Date
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Time
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Location Name
KICC M111 ( Level 1)
Name
Innovative Modeling Approach for the Omohundro Water Treatment Plant’s New Pumping Station
Track
Drinking Water Treatment
Description

The Omohundro Water Treatment plant in the city of Nashville, Tennessee, owned and operated by Metro Water Services, is currently undergoing significant process advancements to expand its capacity to meet future demand projections. The improvements include the design of new raw water and finished water pumping stations to replace the existing pumping station. The capacity of this pumping station along with its depth and other design conditions go far beyond what the typical standards used for pump station and intake design are written to address. At a capacity of 158 MGD and over 80 feet deep, it was imperative to include a range of modeling within the design process to ensure appropriate operating conditions for the pumping systems and to optimize efficiency and ensure a long pump life. The design process incorporated a combination of hydraulic models, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, physical models, and surge models. The team built hydraulic models utilizing Replica®, which is Jacobs’ digital twin or dynamic simulation application that can be used to evaluate system process dynamics, operation, and controls in addition to just plain hydraulics. The Replica® model was used to verify pump selections and to evaluate the range of pump operating conditions and can continue to be used in the future to help simulate control strategies. Once pumps were selected, CFD modeling was also performed to configure the layout of the wet wells and vertical turbine pump cans to ensure the proper entrance conditions for the pumps along with mixing of chemicals. Several modifications were made during CFD iterations to optimize the design and prepare for the physical modeling. Physical modeling was used to further refine the design of this complex wet well along with the pump cans. By creating tangible representations of the pumping systems, the team was able to gain confidence that all elements were considered to minimize risk and to ensure the pumps would operate efficiently and provide a long service life. Data along with photos and video from the CFD and physical modelling will be presented. This presentation underscores the significance of a multi-modeling approach in addressing a complex pumping station design. It will document the results from the models and will detail how each finding along the way was used to better inform and improve the design, resulting in a one-of-a-kind pumping station that will serve the city of Nashville for the next 100 years.