Abstract
To evaluate the influence of axial clearance on the performance characteristics in turbopumps, numerical simulations of an entire flow passage were carried out. The simulations were validated by performance characteristic experiments. The progress of the reciprocating axial movement in the rotor between the front and back covers was disassembled into five fixed clearances groups. Hump characteristic occurs at the same flow rate under these clearances groups. The hydraulic loss of the inducer-impeller was clearly influenced by the clearances. In particular, the hydraulic loss of the impeller changes significantly at the low flow rate under the ±0.3 mm clearance. With the increase of the flow rate, the effect of the clearance change on the flow is weakened. An innovative entropy production analysis was also performed. The distribution of the high local entropy production rate at the impeller inlet under the 0 mm clearance and at the impeller outlet under the −0.15 mm and −0.3 mm clearances overlapped with the vortex caused by flow separation, and the counterpart at the back cover is concentrated around the clearance structures, thereby leading to high hydraulic loss.
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Abbreviations
- H :
-
Head of the turbopump, m.
- E nD :
-
Energy coefficient
- T :
-
Temperature, K.
- Q nD :
-
Discharge coefficient
- η :
-
Efficiency, %.
- ρ :
-
Density, kg·m−3.
- ū i :
-
Velocity components, m·s−1.
- μ t :
-
Turbulent dynamic viscosity, Pa·s.
- μ :
-
Dynamic viscosity, Pa·s.
- \(\dot{S}_{\bar{D}}^{\prime\prime\prime}\) :
-
Entropy production rate induced by average velocity, W·m−3·K−1.
- \(\dot{S}_{D^{\prime}}^{\prime\prime\prime}\) :
-
Entropy production rate induced by fluctuating velocity, W·m−3·K−1.
- k :
-
Turbulent kinetic energy, m2·s−2.
- ω :
-
Turbulence fluctuation characteristic frequency, s−1
- \(\overrightarrow{T}\) :
-
Wall shear stress, Pa.
- \(\overrightarrow{V}\) :
-
Average velocity vector at the center of the first grid layer near the wall, m·s−1.
- u′ :
-
Root-mean-square of the turbulent velocity fluctuations, m·s−1.
- \(\text{Re}_{D_{H}}\) :
-
Turbopump inlet hydraulic diameter equivalent Reynolds number
- U :
-
Mean velocity (Reynolds averaged), m·s−1.
- I :
-
Turbopump inlet turbulence intensity, %.
- n :
-
Rotational speed, rpm.
- P :
-
Pressure, Pa.
- W in :
-
Energy input, Pa.
- W f :
-
Energy loss, Pa.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund (Grant Nos. LBH-Z18071 and LBH-TZ2015) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HIT.NSRIF. 2019063).
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Deyou Li is an Associate Professor of the School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, China. He received his Ph.D. and his Postdoctoral Research credentials from HIT. His research interests include flow instability and control strategies in turbopumps and pumpturbines.
Hongjie Wang is a Professor of the School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China. His research interests include pump system design and flow control strategies.
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Li, D., Ren, Z., Fan, R. et al. Influence of axial clearance on the performance characteristics of a turbopump. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 4543–4555 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0924-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0924-2