Combined experimental and computational investigation of the effect of coating on operation characteristics of solid–liquid two-phase flow centrifugal pump

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to apply combined experimental and computational modeling to investigate the influence of different coating thickness on the operation characteristics of solid–liquid two-phase flow centrifugal pump. According to the characteristics of sediment flow in the Yellow River Basin, the effects of polyurethane coating thickness on the energy performance and pressure fluctuation are analyzed under the condition of solid–liquid two-phase flow and clean water. Meanwhile, the internal flow characteristics and radial force of the coated pump under the condition of solid–liquid two-phase flow are studied. The results show that the blade inlet and outlet of impeller are easy to wear, and the pressure fluctuation at the outlet of the model pump can be reduced by spraying proper coating thickness. The model pump with coating increases the low-speed zone of internal flow, which is mainly due to the increase of the viscous bottom layer area. The variation amplitude of radial force in sediment-laden water decreases with the increase of coating thickness.