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Numerical study on the internal flow characteristics of an axial-flow pump under stall conditions

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Abstract

When an axial-flow pump works in low flow rate conditions, rotating stall phenomena will probably occur, and the pump will enter hydraulic unsteady conditions. The rotating stall can lead to violent vibration, noise, turbulent flow, and a sharp drop in efficiency. This affects the safety and stability of the pump unit. To study the rotating stall flow characteristics of an axial-flow pump, the steady and unsteady internal flow field in a large vertical axial-flow pump was investigated using 3D computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technology. Numerical calculations were carried out using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver and Menter's shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model. Steady flow characteristics including streamline, velocity vector, pressure and turbulent kinetic energy are presented and analyzed. Unsteady flow characteristics are described using post-processing signals for pressure monitoring points in the time and frequency domains. Using Q-criterion, the locations and evolution rules of the core region of the vortex structure in guide vanes under deep stall conditions were investigated. The reliability of the numerical simulation results was verified using the experimental prototype pressure fluctuation test. In this way, typical flow structure and pressure fluctuation characteristics in an axial-flow pump were analyzed, with contrastive analysis in design condition and stall conditions. Finally, the mechanism of low-frequency pressure fluctuation in a pump unit under the stall condition was revealed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Kan Kan, Zhanshan Xie & Guang Yang

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, USA

    Kan Kan

  3. College of Energy and Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 211100, China

    Yuan Zheng & Chunxia Yang

  4. Organization Department of Wuzhong District, Suzhou, 215100, China

    Yujie Chen

  5. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, 35122, Italy

    Zhanshan Xie

Authors
  1. Kan Kan
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  2. Yuan Zheng
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  3. Yujie Chen
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  4. Zhanshan Xie
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  5. Guang Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuan Zheng.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Donghyun You

Kan Kan is currently a Ph.D. candidate at College of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering, Hohai University, China. Mr. Kan is working at Department of Mechanical Engineering in University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA, as a Joint-Ph.D. student from 2016. His research interests include unsteady flow, fluid-structure interaction in turbomachinery.

Yuan Zheng received his Ph.D. from Hohai University in 2004. He is currently a Professor and a Ph.D. candidate supervisor at National Engineering Research Center of Water Resources Efficient Utilization and Engineering Safety, Hohai University, China. His research interests include the theory, design and CFD of turbomachinery.

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Kan, K., Zheng, Y., Chen, Y. et al. Numerical study on the internal flow characteristics of an axial-flow pump under stall conditions. J Mech Sci Technol 32, 4683–4695 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-018-0916-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-018-0916-z

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