Abstract
Slurry transport systems are often limited in run length by the life of the pump internals, especially the impeller. The present work investigated abrasive wear of the impeller of a Hayward Gordon XR2(7) Torus Recessed Impeller slurry pump in a flow loop. The stock stainless steel impeller was replaced by a set of plastic test impellers with the same nominal geometry, fabricated by additive manufacturing (3D printing). A parametric set of abrasive wear experiments was conducted at five pump rotational speeds and three solid concentrations of garnet slurry in a pipe flow loop. Pump performance tests were conducted using impellers with progressive wear conditions, to investigate how a worn impeller affects hydraulic power delivery. A parabolic fit was imposed to describe the relationship between head and flow rate, and an empirical model was proposed to predict the pump head with damaged impellers. When the rotational speed is high, the damaged impeller has a larger effect on the pump’s performance than when the rotational speed is low. The head difference between the undamaged impeller and a 7.62%-mass-loss damaged impeller was 1.5 m at 1750 rpm rotational speed, however, for 850 rpm, the head difference was 1 m. Implications for pump diagnostics in other types of systems are discussed. This experiment gives a method for rapidly assessing wear locations, and provides a tool to predict wear rates on harder materials if scaling parameters are available. This first attempt at a scaling law is not reliable enough to accurately predict the wear rate for specific conditions, but shows the relative wear as a function of pertinent parameters.
Highlights
Centrifugal slurry pumps are widely used for the transportation of solids in mining, dredging and other industries
Slurry pump impellers are prone to failure, because curved flow streamlines inside the pump lead to both particle impingement and sliding abrasive wear
Pump service life can vary depending on the slurry type, particle concentration, particle size distribution and liquid chemistry
Summary
Centrifugal slurry pumps are widely used for the transportation of solids in mining, dredging and other industries. Lipsett and Bhushan [2] and others, is a fast qualitative visualization method for determining the high wear regions of a turbo machine, or a stationary vessel with slurry flowing through it Results using this method are helpful to designers interested in modifying impeller and casing geometry; this method can quantify the wear rate only with controlled paint layers (thickness and material properties), which is hard to standardize because of the dependence of the paint application method. Developed wear rate models for material loss during a wall interaction by a single particle, which depends on impact angle, particle velocity, particle size, material hardness, and other factors. It is possible to find out how the damaged impellers affect pump performance
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