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Sizing a Concrete basin
4

Sizing a Concrete basin

Sizing a Concrete basin

(OP)
I am sizing a pumping system which extracts water from a river. the river water will be collected in a "basin", which is a small concrete collection area. The physical dimension must be sufficient to accommodate the submersible pump and maintain a minimum head of water above the pump.The volume must also be sufficient to prevent turbulence within the pump suction.
Can anyone assist by providing a guide or rule of thumb for sizing the collection basin?
Is it sufficient just to size it based on physical dimension of the pump and maintain a head(water level)say 3ft above the pump?  

RE: Sizing a Concrete basin

You need to engage the services of a mechanical engineer. He or she will get a copy of the Hydraulic Institute pump guidelines (or something like that) that will different allowable arrangments of the basin vs. the pump. Depending on the type of pump, "training" walls or slopes might be required. Plus you need to be able to maintain the pump.
For instance, you can't place the pump intake too close to a wall or a low pressure situation might occur and pump cavitation will result.
In other words, the structural engineer shouldn't be sizing the box.

RE: Sizing a Concrete basin

RE: Sizing a Concrete basin

2
in addition to designing to minimize transient conditions, vortices, provide room for maintenance, considering trash rack losses etc, you should also consider that you may have variable flow into the basin that may not always equal the pump outflow. Mass flow balance should be done considering the following:

-variable rate of flow coming in (based on depth of flow in river and pipe or channel size and slope),
-stage / storage relation for the basin,
and
-variable rate of flow pumped out

this will help to size the basin such that the pumps do not cycle on and off, the basin doesn't overflow and minimum submergence is always maintained. By the way, you will probably need more than 3 feet of submergence. Depending on the type and size of pump, 5 feet is often a stated minimum.

the following USACE documents might help

EM 1110-2-3102 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PUMPING Station Design and Layout

EM 1110-2-3105 MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL DESIGN of Pumping Stations
 

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