Current research on the operational reliability of centrifugal pumps has mainly focused on hydrodynamic instability. However, the interaction between the fluid and structure has not been sufficiently considered; this interaction can cause vibration and dynamic stress, which can affect the reliability. In this study, the dynamic stresses in a single-blade centrifugal pump impeller are analysed under different operating conditions; the two-way coupling method is used to calculate the fluid-structure interaction. Three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved with the SST k-o9 turbulence model for the fluid in the whole flow passage, while transient structure dynamic analysis is used with the finite element method for the structure side. The dynamic stresses in the rotor system are computed according to the fourth strength theory. The stress results show that the highest stress is near the loose bearing and that the equivalent stress increases with the flow rate because the dynamic stresses are closely related to the pressure load. The stress distributions on the blade pressure side, suction side, leading edge, and trailing edge are each analysed for different flow rates; the highest stress distribution is found on the pressure side. On the blade pressure side, a relatively large stress is found near the trailing edge and hub side. Based on these results, a stress distribution prediction method is proposed for centrifugal pumps, which considers the interaction between the fluid and structuxe. The method can be used to check the dynamic stress at different flow rates when optimising the pump design to increase the pump reliability.
To design a single-blade pump with a good performance in a wide operational range and to increase the pump reliability in the multi-conditional hydraulic design process, an understanding of the unsteady flow behaviors as related with the flow rate is very important. However, the traditional design often considers only a single design condition, and the unsteady flow behaviors have not been well studied for single-blade pumps under different conditions. A comparison analysis of the flow unsteadiness behaviors at di- fferent flow rates within the whole flow passage of the pump is carried out in this paper by solving the three-dimensional unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the Shear Stress Transport （SST） turbulence model. A definition of the unsteadiness in the pump is made and applied to analyze the unsteady intensity distributions, and the flow rate effect on the complex unsteady flow in the pump is studied quantitatively while the flow mechanism is also analyzed. The CFD results are validated by experimental data collected at the laboratory. It is shown that a significant flow rate effect on the time-averaged unsteadiness and the turbulence intensity distribution can be observed in both rotor and stator domains including the side chamber. The findings would be useful to reduce the flow unsteadiness and to increase the pump reliability under multi-conditions.
Numerical simulation and 3-D periodic flow unsteadiness analysis for a centrifugal pump with volute are carried out in whole flow passage, including the impeller with twisted blades, the volute and the side chamber channels under a part-load condition. The pressure fluctuation intensity coefficient （PFIC） based on the standard deviation method, the time-averaged velocity unsteadiness intensity coefficient （VUIC） and the time-averaged turbulence intensity coefficient （TIC） are defined by averaging the results at each grid node for an entire impeller revolution period. Therefore, the strength distributions of the periodic flow unsteadiness based on the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes （URANS） equations can be analyzed directly and in detail. It is shown that under the 0.6Qd~. condition, the pressure fluctuation intensity is larger near the blade pressure side than near the suction side, and a high fluctuation intensity can be observed at the beginning section of the spiral of the volute. The flow velocity unsteadiness intensity is larger near the blade suction side than near the pressure side. A strong turbulence intensity can be found near the blade suction side, the impeller shroud side as well as in the side chamber. The leakage flow has a significant effect on the inflow of the impeller, and can increase both the flow velocity unsteadiness intensity and the turbulence intensity near the wall. The accumulative flow unstea- diness results of an impeller revolution can be an important aspect to be considered in the centrifugal pump optimum design for obtaining a more stable inner flow of the pump and reducing the flow-induced vibration and noise in certain components.
This paper studies the attached sheet cavitation in centrifugal pumps. A pump casted from Perspex is used as the test subject. The cavitation bubbles were observed in the entrance of the impeller and the drops of the head coefficients were measured under different operating conditions. A Filter-Based Model （FBM）, derived from the RNG k-e model, and a modified Zwart model are adopted in the numerical predictions of the unsteady cavitating flows in the pump. The simulations are carded out and the results are compared with experimental results for 3 different flow coefficients, from 0.077 to 0.114. Under four operating conditions, qualitative comparisons are made between experimental and numerical cavitation patterns, as visualized by a high-speed camera and described as isosurfaces of the vapour volume fraction ctv = 0.1. It is shown that the simulation can truly represent the development of the attached sheet cavitation in the impeller. At the same time, the curves for the drops of the head coefficients obtained from experiments and calculations are also quantitatively compared, which shows that the decline of the head coefficients at every flow coefficient is correctly captured, and the prediction accuracy is high. In addition, the detailed analysis is made on the vapour volume fraction contours on the plane of span is 0.5 and the loading distributions around the blade section at the midspan. It is shown that the FBM model and the modified Zwart model are effective for the numerical simulation of the cavitating flow in centrifugal pumps. The analysis results can also be used as the basis for the further research of the attached sheet cavitation and the improvement of centrifugal pumps.
