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Effect of viscosity on the external characteristics and flow field of a molten salt pump in the view of energy loss

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Abstract

The performance of molten salt pump is affected by its geometrical structure and the physical properties of delivered fluids. In order to reveal the effects of these factors on pump performance, the performance curves were analyzed theoretically, the flow field was measured accurately by using high-speed photography, and the external characteristics were tested by using water as test medium. The numerical model was verified by the path lines, absolute velocity and performance curves obtained by experiment. Based on the verified model, the relationship among the fluid viscosity, external characteristics and flow field was investigated in the view of energy loss. The results show that reducing the blade outlet angle and outlet width as well as increasing the blade outlet thickness can avoid the unstable running. When delivering low viscosity fluids, since the impact loss is relatively large at low flow rate, the hump is easy to appear in the Head-Flow rate curve. When delivering high viscosity fluids, the opposite happens. With the increase of viscosity, the head and efficiency decrease monotonously, and the maximum efficiency point moves towards low flow rate. At the low flow rate, the shaft power decreases as the viscosity increases, while at the high flow rate, the shaft power increases as the viscosity increases. Compared with delivering water, when the viscosity is lower than 0.01453Pa⋅s, the drop of head and efficiency is less than 5%. The results of the study have reference significance on the development of high-performance molten salt pump and stable operation.

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Abbreviations

b 2 :

Blade outlet width

b 3 :

Volute inlet width

D 2 :

Blade outlet diameter

D 3 :

Base circle diameter

D out :

Pump outlet diameter

D s :

Pump inlet diameter

F 2 :

Impeller effective flow area

h f :

Friction loss, diffusion loss and bending loss

h j :

Impact loss

g :

Gravity acceleration

H :

Actual head of pump with finite blades

H d :

Design head

H t :

Theoretical head of pump with finite blades

H t∞ :

Theoretical head of pump with infinite blades

K 1 :

Coefficient of friction loss, diffusion loss and bending loss

K 2 :

Coefficient of impact loss

n :

Pump rotational speed

n d :

Design rotational speed

n s :

Specific speed

p :

Pressure

P :

Shaft power

Q :

Actual flow rate of pump with finite blades

Q d :

Design flow rate

Q t :

Theoretical flow rate of pump with finite blades

Q t∞ :

Theoretical flow rate of pump with infinite blades

r :

Radius

s u :

Circumferential thickness of blade outlet

SM :

Source term

u :

Peripheral velocity of impeller

v :

Absolute velocity of flow

v:

Velocity

w :

Relative velocity of flow

z :

Blade number

β 1 :

Blade inlet angle

β 2 :

Blade outlet angle

δ:

Identity matrix

ΔQ :

Deviation between the actual flow rate and design flow rate

η :

Pump efficiency

φ 0 :

Tongue placed angle

μ :

Dynamic viscosity

μ eff :

Effective viscosity coefficient

ρ :

Density

σ :

Stodola slip coefficient

ω :

Angular velocity of an impeller

ψ 2 :

Blade outlet crowding coefficient

Ω:

Rotational speed

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51306087), the Natural Science Foundation of Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 17KJA480003 and No. 18KJB470014), the Talents Project of Jiangsu Province of China (Grant No. GDZB-032) and the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Process Equipment (Grant No. GPE201704).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Chunlei Shao, Jianfeng Zhou & Wenjie Cheng

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Process Equipment, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Chunlei Shao

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  1. Chunlei Shao
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Correspondence to Chunlei Shao.

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Shao, C., Zhou, J. & Cheng, W. Effect of viscosity on the external characteristics and flow field of a molten salt pump in the view of energy loss. Heat Mass Transfer 55, 711–722 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-018-2450-z

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