Hydraulic analysis of an axial-flow pump and nozzle for an off-shore sheet wave simulator

Voltus Industries®正在开发一种离岸娱乐产品，通过在等高线坡道上产生高速水幕来模拟冲浪。Voltus Industries的设计很新颖，因为它是一个为湖泊离岸地点设计的浮动平台。虽然离岸设计提供了在营地、海滩和其他娱乐场所使用的灵活性，但它也施加了环境和生态限制。轴流泵通过进气真空室抽水，并通过特殊的喷嘴产生水膜。流过坡道后，水返回到湖里。这种设计需要大量吸收湖水，这会对生态和环境产生负面影响。这项研究将通过基于模拟的平台水流配置优化，最大限度地减少平台对生态的影响，减少从湖泊中取水的量。将使用计算流体力学模拟流经水泵、喷嘴和管道的水，以确定最大限度地减少能量损失、确保适当的水面均匀度以及最大限度地减少从湖中取水的速率的配置。必须避免在泵内部的低压区域产生蒸汽气泡--称为气蚀--以确保平台的高可靠性和低维护。因此，将发展空化预测模型并将其应用到流动模拟中。这项研究将确保离岸平台对当地环境的影响最小，同时也确保它在加拿大每年1亿美元以上的游乐园行业中具有技术和经济竞争力。

Voltus Industries® is developing an off-shore recreational product that mimics surfing by producing ahigh-speed water sheet on a contoured ramp. Voltus Industries' design is novel because it is a floating platformdesigned for off-shore locations in lakes. While the off-shore design provides flexibility for use in camps,beaches, and other recreational locations, it also imposes environmental and ecological constraints. An axialpump draws water through an intake plenum and passes it through a special nozzle to produce the water sheet.After flowing over the ramp, the water returns to the lake. This design requires a large uptake of lake water,which has negative ecological and environmental impacts. This research will minimize the ecological impactsof the platform and decrease the amount of water uptake from the lake by simulation-based optimization of theplatform's flow configuration. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the water flowing through thepump, nozzle, and ducting will be employed to identify the configuration that minimizes the energy losses,ensures suitable uniformity of the water sheet, and minimizes the rate of water uptake from the lake. Theproduction of vapor bubbles in low-pressure regions inside the pump--referred to as cavitation--must beavoided to ensure high reliability and low maintenance of the platform. Therefore, cavitation prediction modelswill be developed and implemented into the flow simulations. The research will ensure that the off-shoreplatform has a minimal impact on the local environment while also ensuring it is technically and economicallycompetitive in Canada's $100 million+/year amusement park industry.