Abstract: Limited by size of urban land, topography, and other factors, design of urban pumping station flow channels in China tends to be complex, generally with features of deep, narrow, and long flow channels．This leads to existence of backflow, uneven flow velocity distribution, and other undesirable flow patterns in inlet channels of pumping stations, affecting safe and stable operation of pumping stations．Computational fluid dynamics（CFD）technology was used to optimize design scheme by changing length of bending section, inclination angle of bottom edge, and throat height of elbow-shaped flow channel．Flow field distribution inside flow channel was analyzed by CFD-based numerical simulation, and optimal solution was selected based on uniformity of flow velocity distribution, velocity-weighted average angle, and hydraulic loss of flow channel．A more refined optimization method for design of inlet flow channel was provided, which could make up for shortage of traditional empirical design method that could only be analyzed qualitatively．This optimal design solution could be used as a reference for similar projects to ensure stable operation of pumping station unit．