DESIGN OF SEDIMENT-TRANSPORTING PIPELINE

Pipe flow is preferred for the bulk transport of granular materials as it is both economical and reliable. It finds application in the trans port of minerals, especially ocean minerals, carried in water suspensi on and the transport of food grains carried in air suspension. The dis posal of solid waste through pneumatic pipes is also gaining importanc e. Although the necessary equations for sediment transport through pip es are available, design equations have not been attempted as yet. In this paper a sediment-carrying pipeline design has been formulated as a geometric programming problem with a single degree of difficulty. Th e solution of the problem yields the optimal design having flow at the limit deposit velocity.