Three-dimensional analysis of air-admission orifices in pipelines during hydraulic drainage events
Fecha
2022-11-07Registro en:
10.3390/su142114600
Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar
Repositorio Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar
Autor
Paternina-Verona, Duban A.
Coronado-Hernández, Oscar E.
Espinoza-Román, Héctor G.
Besharat, Mohsen
Fuertes-Miquel, Vicente S
Ramos, Helena M
Resumen
Air valves operate as protection devices in pipelines during drainage processes in order
to mitigate vacuum pressures and control the transient flows. Currently, different authors have
proposed one-dimensional models to predict the behaviour of orifices during filling and draining
events, which offer good numerical results. However, the three-dimensional dynamic behaviour of
air-admission orifices during drainage processes has not been studied in depth in the literature. In
this research, the effects of air inflow on an orifice installed in a single pipe during drainage events
are analysed using a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model by testing orifices with
diameters of 1.5 and 3.0 mm. This model was validated with different experimental measurements
associated to the vacuum pressure, obtaining good fits. The three-dimensional model predicts
additional information associated to the aerodynamic effects that occur during the air-admission
processes, which is studied. Subsonic flows are observed in different orifices with Mach numbers
between 0.18 and 0.30. In addition, it is shown that the larger-diameter orifice ensures a more effective
airflow control compared to the smaller-diameter orifice