CFD in Drain System

A simple modification in the engineering design may turn out to be of significant impact in the way systems perform and increase its functional reliability. This image presents a good example in which the blowdown drain system in a power plant was affected by severe flow-accelerated corrosion and fatigue-cracking. As a consequence, multiple fractures were found in many interconnections with the flash tank.

We run a computational simulation to better understand the nature of the fluid dynamics involved in the process and the results suggested the potential root-cause of the failure. Tilting 45º degrees all drain connections with regard to the main header would prevent the system from turbulences, flow divergences, vibrations and steam-hammer. All these process dysfunctionalities will ultimately affect the stability of the magnetite layer, leaving the system unprotected and subject to operational deterioration.