Pump Handbook Fourth Edition – A Book Review

Years ago I owned a copy of Pump Handbook 1st Edition, by Karassik, Krutzsch, Fraser, and Messina.  While it was a book to have on the shelf, it was not my primary source of pump engineering reference material.  I obtained most of my pump technical information from other books and publications.  Eventually someone “borrowed” my copy indefinitely and I never felt compelled to replace it, even when a 2nd Edition of the handbook was published in 1986.

Image used on cover of book: Turbine-Driven Mainline Pump at Trans-Alaska Pipeline Station 8. Photo by Randal Ferman, Ekwestrel Corp

A Pump Handbook Third Edition was published in year 2000 and I was interested in getting a copy of that one.  However a colleague, Adel, in the office next door had one which I used so I never bought my own copy.  In that edition, main editors Krutsch and Fraser were replaced by Cooper and Heald.   I have known Dr. Paul Cooper many years and he is one of the preeminent pump engineers in the world, with many technical publications to his name.  And Charles Heald is certainly a known figure in the world of pumps.

When the Pump Handbook 4th Edition (PHB-4E ) came out, Adel received a complimentary copy and I looked it over.  I noted there were extensive editorial improvements – eventually I purchased my own copy.

It is true with just about any pump technical publication: one has to familiarize himself with the symbols and nomenclature.  PHB-4E has an extensive and useful nomenclature list in the first section of Centrifugal Pump Theory.   Throughout the sections on centrifugal pump theory, analysis and performance are thoughtful explanations, useful formulae and charts.  Cooper has included a number of curve fit equations to go with the charts which is a real convenience for doing the calculations and for creating spreadsheets.

The scope of pump technology covered by PHB-4E is impressive.  In its 1632 pages one will find sections on essential pump theory including centrifugal pumps, positive displacement pumps, solids handling pumps, and jet pumps.  There is coverage of all of the major pump components with special chapters devoted to seals, bearings and materials of construction.  Hydraulic performance, testing, pumping systems and system characteristics, abnormal operation and waterhammer are covered.  There are chapters for installation, operation and maintenance; intakes and suction piping; and selecting and purchasing pumps.  Sections on mechanical behavior, vibration, noise and troubleshooting are included.  And there is a very useful chapter covering pump services with sections for the main industry, utility and commercial areas of application such as power plants, water supply, petroleum, and chemicals to name but a few.  There are more than one hundred expert contributors to the book and bibliographic references are extensive.

Is there anything I would like to see in a Fifth Edition?  Yes, here are a few items that come to mind:

• Include a more thorough treatment on hydraulic design for mixed-flow and axial-flow bowl-type pumps.
• Include the flow regime and conical diffuser design charts of Sovran and Klomp      (1967) and how these may be used for design of the diffusing sections of volutes and diffusers.  Also include a chart for the volute and diffuser throat velocity coefficients versus specific speed.
• Update the sections on viscosity correction, testing, intakes, suction piping and other subject areas based on new or updated standards already available or soon-to-be-released from the Hydraulic Institute, API and other standards-writing organizations.
• Upgrade the indexing so that incidental uses of technical words and phrases are not lumped together with the principal coverage of information on the subject.  Also, check for instances where common alternative terms or phrases might be missing.  For example, “abnormal operation,” “complete characteristics” and “four-quadrant curves” are also known as “quadrant curves” which is a common term not found in the index.

In spite of this wish list – and, no doubt, other pump engineers would add to this endlessly –  Pump Handbook 4th Edition contains a wealth of valuable information, is very reasonably priced and it is the first reference I would recommend to anyone looking to buy a book on pumps.