Abstract
Underestimation of hydrodynamic downpull force is one of the most dangerous risks when operating a vertical lift gate. The downpull force acting on the gate is affected by gate geometry. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of gate lip angle on the downpull force of vertical lift gates using Flow-3D®, a commercial CFD software. Simultaneously, the performance of Flow-3D® in estimating downpull force is evaluated. The influence of gate lip angle on the downpull force is investigated by simulating flow under different gate lip angles at different gate openings. The setup of the numerical model is similar to the experiment setup used by Naudascher in 1964. Results show that the higher the gate lip angle, the higher the bottom downpull coefficient. Majority of the numerical results show good agreement with the experimental results. Case 2 at 30% gate opening and case 3 at 50% and 60% gate opening showed obvious deviation from the experimental results due to flow separation occurred at the gate lip. This could be due to the limitations of the Fractional Area-Volume Obstacle Representation (FAVOR) method employed by Flow-3D® in which gate lip part that is smaller than mesh cell could not be exactly reproduced.
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