Numerical Simulation of Flow Field Formed in Water Pump-Sump

Abstract

Two fundamental types of flow problems besetting water intakes are swirling flow problems in the pump sump and sediment problems at entrance or within intakes. Both problems reduce intake performance and lead to increased plant operating costs. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory** in order to select best positions of the suction pipe of a water-intake sump. These experiments show qualitative results concerning flow disturbances in the pump-intake related to sump geometries and position of the pump intake. The purpose of the paper is to reproduce the flow pattern and confirm the geometrical parameter influences of the flow behavior in such a pump. The numerical model solves the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with a near- wall turbulence model. In the validation of this numerical model, emphasis was placed on the prediction of the number, location, size and strength of the various types of vortices. The paper mainly focuses first, on mesh geometry turbulence model, closures and boundary conditions. Secondly, a comparison of different flow patterns for several intake locations in the sump will be presented.