Analysis of the Effect of Baffles on the Settling Efficiency of a Sedimentation Tank by Computational Fluid Dynamics
摘要
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be used to study the settling mechanisms in a sedimentation tank. The adoption of an appropriate baffle configuration is one useful way to decrease the size of the circulation zones and improve the efficiency of the sedimentation tanks. In this study, the arrangement of baffles of height 3 m and 4.1 m is investigated to examine the effect on the performance of the tank. The water is first simulated and then the particles are injected and tracked in their paths using a discrete phase model. The result is firstly validated with the experimental data from a published paper. It is found that the baffle arrangement for 3 m height is ineffective while that of 4.1 m is effective for the removal of suspended particles. It is also observed that for the baffles of 4.1 m height, the efficiency rises as the number of baffles increases. The highest efficiency of 50.27% is obtained by installing 6 baffles of height 4.1 m, and this arrangement is most effective in dissipating the kinetic energy.