Vibration Modeling and Experimental Results of Two-Phase Twin-Screw Pump

Author(s):  
Ameen Muhammed ◽  
Dara W. Childs

In turbomachines, the transfer of energy between the rotor and the fluid does not—in theory—result in lateral forces on the rotor. In positive displacement machines, on the other hand, the transfer of energy between the moving components and the working fluid usually results in unbalanced pressure fields and forces. Muhammed and Childs (2013, “Rotordynamics of a Two-Phase Flow Twin Screw Pump,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 135(6), p. 062502) developed a model to predict the dynamic forces in twin-screw pumps, showing that the helical screw shape generates hydraulic forces that oscillate at multiples of running speed. The work presented here attempts to validate the model of Muhammed and Childs (2013, “Rotordynamics of a Two-Phase Flow Twin Screw Pump,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 135(6), p. 062502) using a clear-casing twin-screw pump. The pump runs in both single and multiphase conditions with exit pressure up to 300 kPa and a flow rate 0.6 l/s. The pump was instrumented with dynamic pressure probes across the axial length of the screw in two perpendicular directions to validate the dynamic model. Two proximity probes measured the dynamic rotor displacement at the outlet to validate the rotordynamics model and the hydrodynamic cyclic forces predicted by Muhammed and Childs (2013, “Rotordynamics of a Two-Phase Flow Twin Screw Pump,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 135(6), p. 062502). The predictions were found to be in good agreement with the measurements. The amplitude of the dynamic pressure measurements in two perpendicular plans supported the main assumptions of the model (constant pressure inside the chambers and linear pressure drop across the screw lands). The predicted rotor orbits at the pump outlet in the middle of the rotor matched the experimental orbits closely. The spectrum of the response showed harmonics of the running speed as predicted by the model. The pump rotor's calculated critical speed was at 24.8 krpm, roughly 14 times the rotor's running speed of 1750 rpm. The measured and observed excitation frequencies extended out to nine times running speed, still well below the first critical speed. However, for longer twin-screw pumps running at higher speed, the coincidence of a higher-harmonic excitation frequency with the lightly damped first critical speed should be considered.

Author(s):  
Ameen R. A. Muhammed ◽  
Dara W. Childs

Twin screw pumps are positive displacement machines. Two meshing screws connected by timing gears push the fluid trapped in the screw cavities axially from suction to discharge. Available steady state hydraulic models predict pump performance and axial pressure distribution in the chambers in single- and two-phase flow conditions. However, no model is available for their rotordynamics behavior. Due to the helix angle of the screw, the pressure distribution around the rotor is not balanced, giving rise to both static and dynamic lateral forces. The work presented here introduces a starting point for rotordynamic analysis of twin screw pumps. First, we show that the screw rotor's geometry can be represented by axisymmetric beam elements. Second, we extend the steady state hydraulic model to predict both the static and dynamic lateral forces resulting from the unbalanced pressure field. Finally, hydraulic forces are applied to the rotor to predict static, synchronous, and nonsynchronous responses. Predictions of the dynamic pressure were compared to measurements from the literature and were found to be in good agreement.


Author(s):  
Ameen R. A. Muhammed ◽  
Dara W. Childs

In turbomachines, the transfer of energy between the rotor and the fluid does not — in theory — result in lateral forces on the rotor. In positive displacement machines, on the other hand, the transfer of energy between the moving and stationary components usually results in unbalanced pressure fields and forces. In [1] the authors developed a model to predict the dynamic forces in twin screw pumps, showing that the helical screw shape generates hydraulic forces that oscillate at multiples of running speed. The work presented here attempts to validate the model in [1] using a clear-casing twin screw pump. The pump runs in both single and multiphase conditions with exit pressure up to 300 KPa and a flow rate 0.6 liter per second. The pump was instrumented with dynamic pressure probes across the axial length of the screw in two perpendicular directions to validate the dynamic model. Two proximity probes measured the dynamic rotor displacement at the outlet to validate the rotordynamics model and the hydrodynamic cyclic forces predicted in [1]. The predictions were found in good agreement with the measurements. The amplitude of the dynamic pressure measurements in two perpendicular plans supported the main assumptions of the model (constant pressure inside the chambers and linear pressure drop across the screw lands). The predicted rotor orbits at the pump outlet in the middle of the rotor matched the experimental orbits closely. The spectrum of the response showed harmonics of the running speed as predicted by the model. The pump rotor’s calculated critical speed was at 24.8 krpm, roughly 14 times the rotor’s running speed of 1750 rpm. The measured and observed excitation frequencies extended out to nine times running speed, still well below the 1st critical speed. However, for longer twin-screw pumps running at higher speed, the coincidence of a higher-harmonic excitation frequency with the lightly damped 1st critical speed should be considered.


Author(s):  
Ameen R. A. Muhammed ◽  
Dara W. Childs

Twin-screw pumps are positive displacement machines. Two meshing screws connected by timing gears push the fluid trapped in the screw cavities axially from suction to discharge. Available steady state hydraulic models predict pump performance and axial pressure distribution in the chambers in single and two phase flow conditions. However, no model is available for their rotordynamics. Due to the helix angle of the screw, the pressure distribution around the rotor is not balanced; giving rise to both static and dynamic lateral forces. The work presented here introduces a starting point for rotordynamic analysis of twin screw-pumps. We first show that the screw rotors geometry can be represented by axisymmetric beam elements. Second, we extend the steady state hydraulic model to predict both the static and dynamic lateral forces resulting from the unbalanced pressure field. Finally, hydraulic forces are applied to the rotor to predict static, synchronous and nonsynchronous responses. Predictions of the dynamic pressure were compared to measurements from the literature and were found to be in good agreement.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. T. Lacerda ◽  
A. T. Prata ◽  
F. Fagotti

Abstract Several phenomena occurring inside refrigerating systems depend on the interaction between the refrigeration oil and the refrigerant working fluid. Regarding the refrigeration cycle, good miscibility of oil and refrigerant assure easy return of circulating oil to the compressor through the reduction of the oil viscosity. Inside the compressor the lubricant is mainly used for leakage sealing, cooling of hot elements and lubrication of sliding parts. In the compressor bearing systems the presence of refrigerant dissolved in the oil greatly influences the performance and reliability of the compressor due to the outgassing experienced by sudden changes in temperature and pressure resulting in a two-phase mixture with density and viscosity strongly affecting the lubricant characteristics. A general understanding of the oil-refrigerant mixture flow is crucial in developing lubrication models to be used in analysis and simulation of fluid mechanics problems inside the compressor. In the present investigation the refrigeration oil flow with refrigerant outgassing is explored experimentally. A mixture of oil saturated with refrigerant is forced to flow in two straight horizontal tubes of constant diameter. One tube is used for flow visualization and the other is instrumented for pressure and temperature measurements. At the tubes inlet liquid state prevails and as flow proceeds the pressure drop reduces the gas solubility in the oil and outgassing occurs. Initially small bubbles are observed and eventually the bubble population reaches a stage where foaming flow is observed. The flow visualization allowed identification of the two-phase flow regimes experienced by the mixture. Pressure and temperature distributions are measured along the flow and from that mixture quality and void fraction were estimated.


Author(s):  
Agbakwuru J ◽  
Ogunlana A ◽  
Oshagbemi O ◽  
Rahman MA ◽  
Imtiaz S

Author(s):  
Sujin Yeom ◽  
Seung S. Lee ◽  
Sang Yong Lee

This paper presents a micro-fluidic device which generates micro-bubbles, ranging from 70μm to 160μm in diameter, and two-phase flow characteristics in the device were tested. The device is composed of three sub-channels: a centered gas channel (10μm×50μm) and two liquid channels (both with 85μm×50μm) on each side of the gas channel. Micro-bubbles are generated by co-flow of gas and liquid at the exit of the gas channel when the drag force becomes larger than the surface tension force as bubbles grow. Methanol and a gas mixture of CO2 and N2 were used as the working fluid. Since the flow rate of gas was very small, the gas momentum effect was considered negligible. Thus, in the present case, the controlling parameters were the liquid superficial velocity and the inlet pressure of the gas. A high speed camera was used to record two-phase flow patterns and micro-bubbles of the device. To confine the ranges of the micro-bubbles generation, two-phase flow patterns in the device is observed at first. Four different flow patterns were observed: annular, annular-slug, slug, and bubbly flow. In bubbly flows, uniform-sized micro-bubbles were generated, and the operating ranges of the liquid superficial velocity and the gas pressure were below 0.132 m/s and 0.7 bar, respectively. Diameters of the micro-bubbles appeared smaller with the higher superficial liquid velocity and/or with a lower gas pressure. Experimental results showed that, with the gas pressure lower than a certain level, the sizes of micro-bubbles were almost insensitive to the gas pressure. In such a ranges, the micro-bubble diameters could be estimated from a drag coefficient correlation, CDw = 31330/Re3, which is different from the correlations for macro-channels due to a larger wall effect with the micro-channels. In the latter part of the paper, as a potential of application of the micro-bubble generator to gas analysis, dissolution behavior of the gas components into the liquid flow was examined. The result shows that the micro-bubble generator can be adopted as a component of miniaturized gas analyzers if a proper improvement could be made in controlling the bubble sizes effectively.


1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Y. Lian ◽  
G. Noghrehkar ◽  
A. M. C. Chan ◽  
M. Kawaji

The effects of local two-phase flow parameters on the vibrational behavior of tubes have been studied in an in-line 5 × 20 tube bundle subjected to air-water cross-flow. One of the tubes was flexibly mounted and instrumented for vibration measurement and the others were rigid. Parameters obtained include local void fraction fluctuations, RMS amplitude of void fraction fluctuations, void fraction distributions across the tube bundle, flow regimes based on probability density function of void fraction signals, damping ratio, and tube vibration response as a function of mass flux, void fraction and dynamic pressure. Damping and tube vibration amplitude in two-phase flow have been found to be closely related to the RMS amplitudes of the local void fraction fluctuations and dynamic pressure fluctuations, respectively.


Author(s):  
Viral K. Patel ◽  
Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi

Micro-scale two-phase flow heat transport involves specialized devices that are used to remove large amounts of heat from small surface areas. They operate by circulating a working fluid through a heated space which causes phase change from liquid to vapor. During this process, a significant amount of heat is transported away from the heat source. Micro-scale heat transport devices are compact in size and the heat transfer coefficient can be orders of magnitude higher than in macro-scale for similar operating conditions. Thus, it is of interest to develop such devices for cooling of next-generation electronics and other applications with extremely large heat fluxes. The heat transport device presented in this paper is driven by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumping. In EHD conduction pumping, when an electric field is applied to a dielectric liquid, flow is induced. The pump is installed in a two-phase flow loop and has a circular 1 mm diameter cross section with electrode spacing on the order of 120 μm. It acts to circulate the fluid in the loop and has a simple yet robust, non-mechanical design. Results from two-phase flow experiments show that it is easily controlled and such electrically driven pumps can effectively be used in heat transport systems.


Author(s):  
Rodward L. Hewlin ◽  
John P. Kizito

The aim of this paper was to develop a capacitance based sensor capable of measuring void fraction in a continuous two-phase flow field. The design methodology and operation of the capacitance based void fraction sensor is discussed. Two designs of capacitance void fraction sensors were developed and tested. Some of the problems associated with the first were identified and a new sensor electrode configuration was developed which presented a more sensitive and repeatable response. Data was collected covering a wide range of void fraction measurements ranging from 0 to 1 for water as the working fluid. Calibration of the sensor required that the air gap or void capacitance (dry signal) be measured followed by an increase in liquid levels (wet signal) to obtain a range of void fraction measurements for static calibration. The static calibration data obtained was nonlinear for the full range of void fraction measurements for water. This paper covers the design requirements, calibration procedure and static calibration data obtained for the developed sensor, and dynamic void fraction data measurements. The sensor was tested in both a horizontal and vertical orientation and proved to be orientation insensitive. The experimental results are promising for water and verify successful operation for measuring void fraction in continuous two-phase flows.


Author(s):  
Ladislav Vesely ◽  
Akshay Khadse ◽  
Andres Curbelo ◽  
Jayanta S. Kapat ◽  
Luca Petrungaro

Abstract Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) holds a great promise as a future working fluid for power generating Brayton cycles. One of the challenging research areas in sCO2 power cycles is flow leakage and the design of seals on the compressor side of the cycle. Given the compact nature of sCO2 turbomachinery, even a minimal amount of leakage can lead to a significant power efficiency loss. Hence accurate prediction of mass flow leakage rate becomes important. However, on the compressor side of the cycle, operating conditions across the seal lead to two-phase flow. This makes flow modeling very challenging because conventional one-phase flow CFD models cannot be used. This paper is an attempt to understand the behavior of two-phase sCO2 flow going through circular and annular orifices. The focus is to utilize commercially available CFD scheme for modeling phase change and two-phase flow through constrictions. Since the pressure loss across constrictions is also accompanied with reduction in temperature, the flow becomes two-phase by entering the saturation dome. CFD simulation is performed using commercially available software STAR CCM+. 2D axisymmetric geometry is considered as the computational domain. Eulerian Multi-phase Mixture model is used in conjunction with the Two-Phase Thermodynamic Equilibrium implementation. This model is intended for applications that involve two phases of the same substance that are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Fluid properties are defined over a large range of temperatures and pressures, including both the liquid and vapor phases.


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