Investigation of the Influence of Operating Point on the Shape and Position of Textile Material in the Inlet Pipe to a Dry-Installed Wastewater Pump

Abstract

Wet wipes and similar flexible objects are causing major problems in wastewater systems as these materials often lead to clogging in the wastewater pumps. However, the understanding of clogging phenomena and the behaviour of these objects in the wastewater system is limited. Using a scaled pumping station with major parts constructed in acrylic glass, enabling good visual access, six parameters of shape, position and orientation of dustcloths in the pumping system are investigated at nine different operating points. In each test, 20 dustcloths are added to the pump sump and a fast digital camera captures the dust-cloths inside the inlet pipe close to the pump with a frame rate of 150 fps. Limited differences in the results of the chosen textile parameters indicate that the phenomena leading to different types of clogging occurs inside the pump and not in the inlet pipe. The determined parameters of shape, position and orientation can be used as initial conditions in simulation of clogging phenomena.