Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Marine Biofouling on the Flow Rate of Deep Open-Intake

Offshore open intakes are built to supply feed water for desalination plants, power plants, and many other coastal industries. They have positive effects on supplying water demands for the coastal cities, however, adverse effects on the life of marine organisms and their habitats have been reported. As the barnacles and biofouling may change the roughness of the intake opening, in this study, their effects on changing roughness from 0.001, 0.19 and 0.5 mm were numerically simulated and the intake performance, including flow velocity between screen rods and flow rate, were evaluated. Changes in flow velocity around the opening of the intake show that an increase in roughness will decrease flow velocity and flow rate up to 4 percent