Water pumping station

CAD geometry pumping station for CFD analysis

Geometry for CFD analysis pumping station

Flow splitter results from CFD analysis

CFD flowline results

Vorticity calculation using CFD analysis

Particle settlement CFD analysis

The customer

Size: Large contractor
Sector: Clean water industry
Country: United Kingdom

The Project

Size: 80-100 man-hours
Duration: 2-3 weeks

The Problem

Flow rotation in the pump pipes can cause wear
High maintenance costs due to solid deposition

Proposed solution

Model fluid flow for different pump inlet geometries and measure swirling
Assess compliance with ANSI Pump intake design standard [ANSI/HI 9.8-1998]
Estimate solid deposition for the given flow conditions

The simulations

IncomTechsyssible single phase steady state hydrodynamic simulation (CFD analysis)
Critical Shields Stress and the Boundary Reynolds Number are determined for solid deposition (CFD analysis)

Project overall results

Optimised pump inlet design has proven to be significantly more efficient (7% to 4% swirl angle).
Savings over £28,000 for the customer in prototyping and testing (estimate).
Savings of more than 10 weeks in development time (estimate).

For more details about water pumping simulation, please read our CFD analysis of water pumping facilities white paper.