Two-phase Flow Analysis for Small-scale Ballast Water Tank Model by Hydraulics Experiment and Simulations

Abstract

This study is utilizing hydraulics experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods to verify the flow phenomenon in the ballast water drainage process and discuss the drainage efficiency. In order to facilitate the analysis of the flow characteristics of ballast water in the ballast tank of a typical bulk carrier, the complex structure is simplified into two simple small-scale models, a single-longitudinal model and a single-transversal model. Both are designed with the scale of 1:10 for the data collection. The experimental results are then validated and verified by conducting a two-phase flow model applied volume of fluid (VOF) method. Based on that result, the use of the VOF method is suitable for the ballast water drainage simulation, so it can be used in large-scale model calculations to predict the drainage efficiency of ballast tanks. In addition, this study also conducts a comparative analysis of two configuration modes of the single-longitudinal model and the single-transversal model, which provides a reference for the design and improvement of complex structures.