The Hydraulic Lab G. Fantoli is located in the 4A Building inside the Leonardo Campus of the Politecnico di Milano. It is composed of 3 levels (1600 m2 total area) and it has 4 employees. Our group is involved in the following sections of the Hydraulic Lab: the Flow Control Devices section, which has specialized test ring for the testing of control valves pipe fittings small turbines and other flow devices; the Renewable Energies Section, which investigate methods to recover energy from processes; Fluid Mechanics Didactic Lab, a section dedicated to educational purposes.
Flow Control Devices
The Control Valve Section of the Fantoli laboratory has specialized test ring for the testing of control valves pipe fittings and other flow products.
The test pipeline is designed to handle a maximum flow rate of 100 l/s and size of the device up to 150 mm starting from 6 mm. Several magnetic flowmeters with different dimensions and full scales are adopted for flow rate measurement.
The tests are performed according to their specific international standards principally IEC 60534, ISA 7503, ISA 750101.
Other two pipelines have been developed to study the effects of solid concentration on control devices. The first plant is aimed to the characterization of material specimens subjected to high velocity solid liquid jets. The second plant can test the control device in heavy duty conditions in terms of pressure and solid particle concentration. Two-phase tests are performed according to IEC 60534, ISA 7503, ISA 750101.
This section of the hydraulic laboratory is concerned with the design and testing of flow control devices and the study and analysis of innovative control solutions. The intense collaboration with the fluid-dynamics of control devices section of the department allows to integrate the experimental test with CFD analysis. The multi-disciplinary approach allows reaching higher level solutions for innovative control devices.
Tests
- Calculation of flow coefficient and pressure loss coefficient (CV, Kv)
- Estimation of cavitation parameters (σi, σc, FL)
- Testing of water meters, calibration
- Evaluation of noise parameters for hydraulic devices
- Vibration analysis
- Direct Impact Test on several material specimens
- Erosion of control devices
Politecnico di Milano expressly develops the acquisition system and data processing. Signals are acquired by high definition DaQ and modules and elaborated through LabView software.
Instruments
- Flow meters: coriolis, magnetic and doppler with several full scales and dimensions
- Relative pressure sensor with several full scales
- Absolute pressure sensor with several full scales
- Differential pressure transducers with tunable measure range
- Termometers
- Force transducers with several full scale
- Velocity transducers, digital tachimeter
Last jobs
- Ansaldo Energia: analysis of the reliability of flow measurement using a particular Doppler system after a 90° bend on a 10mm line.
- Breda Energia: test of a choke valve 60 mm, characteristic flow coefficients curve, cavitation parameters and study on the effects of the position of internal cage.
- Fergat: test of a 100mm control ball valve, characteristic flow coefficient curve and cavitation parameters
- Mival: test of a 100mm control globe valve and of a 100mm plug valve, characteristic flow coefficient curve.
- Inoxriva: test of several quick connector for pressure loss analysis and cavitation condition.
- Next Energy: test of an hydraulic turbine, with measurement of velocity discharge and torque factors to estimate power hills diagrams.
Renewable Energies
This section is involved in the development of innovative solutions for the recovery and production of energy from water sources. Different systems are under study: the GreenValve, the wave energy converter EDS and the vortex iduced vibration VIVE.
Facilities
- Open channel flow 1x0.7x30(meters)
- Open channel flow 0.5x0.6x7(meters)
- Wave generator
- Test loop for small turbines
Fluid Mechanics Didactic Lab
This section deals with the development of the didactic projects that are defined in the courses of the hydraulic section of the DICA. In particular the Fluid Lab course has a predominant part focused on several experimental didactic tests such as: the calculation of the force on bluff body, the PIV of the flow around bluff body and the measurement of the channel flow velocity profile through UDV (Ultrasound Doppler Velocimetry)
