CFD MODELLING

Mark Kowalski

Head of Asset Strategy, WRc plc

Baed by
hydrodynamics?
Try CFD
Using experimentally-derived decay rates of environmental parasite spores (oocysts), WRc has developed a suite of CFD
models to simulate winter and summer steady-state conditions in raw water storage reservoirs
Image: Skreidzeleu / Shutterstock

Computational fluid dynamic

(CFD) modelling, formerly
the sole preserve of
mathematicians and software
developers, has experienced
something of a renaissance as
the number of easier-to-use
software platforms and
potential applications has
developed. Correctly
configured, CFD models can
solve a number of tricky
three-dimensional fluid flow
problems, three of which are
showcased in this article.

tank-specic program for circular tanks;

TANKXZ, another settling tank-specic
program for rectangular tanks; and
settlingFoam, part of the OpenFoam
CFD suite. settlingFoam was used
where three-dimensional ow eects
were to be assessed: its generality
allows it to model any shape of
settling tank but at the expense of
computational speed.
The output from this project will be a
spreadsheet providing a front-end to
run the programs so that the user does
not need to be involved in the details of

grid creation or setting up data les

required by the dierent CFD software
packages. This will allow rapid
assessment of the benets of various
tank internal retrots to assess whether
they can deliver the improvement in
performance required at a given site.

Cryptosporidium potential
Bankside (raw water) storage reservoirs
provide valuable pre-treatment
settlement of solids and hence act as a
buer against spikes in turbidity from
river-fed sources. Where faecal matter

Enhancing the performance

of settling tanks
CFD has been successfully applied to
model the benets of adding owdiverting baes to settling tanks to
enhance their performance. As part of
this work WRc visited six wastewater
treatment works around the UK, taking
velocity and suspended proles
measurements at all sites.
The sites were then modelled using
several CFD packages: 2Dc, a settling

Modelled total suspended solids (TSS) concentration near the base of a settling tank
Water & Sewerage Journal 

enters the river/lake system, either in

dilute form from an upstream
wastewater discharge, via agricultural
run-o or through avian deposition,
Cryptosporidium oocysts may be
present. These can be harmful if
ingested by humans with certain
conditions which make them
particularly vulnerable to infection.
Experimental eld research by others
had shown that oocyst viability is also
strongly temperature-dependent,
with oocysts able to survive cooler
conditions for many weeks even
months. This is bad news if winter
storms bring larger volumes of
potentially contaminated raw water into
storage. Hence, recent work by WRc
supported by CHAM Ltd. and their
Phoenics software has developed a
suite of CFD models to simulate winter
and summer steady-state conditions
using dierent surface wind conditions
and temperature proles with depth.
This has only been possible thanks to
the recent availability of experimentallyderived environmental oocyst decay
rates and the power of CFD.
In general terms, it is suggested that the
preferred conditions to minimise viable
oocyst transfer to treatment are rstly,
reasonably long residence times (but
without stagnant areas) and secondly,
no short-circuiting from inlet to outlet.
This provides the best opportunity for
the raw water reservoir to act as a
settling tank in which natural biological
decay processes are given time to
progress. In windier modelled weather
conditions, we demonstrated that
limited short-circuiting could occur,
promoted by the topography and
relatively short distance between inlet
and outlet (Figure 2). We proposed that
this could be disrupted by introducing
a short bae curtain, which we are
currently modelling.

Whilst treatment processes are almost

always more than capable of removing
such unwanted naturally occurring
organisms, recent research has
demonstrated that careful siting of inlet
and outlet pipework and minimisation
of short-circuiting can help to reduce
the concentration of oocysts which are
potentially passed forward to
treatment. This research has helped to
better understand the envelope of
environmental conditions and level of
risk under which these raw water
reservoirs operate.

Minimising failure
Poorly maintained service reservoirs
provide an opportunity for
bacteriological growth and locally
enhanced disinfectant demand. This
can lead to a lower than ideal chlorine
residual and hence a higher risk of nonwholesome water downstream at the
customers taps. However, it is not just
ingress which may tip the risk balance:
poor sampling practice and awed
design may also be contributing factors
to bacteriological failure. On the latter
point, CFD can help pinpoint areas at
risk from bacteriological failure before
failures occur. In one such case, WRc
was asked to provide modelling
evidence for a major contractor during
their reservoir nal design stage that a
proposed modication to internal
pipework would not unduly aect the
age and hence quality of chlorinated
water at the reservoir outlet.
Fortunately, the proposed value
engineering change to the design
made a negligible change to the
reservoir water quality. The model
demonstrated also that concerns over
areas of dead water which WRc
interprets to mean a volume of water
moving more slowly than one metre per
hour were unfounded. Less than
0.02% of the total volume was

Figure 2: Reservoir plan view of velocity contours showing

ow streaming around shallower northern perimeter and
limited short-circuiting to the outlet (eastern edge)

expected to move at this speed or less.

Nevertheless, a small, optional, change
to the orientation of the end of the inlet
pipe was proposed by WRc to induce
greater vertical mixing and disrupt this
small dead zone near the surface.
Building on previous work completed
for UK Water Industry Research on
water network bacteriological
infringement, I believe there is now
sucient merit in combining evidence
from service reservoir water quality
incident reports, sampling practices
and CFD modelling to improve
understanding and produce a broader
strategy for reducing the risk of service
reservoir bacteriological failure. I would
be interested to hear your views on
this topic.

Problem-solver?
The versatility of CFD modelling allows
us to diagnose problems with the
hydrodynamics of all kinds of vessels.
Other examples include contact tanks
for disinfection, wet wells and
combined sewer overow chambers.
Engineering solutions can also be
proposed, modelled and veried for, in
many cases, a fraction of the solution
cost and with lower investment risk.
From relatively simple problems of
design, such as re-siting the inlet
pipework to improve mixing, to
modelling residence time to assess
whether the required CT value can be
achieved, CFD oers a cost-eective
method of enquiry.
Contact Mark Kowalski , WRc
T: +44 (0)1793 865080
E: mark.kowalski@wrcplc.co.uk
W: www.wrcplc.co.uk

Figure 3: 3D view of service reservoir pipework and

columns, highlighting minimal dead water volume
Water & Sewerage Journal 3