Upgraded water test facility offers ideal product development platform

TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory has recently completed the upgrade of its water flow testing facility. The new facility gives the UK valve industry access to an enhanced full-scale, computer-controlled product development and testing facility at its base in East Kilbride, Glasgow. 

Accredited to ISO 17025, the facility’s enhanced digital capabilities offer automated data capture and calculation, as well as process control automation. TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory’s bespoke FlowStudio software enables asynchronous data capture from every instrument, as well as monitoring and traceability management.  

In addition to flow measurement, the company’s experience of valve testing is unparalleled.  The laboratory has a long history of supplying manufacturers and valve end users with independent and accurate test data.  

Manufacturers and operators can use the facility to develop and assess a wide variety of instruments and valves. The two separate flow lines cover a range of flow rates from 0.1 l/s to 280 l/s and there are line sizes of 6” and 10” (other sizes available on request). The large size of the facility offers valve manufacturers near full-scale testing of new products in the controlled conditions of a laboratory. 

Broader industry appeal

TUV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory’s water flow testing facility is also relevant to other industries, such as oil and gas and clean fuels. This is due to the use of water as a substitute fluid for product development and testing in a range of industries.  

Water is useful as an analogy for other fluids. For example, water can be used as a comparison against liquid carbon dioxide, an important focus for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). Water is also a relevant fluid for the oil and gas industry, as ‘produced water’ is extracted alongside hydrocarbons from subsea wells. 

In addition to physical flow testing of valves, TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory also has an in-house Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) team of experts with extensive experience of using CFD. 

TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory can also offer a combined package of both CFD and physical testing. Physical test data provides a baseline to validate CFD modelling, which can be used as a powerful design optimisation tool for valves and other components.  

For more information on how TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory can help with your valve flow testing needs, contact: 

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