Computational Study of the Downpull Force on High-Head Slide Gates

This paper presents CFD simulations of the flow through a real bottom outlet equipped with high-head slide gates. The operating head of the gates and the maximum flow rate are 70 m and 650 m3/s, respectively. The numerical simulations were performed in ANSYS-FLUENT version 19.2. VOF method was used to model the free surface flow downstream the slide gates. Hydrodynamic forces were calculated at nine gate openings for a standard 45° lip gate; the downpull coefficients obtained from the simulations were compared with estimates from Naudascher’s analytical method. According to the CFD results, the downpull force acting on the 45° lip gate is 5%–10% lower than the one estimated analytically for the analyzed gate positions. Additionally, the flow through an inverted 30° lip gate was simulated to estimate the downpull coefficient at various gate openings. These coefficients cannot be determined analytically. The methodology here described can easily be applied to different gate geometries for which design coefficients are not available.