Optimization of Critical Drive Head of Hydraulic Ram Pump by Analyzing Different Design Parameters, Performance and Cost Implications
Date
2025-10-25
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering(MPE), Islamic University of Technology(IUT), Board Bazar, Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh
Abstract
This study explores an experimental and theoretical investigation into the optimization of the
performance of a Hydraulic Ram Pump (HRP) for sustainable water lifting applications in off
grid rural and agricultural settings. To assess the effects of different design parameters on its
performance, a detailed parametric study is conducted. A benchtop experimental setup was
devised to assess the impact of five critical design parameters, drive pipe length (78-242
inches), delivery head (48-152 inches), drive and delivery pipe diameters (0.75-1.25 inches),
and air chamber volume (1.03-5.35 L) on pump performance. The critical drive head, which is
the lowest supply head needed for the pump to work properly, turned out to be an important
but little-studied factor that affects how well the pump works in different seasons and how
much maintenance it requires. The experiments showed that the system had maximum
efficiency when the L/D ratio was 260 with a 65-inch delivery head, and the critical drive head
was 14.65 inches, generating 61.34% efficiency. For multi-objective optimization, a weighted
ensemble model was made with Artificial Neural Networks (40%), XGBoost (40%), and RSM
(20%) with 39 sets of experimental and 5000 synthetic sample best setups that maximized
efficiency and delivery flow rate while minimizing critical drive head and total cost. The best
configuration for Pareto optimization had 61.34% efficiency, a total cost of $232.27, a critical
drive head of 13.6 inches, and a delivery flow rate of 2.23 L/min. Cost analysis showed that
pipe parts make up the majority of system costs (50.5% to 65.9%), which shows the trade-off
between efficiency and cost (r = -0.78). These results offer crucial design principles for the
economical implementation of HRP in rural agricultural and off-grid water pumping contexts.
Description
Supervised by
Dr. Md Abu Shaid Sujon
Co-Supervised By
Dr. M Monjurul Ehsan
Department of Production and Mechanical Engineering(MPE),
Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
Board Bazar, Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical and Production Engineering, 2025
Keywords
Hydraulic ram pump, Sustainable water supply, Critical drive head, Water hammer effect, Cost analysis, Multi-objective optimization, Hybrid ensemble machine learning model.
Citation
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