4 Replies Latest reply on Aug 11, 2014 12:17 AM by Jared Conway

Flow simulation of water passing through an intake chamber

Jonathan Cox Aug 7, 2014 7:26 AM

Hello,

I am new to flow simulation and need advise on how to simulate water flowing through an intake model (see attachment) . Is it possible to simulate water coming through the top section and eventually coming out of the hole (pipe) in the rectangular chamber? How would I go about doing this? The purpose is to find the relevant velocities of the water passing through the model (made of concrete) and also the turbulence of various designs.

Any help would be great!

Kind regards,

Jonny

Flow analysis.SLDPRT.zip 84.9 KB

Re: Flow simulation of water passing through an intake chamber

Nicholas Luyster Aug 7, 2014 3:32 PM (in response to Jonathan Cox)

Hi Jonny,

If the water is interacting with the air, this may not be the best simulation to do with Flow. In Flow one of the first steps is to define something called a "computational domain" which is the volume occupied by the fluid (water). If you're pouring water into the top part, the computational domain isn't very well defined because you don't know where the water ends and the air begins. Unfortunately, flow can not mix two fluids of dissimilar state (gas and liquid interaction is not possible).

I suggest is either finding another way to do it (I think it could be solved with differential equations) or you could assume a computational domain.

All the best,

Nick
SolidWorks Simulation Training
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- Re: Flow simulation of water passing through an intake chamber
  
  Jonathan Cox Aug 8, 2014 4:11 AM (in response to Nicholas Luyster)
  
  Thank you for the help. Yes the water would be interacting with the water. It is a model of a weir intake so water will pour into the top and travel into the chamber. It does not need to be highly accurate but I see what you mean. Could you elaborate on how to solve with differential equations, or maybe point me in the right direction for solving it? What computational domain would be most appropriate for the model?
  
  Cheers,
  
  Jonny
  
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  - Re: Flow simulation of water passing through an intake chamber
    
    Nicholas Luyster Aug 10, 2014 9:16 PM (in response to Jonathan Cox)
    
    Hi Jonny,
    
    Describing how to setup the differential equations would be beyond the scope of these forums. However, I did a simple google search and this article looked like it had some decent information on the subject.
    
    http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/trhsu/Chapter%203%20First%20order%20DEs.pdf
    
    Once you have the differential equations listed out, then you can use a program like simulink to solve with time.
    
    Simulink - Simulation and Model-Based Design
    
    For your application, I think this would be better than using flow (at least initially).
    
    All the best,
    
    Nick
    SolidWorks Simulation Training
    
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  - Re: Flow simulation of water passing through an intake chamber
    
    Jared Conway Aug 11, 2014 12:17 AM (in response to Jonathan Cox)
    
    just for clarification, anytime your pipe or vessel is not completely full, the analysis will not be achievable in solidworks flow simulation.
    sometimes described as the water interaction with air, or free surface
    you'd need a code like adapco that can treat the water more like particles to test those types of situations
    
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