Fujairah desalination plant United Arabs Emirates

Location:	United Arabs Emirates

assignment/short description

Sidem is constructing a new desalination plant in Fujairah in the United Arabs Emirates. Deltares has provided specialist advice on a wide range of hydraulic issues, ranging from surge analyses to physical model tests, the latter in combination with Alstom Switzerland.

For the physical model test, a scaled model of the pumping station has been constructed in the intake/outfall facility of Deltares. Tests are performed to ensure proper pump feeding under various operating conditions. These tests were carried out in compliance with the international accepted ANSI/HI 9.8-1998 standard.

The surge analysis was split into several projects. In all projects, different parts of the plant were modelled. In the final project, a hydraulic model of the entire desalination plant was constructed. During the projects, the following aspects were investigated:

1. Risk assessment of Reversed pump rotation of the sea water supply pumps following a pump switch over.
2. Extreme pressures occurring after a trip of the sea water supply pumps
3. Brine blow down check valve requirements
4. Start of a sea water supply pump
5. Extreme pressures occurring in the outfall pipelines after emergency shut down of the desalination units