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Identification and analysis of the inlet vortex of an axial-flow pump

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Abstract

Axial-flow pumps are widely employed in urban flood control and drainage pumping stations. The inlet vortex is one factor that seriously threaten the safe, stable and efficient operation of axial-flow pump units. In this paper, the vortex recognition performances of two vortex identification methods, the Q — criterion and Liutex methods, are compared based on an axial-flow pump, and the interactions between the impeller and vortex are explored. A flat plate vortex generator is installed in front of the impeller to continuously induce a stable vortex. The numerical simulation results show that the Liutex method can not only simultaneously identify strong and weak vortices but also reduce the influence of shear force at the sidewall. The vortex and the impeller influence each other. Under the influence of rotating blades, the vortex changes from a low frequency to the blade frequency, and the vortex significantly changes the tangential velocity inside the impeller. The accuracy of the numerical simulation results is verified by experiments on the external and internal characteristics.

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  • 01 June 2022

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20190914), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M661946), the University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 19KJB570002) and the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. The authors especially thank Prof. Chaoqun Liu and his team, as this work was accomplished using code LiutexUTA, which is released by Chaoqun Liu at the University of Texas at Arlington.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Wen-peng Zhang, Li-jian Shi, Fang-ping Tang, Zhuang-zhuang Sun & Ye Zhang

Authors
  1. Wen-peng Zhang
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  2. Li-jian Shi
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  3. Fang-ping Tang
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  4. Zhuang-zhuang Sun
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  5. Ye Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fang-ping Tang.

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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51376155).

Biography: Wen-peng Zhang (1991-), Male, Ph. D. Candidate

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Zhang, Wp., Shi, Lj., Tang, Fp. et al. Identification and analysis of the inlet vortex of an axial-flow pump. J Hydrodyn 34, 234–243 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-022-0019-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-022-0019-2

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