Abstract
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of multi-lobe progressive cavity (PC) pumps are limited in the literature due to the geometric complexity of the pump, which places numerous restrictions on the grid generation process. The present study attempts to alleviate such restrictions by developing a detailed numerical procedure for the numerical simulations of multi-lobe progressive cavity pumps. The profile equations for the multi-lobe configuration at any section at each instant of rotation are presented. A structured grid generation method is developed to generate mesh files required for CFD simulations of multi-lobe PC pumps. Results from the present procedure are validated against single-lobe PC pump numerical results available in the literature. Finally, a numerical parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of the number of lobes, the stator pitch, the circular fillet and clearance on the volumetric efficiency of PC pumps with viscous oils.
Highlights
Progressive cavity pumps (PCP) are commonly used as an artificial lift device in low pressure wells to enhance oil productivity
A theoretical and experimental investigation was carried out by Vetter and Wirth (1995) on the performance of single-lobe progressive cavity (PC) pumps operating with water, which showed that overlapping pumps had more mechanical friction and better volumetric efficiency than pumps with clearance
To validate the developed numerical procedure, present results are compared against the Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results of Paladino et al (2011) for single-phase flow through a single-lobe PC pump with a rigid stator
Summary
Progressive cavity pumps (PCP) are commonly used as an artificial lift device in low pressure wells to enhance oil productivity. Gamboa et al (2003b) proposed a simplified hydraulic model for single-lobe PC pumps, considering internal deformation due to stator material and differential pressure They obtained the slippage flow across the pump and predicted the. Gamboa et al (2003a) presented three simplified models of a PC pump using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) They concluded that finite element techniques were not suitable for simulating the hydrodynamics of PC pumps because of extensive grid requirements and the huge number of elements needed to perform such a simulation. A numerical parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of the number of lobes, the stator pitch, the circular fillet and clearance effects on the volumetric efficiency of PC pumps with viscous oils
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