Hydraulic Performance Prediction Methodology in Regenerative Pumps Through CFD Analysis

Abstract

Peripheral pump efficiency is a factor of performance defined by geometrical parameters and characteristic curves of the system. Due to the need to determinate an appropriate pump operating point in order to obtain an adequate hydraulic system performance in industrial and home applications, this paper presents a methodology that simulates the flow behavior of vortex or regenerative pumps using geometrical factors that directly define its optimal performance. An approximated real behavior of the flow phenomena is determined through the application of numerical methods and turbulence models based on Computational Fluids Dynamics with the aim to link and validate the results obtained in the predictive approach. The technological advance of the computational methods used in the analysis of flow phenomena enables an approximated description of the flow studied by means of computational tools. Therefore, numerical analysis is developed by using OpenFOAM software. This computational tool is an open-source code computed in the C++ library characterized by the development of complex analysis related to the flow phenomena applied in engineering applications based on the performance of turbomachinery used in energy transformation systems. The methodology used in this paper improves the prediction of the flow in a peripheral pump using statistical models based on the multiple linear regression model determined with the Taguchi Orthogonal Array method. A deviation of less than 5 percent between the predictive approach and the numerical model compared has been reached. Geometrical optimization of the peripheral centrifugal pump, taking into account the angular velocity of the impeller, inlet, and outlet angles of the blade, and height impeller blades have been developed.