Sedimentation

Fluid, solids and heat transfer lab

Jony Alexander Castiblanco Peña a​ ​ ​María Fernanda Moreno Mora b​ ​ L
​ uz Gabriela Pulido Bonilla c​
d​
Marco Daniel Rodriguez Rodriguez ​ ​Adriana Maria Romero Romero e​
Jessica Alejandra Valencia Angulo f​
Grupo B
a Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.​ jacastiblancop@unal.edu.co
b Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.​ mfmorenomo@unal.edu.co
c Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. ​lgpulidob@unal.edu.co
d Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. ​madrodriguezro@unal.edu.co
e Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. ​amromeror@unal.edu.co
f Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. ​jeavalenciaan@unal.edu.co

1. Abstract
From the implementation of the sedimentation by zones with the mixture of water and sand
of different diameters, a sand trap is sized in order to analyze its viability and
implementation. It was based on a gravimetric analysis of the sand, to be able to characterize
it, then an analysis of the sedimentation rates at different concentrations was carried out and
finally the operation of the sand trap at different volumes was examined, based on the water
expenditure of a person at day. Where it is concluded that sand of the study is represented by
particle diameters greater than 0.05 cm, the implementation of the sand trap is viable with
respect to the particle diameters of the study.

2. Objectives sedimentation in which the separation of a

2.1. General objective solid and a liquid defined as clear is
performed, this process generates a solid
● Determine the rate of sedimentation of known as sludge that contains a smaller
properly characterized sand in water at amount of the liquid; this in order to make the
different concentrations. design of a sand trap and determine its
functionality supported by the residence times
2.2. Specific objectives necessary to achieve a good separation, taken
● Determine the representative diameter experimentally.
of the sand by using different sieves. The application of own knowledge of the
● Verify the phenomenon of mechanics of fluids and handling of solids in
sedimentation by zones. the sedimentation velocity calculations in
● Carry out the sizing of a sand trap which the forces acting on the particles, the
from the data obtained. Reynolds number of both the fluid and the
● Analyze the implementation of the suspended solid are also taken into account ,
sand trap based on the volume of the drag coefficients and the inherent
water spent by one person per day. properties of the fluid in the sedimentation
process.
3. Introduction In addition to this, the characterization of the
The objective of the experiment is to rena is carried out in order to obtain an
implement the unitary operation of average particle diameter and thus standardize
and compare with the data obtained in the for sedimentation because sphericity is
literature that relate the particle size with the estimated equal to 1.
sedimentation rate.
The usefulness of this process is in the dp = 0, 0547 cm
purification of water, given that prior to the The particle density was determined by
treatment of sewage, sand retention must be volume shift:
done in order to prevent it from entering the
15g
adduction channel, which could cause various mass
ρp = shif ted = = 2, 308g/cm3 = 2308 kg/m3
volume 6,5cm3
problems due to obstacle that can be [Eq. 1]
generated.
The sedimentation rate is calculated, for this it
4. Method of calculating is necessary to take into account the
Input Data: theoretical value of said data in order to have
Initially, the values ​of density and dynamic a point of comparison with the experimental
viscosity of water at working temperature (19 results, so the development of the theoretical
° C) were established based on the literature value is shown below:
(Table A.1 of the Annex):
Theoretical terminal sedimentation rate
ρf = 0, 99849g/cm3 prevented by concentration effect.
μ = 0, 01028g/cm * s
A Reynolds value is calculated with the
Then we proceeded to characterize the solid following equation and it is determined if the
used from screening. stokes law is applicable.
For practice, the two sizes of sand were
g *dp3 *ρf (ρp −ρf )
selected where the greatest amount was Re = 18*μ2
[Eq. 2]
retained after screening, which were those
corresponding to meshes 30 and 35. (See Where the subscript p refers to the particle
Figure 4.1) and the subscript f to the working fluid.

9,8m/s2 (5,47E−04m)3 *998,48g/m3 (2308kg/m3 −998,48g/m3 )

*
Re = 18*(0,001028kg/m*s)2
Re = 110, 475

Re <10 indicates that it is in laminar flow,

therefore, Stokes's Law applies:

g *Dp2*(ρp −ρf )
Vs = 18*μ
[Eq. 3]

For the second case, and that of the present

Figure. 4.1. Result of sand screening by mesh
number.
problem, where Re10 a correction must be
made.
The drag coefficient CD of Figure A.1 of the
Annex is obtained and the sedimentation rate
is obtained with the following equation:

The particle diameter was taken as the C d = 0, 8

average between the two sand diameters used
 4*g *dp*(ρp −ρf )
V t2 = [Eq. 4] In laboratory practice, zonal type
3*ρf *C D
sedimentation is evident. When this type of
4*9,8m/s2 *5,47E−04m*(2308kg/m3 −998,48g/m3 )
sedimentation is analyzed, different stages are
Vt =
√ 3*998,48g/m3 *0,8 presented, which are shown in Figure 4.2.
V t = 0, 108m/s

If we are faced with sedimentation prevented

by the effect of concentration, correction of
the speed determined with equation 4 must be
made, with the following equation:

V = V t * ε2 * ψ [Eq. 5]

Where is the fraction of the liquid volume and

is determined by:
mf
ρf
ε= mp mf [​Eq. 6] Figure. 4.2 ​Zonal sedimentation.
ρp + ρf

The zone sedimentation rate (VSZ) can be

In the case of the concentration of 20.0g / L determined graphically by drawing a line
0,99849g
tangent to the sedimentation curve in the
0,99849g/cm3 section of the zone settlement. Thus, the
ε= 20,0g 0,99849g expression of the sedimentation rate (𝑉𝑠) is of
+
2,308g/cm3 0,99849g/cm3
the form:
ε = 991000cm3 = 0, 991m3 dz
V s =− dt ​[Eq. 8]
and 𝛙 is the empirical correction factor for
Taking the above into account, the graph is
particle concentration and is determined as
taken and the zone of zone settlement is
shown below:
identified.
1
ψ= 101,82(1−ε)
[Eq. 7]
1
ψ= 3 = 0, 965
101,82(1−0,991m )

Finally, the corrected sedimentation rate is

determined using equation 5:
2
V = 0, 108m/s * (0, 991m3 ) * 0, 965
V = 0, 103 m/s

V = 10, 27 cm/s

Terminal sedimentation rate prevented by Figure. 4.3.​ Identification of the zone of zone
concentration effect by experimental settlement.
method
Drawing a trend line to the points enclosed in
the blue box, the following equation is 10,82 cm/s 33,18 cm2
*
obtained:
Q= 1,75
Q = 205, 14 cm3 /s
z = − 8, 733t + 29, 1 [Eq. 9] The dimensions would be as the
measurements of the specimen, so it would be
Deriving the equation the sedimentation rate a diameter of 6.5 cm, an area of ​33.18 cm ^ 2
is obtained and a length of 30.14 cm.

V s = 8, 733 cm/s As the same input is vertically as the direction

of sedimentation the speed found and the
Desander design: horizontal are totally equal.

The calculation of the design of a sand trap to Then the limit speed that resuspend the
sediment a flow of water with sand at a material or travel speed is determined:
concentration of 20g / L will be shown:

√
8k
Vd= f * g * (ρs − ρf ) * d [Eq. 13]
Design surface area:
Being:
As = (π/4) * d2 [Eq. 10]
k: Form factor (0.04, uni-granular uni
granular sands)
Where d is the diameter of the specimen used
Vd: Travel speed (cm / sec)
for practice.
f: Specimen roughness factor, taken from
table A.3 of the annex
As = (π/4) * (6, 5 cm)2 = 33, 18 cm2

So now it is known that the sedimentation rate

V d = 45,2 cm/s
will be:
Which means that there will be no
g resuspension because Vd> Vh = Vs
4
V s′ =
√ 3 * Cd
(ρp − ρf ) * dp ​[Eq. 11]
The retention period is now calculated; taking
the volume of the test tube as follows:
V s′ = 10, 819 cm/s
P R = V olumen/ caudal [Eq. 14]
If an efficiency of 75% is assumed, according
to Figure A.2, a safety coefficient equal to P R = 1000 cm3 / 205, 14 cm3 /s
1.75 is chosen taking the good behavior
curve. P R = 4, 875 s
Q* 1,75
V s′ = Area superf icial [Eq. 12] If the object of study were to implement this
sand trap in some area, as it has a fairly small
size, scenarios will be taken as for 1 person,
And so you get the design flow, with different consumptions per day, what
should be consumed that are 100 liters, 250
V s′*Area superf icial liters for an average person in Latin America
Q= 1,75
 and the maximum expense of 565 liters,
estimated by a person in the United States. [2]
Sand
3 3
P R = 100000 cm / 205, 145 cm /s = 8, 12 min
dp (cm) 0,054737
P R = 250000 cm3 / 205, 145 cm3 /s = 20, 31 min
P R = 565000 cm3 / 205, 145cm3 /s = 45, 9 min ρp (g/cm^3) 2,308
Table 5.2.​ Characterization of the sand.
5. Results and Analysis
Terminal sedimentation rate prevented by
Sand characterization concentration effect by experimental
The following table shows the data obtained method
from the characterization of sand by sieving.
Sedimentation data
Screening Below are the sedimentation data obtained for
Opennig Accumulated retained
sand at different concentrations with their
Mesh (cm) Mass (g) fraction (%) respective sedimentation velocity graph.
10 0.199898 248.9 36,26
● Concentration 32,7g/L
20 0.084074 150 58,11
30 0.059436 138.2 78,24 Concentration (g/l) 32.7
Diameter (cm) 6.5
35 0.050038 68.6 88,23
Time (min) Volume (ml) Height (cm)
40 0.04191 49.9 95,50
1 980 29.5
60 0.024892 24.4 99,05 3 900 27.1
Front 0 6,5 100,000 6 850 25.6
Table 5.1 Characterization of the sand by 9 790 23.8
screening. 12 750 22.6
15 730 22.0
20 700 21.1
30 680 20.5
40 650 19.6
50 650 19.6
60 640 19.3
70 630 19.0
80 630 19.0
90 630 19.0
Table 5.3 ​Sedimentation data at a
concentration of 32,7 g/L.

Figure 5.1. ​Cumulative analysis based on the

particle diameter of the sand​.
 Concentration (g/l) 10.0
Diameter (cm) 7.3
Time
(min) Volume (ml) Height (cm)
1 700 16.7
2 400 9.56
3 320 7.65
4 310 7.41
5 280 6.69
10 250 5.97
12 250 5.97
Figure 5.2 Sedimentation rate at a concentration
Table 5.5. Sedimentation data at a
of 32,7 g/L.
concentration of 10,0 g/L.
● Concentración 20 g/L

Concentration (g/l) 20.0

Diameter (cm) 7.3
Time
(min) Volume (ml) Height (cm)
1 900 21.5
2 730 17.4
3 700 16.7
4 690 16.5
5 650 15.5
10 550 13.1
15 500 11.9
20 500 11.9
Figure. 5.4 Sedimentation rate at a
Table 5.4. Sedimentation data at a
concentration of 10,0 g/L.
concentration of 20,0 g/L.

Concentration g/l Velocity cm/s

10 37,000
20 8,733
32,7 6,617
Table 5.6​. Experimental terminal
sedimentation speed for the different
variations.

Figure. 5.3 Sedimentation rate at a concentration

of 20,0 g/L.
Theoretical terminal sedimentation rate Desander design
prevented by concentration effect.
Sedimentation rate (cm/s) 8,733
Corrected sedimentation rate
Data for determination of Vt
(cm/s) 10,819
Re 110,475
Design flow (cm^3/s) 205,145
CD 0,800
Travel speed (cm/s) 45,200
Vt (m/s) 0,108
Retention time (s) 4,875
Table 5.7. Data for terminal sedimentation
Table 5.10.​ Final design of the desander.
speed determination
Analysis of results:
Theoretical sedimentation rate due to
concentration effect The mass of retained sand in each sieve was
determined by sieving, which allowed the
Concentration ε V(cm/s
graph of the cumulative analysis, in which it
(g/L) (m^3) ψ ) can be observed that: according to the particle
32,7 0,986 0,943 9,93 size, 63% of the sand is coarse sand since the
size is It is in the range of 0.015-0.1 cm, that
20 0,991 0,965 10,27 36% is gravel because it has a size greater
10 0,996 0,982 10,54 than 0.1cm and that only 1% of the sand used
is fine sand.
Table 5.8. Theoretical sedimentation terminal
velocity correction due to the concentration
Graphs Height vs. Time: The sedimentation
effect.
analysis was performed for three different
concentrations in their order, 32.7 g / L, 20.0
Desander design
g / L and 10.0 g / L With figures 5.2, 5.3 and
5.4 it was determined that having a lower
The input data used for the design of the
concentration the sedimentation is faster, the
desander and the results obtained can be seen
same would happen if you had worked with
in the following tables:
different particle sizes however in this case it
was only done with those obtained in sieves
Input data
30 and 35 which is where the highest
Design surface area 167,416 cm^2 percentage of mass for this reason would be
Sand density 2,308 g/cm^3 the characteristic particle diameter, obtaining
for these an average particle density of 2.31 g
Particle diameter 0,055 cm
/ cm3. With graph 5.4, which is the curve that
Water temperature 19,000 °C has the lowest concentration, it presents the
Kinematic viscosity 0,010 cm^2/s steepest slope but reaches its limited height in
the shortest time due to the effect of the
Water density 0,998 g/cm^3
concentration, a characteristic that can be
Volume 1000,000 cm^3 seen when compared with graphs 5.2 and 5.3
Table 5.9. Input data for the design of the that vary the concentration of 32.7 and 20 g /
desander​. L respectively.

About table 5.8 in which the Stokes method

was used to determine the terminal velocity
with the initial height of the suspension, all
samples have the same value for the terminal
velocity, the change occurs when the
correction is made by the change in
concentration through the fraction of liquid
volume and empirical concentration
correction factor as presented in table 5.8 that
the terminal velocity will increase with the
decrease in the concentration of the sample.
When analyzing Table 5.6, the sedimentation
rate prevented by the experimental values
​registered in the laboratory is obtained, which
exhibits the same behavior of Table 5.8
(corrected stock method) that shows the
inversely proportional growth of the velocity
as a function of the concentration.
What is common to all variations is the first
stage of sedimentation which has a high
speed, this is due to what is considered a
strong change between the initial state where
the entire concentration is the same
throughout the probe and a initial sediment
state, where a sedimentation height and a
suspension in which the concentration is
uniform and equal to the original
concentration are rapidly formed. From this
point on, a state of progressive changes in the
heights that take more time is observed,
although there are important errors due to the
low precision when taking data, this is due to
the poor visibility of the plastic probes.
The movement of the particle is regulated by
the force of thrust, drag, external forces and
two characteristic stages, in which there is a
short period of acceleration where the initial
velocity is 0, that is the acceleration
controlled with time, while the particle
quickly reaches a constant or terminal
velocity. Another important factor is time,
since proportionally with the concentration,
this behavior is associated with the gradual
accumulation of the strong exerts pressure on
the bottom material, compressing the
sediment and collapsing the structure of fleets
and aggregates, which expels liquid towards
higher zones, it is experimentally modified
that the sedimentation stops when the
suspension height is constant and
theoretically it is when the weight of the
solids is balanced by the compressive force of
the flocs; However, not all cases reached the
end of the sedimentation given the lack of
time because it did not start with all three
experiments at the same time.
Sizing of the sand trap, normally a sand trap
is used as a pretreatment to remove the sands
that come with the wastewater since the
sewage system is almost always combined,
there are horizontal, vertical and induced flow
sandblasters, but the most used is the first .
The desarenador that was dimensioned is of
vertical flow, although the commercial ones,
are realized with a flow of the inferior part
upwards and not on the contrary like the one
of the study. e makes use of this type of sand
blasters when there is a problem with space,
although it can be a bit more expensive than
those with horizontal flow [4]. Although the
sand trap has a small size, it can be shown
that retention times are viable (with respect to
24 hours), its implementation taking into
account the volumes that are being assumed,
which were assumed to be the most
appropriate due to its size. with the
conditioning of the size of particles that were
taken as an object in the analysis.
6. Conclusions
➢ The sedimentation rate is function of
variables such as: solid and fluid
density, particle diameter, fluid
viscosity and concentration. If these
variables are kept constant except for
the concentration, a close correlation
can be observed between the
sedimentation rate and the
concentration, the first one increasing
as the other decreases, so that a
settling tank will run faster at low
concentrations of suspended solids.
 ➢ The desander is recommended for
areas with location or space problems.
➢ The depth of the settler must be 8. References
considerably less than the limit height,
since if it is not fulfilled, settling is not [1] Organización Panamericana de la
possible, if it is taken into account that Salud. (2005). GUÍA PARA EL
the limit height increases with DISEÑO DE DESARENADORES Y
increasing concentration, the settler SEDIMENTADORES. Retrieved
depth must be greater accordingly. from
➢ When performing the characterization http://www.bvsde.ops-oms.org/tecap
of the sand, it was found that most of ro/documentos/agua/158esp-diseno-de
the mass was in sieves 20 to 35, so the sare.pdf
sizing of the sand trap was made [2] Spda. (2017, August 1). "Debemos
based on these particle diameters, consumir 100 litros de agua al día por
resulting in viable sedimentation. persona, pero consumimos hasta 250
litros". Retrieved from
7. Notes about operation of the https://www.actualidadambiental.pe/d
equipment ebemos-consumir-100-litros-de-agua-
al-dia-por-persona-pero-consumimos-
It is recommended to perform the hasta-250-litros/
graduation on the specimens in [3] MINISTERIO DE
centimeters to facilitate the collection DESARROLLO ECONÓMICO -
of height vs. time data, in addition to Dirección General de Agua Potable y
this the use of glass specimens is very Saneamiento Básico . (2000,
important given the need for clarity in November). DOCUMENTACIÓN
the sample as it is a measure taken TÉCNICO NORMATIVA DEL
with the subjectivity of the perception SECTOR DE AGUA POTABLE Y
of color to the human eye, if possible, SANEAMIENTO BÁSICO. Retrieved
a white light must be passed through from
the clearing in the settler which allows http://www.minvivienda.gov.co/Docu
corroborating the measurements. ments/ViceministerioAgua/010710_ra
s_titulo_a_.pdf
As mentioned before, it is a very [4] Gelvis, W. M. (2017, February
subjective measure, so in order to 23). 7. desarenadores. Retrieved from
reduce the error, it is necessary for the https://www.slideshare.net/WilfridoM
same person to make the decision of enesesGelvis/7-desarenadores-725017
the height to be measured. 98

Regarding the particle diameter, it is

recommended that once the sieving
has been done, mix 2 parts thick by 1
fine in order to obtain more real and
applicable data, since the sewage does
not contain uniform particles, in
addition to dilutions It is
recommended to make measurements
below 20g / L for faster results that are
also easier to see and scale.
 9. Annexes: Results Table

ANNEXE 1

Table A.1​. Physical properties of water

Taken from UTN - General Hydraulic FRBA and Applied Course (2010)
Figure A.1​ ​Standard dependence of the drag coefficient on the Reynolds number.

Figure A.2​.Curves of behaviour of waste water treatment, G. Rivas Mijares, 1978

Table A.2​ Relationship between particle diameter and sedimentation rate.

Table A.3​. Typical Roughness Coefficient Values.

Taken from Computer Applications in Hydraulic Engineering, 5th Edition, Haestad Methods