Diversion device for large-scale experimental water tanks

The diversion device is a crucial component of the experimental water tank's flow-making system, significantly influencing both its flow-making performance and the resulting flow field characteristics. In this paper, the diversion device of the flow-making system in a large-scale experimental water tank was investigated. Using the computational fluid dynamics method to solve the Navier–Stokes equations combined with the Renormalization group k–ε turbulence model, the flow field characteristics under different diversion schemes were analyzed, considering diversion angle, geometric shape of the diversion slope, and diversion blade size. Based on a comprehensive comparative analysis of the contour results and flow field uniformity for different conditions, a diversion scheme for the large-scale experimental water tank was proposed. The results indicate that the optimal inflow angle for the tank should be 30°, the geometric shape of the diversion slope should be “Linear,” and the length of the diversion blade should be 42 cm. The diversion device of the experimental water tank was implemented based on the established scheme, and a full-section flow-making experiment was subsequently conducted in the constructed water tank. The experimental results aligned well with the numerical simulation results, verifying the reliability of the simulation methods and demonstrating the rationality and feasibility of the proposed diversion device. The research results can provide a reference for the construction of flow-making systems in large-scale experimental water tanks of the same type.