Numerical Investigation on the Transient Flow of a Boiler Circulating Pump Based on the Shear Stress Transport Turbulence Model

Abstract

Based on the shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model, the influence of different outlet pipe angles on the head and efficiency of a boiler circulating pump was analyzed. When the outlet pipe angle changed from 115° to 130°, the head and efficiency of the pump reduced significantly. The boiler circulating pump with 115° outlet pipe angle was selected as the further research object, and the reliability of the numerical simulation was verified by experiments. The transient flow of the prototype pump under the design flow rate condition (1.0Qd) and four other flow rate conditions (0.6Qd, 0.8Qd, 1.2Qd, and 1.4Qd) was studied. The results show that, under the conditions of design flow and large flow rate (1.0Qd, 1.2Qd, and 1.4Qd), the centrality and regularity of radial force distribution are obviously better than those of small flow rate (0.6Qd, 0.8Qd). The leakage of the rear seal ring is less than that of the front seal ring under five flow rate conditions. As the flow rate increases, the leakage of front and rear seal rings decreases, and the leakage ratio of front and rear seal rings increases. The energy loss of the rear cover plate is greater than the energy loss of the front cover plate under five flow rate conditions. With the increase in flow rate, the total loss energy of the prototype pump decreases first and then increases, and the energy loss of the disc becomes larger and larger.