CFD Prediction of Erosion Wear in Centrifugal Slurry Pumps for Dilute Slurry Flows

Abstract

The paper discusses numerical prediction of erosion wear trends in centrifugal pump casing pumping dilute slurries. The casing geometry is considered two-dimensional. Discrete Phase Model (DPM) in FLUENT 6.1® is utilized to obtain dilute slurry flow field through the pump casing employing two-way coupling. Standard k — ε model is used for turbulence. Effect of several operational parameters viz. pump flow rate, pump speed (RPM), particle diameter and various geometry conditions viz. tongue curvature, slope of the discharge pipe and casing width is studied. Qualitative trends of erosion wear is described for these operational and geometric parameters with an idea to lower the wear rates and to make the wear pattern along the casing wall as uniform as possible. For example, with increase in pump flow rate, wear rates tends to even out whereas with increased casing width, wear rates are found to decrease.