Vortex detection in pump sump for a water reservoir
Achieved safe operations for pump.
Handled design alterations easily and early.
Significant time and cost saving with CFD solutions.
Client Profile.
Civil infrastructure developer, India
Industry: Construction industry
Objective.
The client, a contracting public sector company, was involved in constructing dams and reservoirs. They were facing a challenge in determining vortex formation at the sump and its effect on the pump functioning for which they approached HitechDigital engineers, who helped them validate the designs and deliver the effects of the inlet water flow.
Business Needs.
Examine and validate the designs for pumps and piping from the sump.
Understand the behavior of water at the pump inlet and formation of vortex.
Based on CFD analysis results the client wanted to validate the reservoir designs.
Test the safety operation of pumps for given water flow conditions.
Challenges.
Interlinking of two divisions of construction and mechanical invites coordination of work.
Developing the reservoir for simulating vortex at the inlet and understanding its effects is cumbersome.
Difficulty in selecting appropriate turbulence model to determine the vortex formation and its effects.
HitechDigital’s Solution.
HitechDigital project engineers developed CFD mesh models from the provided CAD models of the reservoir as well as the pumps and simulated the flow with vortex to study the effect on pump’s operational safety. Based on these CFD technique study, the client was enabled to take necessary design alterations in reservoir near pump inlet for efficient usage of pumps.
Approach.
The client provided the inputs in form of CAD models of bought-out parts of pump and inlet pipes, and reservoirs structure which were converted to CFD mesh models by CFD specialists at HitechDigital.
By selecting an appropriate mesh and flow physics, vortex formation was simulated.
Results of vortex formation was studied upon the pump functioning and accurate study was delivered to the client for their decision making process for design amendments – if need be.
Benefit.
Simulated the vortex formation effects beforehand the pump installation at dam site which avoided any hazardous situations while in operation.
Insights for safe designs attained at reduced design iterations by identifying critical regions.
Achievement of reliable and sustainable designs of pump with shorter design development curve.
Client Speaks.
Our engineers were too much occupied with interdisciplinary activities and bought-out parts but with the support from HitechDigital CFD team, our engineers could not only manage their tasks but also take well-informed decisions for design optimization and safe operations.
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