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Investigation of CFD calculation method of a centrifugal pump with unshrouded impeller

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Abstract

Currently, relatively large errors are found in numerical results in some low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps with unshrouded impeller because the effect of clearances and holes are not accurately modeled. Establishing an accurate analytical model to improve performance prediction accuracy is therefore necessary. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical simulation is conducted to predict the performance of a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump, and the modeling, numerical scheme, and turbulent selection methods are discussed. The pump performance is tested in a model pump test bench, and flow rate, head, power and efficiency of the pump are obtained. The effect of taking into consideration the back-out vane passage, clearance, and balance holes is analyzed by comparing it with experimental results, and the performance prediction methods are validated by experiments. The analysis results show that the pump performance can be accurately predicted by the improved method. Ignoring the back-out vane passage in the calculation model of unshrouded impeller is found to generate better numerical results. Further, the calculation model with the clearances and balance holes can obviously enhance the numerical accuracy. The application of disconnect interface can reduce meshing difficulty but increase the calculation error at the off-design operating point at the same time. Compared with the standard k-ɛ, renormalization group k-ɛ, and Spalart-Allmars models, the Realizable k-ɛ model demonstrates the fastest convergent speed and the highest precision for the unshrouded impeller flow simulation. The proposed modeling and numerical simulation methods can improve the performance prediction accuracy of the low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps, and the modeling method is especially suitable for the centrifugal pump with unshrouded impeller.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Dazhuan Wu, Shuai Yang, Binjie Xu, Qiaoling Liu, Peng Wu & Leqin Wang

  2. Engineering Research Center of High Pressure Process Equipment and Safety of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Dazhuan Wu, Shuai Yang, Binjie Xu, Qiaoling Liu, Peng Wu & Leqin Wang

Authors
  1. Dazhuan Wu
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  2. Shuai Yang
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  3. Binjie Xu
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  4. Qiaoling Liu
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  5. Peng Wu
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  6. Leqin Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dazhuan Wu.

Additional information

This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No. 51276213), and Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Project of China(Grant No. 2012R10001-07)

WU Dazhuan, born in 1977, is currently a professor at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China. He obtained his BSc degree in 1999 and his PhD degree in 2004 from Zhejiang University, China. His major research interests include CFD and its engineering applications, pump cavitation, transient flow.

YANG Shuai, born in 1986, is currently a PhD candidate at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China.

XU Binjie, born in 1986, is currently a master candidate at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China.

LIU Qiaoling, born in 1988, is currently a master candidate at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China.

WU Peng, born in 1986, is currently a postdoctoral candidate at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China.

WANG Leqin is currently a professor at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Institute of Process Equipment, Zhejiang University, China. He obtained his BSc degree in 1969 from Zhejiang University, China. His major research interests include fluids engineering, flow noise and optimization design of fluid machinery.

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Wu, D., Yang, S., Xu, B. et al. Investigation of CFD calculation method of a centrifugal pump with unshrouded impeller. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 27, 376–384 (2014). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.02.376

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2014.02.376

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