Design Flow Rate Condition Research Articles

The Influence of Different Working Fluid Temperatures on the Hydraulic Performance of Magnetic Vortex Pumps

Magnetic vortex pumps are characterized by their high performance and zero leakage, and in recent years, they have been applied for the transportation of antifreeze coolant in varying-temperature environments. This paper combines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with experimental verification to study the external and internal flow characteristics of magnetic vortex pumps when transporting working fluid at different temperatures, considering radial clearance flow. The results indicate that as the temperature of the medium increases, both the pump head and efficiency improve. Specifically, under the design flow rate condition, the pump head increases by 16.7% when transporting a medium at 90 °C compared to ambient-temperature conditions. Conversely, the pump head is only 16.8% of that observed under ambient-temperature conditions when transporting a medium at −30 °C. Analysis of the internal flow field reveals that the changes in pump hydraulic performance at different working fluid temperatures are primarily due to variations in the vorticity of the internal flow field.

Investigation of flow-induced sound source generation in a centrifugal pump

Abstract This study investigates the mechanism of sound source generation in a centrifugal pump under different flow conditions. The calculated results are in good agreement with experimental data by employing the delayed detached eddy simulation and flow-acoustic coupling method to compute the flow-induced noise. Based on the vortex sound theory and vorticity binary decomposition, the sound source (STA) is divided into a shear-induced source (STS) and a rigid rotation-induced source (STR). The results show that the sound source induced by shear is the main factor. The fluctuation amplitude of STS can be nine times larger than STR at monitor point near the tongue under the design flow rate condition. There is a mutual cancellation effect between the STS and STR. The fluctuation amplitude of STA at the blade passing frequency is 86% of STS at monitor point near the tongue under high flow rate conditions, indicating that sometimes rigid rotation can suppress noise generation.

Influence of a groove-structured vortex generator on the drag reduction characteristics of a multiphase pump

The oil–gas mixture pump significantly contributes to marginal oil field extraction and remote transportation of deep-sea oil. Nevertheless, during the operation of the mixture pump, it is inevitable to encounter problems like the separation of the mixed media from the hydraulic components as well as the gas phase from the liquid phase, which leads to enhancing the flow resistance of the mixed media. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of a groove-structure vortex generator on the drag reduction characteristics of a helical axial-flow gas–liquid multiphase pump under the design flow rate condition and various inlet gas content rates. The findings show that the vortex generator with diverse groove depths can prevent the separation of the mixed media from the blade suction surface effectively and minimize the flow resistance of the media in the 1/10 of the blade inlet. In particular, excellent drag reduction results were gained with a maximum drag reduction rate of 36.7% when the relative depth was 3/40. In addition, the efficiency of the mixture pump increased by a maximum of 2.1%, and the head increased by a maximum of 4.3%. The significance of this study lies in its potential to further optimize the design and performance of gas–liquid multiphase pumps. It provides new insights into the design and application of vortex generators. It offers robust support for the optimization and enhancement of gas–liquid multiphase pumps.

Hydrodynamic and radial force characteristics with design of a single-channel pump for wastewater treatment based on the similarity law

Single-channel pumps are widely employed for wastewater treatment in Korea. To render possible the application of this type of pump in other countries using different power frequencies, the present study applies the similarity law to redesign the impeller geometry of the single-channel pump optimized in a previous study. To this end, the numerical simulations are conducted using steady and unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations and a shear stress transport reattachment modification turbulence model. Numerical simulations are confirmed by an experiment based on the 11th API610 standard. At design flow rate condition, the novel pump model meets the design requirement with the minimum total head coefficient of 3.078. The distance between the center of the radial force and the origin of the new model is notably decreased in comparison with the reference model, especially at the design point with a reduction of 3.418 times. Moreover, the results of the unsteady radial force are consistent with those of the steady radial force. The pressure oscillations in the new model are likewise reduced compared to the reference model, particularly at several measuring points under design flow rate with pressure oscillations dropping from 8.5% and 10.1–5.3% and 1.2%, respectively. The non-uniform high-pressure region caused by the rotor-stator interaction at the outlet of the impeller is evidently suppressed in the new model. The new single-channel pump is feasible for new power frequency and performs better with low vibration and noise levels during the operation.

Mechanism analysis of double helical balance drum to improve axial force of multistage pump

In the case of high pressure, the size of the multistage pump axial force sometimes reaches hundreds of tons, the seriousness of the problem generated by excessive axial force has surpassed the efficiency, wear and other factors, and has become a decisive factor in the stable operation of multistage pumps. In this paper, the 11-stage double-case multistage pump is taken as the research object. On the basis of studying the clearance internal flow mechanism, according to the pressure difference equation of axial motion of clearance fluid, the main factors affecting the balance force of the balance drum are analyzed, and a new type of balance drum — “double helical balance drum” is proposed, which is compared with the smooth balance drum in the hydraulic performance and axial force performance. The research shows that with the increase of the axial displacement of the balance clearance, the pressure drop between the clearances decreases linearly. Compared with the smooth balance drum, the pressure drop at the inlet and outlet of the helical balance drum is 1.30 times that of the smooth balance drum under the design flow rate condition, the mean velocity, mean velocity curl and velocity coefficient of the double helical balance drum increase, indicating that adding double helix can increase the dynamic pressure ratio of clearance fluid. In addition, the test results show that the head and efficiency of the double helical balance drum of multistage pump is increased by 0.76% and 1.1%, respectively, compared with the smooth balance drum, and the vibration amplitude of the front and rear bearing is reduced by 3.36%, 0.76% and 1.75% on average along the axial, radial and tangential direction. In addition, the temperature of the front and rear bearing is reduced by 3.1% and 8.7%, respectively, indicating that the double helical balance drum can effectively improve the hydraulic performance and axial force performance of the multistage pump at design operating point. The results of the study can provide reference for the long-cycle stable operation of multistage pumps and the optimization of balance drum design.

Transient flow structures and pressure pulsations of a high-pressure aero-fuel centrifugal pump

In order to study the complex transient flow characteristics of a high-pressure aero-fuel centrifugal pump within its full working envelope, a certain type of centrifugal pump is numerically simulated, in which the simulation results are compared with the experiment results to verify the effectiveness of the present simulation method. Then, the verified simulation method is selected to analyze the transient flow characteristics, in which the time-frequency characteristic of pressure pulsation at monitored positions is analyzed by using fast fourier transform. In addition, the unsteady flow structures are studied by focusing on the relative speed, turbulent kinetic energy and so on. The results show that the main frequency of pressure pulsation in the impeller and volute is rotation frequency and blade frequency, respectively, where different monitoring points show similar trend. Meanwhile, the flow is relatively stable under design flow rate condition. However, a certain large-scale vortex appears in the impeller channel under small flow rate conditions, which mainly exists at the exit of the impeller channel near the tongue. In addition, turbulent kinetic energy at the exit of the impeller and the tongue has a large distribution range and changes seriously, where a certain hydraulic loss is produced.

Research on the Influence of Tip Clearance of Axial-Flow Pump on Energy Characteristics under Pump and Turbine Conditions

In order to study the influence of tip clearance on the performance and energy dissipation of the axial-flow pump and the axial-flow pump as a turbine, and find the location of high dissipation rate, this study took an axial-flow pump model as its research object and designed four tip radial clearance schemes (0, 0.2, 1 and 2 mm). The unsteady calculation simulation of each tip clearance scheme was carried out based on CFD technology. The calculated results were compared with the experimental results, and the simulation results were analyzed using entropy production analysis theory. The results showed that, under both an axial-flow pump and axial-flow pump as turbine operating conditions, increasing the blade tip clearance led to a decrease in hydraulic performance. Compared with the 0 mm clearance, the maximum decreases in pump efficiency, head and shaft power under 2 mm tip clearance were 15.3%, 25.7% and 12.3% under the pump condition, and 12.7%, 18.5% and 28.8% under the turbine condition, respectively. Under the axial-flow pump operating condition, the change in blade tip clearance had a great influence on the total dissipation of the impeller, guide vane and outlet passage, and the maximum variation under the flow rate of 1.0Qdes was 53.9%, 32.1% and 54.2%, respectively. Under the axial-flow pump as a turbine operating condition, the change in blade tip clearance had a great influence on the total dissipation of the impeller and outlet passage, the maximum variation under the flow rate of 1.0Qdes was 22.7% and 17.4%, respectively. Under the design flow rate condition, with the increase in tip clearance, the dissipation rate of the blade surface showed an increasing trend under both the axial-flow pump and axial-flow pump as turbine operating conditions, and areas of high dissipation rate were generated at the rim and clearance.

Numerical Study on the Cavitation Flow and Its Effect on the Structural Integrity of Multi-Stage Orifice

Flow leakage due to cavitation erosion occurred at the socket welding part downstream of the multi-stage orifice installed in the auxiliary feedwater (AFW) pump recirculation line of the domestic nuclear power plant (NPP). To assess the adequacy of the changed operating flow rate proposed by a domestic NPP operator as the corrective measure concerning the flow leakage in the AFW pump recirculation line, the pattern of the cavitation flow in the eight-stage orifice and the connecting pipe depending on the magnitude of the operating flow rate was predicted by using ANSYS CFX R19.1. Additionally, using ANSYS Mechanical, the structural analysis was conducted under the same operating flow rate condition used for the flow analysis, and the structural integrity was evaluated for the allowable stress. Based on the flow analysis results, it was found that the operating flow rate was the main factor to influence the cavitation behavior inside the multi-stage orifice, and cavitation flow still happened even in the vicinity of the corrected operating flow rate, so it should be necessary to fundamentally review the adequacy of the multi-stage orifice design. On the other hand, the geometric dimensions and arrangement of orifice hole position at the individual stage of the multi-stage orifice may have a significant influence on the characteristics of pressure drop and flow patterns (including cavitation). Therefore, these effects were examined by simulating an analysis model in which the hole diameter of the eighth-stage orifice was changed under the design flow rate condition. As a result of flow analysis, it was found that reducing the hole diameter in the eighth stage orifice resulted in increasing the pressure drop. In relation to the structural integrity of the eight-stage orifice and the connecting pipe, it was found that its integrity could be maintained under the design and operating flow rate conditions.

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

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.

Energy characteristics of mixed-flow pump under different tip clearances based on entropy production analysis

In order to investigate the effect of impeller tip clearance on the internal flow fields and the hydraulic losses in mixed-flow pump, the entropy production method with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is employed to analyze the energy losses in a low specified number mixed-flow pump with guide vane. The results show that the size of tip clearance is closely related to the external characteristic performance of mixed-flow pump, and the effect of tip clearance on the flow fields of mixed-flow pump is obvious at design flow rate condition. When the tip clearance raises from 0.2 mm to 1.1 mm, the head drop loss coefficient increases 1.62 times in the impeller. As the tip clearance augments from 0.2 mm to the 1.1 mm, the total entropy production in impeller increases by 142%. Whereas, the total entropy production in guide vane descends by 21.8% slightly. It indicates that the increase of tip leakage flow (TLF) may increase the energy losses in impeller but the hydraulic losses in guide vane is suppressed to some extent as a result of an existence of TLF. Therefore, for the sake of improving the energy performance of mixed-flow pump, it is necessary to take the scale of blade tip clearance into account and consider optimizing the hydraulic design structure of guide vanes comprehensively to match the tip clearance.

Optimization Design of the Impeller Based on Orthogonal Test in an Ultra-Low Specific Speed Magnetic Drive Pump

To improve the hydraulic performance in an ultra-low specific speed magnetic drive pump, optimized design of impeller based on orthogonal test was carried out. Blades number Z, bias angle in peripheral direction of splitter blades θs, inlet diameter of splitter blades Dsi, and deflection angle of splitter blades α were selected as the main factors in orthogonal test. The credibility of the numerical simulation was verified by prototype experiments. Two optimized impellers were designed through the analysis of orthogonal test data. The internal flow field, pressure fluctuation, and radial force were analyzed and compared between optimized impellers and original impeller. The results reveal that impeller 7 (Z = 5, θs = 0.4θ, Dsi = 0.75D2, α = 0°) could increase the head and efficiency, compared to the original impeller, by 2.68% and 4.82%, respectively. Impeller 10 (Z = 5, θs = 0.4θ, Dsi = 0.55D2, α = 0°) reduced the head by 0.33% and increased the efficiency by 8.24%. At design flow rate condition, the internal flow of impeller 10 was the most stable. Peak-to-peak values of pressure fluctuation at the volute tongues of impeller 7 and impeller 10 were smaller than those of the original impeller at different flow rate conditions (0.6 Qd, 1.0 Qd and 1.5 Qd). Radial force distribution of impeller 10 was the most uniform, and the radial force variance of impeller 10 was the smallest.

Influence of tip leakage flow and inlet distortion flow on a mixed-flow pump with different tip clearances within the stall condition

In order to investigate the effect of impeller tip clearance on internal flow fields and the rotating stall inception impacted by tip leakage vortex and inlet unsteady flow in a mixed-flow pump, mixed-flow pump models with tip clearances of 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1.1 mm were numerically calculated, and then the energy performance curves and internal flow structures were obtained and compared. The results show that the pump efficiency and the internal flow fields of numerical calculation are in good agreement with experimental results at design flow rate and near-stall condition. A portion of the positive slope segment appears in the energy performance curves under different tip clearances. The lowest head of the mixed-flow pump in the positive slope region decreases with the increase of the tip clearance while the highest head shows an opposite situation indicating that mixed-flow pumps are easier to stall under small tip clearance. At the design flow rate condition, the tip leakage vortex is relatively stable under different tip clearances and appears as a “snail shell” shape, whereas in rotating stall conditions, the “snail shell” shape disappear and the tip leakage flow on blade front forms a “flat” vortex structure. The inlet swirl flow not only affects the tip leakage flow in rotating stall conditions under different tip clearances, but also blocks the fluid from the inlet pipe. Under the circumstance of the same tip clearance, the main frequency amplitude of pressure pulsation coefficient gradually shifts away from blade passing frequency (96.67 Hz) to the axial frequency (24.17 Hz) when the pump operates in the stall condition.

Multi-objective optimization of double suction centrifugal pump

Double suction centrifugal pumps are widely used for water supplying system. In this study, the original design of a double centrifugal pump lacked sufficient head at the design flow rate condition. Therefore, the most important objective was to optimize the design to improve the head. A strategy inspired by “liquid–gas cavitation process” is innovatively used for intelligent global search of better pump designs with both higher head and wider-higher efficiency. This strategy has advantages including flexibility, parallelism, and feasibility on overstepping the local-best. The computational fluid dynamics and artificial neural network are used. It helps this optimization to find unknown points in the non-linear and multi-dimensional searching space, and accelerate the optimization process. Candidates were found after search, and the best one was chosen using Pareto principle. Experimental and numerical studies verify that the optimized impeller meets the requirement of head. The efficiency is also significantly improved with higher best efficiency and wider high efficiency range than original design. The critical cavitation is also improved at design condition. This study provides an effective strategy and a good solution for multi-objective optimization of double suction centrifugal pumps. Moreover, this study provides references for the combination of optimizations with artificial intelligence especially in the pump’s design.

Research on the performance of low-lift diving tubular pumping system by CFD and Test

Post-diving tubular pump is always used in large-discharge & low-head irrigation or storm drainage pumping station, its impeller and motor share the same shaft. Considering diving tubular pump system's excellent hydraulic performance, compact structure, good noise resistance and low operating cost, it is used in Chinese pump stations. To study the hydraulic performance and pressure fluctuation of inlet and outlet passage in diving tubular pump system, both of steady and unsteady full flow fields are numerically simulated at three flow rate conditions by using CFD commercial software. The asymmetry of the longitudinal structure of inlet passage affects the flow pattern on outlet. Especially at small flow rate condition, structural asymmetry will result in the uneven velocity distribution on the outlet of passage inlet. The axial velocity distribution uniformity increases as the flow rate increases on the inlet of passage inlet, and there is a positive correlation between hydraulic loss in the passage inlet and flow rate's quadratic. The axial velocity distribution uniformity on the outlet of passage inlet is 90% at design flow rate condition. The predicted result shows the same trend with test result, and the range of high efficiency area between predicted result and test result is almost identical. The dominant frequency of pressure pulsation is low frequency in inlet passage at design condition. The dominant frequency is high frequency in inlet passage at small and large flow rate condition. At large flow rate condition, the flow pattern is significantly affected by the rotation of impeller in inlet passage. At off-design condition, the pressure pulsation is strong at outlet passage. At design condition, the dominant frequency is 35.57Hz, which is double rotation frequency.

Investigation of dynamic stress of rotor in residual heat removal pumps based on fluid–structure interaction

Vibration and dynamic stress caused by the interaction between the fluid and the structure can affect the reliability of pumps. This study presents an investigation of internal flow field and the structure response of residual heat removal pump using a combined calculation for turbulent flow, and the structure response of rotor was first defined using a two-way coupling method. For the calculation, the flow field is based on the shear stress transport k–ω turbulence model and the structure response is determined using an elastic structural dynamic equation. The results show that the domain frequencies of pressure fluctuations of monitors on the outlet of impeller are the integer multiples of rotating shaft frequency ( fn) and the amplitude of the relatively large pressure fluctuation peak is the lowest under the design flow rate operating condition. Meanwhile, the time-average radial force value at the design flow rate condition is the smallest and the hydraulic force magnitude at the maximum operating flow rate condition is the largest, and phase difference can be clearly seen among the results obtained under different flow rates. Furthermore, the relatively large stress of rotor for all operating conditions is the biggest at shaft shoulder where the bearing is installed, and it increases with flow rate.

Numerical and experimental investigation of tip leakage vortex trajectory and dynamics in an axial flow pump

Tip leakage vortex (TLV) in an axial flow pump was simulated by using the shear-stress transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model with a refined high-quality structured grid at different flow rate conditions. The TLV trajectories were obtained by using the swirling strength method corresponding to the cross-sections of streamlines of the TLV. High-speed photography experiments were conducted to observe the TLV trajectory based on cavitation tracing bubbles in an axial flow pump with a transparent casing. The TLV trajectories predicted by the SST k–ω turbulence model agreed well with the visualization results. The numerical and experimental results show that the starting point of the TLV is near the leading edge at part-load flow rate condition (Q/QBEP=0.85), and it moves towards the trailing edge to approximately 20% blade chord at the design flow rate condition (Q/QBEP=1.0). At large flow rate conditions (Q/QBEP=1.2), the starting point of the TLV shifts to about 40% blade chord, and the relative angle between the TLV trajectory and the blade chord is gradually reduced with the increased flow rate. Detailed statistics of the fluid dynamics of the end-wall shear layer and the TLV at design and off-design conditions were discussed based on the numerical results. The shear layer and jetting flow in the tip gap are highly affected by the pressure difference between the pressure side (PS) and suction side (SS). It was also found that the distributions of static pressure, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and vorticity inside the TLV core are associated with the TLV structure which is affected by blade loading and operation conditions of the axial flow pump.

Experiment of a centrifugal pump during changing speed operation

In this paper, a method of changing rotational speed of impeller periodically as the pulsatile working condition is developed to realize pulse outputs both of flow discharge and of head for a centrifugal pump through experiment. The performance of the centrifugal pump under pulsatile working operation condition is measured which indicates this model pump could produce desired pulse flow under such condition. Flow patterns at four testing points under pulsatile conditions are obtained by means of the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technology both with laser induced fluorescence (LIF) particles and refractive index matched (RIM) fluid. Results of PIV measurement show the distributions of velocity, streamlines, and the principal Reynolds normal stress (PRNS). Under the design flow rate condition, the relative velocity in the blade channel distributes smoothly and decreases from inlet to exit. And at the impeller exit, the relative velocity is lower close to suction side than that near pressure side of blade in most of blade channels.

Pressure Fluctuation of the Low Specific Speed Centrifugal Pump

In order to study the rules of pressure fluctuation and the radial force under different positions in a centrifugal pump with low specific speed, and to find the relationship between each other, the three-dimensional ,unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes equations with shear stress transport turbulent models were solved. The pressure fluctuation was obtained. The results showed that the pressure fluctuations were visible. The pressure fluctuations in the volute were relatively low at the design flow rate condition. The blade passing frequency dominates the pressure fluctuations, high frequency contents were found on the outlet of impeller but no high frequency information occured in casing. The radial force on the impeller was unsteady especially at the small flow rate.