علوم و مهندسی آب و فاضلاب (Apr 2022)
Numerical Investigation of Flow Characteristics and Discharge Coefficients on a Submerged Cylindrical Weir-Gate by Using Computational Dynamics
Abstract
Combined structure of weir and gate due to the simultaneous flow of suspended material from on the overflow and material deposited in the flow of water from the valve section, provides better conditions compared to other structures used to measure the discharge in the channels. Nowadays, numerical solution methods without the need of laboratory equipment and the ability to calculate the desired parameters, with low time and cost is considered as one of the efficient methods of flow analysis. In this research, by using CFD and numerical solution method with FLOW-3D software for different diameters of combined structure of weir and gate was simulated. Flow simulation was performed in a channel with 3 mm length, 0.4 mm width and 0.5 mm height. The models were studied in cylindrical diameter of 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5 cm, and for openings gates of 1, 2 and 3 cm. The flow was also simulated and studied for all models at 4 discharges of 12, 16, 20 and 22 lit/s. Comparing the discharge coefficient results with the dimensionless parameter of water depth upstream to water depth downstream of the overflow-valve combined model, it was observed that the numerical results obtained using the RNG turbulence model provide closer data to laboratory results. In the validation stage of numerical results with laboratory outputs of previous researches, the error percentage of the simulated model was calculated to be less than 5%, which indicates the acceptable accuracy of numerical modeling. The results showed that with increasing the flow, when the diameter and opening of the valve are fixed, the flow coefficient increases. At a constant diameter of the overflow-valve model, the flow coefficient decreases in exchange for increasing the valve opening. For a constant flow rate and diameter, changes in flow rate decrease with increasing valve opening height. It was also observed that the curvature of the flow surface profile increases with increasing diameter of the cylindrical model.
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