CFD analysis of unsteady cavitation phenomena in multistage pump with inducer

Abstract

This paper presents the numerical simulation of the cavitating flow phenomena in the suction part of a radial-flow multistage water pump with a high rotational speed. The pump is equipped with an inducer. Besides the usual focus on the cavitation inception or the drop of the pump total head this CFD analysis also studies the possibility of the cavitation surge and attempts to quantify the risk of cavitation erosion for different flow conditions. The ANSYS CFX commercial CFD package was used to solve the URANS equations coupled with the Rayleigh-Plesset Model. The SST-SAS turbulence model was employed to capture unsteady phenomena inside the pump. The model for the prediction of the cavitation erosion risk is based on coupling the CFD analysis of 3D turbulent flow with the analysis of the dynamics of bubbles travelling along selected trajectories using the full Rayleigh-Plesset equation. The model assumes that the water at the pump inlet contains a known number of nuclei with a known size distribution. The erosion potential (or aggressiveness) of the collapse is estimated from the energy dissipated during the collapse. The presented CFD analysis has provided a map of regions endangered by cavitation erosion. The cavitation instability in the backflow vortices has been detected at 60% of the optimal flow coefficient close to the NPSHr value.