ARC Energy supplies "world's largest" vortex flow control unit
4 May 2011
Glasgow, UK – Arc Energy Resources, a provider of fabrication services and a principal fabricator to Hydro International, has supplied the world’s largest vortex flow control unit, ARC Energy has announced.
The unit was supplied as part of a contract to produce five Hydro-Brake flow control units for the £53 million White Cart Water Flood Prevention Scheme for Glasgow City Council.
The scheme covers the White Cart Water and its tributaries and involves the formation of three flood storage reservoirs upstream of the city, which are capable of temporarily holding back the millions of gallons of floodwater generated by extreme rainfall.
The five conical shaped units allow water to flow through the reservoir dams normally up to a pre-determined height, after which the increasing velocity causes a vortex to form.
Air pressure within the vortex ’throttles’ the flow of water, slowing it down and allowing the reservoir to fill up. Water is then released to flow through the city in a controlled manner.
Each of the five units differs slightly in design, the largest – also the largest in the world – being 6m in diameter and 8m long with an outlet size of 1.8m.
As the two largest flow control devices were also too large to be transported by road and too heavy to lift by helicopter, each was designed in sections to create a ’former’.
The 12mm thick stainless steel formers will be encased in 600mm thick reinforced concrete to provide the structural strength required to withstand a through-flow of water estimated at 8,800 tonnes per second.
A spokesman for Hydro claimed this is the first time the technique has been used to install vortex flow controls. In total, 60 tonnes of stainless steel were used in the manufacture the flow control units.
