Numerical investigation on cavitation performance for centrifugal pumps with different impeller inlet geometry

Abstract

In the centrifugal pump, cavitation often leads to the noise and pressure pulsation, further affects the performance and operation of the pump. Therefore, it is essential to improve cavitation performance at the stage of pump design. In this paper, three centrifugal pump impellers are designed by using different inlet geometry, where one is the conventional type and has cross section diffusion of flow passage along flow direction, and other two impellers are proposed and have cross section contraction of flow passage from impeller inlet to exit. For comparison of cavitation performance, the three-dimensional cavitating turbulent flows are simulated using the RANS method for the pumps. The results show that the pumps with the proposed meridional section have much better cavitation performance at design point while their hydraulic efficiency is also improved at larger flow rate, compared with that with the conventional meridional section design. Extending the blade leading edge of the proposed impeller is very helpful to obtain better cavitation performance further due to the uniform flow and smaller pressure drop around impeller inlet.