Jet-Driven Mixing Regimes Identified in the Unsteady Isothermal Filling of Rectangular Municipal Water Storage Tanks
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VIEW CORRECTIONPublication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 2
Abstract
Poor mixing of old and new water in municipal water storage vessels is a well-documented basis for potentially harmful water quality degradation in drinking water distribution systems. This numerical study investigates the effects of inflow and operational variables on mixing in the jet-driven filling process, with a particular focus on the transition from inadequate to sufficient mixing levels. An isothermal unsteady reynolds-averaged-navier-stokes volume-of-fluid (RANS-VOF) simulation is used to model the variable-volume filling process, accounting for the moving free surface following a draw-down in the stored water volume. A low diffusivity tracer is used to mark the old-water volume, and a coefficient of variation (CoV) quantifying the departure from a uniform tracer distribution is used to monitor the time-dependent mixing. The results indicate that adequate mixing does not necessarily follow refills from common draw-down levels. Three distinct mixing regimes are identified by unique CoV transients. Introducing consideration of the mean-flow kinetic energy, the observed mixing behaviors are readily explained by the jet inlet power and the distribution of the mean-flow kinetic energy in the tank. Extending the simulations to periods after cessation of the inflow and to partial refills, the role of residual mean-flow kinetic energy is further highlighted, especially its limited vertical reach. For cases in which a sufficiently mixed condition is achieved, the time-to-mix results are well described by a mixing-time correlation closely matching previously published results.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by the High Performance Computing Research Center, as well as the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, both at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. In addition, the authors wish to thank the editors and reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 2 • March 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 4, 2022
Accepted: Sep 10, 2023
Published online: Dec 30, 2023
Published in print: Mar 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 30, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Environmental engineering
- Equipment and machinery
- Hydration
- Kinetics
- Laminating
- Materials engineering
- Materials processing
- Municipal water
- Numerical analysis
- Solid mechanics
- Storage tanks
- Tanks (by type)
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water quality
- Water storage
- Water supply
- Water supply systems
- Water treatment
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