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Study on the flow pattern and pressure fluctuation in a vertical volute centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser under near stall conditions

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Abstract

The vertical volute centrifugal pump is widely used in the long-distance water division project. Flow separation and vortex phenomenon can be observed in the vaned diffuser under near stall operating conditions. This kind of unsteady flow structures would result in the instability of the pump unit which affect the safety and reliability of the unit operation. In this paper, the unsteady flow patterns and induced pressure fluctuation in a vertical volute centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser were simulated based on the SAS turbulence model and refined mesh under near stall conditions. The research results show that the SST turbulence model combined with the selected grid can be validated in the CFD uncertainty analysis during the steady calculation based on the ITTC relevant procedures. The performance results predicted by the SAS turbulence model show quite good agreement with the experimental data, and the prediction errors were less than 5%. The 3D flow matching between the flow angle at the impeller blade outlet and the incidence angle of the guide vane at different spans would induce the stall inception of the pump. The flow patterns of the pump under near stall conditions were revealed combined with vorticity and streamline distributions. When the pump unit was operated under near stall conditions, the main frequency changed from the blade passing frequency 7fn to 0.9fn. It was found that the main frequency was mainly affected by the large-scale vortices in the vaned diffuser, and the main vortices in the vaned diffuser appear at every 0.9 time of the period of one revolution of impeller.

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Abbreviations

b 2 :

Impeller outlet width (mm)

C :

Correction coefficient (-)

C Q :

Flow rate coefficient (-)

C H :

Head coefficient (-)

C p :

Pressure coefficient (-)

D 2 :

Impeller outlet diameter (mm)

D :

Test results (-)

E :

Comparison error (-)

E C :

Comparison error considering correction factor (-)

f :

Frequency (Hz)

f n :

Shaft frequency (Hz)

g :

Acceleration of gravity (m/s2)

G i :

Grid number (-)

H :

Head (m)

κ :

Von Karman constant (-)

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2)

k c :

Coverage coefficient (-)

L νK :

Von Karman length scale (-)

n :

Rotational speed (r/min)

n s :

Specific speed (-)

p est :

Estimated limiting order of the first term accuracy (-)

p :

Transient pressure (Pa)

\(\overline p\) :

Average pressure (Pa)

Q des :

Design flow rate (m3/s)

Q m :

Mass flow (kg/s)

Q :

Pump flow rate (m3/s)

r :

Grid density ratio (-)

R :

Convergence factor (-)

S U :

Maximum value of the last two iteration cycles in the numerical simulation results (-)

S L :

Minimum value of the last two iteration cycles in the numerical simulation results (-)

S i :

Numerical simulation results (-)

S C :

Corrected numerical simulation result (-)

S ij :

Strain rate tensor (-)

T :

Time of impeller rotation (s)

T d :

Impeller torque (N·m)

t :

Time (s)

u 2 :

Impeller outlet circumferential velocity (m/s)

U SN :

Numerical error uncertainty (-)

U I :

Iterative uncertainty (-)

U G :

Grid uncertainty (-)

U T :

Time step uncertainty (-)

U P :

Other uncertainties (-)

U D :

Test uncertainty (-)

U V :

Validation uncertainty (-)

U Gc :

Grid uncertainty considering correction factor (-)

U Vc :

Validation uncertainty considering correction factor (-)

U sys :

System uncertainty (%)

U sto :

Stochastic uncertainty (%)

U' :

First derivatives of velocity (m/s2)

U'' :

Second derivatives of velocity (m/s3)

V m 2 :

Impeller outlet meridional velocity (m/s)

V 2 :

Impeller outlet absolute velocity (m/s)

V u 2 :

Impeller outlet the circumferential component of absolute velocity (m/s)

W 2 :

Impeller outlet relative velocity (m/s)

Z :

Number of impeller blades (-)

Z d :

Number of diffuser vanes (-)

α 2 :

Impeller outlet absolute flow angle (°)

α 3 :

Diffuser vane inlet setting angle (°)

β 2 :

Blade outlet setting angle (°)

η :

Efficiency (%)

δ SM :

Model error (-)

δ SN :

Numerical error (-)

δ * RE :

Error estimate (-)

δ * G :

Grid error considering correction factor (-)

ω 1 :

Specific dissipation rate (m2/s3)

ω :

Impeller rotation angular velocity (rad/s)

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U2106225), Primary Research & Development Plan of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BE2019089), Jiangsu Provincial Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Grant No. BK20211547), Excellent Scientific and Technological Innovation Team Project in Colleges and Universities of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. SKJ(2021)-1), and Graduate Research and Innovation Projects of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. SJCX21_1682).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

    Gang Yang, Desheng Zhang, Xueqi Yang, Bin Xu & Xutao Zhao

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600MB, The Netherlands

    B. P. M. van Esch

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  1. Gang Yang
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Correspondence to Desheng Zhang.

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Yang, G., Zhang, D., Yang, X. et al. Study on the flow pattern and pressure fluctuation in a vertical volute centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser under near stall conditions. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 44, 118 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-022-03411-3

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