Distribution of sediment concentration in the vortex chamber type sediment extractor

In this paper an attempt has been made to study the distribution of suspended sediment concentration within the chamber of vortex type sediment extractor. The governing equation for variation of sediment mass concentration is solved numerically by using an unconditionally stable second order accurate Crank-Nicholson type of implicit finite difference scheme. Values of components of velocity and sediment diffusion coefficients appearing in sediment mass equation are computed by making use of the empirically derived relationships developed using experimental data collected in the present study. The equivalent finite difference form of governing equation is solved with the Gauss-elimination method by making use of the appropriate boundary conditions. A satisfactory agreement is found to exist between the observed values of sediment concentration and its values computed using the method proposed herein.