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Investigation of the correlation between noise & vibration characteristics and unsteady flow in a circulator pump

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Abstract

Circulator pumps have wide engineering applications but the acoustics, vibration and unsteady flow structures of the circulator pump are still not fully understood. We investigated the noise and vibration characteristics and unsteady flow structures in a circulator pump at different flow rates. Three-dimensional, unsteady RANS equations were solved on high-quality structured meshes with SST k-ω turbulence model numerically. Measurements were made in a semi-anechoic chamber to get an overview of noise and vibration level of a pump at different flow rates. The 1/3 octave-band filter technique was applied to obtain the explicit frequency spectra of sound, pressure fluctuations and vibration signals and their principal frequencies were identified successfully. The air-borne noise level of the designed condition is lower than that of the off-design conditions, and the highest sound pressure level is found at part-load condition. The acoustic emission from the pump is mainly caused by unsteady flow structures and pressure fluctuations. In addition, both the link between airborne noise and pressure fluctuation, and the correlation between vibration and unsteady hydrodynamic forces, were quantitatively examined and verified. This work offers good data to understand noise and vibration characteristics of circulator pumps and the relationships among the noise, vibration and unsteady flow structures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhijiang College, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310024, China

    Denghao Wu & Yun Ren

  2. College of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310024, China

    Denghao Wu, Jiegang Mou & Yunqing Gu

Authors
  1. Denghao Wu
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  2. Yun Ren
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  3. Jiegang Mou
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  4. Yunqing Gu
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Correspondence to Denghao Wu.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Cheolung Cheong

Denghao Wu received his Ph.D. in Fluid Machinery and Engineering from Jiangsu University in 2013. He is currently a post-doctor research fellow in Zhejiang University of Technology, China. His research interests are in the areas of acoustics and vibration of centrifugal pump and optimization design of pump.

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Wu, D., Ren, Y., Mou, J. et al. Investigation of the correlation between noise & vibration characteristics and unsteady flow in a circulator pump. J Mech Sci Technol 31, 2155–2166 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0411-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0411-y

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