Influence of tip clearance on pressure fluctuations in an axial flow pump

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1603-1610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjun Feng ◽  
Xingqi Luo ◽  
Pengcheng Guo ◽  
Guangkuan Wu
Author(s):  
Desheng Zhang ◽  
Weidong Shi ◽  
Suqing Wu ◽  
Dazhi Pan ◽  
Peipei Shao ◽  
...  

In this paper, the tip leakage vortex (TLV) structures in an axial flow pump were investigated by numerical and experimental methods. Based on the comparisons of different blade tip clearance size (i.e., 0.5 mm, 1mm and 1.5mm) and different flow rate conditions, TLV trajectories were obtained by Swirling Strength method, and simulated by modified SST k-ω turbulence model with refined high-quality structured grids. A high-speed photography test was carried out to capture the tip leakage vortex cavitation in an axial flow pump with transparent casing. Numerical results were compared with the experimental leakage vortex trajectories, and a good agreement is presented. The detailed trajectories show that the start point of tip leakage vortex appears near the leading edge at small flow rate, and it moves from trailing edge to about 30% chord span at rated flow rate. At the larger flow rate condition, the starting point of TLV shifts to the middle of chord, and the direction of TLV moves parallel to the blade hydrofoil. As the increasing of the tip size, the start point of TLV trajectories moves to the central of chord and the minimum pressure in vortex core is gradually reduced.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1653
Author(s):  
Nengqi Kan ◽  
Zongku Liu ◽  
Guangtai Shi ◽  
Xiaobing Liu

To reveal the effect of tip clearance on the flow behaviors and pressurization performance of a helico-axial flow pump, the standard k-ε turbulence model is employed to simulate the flow characteristics in the self-developed helico-axial flow pump. The pressure, streamlines and turbulent kinetic energy in a helico-axial flow pump are analyzed. Results show that the tip leakage flow (TLF) forms a tip-separation vortex (TSV) when it enters the tip clearance and forms a tip-leakage vortex (TLV) when it leaves the tip clearance. As the blade tip clearance increases, the TLV moves along the blade from the leading edge (LE) to trailing edge (TE). At the same time, the entrainment between the TLV and the main flow deteriorates the flow pattern in the pump and causes great hydraulic loss. In addition, the existence of tip clearance also increases the possibility of TLV cavitation and has a great effect on the pressurization performance of the helico-axial flow pump. The research results provide the theoretical basis for the structural optimization design of the helico-axial flow pump.


2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoyue Wang ◽  
Fujun Wang ◽  
Yuan Tang ◽  
Benhong Wang ◽  
Zhifeng Yao ◽  
...  

Abstract Stator corner separation flow existing in the guide-vane domain has significant effects on the characteristics of an axial-flow pump. The objective of this paper is to investigate the vortical structures in stator corner separation flow. Transient numerical simulation with a proof experiment was conducted for an axial-flow pump. Structural features of the vortices and their effects on velocity moment attenuation and pressure fluctuations in the guide-vane domain were analyzed. Horn-like vortices are found in the stator corner separation flow. A full cycle of the horn-like vortex evolution, “inception-growth-development-decay,” is presented. During this transit process, the vortex tube is gradually elongated and deformed, which forms an oblique separation line on the vane suction surface. High velocity moment always exists in the flow passages of the guide-vane domain, and the uniformity of main flows is gradually reduced. Meanwhile, periodic pressure fluctuations arise. The maximum amplitude of pressure fluctuations in the flow passages occurs in the region where the horn-like vortex cores at the “growth” stage lie in, which is approximately 3.39 times higher than that in the vaneless region between the impeller and guide-vane. The dominant frequency of pressure fluctuations in the flow passages is approximately 0.75 times the rotating frequency, which is close to the frequency of the full cycle of the horn-like vortex evolution. Horn-like vortices have remarkable effects on the flow fields, and more attention should be paid to them.


Volume 3 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Goltz ◽  
G. Kosyna ◽  
D. Wulff ◽  
H. Schrapp ◽  
U. Stark ◽  
...  

When reaching the stall point of an axial-flow pump, the pump head characteristic becomes unstable and the pump head suddenly drops. Before this happens however, at even higher flow rates the NPSH3 and the pump body and shaft vibrations increase dramatically. For effectively increasing the available operating range, it is essential to find a solution for all three problems without reducing the pump efficiency at design. The paper describes an experimental investigation on the outlined subject that gives insight into the flow phenomena leading to stall. Based on this knowledge a very simple type of casing treatment was chosen and investigated. It was found to satisfy all mentioned requirements. Subject to the investigations is a highly loaded axial-flow pump having a nq of 150 (SI units). The overall pump performance was investigated measuring pump head, efficiency, NPSH3, and casing as well as shaft vibrations. Further-more, oil flow pictures taken at the pump casing and at the rotor blades, and video captures of the cavitating core of the tip clearance vortex were analyzed for understanding the flow phenomena leading to stall (see also related paper Part I, Schrapp et al. (2004)). From the video captures it was realized that the behavior of the tip clearance vortex which was found to perform so-called spiral-type vortex breakdown is triggering stall inception in this machine.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 680-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Laborde ◽  
P. Chantrel ◽  
M. Mory

A combined study of tip clearance and tip vortex cavitations in a pump-type rotating machine is presented. Cavitation patterns are observed and cavitation inception is determined for various gap heights, clearance and blade geometries, and rotor operating conditions. An optimum clearance geometry is seen to eliminate clearance cavitation when the clearance edge is rounded on the blade pressure side. The gap height has a strong effect on clearance cavitation inception, but the trends vary considerably when other parameters are also modified. The gap height and clearance geometry have less influence on tip vortex cavitation but forward and backward blade skew is observed to reduce and increase tip vortex cavitation, respectively, as compared to a blade with no skew.


2012 ◽  
Vol 588-589 ◽  
pp. 1255-1258
Author(s):  
Zhong Li ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Bo Hong ◽  
Qing Li

Based on external characteristic test, the performance of designed axial-flow model pump was determined. Combingmixture N-S equations with RNG turbulence model and full cavitation model, the cavitation flow in tip clearance of axial-flow pump at flow rate of best efficiency point is simulated. The results show that the incipient cavitation region is located in the leading edge of tip airfoil. With the decrease of cavitation number, the cavitation region at tip airfoil moves gradually from leading edge to trailing edge. The development process of cavitation can be divided into three different stages and the typical characteristics of each stage are given


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