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How we check our tools
Every PlantCalcKit tool must reproduce a published worked example or an independent check before it is released. Here is what each one is checked against.
| Tool | Method and references | Checked against |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling Tower Water Balance Excel + free calculator | Perry §12, GPSA Sec. 11, Marley/SPX, Branan | GPSA Example 11-7 (2,000 m³/h, 40/30/25 °C, 4 cycles → makeup 48 m³/h) |
| Cooling Tower Performance Test Excel + free calculator | Performance-curve method aligned with CTI ATC-105 | Published CTI-style test form: capability 101.1 % |
| Cooling Water Chemistry and Cycles Excel + free calculator | Marley pHs correlation, Betz Handbook, GPSA Sec. 18, Puckorius & Brooke, Larson & Skold | Betz Handbook Table 31-2 and GPSA Fig. 18-22 examples; LSI 2.31 at 60 °C |
| Cooling Tower Thermal Rating Excel + free calculator | Merkel method (Perry §12), 4-point Chebyshev integration | Perry's worked example for the Merkel integral; example tower 33.33 °C at 29 °C wet-bulb |
| Heat duty, LMTD and fouling Free calculators | Kern, Perry §11, Bowman–Mueller–Nagle F factor, effectiveness-NTU | F = 0.80 at R = 1, P = 0.5 (standard chart); F·LMTD and ε-NTU routes agree exactly |
| Pump efficiency, NPSH, affinity laws Free calculators | Hydraulic Institute definitions, Perry §10, IAPWS-IF97 water properties | Vapour pressure 101.42 kPa at 100 °C (steam tables); hand calculations |
| Pipe pressure drop Free calculator | Darcy-Weisbach, Colebrook friction factor | Moody chart: f = 0.0185 at Re 10⁵, ε/D 10⁻⁴ |
| Control valve Cv Free calculator | IEC 60534-2-1 liquid equations (aligned) | Kv 100 at 100 m³/h and 1 bar (definition) |
| Orifice plate flow Free calculator | ISO 5167-2 Reader-Harris/Gallagher equation (aligned) | C ≈ 0.603 at β 0.5, high Reynolds number |
| Boiler efficiency Free calculator | Siegert flue-gas loss formula (net CV) | Hand calculation of the published formula |
| Pipe insulation heat loss Free calculator | Churchill-Chu / Churchill-Bernstein convection plus radiation | Heat balance closes at the surface; bare-pipe losses match published tables |
| Compressed air leaks Free calculator | Choked orifice flow | 1/8" hole at 100 psig: 26 cfm vs 25 cfm in the US DOE tables |
| Tank volume Free calculator | Exact geometry of shell and heads | Half-full and full volumes match the exact formulas |
Release checklist for every Excel tool
- Zero formula errors; the standard example matches the hand calculation and the reference worked example.
- Every selector option and every unit system (SI, US, British) gives the same answer.
- Impossible and out-of-range inputs trigger clear warnings.
- Guide tab with method, assumptions, references and verification; print-ready report.
- Opens cleanly in Excel for Windows and Mac and in LibreOffice; no macros.
Book methods and equations are cited in our own words; no text, tables or figures are copied. Standards are referred to as "aligned with" the published method. Found something that does not look right? Email [email protected] — engineering errors are fixed first.