rules people need to follow are collected into guides and tutorials, its pretty fool proof at this point in time.
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I agree though that there are a lot of little things people could do that would take advantage of a bit more knowledge (liscenced refrig mechanic here lol) but thats for the fancy pants show offs
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#8 ·
All this great talk about the plethora of variables associated with the mechanics and physics of it all, but at the end of the day, we're dealing w/ a fluid that has a low thermal conductivity and very high specific heat, water.
 
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