Evaluation of piping erosion by means of temperature analysis

Piping is the most serious menace to the safety of an earth hydraulic work. We present the study of the piping erosion identification by means of temperature analysis. Extensive steady and unsteady numerical computations for the coupled heat and water transport in the porous domain, with the downstream side pipe opening, are described. Choice of the numerical RANS (Reynolds-averaged NavierStokes) model is explained to take into account mixed laminar and turbulent water flow in the pipe. Computation covered the range of hydraulic diffusivity from 107 to 104 m2/s and made use of the finite volume method with the FLUENT numerical modelisation platform. The basic principles of the pipe thermal influences are presented with the evaluation of the possibilities of identifying piping parameters with temperature measurements. Correct identification of the pipe thermal influence was found to be important in interpreting thermal data measured that are necessary for hydraulic earthworks.