Splitter Blades Research Articles

Influence of internal flow structure on flow energy losses in a centrifugal pump with splitter blades using entropy generation theory

Centrifugal pumps are essential in various industrial applications, including renewable energy. To maximize the pump’s overall performance, estimating flow energy losses (FEL) is crucial. However, due to internal flow complexity, it is necessary to employ new methods and approaches to better understand FEL mechanisms. This study uses entropy generation theory to investigate the relationship between FEL and various flow patterns in all pump hydraulic components. Numerical simulations were conducted using a 3-dimensional incompressible unsteady flow at four different flow coefficients. The delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) model was used, and the results showed good agreement with experimental data compared to the SST k-w model. Emphasis was given to the flow energy losses and the relative and absolute velocity distribution in the impeller and diffuser components at various flow coefficients. Flow energy losses primarily occur in the impeller (70%) followed by the diffuser (23%). Impeller losses are concentrated at the outlet region due to the wake-jet phenomena (28.6%), splitter blades region (15.3%), and impeller’s leading edge (LE) (10.7%). Vaned diffuser losses occur in the vanless zone (stator-rotor interaction) and near leading/trailing edges.Moreover, wall shear stress and the significant relative velocity gradient near the walls of the impeller and diffuser blades are the main contributors to the FEL in this region. This study provides insights into a better understanding of FEL mechanisms and highlights areas for improving pump performance.

A High-Temperature, High-Speed, Oil-Free Syngas Compressor for Small-Scale Combined Heat and Power

Abstract For low-emission, small-scale combined heat and power generation, integrating a biomass gasifier with a downstream solid oxide fuel cell system is very promising due to their similar operating conditions in terms of temperatures and pressures. This match avoids intermediate high-temperature heat exchangers and improves system efficiency. However, to couple both systems, a high-temperature and oil-free compressor is required to compress and push the low-density, high-temperature bio-syngas from the gasifier to the solid oxide fuel cell stack. The design and development of this high-temperature, high-speed, and gas-bearing supported compressor is presented in this work. An iterative process involving preliminary design, meanline analysis using commercial tools and in-house models is used for the design, which is then numerically analyzed using computational fluid dynamics. The goal is to achieve a design with a wide operating range and high robustness that withstands extreme working conditions. The 727 W machine is designed to run up to 210 krpm to compress 18.23kg/h of syngas at 350°C and 0.81bar. The centrifugal compressor has a tip diameter of 38 mm and consists of 9 backswept main and splitter blades. The impeller is made of Ti6Al4V and coated to prevent hydrogen embrittlement from the hot and highly reactive bio-syngas. The results obtained from the established models suggest a good concordance with the results from numerical analyses, despite the high temperatures and small scale of this design.

A Computational Analysis of Turbocharger Compressor Flow Field with a Focus on Impeller Stall

Understanding the flow instabilities encountered by the turbocharger compressor is an important step toward improving its overall design for performance and efficiency. While an experimental study using Particle Image Velocimetry was previously conducted to examine the flow field at the inlet of the turbocharger compressor, the present work complements that effort by analyzing the flow structures leading to stall instability within the same impeller. Experimentally validated three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics predictions are carried out at three discrete mass flow rates, including 77 g/s (stable, maximum flow condition), 57 g/s (near peak efficiency), and 30 g/s (with strong reverse flow from the impeller) at a fixed rotational speed of 80,000 rpm. Large stationary stall cells were observed deep within the impeller at 30 g/s, occupying a significant portion of the blade passage near the shroud between the suction surface of the main blades and the pressure surface of the splitter blades. These stall cells are mainly created when a substantial portion of the inlet core flow is unable to follow the impeller’s axial to radial bend against the adverse pressure gradient and becomes entrained by the reverse flow and the tip leakage flow, giving rise to a region of low-momentum fluid in its wake. This phenomenon was observed to a lesser extent at 57 g/s and was completely absent at 77 g/s. On the other hand, the inducer rotating stall was found to be most dominant at 57 g/s. The entrainment of the tip leakage flow by the core flow moving into the impeller, leading to the generation of an unstable, wavy shear layer at the inducer plane, was instrumental in the generation of rotating stall. The present analyses provide a detailed characterization of both stationary and rotating stall cells and demonstrate the physics behind their formation, as well as their effect on compressor efficiency. The study also characterizes the entropy generation within the impeller under different operating conditions. While at 77 g/s, the entropy generation is mostly concentrated near the shroud of the impeller with the core flow being almost isentropic, at 30 g/s, there is a significant increase in the area within the blade passage that shows elevated entropy production. The tip leakage flow, its interaction with the blades and the core forward flow, and the reverse flow within the impeller are found to be the major sources of irreversibilities.

Effect of Splitter Blade on Suction Performance of Vertical Multi-stage Centrifugal Pump

Effect of Splitter Blade on Suction Performance of Vertical Multi-stage Centrifugal Pump

Optimization of a radial inflow turbine rotor with splitter blades based on entropy production theory and artificial neural network

The radial inflow turbine is the core component of the organic Rankine cycle, and the application of splitter blades is an effective way to reduce its flow loss. It is helpful to study the energy loss characteristics of radial turbines with splitter blades and the optimal geometrical parameters of splitter blades for further improving their aerodynamic performance. In this paper, an optimization framework based on the combination of back-propagation neural network and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is developed. Considering the turbine efficiency as the objective, the geometric parameters of splitter blades, including relative length of the blade, relative distance of the leading edge, circumferential offset, and outlet angle of the blade, are optimized. In addition, the entropy production method is used to locate and quantitatively evaluate the energy loss of the radial turbine with the optimal splitter blades. The results indicate that the genetic algorithm optimized back-propagation neural network model can accurately predict turbine efficiency with a maximum deviation of 2.47 %. In addition, the optimal geometrical parameters of the splitter blade are related to the turbine geometry. In this case, the optimal splitter blade has a relative blade length of 0.639, a relative leading edge distance of 0.3, a circumferential offset of 0.442, and an outlet angle of 38°. Compared with the original turbine, the efficiency of the radial turbine with optimal splitter blades increases by 4.65 %. The total entropy production of rotor and turbine is reduced by 33.3 % and 44.1 % respectively by the installation of optimal splitter blades. Compared with the case without splitter blades, the turbine with the optimal splitter blades can achieve higher efficiency at a flow rate 40 % higher than the design value, and it expands the efficient working range of the turbine by 60 %. This work can provide guidance for the optimization design of radial inflow turbines.

Analysis of Pressure Fluctuation of a Pump-Turbine with Splitter Blades on Small Opening in Turbine Mode

Unstable flow in a pump-turbine can cause pressure pulsation, and the resulting vibration deteriorates the stability and operating safety of the unit. This study conducted three-dimensional numerical calculations of the overall flow passage of a pump-turbine with splitter blades under the small guide vane opening, and the unsteady flow characteristics of the turbine were investigated. The results showed that the pressure fluctuation was more severe at lower head operating conditions with lower efficiency, especially in the vaneless area (the runner blade passages). Under the lower head condition, the proportion of 12 times the rotational frequency (12 f/fn) increased in the vaneless area, and the amplitude of 1 f/fn as well as 2 f/fn became larger in the runner blade channel, with more space occupied by vortices and reflux areas. A spiral vortex rope formed in the draft tube, increasing the proportion of 0.4 f/fn and 0.7 f/fn pressure pulses.

Study on the design of short blade offset for the long and short blade runner of 1000 MW hydraulic turbine units

Abstract For such complex rotating machinery as hydraulic turbine, the hydraulic operation characteristics of the hydraulic turbine unit are significantly impacted by the short blade of the runner used as the splitter blade. To find the optimum position of the short blade, the study object is the 1000 MW hydraulic turbine, selects three circumferential offset positions of the short blade for numerical simulation calculation, obtains the runner flow pattern at different offsets, and explores the impact on the short blade offset on the vortex and pressure pulsation in the runner. The results show that the counterclockwise offset of the short blade will improve the flow pattern of the runner, reduce the scale of vortex in the runner and enhance the efficiency of the hydraulic turbine. The counterclockwise offset will increase the interference while decreasing the pressure pulsation in the vaneless region, at the runner’s inlet, and downstream of the short blade. When the offset δ=0.6, the peak-valley difference of pressure fluctuation in the vaneless zone is the smallest, accounting for only 1.38 % of the rated head. The main frequency of the vaneless zone gradually changes from 15fn to 30fn , and the main frequency of the runner inlet and the short blade downstream is 24fn . Due to the different weakening effects of short blades on the interference, low-frequency pulsation components of 4fn and 8fn appear.

Study of the Measurement Method on the Dynamic Stress and Pressure of Model Pump-turbine Splitter Blades

Abstract The operation conditions of the pump-turbine are changed frequently and are worse than the conventional turbine. The operation stability of the pump-turbine is more focused with the incremental unit capacity and the pump-turbine runner diameter. The research of the measurement method for the dynamic stress and the pressure of the model pump-turbine splitter runner blades is performed to evaluate the stress and pressure distribution under the various operation conditions, it is optimized for the turbine mechanical and hydraulic computation, the operation references are provided for the prototype pump-turbine also. In this paper, the measurement positions of the blades are determined based on the hydraulic CFD and mechanical computation, the measurement method of dynamic stress and pressure of model pump turbine-runner splitter blades is studied.

The Pump-turbine Hydraulic Performance Research, Model Test and Operation in Yangjiang Pumped Storage Power Station

Abstract The Yangjiang Pumped Storage Power Station (PSP) is the largest unit rated output PSP that has been built in China, with a maximum water head of nearly 700m and a unit capacity of 400MW. The ultra high water head and its large range of the PSP means a significant difficulty during the dydraulic research and development of the pump-turbine. In this paper, it is introduced on model test and results in the EPFL and IWHR. It is studied on energy performance, cavitation, pressure pulsation and “S” characteristic of pump-turbine with splitter blade. The unit data analys after put into operaton indicat highly hydraulic stability and relative tiny vibration, which just verify the model test. As the model and prototype results show that Yangjiang pump-turbine is outstanding in various indexes and quite excellent in comprehensive hydaulic performance.

Analysis of the Flow Behavior and Pressure Fluctuation of a Pump Turbine with Splitter Blades in Part-Load Pump Mode

The internal flow of a pump turbine is unstable in part-load pump mode for small guide-vane openings, and the strong vibration caused by pressure pulsation is related to the safe and stable operation of the unit. A pump turbine with a six-splitter-blade runner was chosen for unsteady simulation analyses. A standard k-epsilon turbulence model was adopted to study the unsteady flow and pressure pulsation in part-load pump mode. The predicted results show that the flow in the draft tube and the runner with splitter blades was relatively stable and the flow of the blade-to-blade channel was symmetrical. When the inlet and outlet velocity distribution of the vanes was not uniform, a vortex began to form in the stay-vane domain. The reason for this vortex formation is explained, and it is pointed out that the existence of the vortex and backflow leads to uneven velocity distribution. The unsteady calculation results showed that the pressure-pulsation peak-to-peak amplitudes in the vaneless area and guide vanes were much higher than those of other monitor points because of rotor–stator interference between the rotating runner and the vanes. In addition, the pulsation characteristics of the monitor points at different circumferential positions in the vaneless region were quite different. In the vaneless area, the velocity gradient along the circumferential direction was very large, and there was a phenomenon of backflow. Also, the pressure pulsation was 0.2 times that of the runner rotational frequency, and the blade-passing frequency was a third-order frequency. At the outlet of the guide vane, the pressure pulsation was mainly of a low frequency with a complex vortex flow. Finally, the pressure pulsation began to decrease rapidly in the stay-vane region.

Control of separation flows of turbine-blade-tip turbines by splitter blades

Gas turbines cannot be directly reversed, and the astern operation of gas turbines still requires additional power transmission equipment to be achieved. To compensate for this deficiency, the application of turbine-blade-tip turbine in gas turbines was proposed. Turbine-blade-tip turbines have the characteristics of extremely low solidity and extremely high diameter-span ratio. Compared with conventional turbine blades, the capacity of turbine blades to restrain gas flow is greatly weakened, the separation flow is obvious when going astern, resulting in low efficiency. For the control problem of low solidity turbine-blade-tip turbines separation flow, a splitter blade control strategy is selected to suppress the separation flow. Adding a splitter blade between original rotor blades effectively improves the ability of rotor blades to restrain gas flow, significantly reduces separation phenomena, and significantly improves efficiency. As the axial chord length of the splitter blade shortens, the inhibitory effect on the separation flow decreases, and the ability of splitter blades to improve the efficiency gradually descends.

Effect of Operating Speed on Turbocharger Compressor Blade Wear

In harsh environments, turbochargers require continuous adjustment of the rotating speed, which can lead to differences in erosive wear on the blades compared to erosive wear under constant speed conditions. In this study, the erosion model expression for an aluminum alloy plate with a fitted Ks value of 20 μm under the erosion of 160 μm SiO2 particles is obtained through erosive wear experiments. Taking a turbocharger compressor as the research object, the influence of four commonly used working speeds on blade wear is analyzed. The results show that when the speed increases from 70,000 rpm to 130,000 rpm, the maximum wear rate concentration values for the main and splitter blades increase by approximately 590% and 310%, respectively.

The Splitter Blade Pump–Turbine in Pump Mode: The Hump Characteristic and Hysteresis Effect Flow Mechanism

This study focuses on the splitter blade pump–turbine as the research object to analyze the problems of hump characteristics and the hysteresis effect. We simulated the operation of the pump condition with small opening of the guide vane, analyzed the hydraulic loss by using the entropy production theory and entropy wall function, and investigated the study of internal flow transfer characteristics. In this paper, it was first verified that the maximum error of the energy loss calculated by the pressure method and the entropy production method was less than 6% for the working zone. From the quantified energy loss results, a significant instability feature was observed in the 0.65 QBEP–0.9 QBEP operating interval, accompanied by the phenomenon of the non-overlapping of the characteristic curves. The results show that the hump characteristic with hysteresis effect also exists in the splitter blade pump–turbine. The percentage of energy loss in the hump zone is in descending order of runner, guide vanes, spiral casing, and draft tube, but this changes again at low flow rates. By analyzing the high-entropy production region, it was found that the high-hydraulic-loss region is mainly distributed at the trailing edge of the long blade in the vane-less space, which is different from the traditional runner.

Numerical Study of the Effect of Splitter Blades on the Flow-Induced Noise of Hydraulic Turbine

Numerical Study of the Effect of Splitter Blades on the Flow-Induced Noise of Hydraulic Turbine

Effect of splitter blades on turbine mode of low specific speed pump

Effect of splitter blades on turbine mode of low specific speed pump

Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow Separation Control in Low-Speed Diffuser Cascade with Splitter Blades

The passive flow control technology of using splitter blades in low-speed diffuser cascade was investigated in this study. Based on the Reynolds average Navier-Stokes calculations, the arrangement parameters of the splitter blades were studied in detail to determine the optimal parameters. The large-eddy simulation was performed on the base case and the optimized splitter blade case to obtain the transient vortex structures and unsteady flow characteristics of the cascade. The results show that the aerodynamic performance of the cascade was susceptible to the position of the splitter blades. The optimal position of the splitter blades was located in the middle of the main blades near the leading edge. When the cascade was arranged with optimized splitter blades, the static pressure coefficient was improved and the stall occurrence was delayed. The scale and intensity of the separation vortices generated on the suction surface of the main blade decreased. In addition, the separation vortices of the main blade and the splitter blade interacted and rapidly decomposed into small-scale vortices downstream of the cascade, reducing the flow loss. The stability of the cascade was enhanced.

Study on the influence of surface roughness on the erosion characteristics of compressor blades

An aluminum alloy erosion wear test rig was built in this study. The wear rates of the target materials at different surface roughness were measured. An improved Finnie model was developed to predict the wear rate for aluminum alloy plates at different surface roughness. The optimized model was used to analyze the effects of different surface roughness on the erosion wear of the main and splitter blades of the compressor. The study shows that as the surface roughness increases from 1 μm to 60 μm, the size of wear concentration areas of the pressure surfaces of the main and splitter blades spread from the blade height of 80% to 30% and 50%, respectively.

Understanding of tip clearance flow structure in high speed mixed flow compressor

This paper addresses the necessity to make a physical interpretation of a highly complex three-dimensional tip clearance flow field study for high-speed mixed-flow compressor having stage exit static pressure to inlet total pressure ratio of 3.8 with 39,836 rpm rotor speed. The four different tip configurations namely the constant (λ = 0.016 and 0.019) and variable (λ = 0.011 (inlet)-0.019 (exit) and 0.019 (inlet)-0.022 (exit)) tip clearances were numerically analysed using available experimental data-set. The numerical investigation reveals that in contrast to the classic jet-wake pattern, two anomalous velocity profiles formed at the impeller exit which results in pressure losses in the vaneless diffuser. Near the impeller inlet, the tip leakage flow rolls up to discrete tip leakage vortex structure for each tip clearance configuration. This results in the formation of a region of momentum deficit, recirculation zone, which gets weakened as it moves downstream. The tip clearance configuration is observed to profoundly influence the extent and vorticity of the tip leakage vortex. In the splitter blade passage, the tip leakage flow and Coriolis flow interact with passage flow, resulting in the formation of two secondary passage vortices that move downstream along the pressure and suction surface of the splitter blade. The tip clearance configuration directly influences the impeller exit jet-wake pattern by modulating the secondary passage vortices trajectory and vorticity. Moreover, off-design analysis for tip clearances λ = 0.016 and λ = 0.019, depict distinctive tip leakage vortex characteristics. When operating near the stall conditions (80% of design mass flow rate), λ = 0.019 exhibits bubble shape tip leakage vortex breakdown occurring near the impeller inlet. This result in a substantial change in the tip leakage vortex nature; expansion of the recirculation zone and early weakening of the vorticity in the tip leakage vortex. It is observed that vortex breakdown plays a vital role in characteristics of the passage flow field structure and compressor performance near the stall conditions.

Numerical Investigation of Rotating Instability Development in a Wide Tip Gap Centrifugal Compressor

In the current study, full-stage unsteady simulations were performed to investigate rotating instability inception mechanisms in a particularly large tip clearance centrifugal compressor with a vaneless diffuser and a volute. Four operating points along a speed line were analysed to understand the influence of the mass flow reduction on flow structures. Close to the peak efficiency, an unsteady interaction between the tip clearance vortices and splitter blades was observed. Considering other studies, the influence of the tip gap size was analysed. Then, a large-scale vortex shedding from the leading edges of the main blades was detected when the stage operated near the maximum pressure ratio. It was demonstrated that shed vortices were caused by the combination of the radial gradient of the tangential velocity under the tip vortex and the reverse backflow near the casing. Previous studies on axial compressors refer to these vortical structures as backflow vortices. These vortices cause a significant increase in the incidence angle in the tip region.

Analysis of the Energy Loss Mechanism of Pump-Turbines with Splitter Blades under Different Characteristic Heads

The operating efficiency of high-head pump turbines is closely related to the internal hydraulic losses within the system. Conventional methods for calculating hydraulic losses based on pressure differences often lack detailed information on their distribution and specific sources. Additionally, the presence of splitter blades further complicates the hydraulic loss characteristics, necessitating further study. In this study, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations were employed to analyze the performance of a pump turbine with splitter blades at three different head conditions and a guide vane opening (GVO) of 10°. The numerical simulations were validated by experimental tests using laser doppler velocimetry (LDV). Quantitative analysis of flow components and hydraulic losses was conducted using entropy production theory in combination with an examination of flow field distributions to identify the origins and features of hydraulic losses. The results indicate that higher heads are associated with lower growth rates of total hydraulic losses. In particular, the significant velocity gradients at the trailing edge of the splitter blades contribute to higher hydraulic losses. Furthermore, the hydraulic losses in the runner (RN) region are predominantly influenced by velocity gradients and not by vortices, with the flow conditions in the RN region impacting the hydraulic losses in the draft tube (DT).