IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i22p6136-d449523.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reduction of Entrained Vortices in Submersible Pump Suction Lines Using Numerical Simulations

Author

Listed:
  • Virgel M. Arocena

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Binoe E. Abuan

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Joseph Gerard T. Reyes

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Paul L. Rodgers

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Louis Angelo M. Danao

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

Abstract

Pump intake structure design is one area where physical models still remain as the only acceptable method that can provide reliable engineering results. Ensuring the amount of turbulence, entrained air vortices, and swirl are kept within acceptable limits requires site-specific, expensive, and time-consuming physical model studies. This study aims to investigate the viability of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as an alternative tool for pump intake design thus reducing the need for extensive physical experiments. In this study, a transient multiphase simulation of a 530 mm wide rectangular intake sump housing a 116 m 3 /h pump is presented. The flow conditions, vortex formation and inlet swirl are compared to an existing 1:10 reduced scaled physical model test. For the baseline test, the predicted surface and submerged vortices agreed well with those observed in the physical model. Both the physical model test and the numerical model showed that the initial geometry of the pump sump is unacceptable as per ANSI/HI 9.8 criteria. Strong type 2 to type 3 submerged vortices were observed at the floor of the pump and behind the pump. Consequently, numerical simulations of proposed sump design modification are further investigated. Two CFD models with different fillet-splitter designs are evaluated and compared based on the vortex formation and swirl. In the study, it was seen that a trident-shaped splitter design was able to prevent flow separation and vortex suppression as compared to a cross-baffle design based on ANSI/HI 9.8. CFD results for the cross-baffle design showed that backwall and floor vortices were still present and additional turbulence was observed due to the cross-flow caused by the geometry. Conversely, CFD results for the trident-shaped fillet-splitter design showed stable flow and minimized the floor and wall vortices previously observed in the first two models.

Suggested Citation

  • Virgel M. Arocena & Binoe E. Abuan & Joseph Gerard T. Reyes & Paul L. Rodgers & Louis Angelo M. Danao, 2020. "Reduction of Entrained Vortices in Submersible Pump Suction Lines Using Numerical Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6136-:d:449523
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6136/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6136/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahn, Soo-Hwang & Xiao, Yexiang & Wang, Zhengwei & Zhou, Xuezhi & Luo, Yongyao, 2017. "Numerical prediction on the effect of free surface vortex on intake flow characteristics for tidal power station," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 617-628.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sangyoon Kim & Changgu Kim & Byungha Kim & Hyunjun Jang & Incheol Kim & Young-Ho Lee, 2022. "A Study Comparing the Subsurface Vortex Characteristics in Pump Sumps," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-12, July.
    2. Virgel M. Arocena & Binoe E. Abuan & Joseph Gerard T. Reyes & Paul L. Rodgers & Louis Angelo M. Danao, 2021. "Numerical Investigation of the Performance of a Submersible Pump: Prediction of Recirculation, Vortex Formation, and Swirl Resulting from Off-Design Operating Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cao, Jingwei & Luo, Yongyao & Presas, Alexandre & Ahn, Soo-Hwang & Wang, Zhengwei & Huang, Xingxing & Liu, Yan, 2022. "Influence of rotation on the modal characteristics of a bulb turbine unit rotor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 887-895.
    2. Ahn, Soo-Hwang & Xiao, Yexiang & Wang, Zhengwei & Zhou, Xuezhi & Luo, Yongyao, 2017. "Performance prediction of a prototype tidal power turbine by using a suitable numerical model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 293-302.
    3. Zi, Dan & Wang, Fujun & Wang, Chaoyue & Huang, Congbin & Shen, Lian, 2021. "Investigation on the air-core vortex in a vertical hydraulic intake system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1333-1345.
    4. Huang, Xianbei & Yang, Wei & Li, Yaojun & Qiu, Baoyun & Guo, Qiang & Zhuqing, Liu, 2019. "Review on the sensitization of turbulence models to rotation/curvature and the application to rotating machinery," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 341(C), pages 46-69.
    5. Ahn, Soo-Hwang & Tian, Hong & Cao, Jingwei & Duo, Wenzhi & Wang, Zhengwei & Cui, Jianhua & Chen, Lin & Li, Yang & Huang, Guoping & Yu, Yunpeng, 2023. "Hydraulic performances of a bulb turbine with full field reservoir model based on entropy production analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 347-360.
    6. Shi, Guangtai & Liu, Zongku & Xiao, Yexiang & Wang, Zhengwei & Luo, Yongyao & Luo, Kun, 2020. "Energy conversion characteristics of multiphase pump impeller analyzed based on blade load spectra," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 9-23.
    7. Li, Lin & Tan, Dapeng & Wang, Tong & Yin, Zichao & Fan, Xinghua & Wang, Ronghui, 2021. "Multiphase coupling mechanism of free surface vortex and the vibration-based sensing method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Li, Huanhuan & Xu, Beibei & Riasi, Alireza & Szulc, Przemyslaw & Chen, Diyi & M'zoughi, Fares & Skjelbred, Hans Ivar & Kong, Jiehong & Tazraei, Pedram, 2019. "Performance evaluation in enabling safety for a hydropower generation system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1628-1642.
    9. Linghua Kong & Jingwei Cao & Xiangyang Li & Xulei Zhou & Haihong Hu & Tao Wang & Shuxin Gui & Wenfa Lai & Zhongfeng Zhu & Zhengwei Wang & Yan Liu, 2022. "Numerical Analysis on the Hydraulic Thrust and Dynamic Response Characteristics of a Turbine Pump," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    10. Yaping Zhao & Jianjun Feng & Zhihua Li & Mengfan Dang & Xingqi Luo, 2022. "Analysis of Pressure Fluctuation of Tubular Turbine under Different Application Heads," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    11. Zhang, Han & Gao, Xueping & Sun, Bowen & Qin, Zixue & Zhu, Hongtao, 2020. "Parameter analysis and performance optimization for the vertical pipe intake-outlet of a pumped hydro energy storage station," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1499-1518.
    12. Fu, Shifeng & Zheng, Yuan & Kan, Kan & Chen, Huixiang & Han, Xingxing & Liang, Xiaoling & Liu, Huiwen & Tian, Xiaoqing, 2020. "Numerical simulation and experimental study of transient characteristics in an axial flow pump during start-up," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1879-1887.
    13. Li, Zhixiang & Xu, Hui & Feng, Jiangang & Chen, Huixiang & Kan, Kan & Li, Tianyi & Shen, Lian, 2024. "Fluctuation characteristics induced by energetic coherent structures in air-core vortex: The most complex vortex in the tidal power station intake system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    14. Virgel M. Arocena & Binoe E. Abuan & Joseph Gerard T. Reyes & Paul L. Rodgers & Louis Angelo M. Danao, 2021. "Numerical Investigation of the Performance of a Submersible Pump: Prediction of Recirculation, Vortex Formation, and Swirl Resulting from Off-Design Operating Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    15. Ahn, Soo-Hwang & Zhou, Xuezhi & He, Lingyan & Luo, Yongyao & Wang, Zhengwei, 2020. "Numerical estimation of prototype hydraulic efficiency in a low head power station based on gross head conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 175-181.
    16. Kim, J.W. & Woo, S.-B., 2023. "A numerical approach to the treatment of submerged water exchange processes through the sluice gates of a tidal power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    17. Li, Lin & Li, Qihan & Ni, Yesha & Wang, Chengyan & Tan, Yunfeng & Tan, Dapeng, 2024. "Critical penetrating vibration evolution behaviors of the gas-liquid coupled vortex flow," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    18. Li, Lin & Tan, Dapeng & Yin, Zichao & Wang, Tong & Fan, Xinghua & Wang, Ronghui, 2021. "Investigation on the multiphase vortex and its fluid-solid vibration characters for sustainability production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 887-909.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6136-:d:449523. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.