Automatic Swirl Angle Measurements For Pump Intake Design

Pre-swirl occurring in pump intake basins influences pump efficiency and lifetime. The exact effect on a pump depends on the pump design. In order to optimize the approach flow towards the pump, physical scale modelling is often applied following the guidelines formulated in pump intake design standard ANSI/HI 9.8-2012. This standard provides guidelines on measurement equipment for, and acceptance criteria of, swirl. As this standard does not elaborate on the measurement technique, an approach is proposed through which a swirl can be quantified with a known accuracy in a sump model test. The proposed method is demonstrated using two scale models where swirl was measured for 6 hours. Furthermore, conditions where the acceptance criteria of ANSI/HI 9.8-2012 are not strictly defined are outlined and quantifiable acceptance criteria for future sump model tests proposed.