There are five pages of screen shots. You can select individual pages from the menu below, or go through them in sequence by clicking the "Next screenshot" link in the top right hand corner or bottom right hand corner of each page.
- Page 1 - The AioFlo main page of data input and results (this page)
- Page 2 - Selection of fittings and valves
- Page 3 - Units handling in AioFlo
- Page 4 - Selection of pipe sizes and roughness
- Page 5 - Looking up fluid properties
- Page 6 - Pump and drive sizing
- Page 7 - Using gas flows at standard conditions
The AioFlo main screen
The AioFlo main screen contains all the major settings together with the input data and calculated results. Buttons call pop-up windows for selecting the density, viscosity, and pipe and fitting details (shown on following pages).
The upper section of this page is used to set the type of calculation required, plus the major options. The 3 options on the left side of the Calculation Type box are for detailed calculations involving the pressure drop through the pipe. In this example the first option is selected, which specifies that the pipe size (diameter) and flowrate are input values and the pressure drop is to be calculated. These first 3 options allow any one of pressure drop, pipe size (inside diameter) or flowrate to be calculated when the other two are given.
The selection boxes at the top on the right side allow you to set the major options. Here you can specify whether the fluid is a liquid (incompressible) or gas/vapor (isothermal compressible). AioFlo can perform fluid flow calculations on a mass or volumetric basis, and this selection is also made here. The third selection is to specify whether you want to give the fluid viscosity in dynamic or kinematic terms.
The lower left section is where you enter or select all the input data. The buttons next to the "Density / Viscosity", Fittings", "Pipe Roughness" and "Inside Diameter" labels can be clicked to call pop-up windows which allow you to quickly make selections from built in data.
As soon as sufficient data has been entered to perform a valid calculation the results will be shown on the right hand side. The results shown will depend on the options selected. For example in this calculation the fluid is a liquid, so the very last calculated value gives the total pressure drop and the small ellipsis button opens the total dynamic head calculator for pump and drive sizing.
The units for any of the input data fields or the result fields can be set individually, or all together in predefined or user-defined sets.
Using AioFlo for preliminary calculations
In the early stages of a project there is often insufficient information available to size a line rigorously. Rule of thumb guidelines for the velocity applicable to the fluid in question allow a rough calculation to be made.
The second group of options in the Calculation Type box allow any one of velocity, pipe size (diameter) and flowrate to be calculated when the other two are known. This is very useful for preliminary calculations when not all data is available.
The options and data entry fields that are not applicable to this short-cut procedure are either disabled or hidden to make it clear what input you must give. In this example the fluid flow is given in volumetric terms. If it were to be given in mass terms the input field for the fluid density would become visible.