An Experimental Study on Hydraulic Model of Water Intake Canal at Steam and Gas Power Plants

Abstract

The performance of the canal water intake used in the Gas and Steam Power Plant (PLTGU) cooling system is carried out by testing the physical model of the water intake canal with a 1:15 scale model. In which, the canal water intake prototype has dimensions of length, L = 33.30 m, width, B = 13.40 m and height, T = 11.67 m, scaling the prototype dimensions to the model dimensions is done by complying with Froude’s law. The purpose of this paper is to determine the flow patterns that occur in the physical model and the minimum elevation allowed based on applicable guidelines [1]. The variables measured in this study were the flow velocity in the canal and also the visual documentation of the flow pattern in the canal including the formation of vortices. Tests were carried out on three variations of tidal elevation, namely HWL, MSL and LWL. The experimental results show that the flow pattern in the channel varies with depth with an average Reynolds Number value = 3.5 × 104. Vortex formation occurs at all elevations where the vortex is formed in the area near the pump. The observations show that the critical elevation of the canal is at H = 0.29 m for the model and H = 4.35 m for the prototype.