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Feb 8, 2010 - Massive industrial projects, such as an electric generating facility to power the world’s largest aluminum plant in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, have mind-boggling arrays of elements that must work in concert to ensure efficient operation. Imperfections in any key aspect, including flow systems, can have considerable negative impacts on performance.
Alden’s work for engineering firm Kuljian Corp., identified hydraulic performance problems in the circulating water system that could have had significant consequences. The original plant design was hampered by a small footprint, making the cooling system design more challenging and thus making a thorough performance study highly desirable. Alden custom built a 1:9 scale physical hydraulic model for the project. The model detail was exhaustive, including all gates and openings, make-up water supply connections, the entire fore bay carrying water from all the openings in the cooling tower basin up to the pump bays, and the entire pump station with all the pump inlets. Modeling the entire cooling system rather than just a section of it brought several flow problems to light.
With Alden’s input, engineers redesigned the fore bay, making it wider and deeper to calm the water surface. The redesigned flow system also added fillets and splitters within the pump bays to reduce undesirable water recirculation patterns and subsurface vortices entering the pumps.
“We believe the model testing was highly successful because Cilent’s specification called for such an elaborate, extensive model,” says Samir Pal,Project Manager, with Kuljian Corp.
Alden tested design modifications using the model to address the flow issues. The result was a high-performance design that will fulfill the plant’s cooling needs within the footprint constraints.
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