Yesterday, Suman Sapkota graduated at the University of Twente on: ‘Technical and Sustainability Analysis of Sediment Erosion of Impeller Blades of Dredge Pumps’. We are very proud he worked for us on this topic and graduated with a grade 8 for it. As such, he stands in a long line of Master students1, who graduate with an 8 or even higher2. We value good students and we like to work with them only if the work they deliver is useful for us. This requires an intensive supervision and the results are correspondingly. This does not guarantee a good result, but you can always try3.
Suman graduated on a topic covered by the chair of ‘Sustainable Energy Technology’4. The objective was to study the economic and environmental impact of worn wear parts. When wear parts have to be rejected too early, they increase their environmental footprint. On the other end, if an impeller is severely worn, the efficiency decreases and the environmental footprint increases also. Our question was whether it was possible to improve the design of the dredge pump for a longer lifetime by checking the wear rate of the improvement in a simulation. To understand the problem and answer the question Suman had to start investigating the wear process itself.
From literature he evaluated different erosion models. Basically, what is the effect when a defined particle impacts the concerned surface under certain conditions. And the conditions will be depending on the flow pattern and the influence of the fluid on the particle trajectories. The second research part was the investigation of this flow pattern and simulated with a CFD application. The flow pattern and the particle properties were combined. This way, the movement of the particles can be traced from inlet to outlet.
Particle tracking in CFD simulation of an impeller
Between inlet and outlet, the particles bounce against several areas of the blade. The bouncing can be counted and mapped. Together with the information of the impingement conditions and the erosion model, an estimation of the erosion rate can be made for different flow conditions and soil properties. The mapping can be transformed into an erosion density map. These maps can be checked for pump capacity and particle sizes.
With these maps, we can finally evaluate in advance where impellers will wear down and if we can improve their lifetime by modifying the design. Thus we can reduce their environmental footprint and contribute to a more sustainable business.
Suman, thank you very much for working for us. You were a pleasure to work with. We wish you good luck on your career and a happy life.
References
- Graduation reports, Discover Dredging
- Ben Sloof Nominated For KIvI Best Offshore Graduate Student
- Internship Vacancies, Damen
- Kipaji scholarship for Nepalese student, University of Twente
See also