Performance of a Centrifugal Slurry Pump

Hawas Yahya Bajawi,Basharat Salim,Ziyadh Suhibani

doi:10.19026/rjaset.7.434

Hawas Yahya Bajawi, Basharat Salim + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.19026/rjaset.7.434

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate the effect of speed, concentration and size of slurry on the performance of a centrifugal pump. For this purpose a facility was built where the performance of a centrifugal slurry pump was examined using aggregate slurry. Three sizes of slurry with three concentrations and at three impeller speeds were used for the performance investigations of a centrifugal slurry pump. As a reference performance the performance of centrifugal slurry pump was also tested with clean water. The performance of pump has been reported as variations of head, power and efficiency at various flow rates along with the system characteristics of the pump. The results reveal that the pump performance is grossly affected by the type of slurry, its concentration and size. Besides this the variation in speed also affects the performance as is observed in pumps with water. The maximum decrease in the head, with respect to clear water, at the operating point was found to be 47% for aggregate for size 20 mm, 15% concentration and 2600 rpm. The maximum decrement in efficiency at operating point for aggregate was found to be 47% for 4 mm size, 15% concentration and at 2200 rpm. The power increment requirement for aggregate was 9% for 4 mm size, 15% concentration and 2600 rpm.

Highlights

Slurry is essentially a mixture of solids and liquids
The pump performance was evaluated with water and aggregate at three speeds
Effect of concentration of slurry on the performance of a pump can be studied either in terms of concentration based on weight or concentration based on volume

Summary

Introduction

Slurry is essentially a mixture of solids and liquids. Its physical characteristics are dependent on many factors such as size and distribution of particles, concentration of solids in the liquid phase, level of turbulence, temperature and absolute (or dynamic) viscosity of the carrier fluids. Fluid in this impeller cannot be guided as closely as in a water impeller and this in turn results in reduced pumping head and efficiency. Another factor affecting both head and efficiency in slurry pumps is the actual presence of solids in the slurry. Fairbank (1942) found that the head developed by the pump for water decreases with increase in either concentration of medium particle size of sand/clay. Vocaldo et al (1974) have experimentally investigated the performance of rubber-lined and metal centrifugal slurry pumps handling sand material of different particle sizes and clay at two speed of 1180 and 1780 rpm. The head loss for rubber-lined pump was found to be higher than that for the metal pump which they

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