FLOW SIMULATION IN DIFFERENTS CONTACT TANK DESIGNS ON A LABORATORY SCALE TO EVALUATE THE HYDRAULIC EFFICIENCY INDICATORS IMPROVEMENT

MOLINA S; M RAGGESI; DI BUO M; MOTTA, L; A RODRIGUEZ; HILLMAN G

Mecánica Computacional Vol. XL ISSN 2591-3522

AMCA

Lugar: Concordia; Año: 2023; p. 1 - 9

The contact chambers are designed according to national standards assuming a minimumcontact time. However, recirculation and short circuit zones appear in them, meaning that possibly a portion of the flow does not meet said time. This motivated the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate flow in different designs of a laboratory-scale contact chamber. In particular, the OpenFOAM(R) library was used. In each design, the velocity and vorticity fields, and the transport of a passive scalar as a tracer, were analyzed to derive a residence time distribution curve (RTD). Based on the results, hydraulic efficiency indexes were estimated for each design, and it was defined which of them is the most efficient.