Numerical Simulation of Lateral Pipe Intake from Open Channel

Intake structures which are used as water diverting structures in open channels, rivers, and reservoirs are of the oldest issues of hydraulic engineering. In this study, a lateral pipe intake was proposed as a flow diversion structure provided in side walls of a channel, and its discharge characteristics and flow pattern was studied numerically using 3D CFD package, Flow-3D. The simulations have been performed for various parameters. The results showed that the lateral pipe intake with 90o angle has the highest efficiency among all of our simulation scenarios. The vortex and the separation zone in the lateral pipe intake were formed behind the pipe. Also, formation of the recirculation zone behind the lateral pipe intake can be affected by other parameters like inlet Froude number and transversal position of the pipe intake mouth. Furthermore, an equation was developed for the discharge coefficient in the lateral pipe intake. The computed discharges were within ±15% of the observed ones.