Detailed experimental and numerical analysis of hydrodynamics in the outflow measurement channel of a sewage treatment plant

M RAGGESI; GARCIA M; SANTIAGO MARQUES; L TARRAB; A PATALANO; A RODRIGUEZ

JOURNAL OF HYDROINFORMATICS

I W A PUBLISHING

Año: 2022

1464-7141

The Bajo Grande Wastewater Treatment Plant has a design capacity of 2.78 m3/s,and discharges into the Suquia River (Córdoba, Argentina). The river has an averageflow rate of 10 m3/s, with lower values during the summer. Currently, the treatmentplant does not have an accurate discharge-measurement system prior to the dischargeinto the river, which makes it difficult to evaluate the dosing of the disinfectiontreatment. The outflow rate is measured in a straight flume. However, at the inletsection of the flume, a 180° sharp bend induces a complex turbulent flow withinstabilities and low-frequency velocity fluctuations which are not appropriate for flowquantification. In this type of flow, most of the in-situ flow discharge-measurementsystems have great uncertainty. Therefore, flow measurements with ADCP and LS-PTV techniques and a prototype scale DES model were combined to obtain a detailedcharacterization of the turbulent flow. The results provide flow rates, fields of mean flowvelocity, its temporal evolution and characteristic parameters of the turbulence. Thisallowed a better understanding of the effects of turbulence and flow instabilities. Theresults provide a basis to validate numerical models used in the hydraulics design ofcontacts chambers to improve the disinfection process.