Seabrook Pipe Lining Testing
Alden was contracted by Imperia Engineering for mock-up and head loss testing of cured in place pipe (CIPP) lining. Seabrook Nuclear Power plant was planning to perform maintenance on its service water piping system which consists of safety and non-safety function concrete lined pipe. The planned maintenance consisted of lining the pipes using a glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite. To ensure the maintenance activity would be successful, Imperia Engineering organized a mock-up test of the installation mechanics for the smallest inner diameter pipe (20”) and contracted Alden to perform flow testing on the mock-up pipe loop to help determine the effects of the lining on the flow performance of the piping network.
The chosen piping configuration for the mock-up test focuses on a section of 20” pipe that supplies systems related to turbine cooling. The section in question combined a number of direction and elevation changing pipe fittings. Incorporating this section into the mock-up provided a challenge for the installer and provided some insight into the potential stack-up of flow losses from these types of fitting combinations. It made the positive identification of individual fitting losses much more challenging.
Along with assembling the provided test piping, Alden constructed a custom flow loop with a large recirculation pump and a flow meter assembly. The flow meter assembly consisted of two flow meters allowing measurements of flow rate to better than 1% uncertainty down to 2000 gpm. The recirculation pump had a relatively low discharge head capability (<45ft) but a high run out flow rate of 17,500 gpm. The loop was connected to a large water tank reservoir to allow the loop to be reconfigured and accessed between tests.
Each piece of test piping was outfitted with multiple sets of taps for the purpose of pressure loss measurements. Pressure loss measurements along the pipeline were taken at a range of flow rates to evaluate Reynolds number effects.
The pipeline was tested by Alden first in its original cement lined state, then with Weko seals installed at various joint locations, and then finally following CIPP lining of the entire length of test piping (lining performed onsite at Alden by Aquarehab). Alden analyzed the test results to determine friction losses and loss coefficients for each type of fitting and straight sections of pipe, under all three scenarios, providing the required insight to the viability of CIPP lining at Seabrook. Measurements showed that the friction factor drop in the pipe was sufficient to compensate for the reduced pipe diameter. However, losses substantially increased at turns where excess material folds increase turbulent losses by obstructing flow near the inside turn of the wall. Mock-up testing and careful hydraulic analysis is therefore required when applying the lining system to a pipeline where the pump performance margin is small.
Contact us for more information on mock-up testing.
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An existing roof vent arrangement was allowing rainwater to enter the Pot Room. Alden supported efforts to develop a roof vent geometry to eliminate the intrusion of rain water. The purpose of the CFD study was to ensure that the roof vent modification did not increase pot room temperature levels beyond specified limits for workers in the plant.
To evaluate the existing and proposed Pot Room arrangements, thermal and fluid flow profiles in the immediate vicinity of the pots were determined based on air flows through the plant floor and wall mounted vents. The detailed CFD model was developed from plant drawings to include all major basement, pot room and roof venting geometries. The surrounding ambient environment was included with quiescent atmospheric conditions and average ambient temperature. Thermal losses form the pots to the pot room air and from the pot room to the environment were included in the analysis. The results of the CFD modeling showed that the proposed modification to the roof venting arrangement was acceptable and would not increase the temperature in the worker-occupied spaces by more than 2 degrees F.
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Civil Infrastructure
Smelter Pot Room Roof Ventilation System
Read how a CFD study ensured that a roof vent modification did not increase pot room temperature levels beyond safe levels
Plant McDonough, owned and operated by Southern Company, has experienced excessive siltation at the makeup water intake. The intake uses cylindrical wedgewire screening within an intake originally designed for much larger, once-through cooling water flows. Flow modeling was performed to provide a viable passive solution to reducing the sediment accumulation at the intake. To model the geometric details of the system accurately, a field survey was performed prior to the flow modeling efforts. The flow study included both CFD modeling and scale physical modeling.
For this investigation, Alden developed a 1:20 scale live bed physical model. This model was extremely well tuned to reproduce the behavior of bed load sediment. Even with the very fine crushed walnut shell particles, however, it was challenging to reproduce the behavior of suspended load. The use of a high fidelity CFD model, therefore, proved extremely useful for this project, in that suspended load is generally very accurately tracked with CFD models, which are not well validated for bed load simulation. By using the two together, the two extremes of sediment transport are captured, and developing a solution that covers this range has a high likelihood of success.
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Civil Infrastructure | Hydrology Hydraulics and Fluids
Plant McDonough Intake Modification
CFD and physical model study to assist in the evaluation of a solution to reduce the sediment accumulation.