Conference Papers | 2009 Conference Papers

OPTIMISE TANK DESIGN USING CFD

Lisa Brown, Senior Water Engineer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Melbourne, VIC
Franz Jacobsen, Senior Water Engineer, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Brisbane, QLD

DOWNLOAD FULL PAPER (pdf 1.2 Mb)

ABSTRACT

The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has proven useful in optimising the design of water storage tanks. In particular, the use of CFD helps to ensure that short-circuiting within the tank does not occur or is minimised, which is vital to maintain correct residence times and eliminate storage dead zones. CFD allows the modeller to manipulate inlet and outlet pipe positions and angles, add baffles or other innovative concepts and rapidly view the results. A skilled CFD practitioner can produce outputs that are highly visual, user friendly and simple to understand. The advantages of CFD are its flexibility, relatively short computational times and overall cost effectiveness. In addition to confirming tank design, CFD is frequently used to model pump wet-wells, drop structures, energy dissipation structures, spillways and weirs. CFD modelling is relatively inexpensive and has a proven track record for providing substantial capital cost savings and affording assurance of design. CFD is no longer seen as a daunting technology and is a cost effective addition to the design process.

KEY WORDS

CFD, short-circuiting, optimisation, tank design