Abstract
The multistage centrifugal pump is the critical component of mineral resources lifting in deep-sea mining. The reflux of nodules in the lifting pipe caused by the emergency pump stop can easily cause the pump to clog. In this paper, coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics and Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM co-simulations) are used to clarify the solid-liquid two-phase flow in two-stage centrifugal pumps under different particle sizes (10–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50 mm) with constant particle concentration. The movement and accumulation behaviour of particles in different flow fields (pipeline to pump, the first to the second pump stage) is investigated. Meanwhile, the effect of particle size and particle reflux velocity on the blockage of the flow channel in the pump was investigated. Particle accumulation in the pump was observed to determine the key factors affecting the pump’s reflux capacity. The residual mass of particles in the pump at different particle sizes was counted. Simultaneously, the percentage of residual mass of 10–20 mm particles in the pump was compared between the experiment and the simulation with an acceptable tolerance of within 10%. In addition, pressure changes in the blockage-prone section were also investigated. A comparison between experiments and simulations verifies the consistency of the trend on the pump inlet pressure when clogged with 50 mm particles. It was found that larger particles in the range of 10–30 mm can better ensure the pump’s reflux performance.
Highlights
The deep sea is abundant in mineral resources that are scarce on land, such as manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crusts, and polymetallic sulphides [1]
Li [15] analysed the activity of single particle and their applications under different operating conditions by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-discrete element method (DEM) method to model the solid-liquid two-phase of the pump, which provides the grid feasibility for implementing the coupled CFD-DEM method of the pump
Example, the particle size interval is 2 mm for 10–20 mm, which means that this group contains particles with size interval is 2 mm for 10–20 mm, which means that this group contains particles with particle sizes of 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 mm at concentrations of 75%, 5%, 5%, 5%, 5%, and particle sizes of 10,The
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The numerical simulation of the solid-liquid two-phase flow in the lifting pump was carried out in their paper. The two-phase flow model of homogenate was used by Dong [9] to divide the particle size This homogeneous slurry model greatly facilitated the investigation of solid-liquid two-phase flow in deep-sea mining pumps. Li [15] analysed the activity of single particle and their applications under different operating conditions by using the CFD-DEM method to model the solid-liquid two-phase of the pump, which provides the grid feasibility for implementing the coupled CFD-DEM method of the pump. All the work has provided strong support for the study of solid-liquid two-phase flow in deep-sea mining centrifugal pump, and the blockage mechanism of the slurry containing coarse particles in the pump is the focus of this study. Eng. 2021, 9, 987 reflux that can potentially occur in multistage centrifugal pumps during em shutdown
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