Debris Containment Grid CFD validation with Towing Tank Tests

Abstract

This paper aims to develop and validate a numerical methodology based in a commercial CFD code, Siemens’ Star-CCM+, to model a 1:10 scaled and truncated experiments of a log boom line in the IPT’s (Institute for Technological Research, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil) Towing Tank. Log booms are debris containment structures developed to contain logs, present in hydropower plant. The towing tank tests are conducted for some types of log boom line geometry, varying the number of log boom modules, velocity, and the catenary curvature formed by the log boom line. The methodology is divided in some steps. Fist, the full-scale model is simulated, allowing two degrees of freedom using an overset mesh and Volume of Fluid to represent the interaction between water and air. A catenary model is used to estimate the curve formed by several log booms. Then, the simulations with the same characteristics as the tow tank are done and the methodology proposed, validated. By comparing the results it is expected to validate the numerical model, increasing reliability and accuracy for more complex simulations that can hardly be tested experimentally.