Operating point of a hydraulic circuit

A hydraulic circuit encompasses all the elements that enable fluid circulation in an industrial system. It is made up of different elements such as  

The purpose of sizing a hydraulic circuit is usually to select the members of the circuit (pump, pipes, etc.) that enable the desired flow rate to be maintained in the circuit, for a known head change between the inlet and the outlet of the circuit. 

In order to size a circuit, the engineer should consider two aspects  

Evaluate the head change in the circuit. Recall that the head is the flnid s energy per unit volume, and that this energy is the sum of the pressure energy, kinetic energy, and potential energy (Chapter 2, section 2.2)  

Plotting the total head line and the pressure line along a hydraulic circuit enables the engineer to identify the most sensitive elements. Quite often, a qualitative representation of the variations in these two lines, prior to a quantitative evaluation, provides a wealth of information. 

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