CHEN Yongzhen, QIN Kun, SONG Wenji, FENG Ziping, YI Juan, YAN Xin, XIAO Rui
The ice slurry cleaning technology developed in recent years has been applied in urban water supply pipelines, with advantages such as water conservation, reduced time consumption, no pollution, and no excavation. This paper introduces the necessity of pipeline cleaning, the characteristics of existing pipeline cleaning technologies, and focuses on the characteristics and application progress of ice slurry pigging technology, including ice slurry preparation, storage, and pumping technologies, and conducts research and analysis of the application progress of ice slurry pigging technology. The results indicate that the supercooling and scraping method are the most likely ice slurry preparation technologies for field application in pipe cleaning. Ice slurry storage can cause ice crystal particles to grow larger, affecting parameters such as pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics. Moreover, the storage process requires the design of a stirring device to ensure the uniformity and fluidity of the ice slurry. To achieve a good cleaning effect, it is necessary to regulate the pumping condition parameters to obtain an effective cleaning plunger throughout the entire pipeline. Case analysis shows that the sediment washed out mainly consists of soil, sand and iron slag from urban water supply pipelines. Factors such as ice fraction, ice pig length, water flow velocity and water temperature have significant affect the effectiveness of ice slurry cleaning. The optimal cleaning strategy is the ice volume fraction of the ice slurry used for pigging is 60%-70% and the volume of ice slurry pumped is 10%-30% of the pipe. The research results will provide reference for the development of ice slurry pigging equipment, optimization of pigging performance, and evaluation of pigging effects.