Effect of Blade Thickness on Internal Flow and Performance of a Plastic Centrifugal Pump

Blade thickness is an essential parameter of the impeller, which has significant effects on the pump performance. The plastic pump generally adopts thick blade due to low strength of plastic. The effects of blade thickness on the internal flow and performance of a plastic centrifugal pump were discussed based on the numerical methods. Two kinds of blade profile, the constant thickness blade (CTB) and the variable thickness blade (VTB), were investigated. The results indicated that, for the CTB, when the blade thickness was less than 6 mm, the pump performance did not change significantly. When the blade thickness exceeded 6 mm, the pump head and efficiency decreased rapidly. The pump head and efficiency of CTB 10 decreased by 42.2% and 30% compared with CTB 4, respectively. For the VTB, with blade thickness in a certain range (6 mm–14 mm), the pump performance changed slightly with the increased of trailing edge thickness. The minimum blade thickness of the plastic centrifugal pump should be 4 mm based on the finite element analysis. A variable thickness blade (VTB 4-8-4) with the maximum thickness located at 60% chord length was proposed to improve the pump performance, and its efficiency was 1.67% higher than that of the CTB 4 impeller.

Influence of grooved volute casing parameters on pressure pulsation and erosion wear characteristics in a centrifugal pump

Previous work has shown that performance and internal flow characteristics of a centrifugal pump can be significantly improved with grooved volute casing (GVC). However, it has been found that the selection of the design parameters of the groove structure also has a direct impact on the performance output, internal flow pressure pulsation and erosion wear characteristics of the overflow components of centrifugal pump, so it is necessary to further analyze the design rules of the groove structure parameters. In this study, we first investigated the influence of the number of grooves on the head, efficiency and unsteady pressure pulsation characteristics of the internal flow field of the centrifugal pump, and on this basis, the correlation between different particle parameters and the erosion wear of key overflow components under the conditions of solid–liquid two-phase flow were also studied, and the erosion wear characteristics of the inner wall of the volute casing of centrifugal pump with GVC and original volute casing (OVC) structures were compared. This research leads to the conclusion that when the number of grooves is 3, the groove structure has the least influence on the performance of the centrifugal pump, and the overall change of the performance curve is more stable. Additionally, the pressure pulsation at each monitoring point of the GVC under the same flow condition is smaller, and when the number of grooves increases, the pressure pulsation amplitude also decreases. When the number of grooves is 3, the GVC shows a more significant flow improvement effect under all flow conditions. Based on the improvement of the groove structure on the flow stability, the particle motion behavior can be affected at the same time, so that the pump with GVC can mitigate the erosion wear of the inner wall of the volute casing under the solid–liquid two-phase flow conditions, which improves the critical performance and service life of the key overflow components of the pump.

Effect of the inlet gas volume fraction on the turbulent dissipation characteristics in the multiphase pump

The internal flow of the multiphase pump is complicated owing to its specific structure. To reveal the effect of the inlet gas volume fraction (IGVF) on the turbulent dissipation characteristics, the method of combining numerical simulation based on k-ε turbulence model with experiment was adopted, and the turbulent dissipation of the multiphase pump was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed in both the pure water and gas-liquid two phases condition. Results showed the vortexes were primarily distributed in the diffusers at different inlet gas volume fractions (IGVFs), near the middle of the first diffuser and the outlet of the next diffuser. At the same time, the larger value of the turbulent dissipation than that in the impellers was concentrated in the inlet and outlet of the impellers and diffusers. In addition, the effect of IGVFs on the turbulent dissipation increased gradually from the hub to the shroud at the inlet section of the first impeller. Moreover, the turbulent dissipation became increasingly unsymmetrical from the hub to the shroud at the outlet section of the first impeller.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Impeller Backside Cavity in a Centrifugal Compressor for CAES

Relying on a closed test rig of a high-power intercooling centrifugal compressor for compressed air energy storage (CAES), this study measured the static pressure and static temperature at different radii on the static wall of the impeller backside cavity (IBC) under variable rotating speeds. Simultaneously, the coupled computations of all mainstream domains with IBC or not were used for comparative analysis of the aerodynamic performances of the compressor and the internal flow field in IBC. The results show that IBC has a significant impact on coupling characteristics including pressure ratio, efficiency, torque, shaft power, and axial thrust of the centrifugal compressor. The gradients of radial static pressure and static temperature in IBC both increase with the decrease of mainstream flow or the increase of rotating speed, whose distributions are different under variable rotating speeds due to the change of the aerodynamic parameters of mainstream.

Correlation between the Internal Flow Pattern and the Blade Load Distribution of the Centrifugal Impeller

The blade load distributions reflect the working characteristics of centrifugal impellers, and the vortexes in the impeller channel affect the blade load distribution, but the mechanism of this phenomenon is still unclear. In this study, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was adopted to clarify the correlation between the internal flow pattern and the blade load distribution. The internal flow pattern and the blade load distribution were presented under different working conditions to study the influence of the internal flow pattern on the blade load. Results showed that the vortexes in the flow channel redistributed the blade load. The clockwise vortex made the position of the maximum blade load closer to the outlet, while the counterclockwise vortex had the opposite effect. Meanwhile, the vortexes caused the blade load distribution to be steeper, which reduced energy conversion efficiency. Moreover, the mean absolute flow angle was introduced to explain the mechanism of the effects of vortexes on blade load. The results can be used as a theoretical basis for the design of high-performance impellers.