Water Column Separation and Cavity Collapse for Pipelines Protected with Air Vacuum Valves: Understanding the Essential Wave Processes

Elevated high points along a pipeline profile are the most common places where air vacuum valves (AVVs) are installed. This paper uses basic water hammer theory to semianalytically explore the effects of such AVVs. A simple frictionless reservoir-pipe-reservoir system with an exaggerated intermediate high point is considered with a sudden flow curtailment assumed upstream. Key design parameters such as the maximum air pocket volume, the …