The recent conventional energy crisis is leading to the exploration of alternative energy sources. The pumping of water using ram pumps is widely used in farms where electric energy is scarce or inexistent. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance of an hydraulic ram pump utilizing two kinds of supply pipes (PVC and steel) using three different supply heads (2.1, 3.8 and 4.7). Delivery head, delivery discharge, waste discharge and supply head were utilized to calculate the yield of the hydraulic ram by the equation of D'Aubussion. The maximum yield of the hydraulic ram was obtained for the PVC pipe for the 4.2 m head; for heads higher than 4.2 m the steel pipe was more efficient.
ram pumps; water hammer
