Research on rotational speed to the influence of pump as turbine

Abstract

Due to the problem of lacking hydraulic control devices, pump as turbine (PAT) has the disadvantage of optimum operation only within a small range discharge where the net head utilization and operating efficiency are the highest. Variable speed operation offers a good solution to this problem. Pump manufactures normally do not provide performance curves of their pumps working as turbines, especially when working at variable speed condition. Therefore, establishing a correlation between PAT's performance curve and rotational speed is essential. In this paper, a method of predicting PAT's performance at different rotational speeds was first developed using theoretical analysis. In the second step, a single stage centrifugal pump operated as a turbine was tested at different rotational speeds. Typical performance curves of PAT operating at variable speed condition were acquired. Finally computational fluid dynamics (CFD) had been used in this research. The accuracy of CFD prediction was proved when compared with experimental data. The validity of presented method by theoretical analysis was validated using test and CFD results.