Abstract
To reveal the effect of tip clearance on the flow behaviors and pressurization performance of a helico-axial flow pump, the standard k-ε turbulence model is employed to simulate the flow characteristics in the self-developed helico-axial flow pump. The pressure, streamlines and turbulent kinetic energy in a helico-axial flow pump are analyzed. Results show that the tip leakage flow (TLF) forms a tip-separation vortex (TSV) when it enters the tip clearance and forms a tip-leakage vortex (TLV) when it leaves the tip clearance. As the blade tip clearance increases, the TLV moves along the blade from the leading edge (LE) to trailing edge (TE). At the same time, the entrainment between the TLV and the main flow deteriorates the flow pattern in the pump and causes great hydraulic loss. In addition, the existence of tip clearance also increases the possibility of TLV cavitation and has a great effect on the pressurization performance of the helico-axial flow pump. The research results provide the theoretical basis for the structural optimization design of the helico-axial flow pump.
Highlights
Processes 2021, 9, 1653. https://Compared with the traditional gas–liquid separation and transportation methods, multiphase transportation technology has some obvious advantages and broad application prospects in offshore and onshore crude oil transportation [1,2]
The tip leakage vortex (TLV) increases the hydraulic loss in the passage and weakens the hydraulic performance and efficiency, even causing vibration and noise, which has a considerable effect on the operation stability of pumps [10,11,12,13]
The findings provide the theoretical basis basis for for the the structural structural design, design, loss loss reduction, reduction, and and efficiency efficiency improvement improvement of of helico-axial helico-axial flow pumps
Summary
Processes 2021, 9, 1653. https://Compared with the traditional gas–liquid separation and transportation methods, multiphase transportation technology has some obvious advantages and broad application prospects in offshore and onshore crude oil transportation [1,2]. The helico-axial flow pump, as the core equipment for multiphase transportation technology, has become hot spots in recent years because of its large wrap angle, long passage, and characteristics suitable for gas–liquid transportation [3,4,5]. The tip leakage flow (TLF) near the blade tip appears [6,7]. The tip leakage vortex (TLV) occurs [8,9]. The TLV increases the hydraulic loss in the passage and weakens the hydraulic performance and efficiency, even causing vibration and noise, which has a considerable effect on the operation stability of pumps [10,11,12,13]
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