Simulations on Pressure Characteristics of Low-Flow Rate Water Circulating System Based on Porous Media Model

This paper studies the migration and deposition of suspended particles in porous media. This problem results from the fact that during the operation of a groundwater source heat pump, the recharging process will contribute to the impairment of soil permeability. A coupling lattice Boltzmann method, discrete element method and immersed moving boundary method were used to investigate the migration of particles in porous media. The DKT (Drifting, Kissing, Tumbling) phenomena were employed to validate our program. The coupled effects of concentration, flow rate and pH on the clogging mechanism of the porous media were analyzed. Results show that, due to the repulsive barrier between the particles and porous media, there is a critical velocity. At a low flow rate, the deposition ratio increases with the increase in velocity. Beyond the critical velocity, the deposition ratio decreases when the velocity increases due to higher shear force. Permeability impairment increases with the increase in concentration, especially in the low flow rate condition. Changes in pH mainly affect the repulsive barrier. For a low flow rate, the decrease in repulsive barrier greatly promotes the deposition of particles. Under the condition of favorable deposition, the increase in flow rate reduces the deposition phenomenon. Under the condition of unfavorable deposition, the lower flow rate condition has a lower deposition ratio. The process of particle deposition and the dynamic motion after deposition were observed such as particles gliding over the surface. Accumulated particles in the downstream form bridges and hinder fluid flow. At a high flow rate, strong shear force is more capable of destroying bridges and recovering permeability. Adsorbed particles glide on the surface of the grain and deposit in the downstream. This paper aims to help understanding of the micro-events of particle deposition and the clogging process.

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Backflow effects on mass flow gain factor in a centrifugal pump

Science Progress ◽

10.1177/0036850421998865 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 104 (2) ◽

pp. 003685042199886

Author(s):

Wenzhe Kang ◽

Lingjiu Zhou ◽

Dianhai Liu ◽

Zhengwei Wang

Keyword(s):

Centrifugal Pump ◽

Mass Flow ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Gain Factor ◽

Low Flow ◽

Cavity Volume ◽

Cavitating Flows ◽

Inlet Tube ◽

Low Flow Rate

Previous researches has shown that inlet backflow may occur in a centrifugal pump when running at low-flow-rate conditions and have nonnegligible effects on cavitation behaviors (e.g. mass flow gain factor) and cavitation stability (e.g. cavitation surge). To analyze the influences of backflow in impeller inlet, comparative studies of cavitating flows are carried out for two typical centrifugal pumps. A series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out for the cavitating flows in two pumps, based on the RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Naiver-Stokes) solver with the turbulence model of k- ω shear stress transport and homogeneous multiphase model. The cavity volume in Pump A (with less reversed flow in impeller inlet) decreases with the decreasing of flow rate, while the cavity volume in Pump B (with obvious inlet backflow) reach the minimum values at δ = 0.1285 and then increase as the flow rate decreases. For Pump A, the mass flow gain factors are negative and the absolute values increase with the decrease of cavitation number for all calculation conditions. For Pump B, the mass flow gain factors are negative for most conditions but positive for some conditions with low flow rate coefficients and low cavitation numbers, reaching the minimum value at condition of σ = 0.151 for most cases. The development of backflow in impeller inlet is found to be the essential reason for the great differences. For Pump B, the strong shearing between backflow and main flow lead to the cavitation in inlet tube. The cavity volume in the impeller decreases while that in the inlet tube increases with the decreasing of flow rate, which make the total cavity volume reaches the minimum value at δ = 0.1285 and then the mass flow gain factor become positive. Through the transient calculations for cavitating flows in two pumps, low-frequency fluctuations of pressure and flow rate are found in Pump B at some off-designed conditions (e.g. δ = 0.107, σ = 0.195). The relations among inlet pressure, inlet flow rate, cavity volume, and backflow are analyzed in detail to understand the periodic evolution of low-frequency fluctuations. Backflow is found to be the main reason which cause the positive value of mass flow gain factor at low-flow-rate conditions. Through the transient simulations of cavitating flow, backflow is considered as an important aspect closely related to the hydraulic stability of cavitating pumping system.

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A Meanline Model for Impeller Flow Recirculation

Volume 6: Turbomachinery, Parts A, B, and C ◽

10.1115/gt2008-51349 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Xuwen Qiu ◽

David Japikse ◽

Mark Anderson

Keyword(s):

Flow Rate ◽

Recirculation Zone ◽

Reverse Flow ◽

Low Flow ◽

Suction Surface ◽

Blade Loading ◽

Flow Recirculation ◽

Impeller Outlet ◽

Active Flow ◽

Low Flow Rate

Flow recirculation at the impeller inlet and outlet is an important feature that affects impeller performance, especially the power consumption at a very low flow rate. Although the mechanisms for this flow phenomenon have been studied, a practical model is needed for meanline modeling of impeller off-design performance. In this paper, a meanline recirculation model is proposed. At the inlet, the recirculation zone acts as area blockage to relieve the large incidence of the active flow at a low flow rate. The size of the blockage is estimated through a critical area ratio of an artificial “inlet diffuser” from the inlet to throat. The intensity of the reverse flow can then be calculated by assuming a linear velocity profile of meridional velocity in the recirculation zone. At the impeller outlet, a recirculation zone near the suction surface is established to balance the velocity difference on the pressure and suction sides of the blade. The size and the intensity of the outlet recirculation zone is assumed related to blade loading, which can be evaluated based on flow turning and Coriolis force. A few validation cases are presented showing a good comparison between test data and prediction by the model.

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Experimental Investigation of Surge Phenomena in a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor With Inlet Distortion

Volume 2E: Turbomachinery ◽

10.1115/gt2020-15426 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sasuga Ito ◽

Masato Furukawa ◽

Satoshi Gunjishima ◽

Takafumi Ota ◽

Kazuhito Konishi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Flow Rate ◽

Centrifugal Compressor ◽

Flow Instability ◽

Pressure Sensors ◽

Low Flow ◽

Inlet Distortion ◽

Transonic Centrifugal Compressor ◽

Response Pressure ◽

Surge Phenomena ◽

Low Flow Rate

Abstract Inlet distortion has influence on the aerodynamic performance of turbomachinery such as compressors, turbines and fans. On turbochargers, bent pipes are installed around the compressor due to the spatial limitations in the engine room of the vehicle. As the result, the compressor is operated with the distorted inflow. In the low flow rate operation, the distorted inflow also affects the flow instability like stall and surge. Especially, the operation range on the low flow rate side is defined based on the flow rate where surge occurs, so it is important to investigate the effect of the distorted inflow on surge. In this study, the effect of the inlet distortion to surge phenomena has been investigated by the experiments with a transonic centrifugal compressor. A bent pipe has been installed at the upstream of the compressor to generate a distorted flow. Experiments have been also conducted under the condition that a straight pipe was installed upstream of the compressor, and unsteady measurements with high response pressure sensors and an I-type hot wire probe have been carried out to each experiments. In addition, Fast Fourier transform (FFT) and Wavelet transform have been applied to the unsteady measurement results obtained from each experiment.

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A Comparative Assessment of Spalart-Shur Rotation/Curvature Correction in RANS Simulations in a Centrifugal Pump Impeller

Mathematical Problems in Engineering ◽

10.1155/2014/342905 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ran Tao ◽

Ruofu Xiao ◽

Wei Yang ◽

Fujun Wang

Keyword(s):

Kinetic Energy ◽

Centrifugal Pump ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Comparative Assessment ◽

Turbulence Kinetic Energy ◽

Low Flow ◽

Pump Impeller ◽

Curvature Correction ◽

Centrifugal Pump Impeller ◽

Low Flow Rate

RANS simulation is widely used in the flow prediction of centrifugal pumps. Influenced by impeller rotation and streamline curvature, the eddy viscosity models with turbulence isotropy assumption are not accurate enough. In this study, Spalart-Shur rotation/curvature correction was applied on the SSTk-ωturbulence model. The comparative assessment of the correction was proceeded in the simulations of a centrifugal pump impeller. CFD results were compared with existing PIV and LDV data under the design and low flow rate off-design conditions. Results show the improvements of the simulation especially in the situation that turbulence strongly produced due to undesirable flow structures. Under the design condition, more reasonable turbulence kinetic energy contour was captured after correction. Under the low flow rate off-design condition, the prediction of turbulence kinetic energy and velocity distributions became much more accurate when using the corrected model. So, the rotation/curvature correction was proved effective in this study. And, it is also proved acceptable and recommended to use in the engineering simulations of centrifugal pump impellers.

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