Volute Tongue Research Articles

Structural Response of a Single-Stage Centrifugal Compressor to Fluid-Induced Excitations at Low-Flow Operating Condition: Experimental and Numerical Study

The article describes an assessment of possible changes in constant fatigue life of a medium flow-coefficient centrifugal compressor impeller subject to operation at close-to-surge point. Some aspects of duct acoustics are additionally analyzed. The experimental measurements at partial load are presented and are primarily used for validation of unidirectionally coupled fluid-structural numerical model. The model is based on unsteady finite-volume fluid-flow simulations and on finite-element transient structural analysis. The validation is followed by the model implementation to replicate the industry-scale loads with reasonably higher rotational speed and suction pressure. The approach demonstrates satisfactory accuracy in prediction of stage performance and unsteady flow field in vaneless diffuser. The latter is deduced from signal analysis relying on continuous wavelet transformations. On the other hand, it is found that the aerodynamic incidence losses at close-to-surge point are underpredicted. The structural simulation generates considerable amounts of numerical noise, which has to be separated prior to evaluation of fluid-induced dynamic strain. The main source of disturbance is defined as a stationary region of static pressure drop caused by flow contraction at volute tongue and leading to first engine-order excitation in rotating frame of reference. Eventually, it is concluded that the amplitude of excitation is too low to lead to any additional fatigue.

Effects of Bionic Volute Tongue Bioinspired by Leading Edge of Owl Wing and Its Installation Angle on Performance of Multi-Blade Centrifugal Fan

Effect of the volute tongue of the multi-blade centrifugal fan on the performance of the machines is significance. The shape and installation angle of the volute tongue affect the circulating internal flow behavior of the volute as well as the energy loss around the volute tongue. In this study, the profile of the leading edge of the owl wing is applied to the volute tongue of a multi-blade centrifugal fan to improve the aerodynamic performance of the fan. The fan models with different volute tongue installation angles are numerically simulated under different flow conditions. The research results show that the proposed design is able to improve the aerodynamic performance of the fan at different flow rate conditions. In addition, an improved method for quantitatively evaluating the level of impeller-volute tongue interaction based on the unsteady simulation result is proposed and it is verified to be effective. Furthermore, the two parameters for evaluating the internal flow circulation which are influenced by the installation angle of the bionic volute tongue are analyzed, namely the recirculated flow coefficient and the reversed flow coefficient. Combined with the analysis of energy loss around the volute tongue, the mechanism of variation of the aerodynamic performance of the multi-blade centrifugal fan with different volute tongue installation angles is explained.

Effects of Lean Mode of Blade Trailing Edge on Pressure Fluctuation Characteristics of a Vertical Centrifugal Pump With Vaned Diffuser

Abstract A vertical centrifugal pump with a vaned diffuser is very attractive in the field of long-distance water supply. Excessive pressure fluctuations in the vaneless region due to rotor–stator interaction (RSI) need careful evaluation. In the present investigation, the hydraulic performance and pressure fluctuation characteristics of a vertical centrifugal pump with three different lean modes of the blade trailing edge were quantitatively analyzed by comparison experiments, using the same test rig. Results showed that the pressure fluctuation level was the highest in the vaneless region, closest to the volute tongue, and increased as the flow rate deviated from the design flow rate. The lean mode of the blade trailing edge was found to have a slight influence on hydraulic performance, and the relative deviation of experimental specific speeds with three different lean modes was within 6%. The influence of the lean mode of the blade trailing edge on the pressure fluctuation level was experimentally verified for the first time. In particular, the flow rate-averaged peak-to-peak value of pressure fluctuation with the positive lean mode (PLM) was 62% of the corresponding value with the zero lean mode (ZLM), while no significant improvement was observed for the negative lean mode (NLM). The flow mechanism behind this may be explained as a weakening of the jet-wake flow pattern with PLM.

Analysis of Unsteady Flow Characteristics of Centrifugal Pump under Part Load Based on DDES Turbulence Model

To better reveal the mechanism of the rotor-stator interference between the impeller and the guide vane and the evolution process of the stall vortex under the part-load conditions, numerical simulation is carried out based on the DDES turbulence model, which can better capture vortex structure. And the pressure pulsation and the radial velocity distribution of the centrifugal pump are studied. The vortex structure and pressure fluctuation of pump internal flow field under part-load condition of Q = 0.4 Qdes are mainly analyzed. The analysis results show that the stall vortex is formed at the inlet of the impeller and evolves to the outlet of the impeller, the front cover to the rear cover according to the fluid flow direction, and then disappears. Besides, under the part-load condition, the vorticity of the impeller outlet is always obviously less than that of the impeller inlet as the flow rate increases. Due to the asymmetric action of the volute, the radial velocity distribution law of flow channel C1 is different from other flow channels at different blade heights. By analyzing the radial velocity, the phenomenon that the jet-wake flow impacts the guide vane with the rotation of the impeller is the main reason for the rotor-stator interference. And large radial velocity gradients appear at the front and rear cover plates, which will cause high energy loss and reduce pump efficiency. Besides, the conclusion can be drawn that the region with the strongest rotor-stator interference is the inlet region of the guide vane suction surface. It also occurs near the volute tongue but is lower due to the effect of the guide vane. This research may serve as a reference for the safe operation of centrifugal pumps under part-load conditions.

Numerical investigation on effect of various pump rotational speeds on performance of centrifugal pump based on CFD analysis technique

In this study, the flow structure and effect of different pump rotational speeds on a centrifugal pump’s performance are experimentally and numerically investigated. The internal flow field pattern within the pump has been analyzed and discussed using the CFD technique. The numerical results are compared with experimental data under a wide range of operating conditions. The comparison results between them have indicated a considerable agreement. The pressure variations are gradually increasing from inlet to outlet impeller of the pump. The results note that when the impeller rotates near the tongue region, the pressure in this region was higher than in other parts. Also, the interaction between the impeller and volute tongue region is actually according to the impeller blades’ relative position concerning the tongue region. Furthermore, the pressure and velocity variations within a centrifugal pump increase with rotational impeller speed.

Numerical Research of Pump-as-Turbine Performance with Synergy Analysis

The wide use of pumps and turbines has significant value in energy conservation and utilization. In this work, a three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model and a one-dimensional theoretical model of a Pump as Turbine (PAT) were established. On this basis, the correlation between pressure and velocity was quantitatively investigated by a proposed sensitivity index (SPV). A synergy field analysis was then applied to evaluate the flow characteristics of a pump and PAT, providing a perspective from the mechanism of the energy transfer enhancement for hydraulic devices. Moreover, the hydraulic and synergy performances of PAT were studied under various operating conditions. The results show that the minimum SPV is obtained in the impeller. With increasing flow rate, the SPV of the PAT generally increases, and the synergy angle of the impeller surface increases as well. A strong disordered synergy field is observed in regions of the blade leading edge, trailing edge, and volute tongue. The variations in efficiency and head with flow rate showed similar trends, respectively, with the synergy angle of the outlet and the mid-plane. This study provides an analytical method for quantitative evaluation of flow synergy characteristics, and it supplies a basis for further design improvement of the pump and PAT.

Volute throat area and wall modelling influence on the numerical performances of a very low specific speed pump

Low specific speed pumps find applications in a broad range of domains, but suffer from a low efficiency and a risk of head instability close to shut-off. The numerical computations on these pumps performed in the last years have shown discrepancies with experimental results. Recent studies suggest that the use of wall-functions underpredicts the losses of these pumps, especially at overload. The reason has been attributed to a detachment zone downstream the volute tongue, not well captured with the wall-function approach. This paper focuses on the influence of the volute casing on a pump with a specific speed of 8.9 on two issues. First, the influence of the wall modelling approach relatively to the low-Reynolds number method on the performance prediction is discussed. The results are, as expected, an underprediction of the losses when the wall-function approach is used. With a larger volute, the difference between the two wall modeling approaches is smaller. Secondly, the influence of the volute throat area enlargement on the pump performances is discussed. Both the head and efficiency are improved at the design point and at overload with an increased volute throat area. However the part-load head decreases and the head flattens. The study of the flow at part-load, in the region at the outlet of the impeller reveals that with a larger volute, larger flow exchanges are present, contributing to additional mixing losses and head loss.

Optimal design of multi-blade centrifugal fan based on partial coherence analysis

Considering that there are many design variables in multi-blade centrifugal fans, the complicated design parameters and internal flow uncertainty increase the difficulty of studying fan noise mechanisms. This study adopted the impact noise between the airflow at the impeller outlet inside the fan and the volute tongue as the research object. Based on the influence of mutual interfering noise sources on the system noise, a partial coherence function was introduced to establish a system noise model. The correlation between the static pressure of the impeller outlet in the volute tongue area of the centrifugal fan and far-field noise of the fan was analyzed and obtained. The peak values of fundamental frequency and average sound pressure level of a far-field noise receiving points were selected as the optimization goals, taking the volute tongue placement angle θ1, volute tongue radius R, and center distance L1 as the optimization objects. The Latin hypercube sampling was used to select 35 groups of sampling points and a Kriging agent model was established. The NSGA-II genetic algorithm was used to optimize the volute tongue profile. The results showed that the flow rate was increased by 1.2 m3/min, the far field noise of the centrifugal fan was reduced by 1.9 dB, while the fan efficiency increased by 3%, static pressure increased by 27 Pa, and peak values of fundamental frequency reduced by 8%.

Energy efficiency prediction model and energy characteristics of subsea disc pump based on velocity slip and similarity theory

The variable-speed energy efficiency prediction model (EEPM) of subsea disc pump is the key to achieve double gradient in deepwater drilling, and it has also been the difficulty of pressure control matching and energy conservation. In this paper, the radial slip vortices are fully considered, and average slip method of circumferential velocity, relative velocity and absolute velocity at impeller outlet is proposed. Based on hydraulic energy loss and mechanical energy loss, the calculation method of theoretical head and similar parabola in similarity theory is improved, and EEPM is established. In addition, a new multifunctional test system and data processing model are designed to reduce the error. The experimental results show that the accuracy of EEPM is increased by about 4% when deviating from the rated speed by more than 20%, and the accuracy is about 99% within 20%. From the simulation, the flow passage is mainly a mixed-type movement, such as S-type double vortex and O-type single vortex. The turbulence kinetic energy near the volute tongue is the largest. The study improves the energy efficiency of drilling pressure regulation, and also provides a new perspective to the energy efficiency optimization and energy conservation of similar centrifugal pump and vortex pump.

Cavitating Flow in the Volute of a Centrifugal Pump at Flow Rates Above the Optimal Condition

Cavitation is regarded as a considerable factor causing performance deterioration of pumps under off-design conditions, especially at overload conditions. To investigate the unsteady cavitation evolution around the tongue of a pump volute, and its influence on the flow field within passages of the impeller, numerical calculations and several hydraulic tests were performed on a typical centrifugal pump with a shrouded impeller. Emphasis was laid on the cavitation evolution and blade-loading distribution at flow rates above the optimal value. Results indicated that vapor is likely to first emerge from the tongue of the volute rather than at the leading edge of the blades at overload conditions. In contrast to the designed condition, the flow distribution in each passage is obviously different. The flow rate of the passage reaches a maximum just past the location of the tongue, while the minimum flow rate value is projected to appear at the passage upstream. The cavitation at the tongue squeezes the flow area at the outlet of the corresponding flow passage of the tongue, thereby causing a huge growth in the flow rate at the impeller outlet.

Development of High-Efficient Centrifugal Pump Through Optimization of Its Volute Tongue and Expeller Vane

Abstract Centrifugal pumps are often used for pumping liquids from one priority area to another, which require working effectively in terms of performance and reliability. The objective of this study is to enhance the hydraulic performance and reliability of a centrifugal pump based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) optimization. The shapes of the expeller vane and volute tongue were optimized based on the following six design parameters; outer diameter, exit angle, front and rear heights, back sidewall gap, and tongue angle. The hydraulic efficiency and axial thrust were chosen as the optimization objectives. In this sense, a design of experiment (DOE) technique was utilized to generate 45 design samples. A response surface modeling (RSM) approach was employed to investigate the interaction between the parameters and objectives. The accuracy of the numerical simulation was verified by the experimental data and showed a good agreement. The optimization was found to improve the hydraulic efficiency by 2.92%, whereas the axial thrust was decreased by 7.51%.

Energy dissipation mechanism of a centrifugal pump with entropy generation theory

From the numerical calculations of a common centrifugal pump, the energy loss characteristics have been investigated by applying entropy generation theory to examine the loss due to the direct, turbulence, and wall friction dissipation rates. The turbulent and wall friction entropy dissipations contribute higher values compared with the direct entropy dissipation rate. The turbulent and wall friction entropy dissipations yielded 54.629% and 44.654%, respectively, at the design flow rate; however, the direct entropy dissipated the least of about 0.716%. This indication proves that these entropy variables affect the irreversible energy losses produced. Meanwhile, the entropy production rate distribution was compared with that pressure fluctuation and vortex characteristics and revealed that the region near the volute tongue interface is associated with high losses at all studied flow rates (0.8Qd, 1.0Qd, and 1.2Qd), especially under part-load conditions. The wall of the volute reveals maximum losses at different time steps at the design point. Furthermore, the trailing edge of the blade records the maximum pressure fluctuation, while the leading-edge records moderate intensities. Most regions in the pressure fluctuation intensity distribution reveal a common tendency with the entropy dissipated; thus, there is a high correlation between entropy production and pressure fluctuation. Moreover, the suction side of the impeller records the maximum entropy coefficient at the leading edge compared to the pressure side under the span view. This indicates that the suction side is also responsible for the high energy loss in the impeller flow passages and corresponds to the flow separation, which leads to vortex patterns recognized close to the hub of the blade. This study widens the assessment of the energy loss and can further contribute to the optimization of the hydraulic structures of centrifugal pumps.

Influence of U-tube type casing treatment on pressure fluctuations of a centrifugal pump at low flow conditions

The existence of pressure pulsations greatly increases the vibration and noise of pumps and harms their service life. In this paper, a casing treatment was employed to explore its impact on the pressure pulsations. A U-tube type groove was created at the inlet end-wall of a centrifugal pump and front cover of the impeller to connect the impeller with the inlet pipe by passing impeller leading edge. An unsteady numerical investigation was launched of the pump with and without this casing treatment, to study its influence on the pressure pulsations inside the pump and the mechanisms behind. The numerical results of the pump without casing treatment was first compared with the test performance of the pump to validate the numerical method, and gave excellent agreements with the test results. The CFD results also showed that the casing treatment increases the head coefficient and efficiency of the pump. Pressure pulsations at a reduced mass flow condition were studied by monitoring unsteady pressure signals generated by the CFD at various locations inside the pump. A Fast Fourier transform (FFT) was performed on the signals. The pump employs a double tongues volute with each tongue covering 180[Formula: see text] circumference. However, the two tongues are not identical with regard to the discharge of the pump. These geometric features of the volute and the pump’s operating condition generate several pressure pulsations in the frequencies of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] in the original pump. Due to the circumferential unifying capability of the casing treatment and its improvement to the impeller flow, these pulsations at impeller inlet are weakened or disappear when the U-tube is present. The pressure pulsation inside the impeller is less affected by the treatment. The [Formula: see text] pulsation at volute tongues also decreases or disappears for the same reasons, but [Formula: see text] pulsation increases slightly and this is due to the improved pressure recovery in the volute by the treatment which increases the pressure difference across one of the volute tongues. The unsteady radial force of the impeller exerting on journal bearings becomes more uniform and smaller when the casing treatment is employed.

Research on the Rotor-Stator Interaction of Centrifugal Pump based on Sinusoidal Tubercle Volute Tongue

Research on the Rotor-Stator Interaction of Centrifugal Pump based on Sinusoidal Tubercle Volute Tongue

Effects of the hydrofoil blade on the pressure pulsation and jet‐wake flow in a centrifugal pump

AbstractA hydrofoil blade design (HBD) is proposed to suppress the unsteady pressure pulsations in a centrifugal pump. Numerical simulation is carried out using the SST k‐ω model to obtain the unsteady flow field in the pump both with HBD and the conventional blade design (CBD). The pressure pulsations with the two types of blade profiles are compared at the nominal flow rate, whereas the jet‐wake flow patterns and vortex structures are analyzed to clarify the effect of the HBD on the flow field. The pressure pulsation amplitudes at the blade frequency (fBPF) are significantly reduced with the HBD, especially near the volute tongue, with a reduction of 72%. It is evident that HBD can effectively suppress the pressure pulsation. It is for these reasons that the relative velocities in the jet region at the impeller outlet are reduced, and the velocity gradients between the pressure and suction side are decreased, which contributes to improving the flow uniformity at the impeller outlet. Besides, the vorticities at the impeller outlet are reduced, and the high energy vortices shedding from the blade trailing edge are restrained. The combined effects of the uniform flow field and low vorticities contribute to the reduction of pressure amplitude with the HBD. The findings would serve as a reference for the pump designs with low noise and vibration.

Formation mechanism of static pressure circumferential double-peak distribution in a centrifugal compressor under the action of downstream boundary

In the centrifugal compressor applied in the automobile turbochargers, the asymmetric structure of volute causes the non-uniform flow field in the impeller and compressor stall. The non-uniformity of the flow field in the compressor can be reflected by the casing-wall static pressure distribution. In this study, by removing the volute and directly imposing different simplified static pressure boundary conditions at the diffuser outlet, the formation mechanism of casing-wall static pressure circumferential double-peak distribution of the compressor is explored. It is found that the mass flow rate is redistributed at the impeller outlet due to local high static pressure induced by the volute tongue, which results in the formation of two airflow regions with high velocity in the diffuser, ultimately leading to the static pressure circumferential double-peak distribution in the diffuser and the impeller. Noted that because of the existence of the blades, the airflow regions with high and low velocity formed in the diffuser are locked within a limited range of one or more widths of the blade passage. When the number of blades in the compressor is large, the static pressure can appear as multi-peak distribution in the circumferential direction. Moreover, the result of the mass flow rate redistribution at the impeller outlet is determined by the static pressure distribution characteristics at the diffuser outlet.

Aerodynamic optimization of forward-curved blade centrifugal fan characterized by inclining bionic volute tongue

The profile and axial designs of a volute tongue have great influences on the internal flow conditions and aerodynamic performance of a forward-curved blade centrifugal fan. In order to achieve a high quality of internal flow fields and fan aerodynamic performance, we propose an inclined bionic volute tongue (IBVT) described with rotation angle and scale coefficient at the front and back walls of the volute, which varies the profile of the volute tongue and the distance between the impeller and the volute tongue in the axial direction. Meanwhile, an adaptive pseudo expected improvement matrix (APEIM) parallel multi-objective efficient global optimization (EGO) algorithm is developed by introducing a flexible number of added points for each iteration of optimization on account of the optimization problem itself. On this basis, IBVT is optimized to maximize the fan aerodynamic performance in terms of total pressure efficiency and static pressure rise by virtue of numerical simulation. The results show that the developed APEIM parallel multi-objective EGO algorithm is capable of accurately and efficiently finding the Pareto front solutions. IBVT is considered to have the effectiveness of aerodynamic performance improvement for a forward-curved blade centrifugal fan. Within the fan with IBVT, the flow fields in the axial direction become more uniform with the dimension reduction of the inactive zone around the front span. The impeller-volute tongue interaction is greatly improved with the decreases of reversed and recirculated flow coefficients. IBVT also benefits the reduction of flow losses in the volute. By adopting the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the aerodynamic performance of the fan is highly affected by the rotation angle and scale coefficient of IBVT at the front wall of the volute. This work is helpful to guide the design of the volute tongue for a forward-curved blade centrifugal fan.

Research on Unsteady Characteristics of Pump Turbine in Pumping Mode

A study on the unsteady characteristics of pump turbine in pumping mode was made. Basing on the existing research, this paper is aimed at providing valuable reference for hydraulic design, structure optimization, fault diagnosis of pump turbine. CFX simulation verified by experiment was made to analyze the distribution law and propagation characteristic of pressure and its pulsation in the whole fluid field. Research shows that the pressure pulsation owns different propagation characteristic from the flow velocity pulsation. The pressure pulsation component with guide blade frequency has very special properties in stationary flow passages, while the pressure pulsation component with runner blade passing frequency is absolutely different. Blade constraints have significant effect on the unsteady properties of pressure and flow velocity. Besides, some other analysis was talked about, such as the external characteristics, pressure pulsation near the volute tongue, and so on.

Numerical and experimental investigations on non-axisymmetric D-type inlet nozzle for a squirrel-cage fan

ABSTRACT In this study, the unique reverse-flow around the inlet nozzle of a squirrel-cage fan was numerically studied by computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and a non-axisymmetric D-type inlet nozzle was proposed to inhibit it. It is shown that serious back flow develops at the volute tongue when the fan operates at a low flow coefficient that is lower than the best efficiency point. The airflow passing the blade passages in reverse further crosses the impeller, mixing the clearance leakage airflow, and finally blows into the intake chamber near the circumferential position of . By installing the inlet nozzle along this direction, D-type inlet nozzle schemes with different blockage extent were calculated by CFD. The scheme with a cut distance of 70% of its exit-section radius was chosen as the best design by comprehensively comparing the back flow ratio and fan performance of different working conditions. CFD results illustrated that reverse blowing at the fan entrance was significantly constrained by this D-type inlet nozzle, and the vortex in the inlet chamber correspondingly disappeared. Experimental data illustrated that the new nozzle increased the fan pressure rise under low-flow conditions by about 6% and barely reduced performance at other working points.

Effects of Impeller Trimming on Performance in a Double-suction Centrifugal Pump

In order to research the relationship between impeller trimming and performance in a double-suction centrifugal pump, impellers were trimmed 11mm and 22mm respectively. Numerical methods were applied combined with the original one, and experimental validation was also carried out on original and 11mm model. The performance and difference of total pressure between volute inlet and outlet was calculated, meanwhile, distributions of velocity and turbulence eddy dissipation on volute middle section were analyzed. The results indicate that the head drops with the trimming process and discontinuity appears when trimmed 22mm. The impeller trimmed 11mm is the most efficient under part-load and design conditions, while the original model has the lowest efficiency. Efficiency in trimmed cases decreases dramatically under over-load condition, especially when trimmed 22mm. Duo to rotor-stator interaction between impeller and volute receded by the enlarged clearance, the head losses inside the volute decrease with impeller trimming but increase significantly under 1.4Qd when trimmed 22mm. The extremely high shock losses resulting from exaggerated impeller outlet flow angle and dissipation near volute tongue account for it. Moreover, the losses in volute diffuser channel increase due to the vortexes generated by flow separation and backflow. The losses in volute will be improved by impeller trimming within reasonable limits in a double-suction pump. This research provides theoretical foundation for impeller trimming in double-suction centrifugal pumps.