Abstract
Water hammer could be damped in pipe networks using a short piece of plastic pipe of a diameter much larger than the diameter of the pipe in which water hammer is to be controlled. Experiments using four different polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe sizes, and different damper parameters and materials show that the device can effectively reduce pressure surges resulting from water hammer. Graphs for consolidated data are established to analyse the performance of the device for given pipe and damper parameters. The graphs could also be used to design a damper or select the damper/pipe parameters for a target pressure surge reduction in pipe networks and in networks of residential/commercial buildings.