Overview

The `Pressure Ripple Analysis Software Package' (PRASP) is a program to model or simulate the fluid borne noise (FBN) characteristics of hydraulic circuits. FBN takes the form of pressure and flow pulsations or ripple.

PRASP calculates the pressure and flow ripple in hydraulic circuits. Individual component models are linked together to form a circuit. Complex circuits can be built up, which may contain branches and loops. PRASP includes mathematical models for most common hydraulic components. The user can also create new models if necessary. In addition to the mathematical models, components may also be represented using spectral data read from files. These files are compatible with experimental results processed using the FBN2  package (available from the University of Bath). Thus circuits can be built up using experimental data, mathematical models or a combination of the two.

The circuit is analyzed to calculate pressure ripple and flow ripple at the nodes connecting the blocks. PRASP operates in the frequency domain. By sweeping over a range of frequencies, it builds up a spectrum of results, in terms of amplitude and phase values. Alternatively, a single frequency can be analyzed while varying a circuit dimension or test condition, for example pipe length or mean pressure.