We studied the flushing processes in a 2×2, 3×3 and STAT inhibitor 5×4 tank. To reduce the number of variables, the flow rate was fixed to examine different outlet arrangements for each compartment configuration. Two acrylic model tanks were employed in the experimental study. The geometric scale ratio is 50. One was a square tank of width 61 cm and height 20 cm, shown in Fig. 12(a and b). Three PVC pipes with valves were inserted through the cover into the tank as potential inlets, and on the other side of the cover, another three PVC pipes were inserted into the
tank as potential outlets. Clamps and sealing trips were used to give a water tight seal to the tank. To generate the 2×2 and 3×3 internal configurations, six plates in total were employed, each of which was 61 cm long, 20 cm high and 1 cm thick. There was a 10 cm long and 1 cm thick gap in the middle of each plate, so that the two plates each find more of which has two circular holes could be crossed each other and inserted into the tank to generate the 2×2 internal configuration (see Fig. 12(a)) and the other four plates each of which has three circular holes could be crossed each other to generate the 3×3 internal configuration (see Fig. 12(b)). All these circular holes had a diameter of 10 cm and located in the middle height between two neighbouring compartments. The tank volume is
75 l. The second was a ‘J’-type tank consisting of 5×4 compartments with one inlet and two outlets, which was designed based on the typical geometry of a ballast tank (see Fig. 12(c)). The orifices between compartments in the longitudinal and transverse directions were different. This tank was characterised by a horizontal section (double bottom tank), turning section (hopper tank), internal geometry with longitudinal and transverse frames,
the filling pipes and two overflow arrangements with fixed height. Semicircular Histone demethylase limber holes were added at the top and bottom of each interconnecting wall of width and depth 0.8 cm. The model tank was designed to be geometrically complex, the detailed structure and dimensions of which are listed in Table 1. Water was pumped in through a 2-cm diameter hole at the ceiling of the horizontal section, and exited from funnels fixed at height 28 cm of the tank. The total volume of the tank is 75 l: each of the 16 horizontal compartments has a volume of 2.5 l, and the volume of compartments 51, 52, 53 and 54 is 8 l, 9.5 l, 9.5 l and 8 l, respectively. The acrylic models were placed in a large tank and illuminated by a uniform diffuse light source placed beneath; an inclined mirror was placed above the tank to obtain the plan view (see Fig. 12(c)). For each tank configuration, similar to the theoretical study, three outlet arrangements were considered: ‘far open’, ‘near open’, and ‘both open’. The inflow rate was fixed at Q =0.25 l/s, which is the maximum flow rate we can achieve accurately in our laboratory.