Validation of a Large-Eddy Simulation Model to Simulate Flow in Pump Intakes of Realistic Geometry
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 12
Abstract
This paper describes efforts toward developing a reliable numerical model to predict pump intake flow and associated vortices. Numerical prediction of these flows characterized by the formation of unsteady (meandering) intermittent vortices and presence of massive separation is very challenging. Successful prediction of these phenomena and their effects on the mean flow fields requires numerical methods and turbulence models that can accurately capture the dynamics of the main coherent structures in these flows. In the present work, large-eddy simulation (LES) in conjunction with an accurate nondissipative nonhydrostatic Navier-Stokes massively parallel solver is used to predict the flow and vortical structures in a pressurized pump intake of complex geometry. The LES model is validated using particle image velocimetry data recently collected on a laboratory model of a realistic geometry pump intake. To better put in perspective the predictive performance of the LES model, results from steady simulations employing the shear stress transport (SST) Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) model are presented and compared with LES. It is shown that even if SST can fairly successfully capture the mean velocity distribution and mean vortical structures in some regions, overall LES can more accurately predict the mean flow and turbulence statistics compared to the steady SST model.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank Drs. Wu Yulin, Li Yong, and Li Xiaoming, from the Thermal Engineering Department of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, for providing their experimental data to validate our pump intake model and to Dr. Virendra Patel from University of Iowa for his advice during the completion of this study. The authors would also like to thank the National Center for High Performance Computing in Taiwan for providing the computational resources needed to perform some of the simulations.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 12 • December 2006
Pages: 1303 - 1315
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 12, 2005
Accepted: Mar 23, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
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