NY-14-C075 -- Hydronic System Modeling: A Spreadsheet Approach PDF

There are many commercially available software programs to assist the engineer in pressure drop calculations, pipe sizing, etc. These programs require learning the ins and outs of a new program before useful output can be obtained. Spreadsheet programs are basic applications in most office productivity software packages and are thus familiar to most engineers already. The goal of this paper is not to provide a case study of a particular system model, but to provide a methodology for an engineer to solve Hydronic system problems with software which he or she is already familiar. This paper covers the production of a pressure loss calculation table with formulae that automatically extract data for pipe diameters and fitting k-factors. Techniques for developing pump curves, system curves, and variable speed pump curves are also discussed.