flow rate of liquids and static head of the system (when you check it by using pressure gauges at various positions in a pipeline) are more or less independant. if you have proper pumping capacities you can have same flow rates in two different systems but with different static heads.
what i mean is two different piping systems can have 100 gpm water flowing through them and static head in one system can be 50psi and in other can be 70 psi.
because static head developed by a pump will be the head required to overcome the resistance in the system. if you have a system resistance of 40 psi, a pump with 100 psi head value will deliver only 40 psi head.
Gilfred,
Yes. Most textbooks on hydraulic or fluid flow will tell you how to calculate the flow of water through a pipe for a given head.
Pump manufacturers will also give you charts. So do Piping Suppliers. You can find the tables in many engineering handbooks.
Head loss is proportional to the square of the velocity, or quantity of flow through the pipe. So if you know the flow quantity at one head, you can estimate the flow at another by using the ratio
(Q1/Q2) = (H1/H2)^2
For example twice the flow would show 4 times the head loss.
If you plot this curve on a graph you will get a good idea of how a simple piping system behaves. You can now draw in the graph the head available and see what flow you can expect. Alternatively draw the pump curve on the graph and see where the pump curve matches your piping head loss curve. Often your pump supplier will do the calculation for you if you give them the detail.
If you need more, then ask your pump supplier, or do some study yourself.
