waterhammer tests in a long pvc pipeline with short steel end sections

an experiment featuring waterhammer in viscoelastic pipes is presented in which the effects of pipe-wall viscoelasticity on waterhammer pressures are investigated. a large-scale pipeline apparatus made of polyvinyl chloride (pvc) at deltares, delft, the netherlands, has been used to carry out waterhammer experiments. tests have been conducted in a reservoir-pipeline-valve system consisting of a main viscoelastic pipeline and two short steel pipes placed upstream and downstream of the main pipe. rapid closure of a manually operated valve at the downstream end generates waterhammer. repeated measurements at several positions along the pipeline have been recorded; these are plotted in figures and appropriately interpreted.