Sedimentation

Monroe L. Weber-Shirk

School of Civil and

Environmental Engineering

Simple Sorting
Goal: clean water
Source: (contaminated) surface water
Solution: separate contaminants from water
How?

Where are we?

Unit processes* designed to
remove _________________________
Particles and pathogens
remove __________
___________
dissolved chemicals
inactivate ____________
pathogens
*Unit process: a process that is used in similar
ways in many different applications
Unit Processes Designed to Remove Particulate
Matter
Screening
Coagulation/flocculation
Sedimentation
Filtration

Empirical design
Theories developed later
Smaller particles

Conventional Surface Water

Treatment
Raw water
Filtration

Screening

Alum
Polymers

sludge
Rapid Mix

sludge
Cl2

Disinfection

Flocculation

Storage

Sedimentation

Distribution

sludge

Screening
Removes large solids
logs
branches
rags
fish

Simple process
may incorporate a mechanized trash
removal system

Protects pumps and pipes in WTP

Sedimentation
the oldest form of water treatment
uses gravity to separate particles from water
often follows coagulation and flocculation

Sedimentation: Effect of the

particle concentration
Dilute suspensions
Particles act independently

Concentrated suspensions
Particle-particle interactions are significant
Particles may collide and stick together
(form flocs)
Particle flocs may settle more quickly
At very high concentrations particleparticle forces may prevent further
consolidation

Sedimentation:
Particle Terminal Fall Velocity
F ma

Identify forces

Fd Fb W 0

Fb

p particle density

Fd

w water density

p p g
W _______

g acceleration due to gravity

C D drag coefficient

pr wg
Fb = "________

Fd CD AP w

p particle volume
projected
Ap particle cross sectional area

Vt 2
2

Vt particle terminal velocity

4 gd ( r p - r w )
Vt =
3 CD
rw

Drag Coefficient on a Sphere

4 gd ( r p - r w )
Vt =
3 CD
rw

18

Stokes Law

100
10
1

laminar

Reynolds Number

turbulent

10
00
00
0
10
00
00
00

10
00
00

10
00
0

10

24
Re

10
00

Cd

0.1

0.
1

Drag Coefficient

1000

10
0

Vt

d 2 g p w

Re

turbulent
boundary

Vt d

 Regraph
CDsphere

Floc Drag
Flocs created in the
water treatment
process can have
Re exceeding 1 and
thus their terminal
velocity must be
modeled using

100

10
CDsphere
CDtransition Rek
Stokes Rek
1

0.1
0.1

24

C.Dt ransition( Re)

Re

3
Re

0.34

10

100

110

Regraph Rek

110

110

110

110

Q
Vh
A

flow rate

Inlet zone

Horizontal velocity

WH

Vertical velocity
Sludge out

Outlet zone

Sedimentation Basin:
Critical Path
Vh
Vc

Sludge zone

Vc = particle velocity that just barely ______________

gets captured
What is Vc for this sedimentation tank?

Vc

Sedimentation Basin:
Importance of Tank Surface Area

residence time

Time in tank

Q
HQ
Q
Vc

As

LW

Vc is a property of the
sedimentation tank!

WHL volume of tank

A s top surface area of tank
Vh

Vc

L
Want a _____
small Vc, ______
large As, _______
small H, _______
large .
Suppose water were flowing up through a sedimentation tank. What Q
would be the velocity of a particle that is just barely removed? Vc =
As

3 m 24 hr
Vc
18 m / day
4 hr day

Settling zone
Inlet
zone

long rectangular basins

4-6 hour retention time
3-4 m deep
max of 12 m wide
max of 48 m long
What is Vc for
conventional design?

Sludge out

Sludge zone

Outlet
zone

Conventional Sedimentation Basin

Outlet
zone

Settling zone
Inlet
zone

Design Criteria for

Horizontal Flow
Sedimentation Tanks

Sludge zone

_______________________________
Minimal turbulence (inlet baffles)
_______________________________
Uniform velocity (small dimensions normal to velocity)
_______________________________
No scour of settled particles
_______________________________
Slow moving particle collection system
_______________________________
Q/As must be small (to capture small particles)
Vc of 20 to 60 m/day*
Residence time of 1.5 to 3 hours*
* Schulz and Okun

And dont break flocs at inlet!

Sedimentation Tank particle capture

What is the size of the smallest
floc that can be reliably captured
by a tank with critical velocity of
60 m/day?
We need a measure of real water
treatment floc terminal velocities
Research

Physical Characteristics of Floc:

The Floc Density Function
Tambo, N. and Y. Watanabe (1979). "Physical
characteristics of flocs--I. The floc density
function and aluminum floc." Water Research
13(5): 409-419.
Measured floc density based on sedimentation
velocity (Our real interest!)
Flocs were prepared from kaolin clay and alum at
neutral pH
Floc diameters were measured by projected area

Floc Density Function:

Dimensional Analysis!
floc w
Floc density is a function of
w
__________
floc size
Make the density dimensionless
d floc
Make the floc size
d clay
dimensionless
d floc
floc w
Write the functional

f
w
relationship

d clay
After looking at the data
n
d floc

floc
w
conclude that a power law

a
w
relationship is appropriate

d clay

Model Results

d floc
floc w

a
w

d clay

For clay assume dclay was 3.5 m (based on

Tambo and Watanabe)
a is 10 and nd is -1.25 (obtained by fitting the
dimensionless model to their data)
The coefficient of variation for predicted
dimensionless density is
0.2 for dfloc/dclay of 30 and
0.7 for dfloc/dclay of 1500

The model is valid for __________flocs

in the size
clay/alum
range 0.1 mm to 3 mm

nd

Additional Model Limitation

This model is simplistic and doesnt include
Density of clay
Ratio of alum concentration to clay concentration
Method of floc formation

Data doesnt justify a more sophisticated model

Are big flocs formed from a few medium sized
flocs or directly from many clay particles?
Flocs that are formed from smaller flocs may tend to be
less dense than flocs that are formed from accumulation
of (alum coated) clay particles

Model Results Terminal Velocity

4 gd floc w
Vt
3 CD
w

3
24

Cd

0.34
Re
Re

= shape factor (1 for spheres)

Requires iterative solution for velocity

d floc
floc w

a
w

d clay

Re

Vt d floc

nd

Floc Sedimentation Velocity

a:
nd:
dclay:
:

10
-1.25
3.5 m
45/24

110

100
Vt dfloc dclay a nd

m
day

10

1
3
110

0.01

0.1

1
dfloc
mm

10

100

Floc density summary

Given a critical velocity for a sedimentation
tank (Vc) we can estimate the smallest
particles that we will be able to capture
This is turn connects back to flocculator
design
We need flocculators that can reliably
produce large flocs so the sedimentation
tank can remove them

Flocculation/Sedimentation:
Deep vs. Shallow
Compare the expected performance of shallow and deep
horizontal flow sedimentation tanks assuming they have
the same critical velocity (same Q and same surface area)

More opportunities to
______
collide with other
particles by _________
differential
____________
sedimentation or
Brownian motion
________________

deeper
Expect the _______
tank to perform better!
But the deep tank is
expensive to make and
hard to get uniform flow!

Flocculation/Sedimentation:
Batch vs. Upflow
Compare the expected performance of a batch
(bucket) and an upflow clarifier assuming they
have the same critical velocity
How could you improve the performance of
the batch flocculation/sedimentation tank?

Lamella
Sedimentation tanks are commonly divided into
layers of shallow tanks (lamella)
The flow rate can be increased while still
obtaining excellent particle removal
Lamella
decrease
distance
particle has
to fall in
order to be
removed

Defining critical velocity for plate

and tube settlers
b
sin a

L cos a

hc
h

Path for critical particle?

How far must particle
settle to reach lower plate?
b
cos a
hc

L
b

Vup Va

b
hc
cos a

What is total vertical distance

that particle will travel?
h L sin a

What is net vertical velocity?

Vnet Vup Vc

Compare times
Time to travel distance hc = Time to travel distance h
hc
h

Vc Vup Vc
b
L sin a

Vc cos a Vup Vc

b
sin a

L cos a

hc

hc
h

L
b

Vup Va

h L sin a

bVup bVc L sin aVc cos a

bVup L sin a cos a b Vc

Vc

bVup
L sin a cos a b

Vup

b
cos a

L
1 cos a sin a
Vc
b

Comparison with Q/As

As is horizontal area over which particles can settle
Q Va bw
Vup

hc

Va

L
b

Vup Va
b
sin a

L cos a

sin a

Vup bw
sin a

A L cos a
w
h
sin a

Q Vup bw
1
Vc
b
A sin a
L cos a
w
sin a

Vup b
Same answer!
Vc
L cos a sin a b

Performance ratio (conventional to

plate/tube settlers)
Compare the area on which
a particle can be removed
Use a single lamella to
simplify the comparison

L cos a

b
sin a

Conventional capture area

Aconventional

b
w
sin a

Plate/tube capture area

Atube

b
w
wL cos a
sin a

a
Aratio

L
1 cos a sin a
b

Critical Velocity Debate?

Vc

Va
L
cos a sin a
b

L cos a
1
Vc
b sin a

Vup

Vup

L
1 cos a sin a
Vc
b

Schulz and Okun

Water Quality and Treatment (1999)

WQ&T shows this geometry
But has this equation

Weber-Shirk
Assume that the geometry is

Check the extremes!

90

45
10

20

L cos a
1
Vc
b sin a

Vup
15
ratio ( )

Vup

L
1 cos a sin a
Vc
b

10
ratioWS( )

0
90

80

70

60

50

40

deg

30

20

10

Critical Velocity Guidelines

Based on tube settlers
10 30 m/day

http://www.brentwoodprocess.com/tubesystems_main.html

Based on Horizontal flow tanks

20 to 60 m/day

Schulz and Okun

Unclear why horizontal flow tanks have a higher
rating than tube settlers
Could be slow adoption of tube settler potential
Could be upflow velocity that prevents particle
sedimentation in the zone below the plate settlers

Problems with Big Tanks

A
Rh
P

To approximate plug flow and to avoid short

circuiting through a tank the hydraulic radius
should be much smaller than the length of the tank
Long pipes work well!
Vc performance of large scale sedimentation tanks
is expected to be 3 times less than obtained in
laboratory sedimentation tanks*
Plate and tube settlers should have much better
flow characteristics than big open horizontal flow
sedimentation tanks

Goal of laminar flow to avoid floc

resuspension
Is Re a design constraint?
Re

Va 4 Rh

Re

Va 2b

Vup

Vup

L
1 cos a sin a
Vc
b

sin a

Va
Area
Rh
Wet Perimeter

Rh

L
1

Va Vc
cos a
sin a b

Vc 30 m / day
L 1m
b 5 cm
a 60

b*w b

2w 2

1
L

2bVc
cos a
sin a b
390
Re

not a design constraint

Re is laminar for typical designs, _____________________

Mysterious Recommendations
Re must be less than 280 (Arboleda, 1983
as referenced in Schulz and Okun)
The entrance region should be discounted
due to possible turbulence (Yao, 1973 as
referenced in Schulz and Okun)
L
L
0.13Re
b useful b

But this isnt about turbulence

(see next slide)!!!

At a Re of 280 we discard 36 and a typical L/b is 20

so this doesnt make sense

Entrance Region Length

le
f Re
D

le
0.06 Re
D

le
1/ 6
4.4 Re
D

100

Distance
for
velocity
profile to
develop

l e /D

10

laminar

Re

00
100

000
0

0
000
0
100

000
0
100

000
100

00
100

0
100

le
0.12 Re
b

100

10

turbulent

Entrance region
The distance required to produce a
velocity profile that then remains
unchanged
Laminar flow velocity profile is
parabolic
Velocity profile begins as uniform
flow
Tube and plate settlers are usually
not long enough to get to the
parabolic velocity profile

Lamella Design Strategy

Angle is approximately 60 to get
solids to slide down the incline
Lamella spacing of 5 cm (b)
L varies between 0.6 and 1.2 m
L

Vup Vc 1 cos a sin a

Vc of 10-30 m/day
b

Find Vup through active area of tank

Qtank
Aactive
Vup
Find active area of sed tank
Add area of tank required for angled
plates: add L*cos(a) to tank length

Sedimentation tank cross section

Effluent Launder (a manifold)

Design starting with Vup

The value of the vertical velocity is
important in determining the effectiveness
of sludge blankets and thus it may be
advantageous to begin with a specified Vup
and a specified Vc and then solve for L/b

Equations relating Velocities and

geometry
Vupactive
Vc

Vupactive
Vup

Llamella
cos a sin a
b

Ltotal

Lactive

Lamella gain

Continuity (Lengths are sed tank lengths)

Lactive Ltotal Llamella cos a

Designing a plate settler

wplate
bplate
Lplate
Qplant
Ntanks
a

Vertical space in the

sedimentation tank
divided between
sludge storage and
collection
flow distribution
Plates
flow collection

AguaClara Plant Layout (draft)

Floc tank

Sed tanks

Chemical
store room
Drain Valve
access holes
Steps

Effluent launders
Sed tank manifold
To the distribution tank

Distributing flow between tanks

Which sedimentation tank will have the highest
flow rate?
Where is the greatest head loss in the flow through
a sedimentation tank?
Where is the highest velocity?
Either precisely balance the amount of head loss
through each tank
Or add an identical flow restriction in each flow
path

Will the flow be the same?

Dh
Long

K=1

p1
V12
p2
V22
z1

z2
hL
g
2g g
2g
K=0.5

K=0.2

Short

K=1

Head loss for long route = head loss for short route if KE is ignored

Q for long route< Q for short route

Conservative estimate of effects of

manifold velocity
Control surface 1l
long
cs 2

cs 3

cs 4
Long2 orifice
H1 H 2

V port
2g

H 2 H3

hLlongport
H2

2
port

2g

2
Vmax
manifold

2g

cs 5
Short orifice

2
Vmax
manifold

hLmanifold H H
1
3

2g

hLlongport H 3

short

2
port

2g

hLshortport

hLmanifold hLlongport hLshortport

2
V port

2g

hLshortport

This neglects velocity head differences

Modeling the flow

hLlong hLshort

Since each point can have only one pressure

Q.pipemino r D h
.e K
A .circle( D)

Qlong

Along
Qratio

2 g h .e
K

2 ghelong

long

We are assuming that minor

Qshort
2 gheshort
Ashort
losses dominate. It would be
K short easy to add a major loss term
(fL/d). The dependence of the
K
0.2

short
Qratio

0.26 friction factor on Q would

3
Klong
require iteration.

Design a robust system that gets the

same flow through both pipes
Qratio

K control

K
K

short

K control

long

K control

Qratio 2 Klong K short

1 Qratio 2

K control

Add an identical minor head

loss to both paths

Solve for the control loss

coefficient

0.95 2 3 0.2

25.7
2
1 0.95

Design the orifice

Piezometric head decrease in a

manifold assuming equal port flows
Head loss 2
n

DH

Kinetic energy

8 iQport C p port
g 2 d 4

i 1

8 nQport
g 2 d 4

Piezometric head decrease in a

manifold with n ports
d is the manifold diameter

2
n
8Qport

2
2
DH
C p port i n C p port represents the head
2
4
g d
i 1

loss coefficient in the

n
manifold at each port or
n
2
2
i
2n 3n 1
along the manifold as fL/d

6
i 1
Note that we arent
using the total flow in
8Q 2
n

2
2
DH
C
2
n

3
n

p
the manifold, we are
g 2 d 4
6

using Qport

port

port

Convert from port to total manifold

flow and pressure coefficient
2
8Qport
n

2
2
DH
C
2
n

3
n

p port

g 2 d 4
6

Qtotal nQ port

nC p port

2
8Qtotal

1
1
1
DH
C

2
g 2 d 4
3
2
n
6
n

Velocity head
Loss coefficient
Lmanifold
Note approximation with f
K
Cp f
d manifold

These are losses in the manifold

Calculate additional head loss

required to get uniform flow
Long path

long

1
1 1
Cp
2 1
3 2n 6n

Short path

short

Note that this Klong gives the correct head loss when using Qmaxmanifold

K control

K control

Qratio 2 Klong K short

1 Qratio 2

1
1 1
1 Cp
2
3 2n 6n

1
1
2
Qratio

Kcontrol is the minor loss

coefficient we need
somewhere in the ports
connecting to the
manifold

Total Loss Coefficient

1
1 1
K

long
p 3 2n 6n2

K control

We are calculating the total

loss coefficient so we can
get a relationship between
the total available
piezometric head and the
diameter of the manifold

Qratio 2 K long
1 Qratio 2

K total K long K control

K total K long 1 K control

Including KE (more
conservative)

long
2
ratio

1 Q

long

1 Qratio 2

1 Qratio

long
2
ratio

1 Q

Excluding KE

Calculate the manifold diameter

given a total manifold head loss
K total

Ktotal is defined based on the total flow

through the manifold and includes KE .

K
8Qmanifold 2 K total
hl
g 2
d manifold 4

long

long
2
ratio

1 Q

1
1 1
1 Cp
2
3 2n 6n

Minor loss equation

1
4

8Qmanifold 2 K total
Solve the minor
d manifold

h
loss equation for D
l

We could use a total head loss of perhaps 5 to 20 cm to determine the

diameter of the manifold. After selecting a manifold diameter (a real
pipe size) find the required control head loss and the orifice size.

Full Equation for Manifold Diameter

8Qmanifold

K total
gh 2
l

d manifold

d manifold

1
4

K total

long

long
2
ratio

1 Q

1
1 1
1 Cp
2
3 2n 6n

1
1
1
8Qmanifold 2 1 C p 3 2n 6n 2

2
2
gh

l
ratio

1
4

Cp is loss coefficient for entire length of manifold

Manifold design equation with major

losses

d manifold

Lmanifold
1
1
1
1 f
K

2
2

d
3
2
n
6
n

manifold
8Qmanifold

ghl 2
1 Qratio 2

1
4

Iteration is required!
n is number of ports
f is friction factor (okay to use f based on Qtotal)
Qratio is acceptable ratio of min port flow over max port flow
hl is total head loss through the ports and through the manifold
Qmanifold is the total flow through the manifold from the n ports
K is the sum of the minor loss coefficients for the manifold (zero for a straight pipe)

Head loss in a Manifold

hlmanifold

8Qtotal 2

d manifold 4 g 2

hlmanifold

fLmanifold
1 1
1
K
2

d manifold
3 2n 6n

1
1 1
hl
2
3 2n 6n

The head loss in a manifold pipe can be obtained

by calculating the head loss with the maximum Q
through the pipe and then multiplying by a factor
that is dependent on the number of ports.

Now find the effluent launder orifice

area
Use the orifice equation to figure out what the area of the
flow must be to get the required control head loss. This
will be the total area of the orifices into the effluent launder
for one tank.
Q K or A 2 ghcontrol
A

K or

Q
2 ghcontrol

K control

1
1 1
1 Cp
2
3 2n 6n

1
1
2
Qratio

Orifice flow (correction!)

Q K or A 2 g Dh
1 Qor 2
Dh 2
2
K or 2 gAor
he K

Qmanifold 2
2
2 gAmanifold

4
2
1 d manifold Qor
K
2
4
K or
d or
Qmanifold 2

Qor nor Qmanifold

4
1 d manifold
K
2
4
K or
d or
nor 2

Solve for h and substitute

area of a circle to obtain same
form as minor loss equation
Kor = 0.63
8d

2.5 d
Dh

Calculating the orifice diameter based

on uniform flow between orifices
C

K control

Lmanifold
d manifold

1
1 1
1 Cp
2
3 2n 6n

1
1
2
Qratio

d or d manifold

1
2

2
K
n
K
control
or or

1
4

K control

4
d
1
manifold
2
4
K or d or
nor 2

How small must the orifice be?

Case of 1 orifice
K

4
pipe
2
4
or or

K d

d or

1
d pipe
2
KK
or

1
4

For this case dorifice must be approximately 0.56dpipe.

We learned that we can obtain equal similar

parallel flow by ensuring that the head loss
is similar all paths.
We can compensate for small differences in
the paths by adding head loss that is large
compared with the small differences.

Effluent Launders:
Manifold Manifolds
Two Goals
Extract water uniformly from the top of the sed tank so the flow
between all of the plates is the same
Create head loss that is much greater than any of the potential
differences in head loss through the sedimentation tanks to
guarantee that the flow through the sedimentation tanks is
distributed equally

A pipe with orifices

Recommended orifice velocity is 0.46 to 0.76 m/s (Water
Treatment Plant Design 4th edition page 7.28)
The corresponding head loss is 3 to 8 cm through the orifices
but it isnt necessarily this simple!

We need to get a low enough head loss in the rest of the system

Effluent Launders and Manifold

We need to determine
the required diameter of the effluent launder pipe
The number and the size of the orifices that control the flow of
water into the effluent launder
The diameter of the manifold

The head loss through the orifices will be designed to be

large relative to the differences in head loss for the various
paths through the plant
We need an estimate of the head loss through the plant by
the different paths
Eventually take into account what happens when one
sedimentation tank is taken off line.

Head Loss in a sed tank?

Head loss through sed tank inlet pipes
and plate settlers is miniscule
The major difference in head loss
between sed tanks is due to the
different path lengths in the manifold
that collects the water from the sed
tanks.
We want equally divided flow two
places
Sed tanks
Plate settlers (orifices into launders)

Manifold head loss:

Sed tanks equal!
We will assume minor losses dominate to develop
the equations. If major losses are important they
can be added or modeled as a minor loss.
The head loss coefficient from flowing straight
through a PVC Tee is approximately 0.2
We make the assumption that the flow into each
port is the same
Eventually we will figure out the design criteria to
get identical port flow

Minor losses vs. Major losses

Compare by taking a ratio
he
D

hf
L

hf
L

D
he

K
f

V2
he K
2g

L V2
hf f
D 2g

1
L

1
D
0.02

Thus in a 10 cm diameter pipe, an

elbow with a K of 1 gives as much
head loss as 5 m of pipe

Now design the Effluent Launder

The effluent launder might be a smaller
diameter pipe than the sed tank manifold
(especially if there are many sedimentation
tanks)
The orifice ports will be distributed along
both sides of the launder

Now design the Effluent Launder

Port spacing should be less than the vertical distance
between the ports and the top of the plate settlers (Im not
sure about this constraint, but this should help minimize
the chance that the port will cause a local high flow
through the plate settlers closest to the port)
The depth of water above the plate settlers should be
0.6 to 1 m with launders spaced at 1.5 m (Water Treatment Plant
Design 4th edition page 7.24)
This design guideline forces us to use a very deep tank. Deep tanks
are expensive and so we need to figure out what the real constraint
is.
It is possible that the constraint is the ratio of water depth to
launder spacing.

Effluent Launder
The solution technique is similar to the manifold
design
We know the control head loss the head loss
through the ports will ensure that the flow through
each port is almost the same
We need to find the difference in the head loss
between the extreme paths
Then solve for the diameter of the effluent launder

Sedimentation Tank Appurtenances

Distributing the flow between parallel tanks
Effluent Launders
Sludge removal (manifold design similar to
effluent launders)
Isolating a tank for fill and drain: using only a
single drain valve per tank
Filling the tank with clean water
Not disturbing the water levels in the rest of the plant

Entrance manifolds: designed to not break up flocs

launder

Plate settlers

Sludge
drain

Sludge drain line that

discharges into a
floor drain on the
platform