scholarly journals An Experimental Study on the Fluid Forces Induced by Rotor-Stator Interaction in a Centrifugal Pump

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijie Guo ◽  
Hidenobu Okamoto

The pressure fluctuations and the radial fluid forces acting on the impeller, the pressures in the volute, as well as the vibration of the shaft in a centrifugal pump were measured simultaneously, and their relationship was investigated. Experiments were done for various diffuser vanes, flow rates, and rotating speeds. It was demonstrated that both the blade-pressure fluctuations and the volute static pressures are nonuniform circumferentially (not axisymmetrical) under off-design operating conditions and that the two have a strong relationship. At high flow rates, the blade pressure fluctuations, induced by rotor-stator interactions, are large in areas where the volute static pressure is low. The traveling directions of the rotating pressure waves, the whirling directions of the radial fluid forces, and the most predominant frequency components of both the fluctuations and the forces are discussed, and an equation for predicting them is introduced. It was also noted that large alternating fluid forces are not necessarily associated with large pressure fluctuations. Furthermore, when measuring the radial fluid forces in the rotating frame, other frequency components, in addition to those related to the products of the diffuser vane number and the rotating frequency, may occur due to the circumferential unevenness of the pressure fluctuations on the impeller. These components are predictable.

Author(s):  
Yongshun Zeng ◽  
Min Yang ◽  
Yuqing Zhai ◽  
Zhifeng Yao ◽  
Fujun Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract The pressure pulsation due to rotor-stator interaction (RSI) is unavoidable for high-speed centrifugal pump when operating under different conditions. The frequency components of pressure pulsation in the vaneless region are the most complex, and the pressure pulsation characteristic plays an important role in pump structural stress analysis. A numerical simulation method is used to obtain the hydraulic performances of a high-speed centrifugal pump with 9857 r/min at the range of flow rates between 48.1 to 155.0 m3/h. The head and efficiency under different operating conditions have good agreement with experimental results, with maximum deviations in 3.82% and 5.37%, respectively. The results show that the level of the pressure pulsation from the inlet to the outlet of the impeller increased gradually, and the pressure pulsations between the short blades are greater than that between the long and short blades. In the diffuser, the pressure pulsation is the highest near the tongue, whereas it is lower in the region between the two tongues, and this region is defined as the vaneless region. The pressure contours in the vaneless region almost have no change, while they near the tongue are densely distributed, revealing the mechanism of uneven pressure pulsation distribution. Moreover, there is a high radial velocity distribution near the tongue in the vaneless region, indicating that there may be a jet-wake pattern occured in this region.


Author(s):  
Ahmed Ramadhan Al-Obaidi ◽  
Ali Qubian

Abstract In this current study, the transient numerical calculations using CFD code are carried out under different outlet impeller diameters for the flow field within a centrifugal pump under single-phase and cavitation conditions. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are carried out on all of these results in order to better understand the flow structure within a centrifugal pump. Also, the investigations using different outlet impeller diameters configurations relating to the static pressure, velocity magnitude, vapour volume fraction variations, as well as pressure fluctuations in both time and frequency domain at the impeller and volute of the pump are analysed. Velocity and static pressure variations of the pump under different outlet impeller diameters range (200, 210 and 220 mm) are investigated. Reliable model is developed and validated, at various pump operating conditions, to analyse the characteristics of pressure fluctuations in both time and frequency domain. Cavitation occurrence, under different outlet impeller diameters and flow rates, are detected and correlated, using a CFD model (volume fraction distributions). Based on the developed model’s findings, at the set operating conditions ranges, the distribution and impact (cavitation and head-wises) of both the pressure and velocity are analysed. The average pressure fluctuation in the volute for do = 210 mm is higher than for do = 200 mm by about 6.74%, also the maximum pressure fluctuation for do = 220 mm is higher than for do = 210 mm by around 7.4%. Furthermore, the maximum pressure fluctuation in the impeller for do = 210 mm is higher than for do = 200 mm by 12.48%, also for do = 220 mm is higher than for do = 210 mm by 10.8%. The developed CFD models are proved valuable tools in identifying and optimizing the pump performance and characterization. The head for when do = 220 mm is higher than for when do = 200 mm under both single-phase and cavitation conditions by around 14.13% and 14.69%. The maximum pressure fluctuation for do = 200 mm is lower than for do = 210 mm by 41.58%. Furthermore, the maximum pressure fluctuation at the impeller for do = 220 mm is higher than the two models. There is a small clearance between the impeller and the volute for this model, leading to the pressure fluctuation amplitudes being higher than the other above models.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 784-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge L. Parrondo-Gayo ◽  
Jose´ Gonza´lez-Pe´rez ◽  
Joaquı´n Ferna´ndez-Francos

An experimental investigation is presented which analyzes the unsteady pressure distribution existing in the volute of a conventional centrifugal pump with a nondimensional specific speed of 0.48, for flow-rates from 0% to 160% of the best-efficiency point. For that purpose, pressure signals were obtained at 36 different locations along the volute casing by means of fast-response pressure transducers. Particular attention was paid to the pressure fluctuations at the blade passage frequency, regarding both amplitude and phase delay relative to the motion of the blades. Also, the experimental data obtained was used to adjust the parameters of a simple acoustic model for the volute of the pump. The results clearly show the leading role played by the tongue in the impeller-volute interaction and the strong increase in the magnitude of dynamic forces and dipole-like sound generation in off-design conditions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Qi Jia ◽  
Bao-Ling Cui ◽  
Zu-Chao Zhu ◽  
Yu-Liang Zhang

Abstract Affected by rotor–stator interaction and unstable inner flow, asymmetric pressure distributions and pressure fluctuations cannot be avoided in centrifugal pumps. To study the pressure distributions on volute and front casing walls, dynamic pressure tests are carried out on a centrifugal pump. Frequency spectrum analysis of pressure fluctuation is presented based on Fast Fourier transform and steady pressure distribution is obtained based on time-average method. The results show that amplitudes of pressure fluctuation and blade-passing frequency are sensitive to the flow rate. At low flow rates, high-pressure region and large pressure gradients near the volute tongue are observed, and the main factors contributing to the pressure fluctuation are fluctuations in blade-passing frequency and high-frequency fluctuations. By contrast, at high flow rates, fluctuations of rotating-frequency and low frequencies are the main contributors to pressure fluctuation. Moreover, at low flow rates, pressure near volute tongue increases rapidly at first and thereafter increases slowly, whereas at high flow rates, pressure decreases sharply. Asymmetries are observed in the pressure distributions on both volute and front casing walls. With increasing of flow rate, both asymmetries in the pressure distributions and magnitude of the pressure decrease.


Author(s):  
Michele Vascellari ◽  
Re´my De´nos ◽  
Rene´ Van den Braembussche

In transonic turbine stages, the exit static pressure field of the vane is highly non-uniform in the pitchwise direction. The rotor traverses periodically this non-uniform field and large static pressure fluctuations are observed around the rotor section. As a consequence the rotor blade is submitted to significant variations of its aerodynamic force. This contributes to the high cycle fatigue and may result in unexpected blade failure. In this paper an existing transonic turbine stage section is redesigned in the view of reducing the rotor stator interaction, and in particular the unsteady rotor blade forcing. The first step is the redesign of the stator blade profile to reduce the stator exit pitchwise static pressure gradient. For this purpose, a procedure using a genetic algorithm and an artificial neural network is used. Next, two new rotor profiles are designed and analysed with a quasi 3D Euler unsteady solver in order to investigate their receptivity to the shock interaction. One of the new profiles allows reducing the blade force variation by 50%.


Author(s):  
Can Kang ◽  
Ning Mao ◽  
Chen Pan ◽  
Yang Zhu ◽  
Bing Li

A low-specific-speed centrifugal pump equipped with long and short blades is studied. Emphasis is placed on the pump performance and inner flow characteristics at low flow rates. Each short blade is intentionally shifted towards the back surface of the neighboring long blade, and the outlet parts of the short blades are uniformly shortened. Unsteady numerical simulation is conducted to disclose inner flow patterns associated with the modified design. Thereby, a comparison is enabled between the two schemes featured by different short blades. Both practical operation data and numerical results support that the deviation and cutting of the short blades can eliminate the positive slope of pump head curve at low flow rates. Therefore, the modification of short blades improves the pump operation stability. Due to the shortening of the outlet parts of the short blades, velocity distributions between impeller outlet and radial diffuser inlet exhibit explicitly altered circumferential flow periodicity. Pressure fluctuations in the radial diffuser are complex in terms of diversified periodicity and amplitudes. Flow rate influences pressure fluctuations in the radial diffuser considerably. As flow rate decreases, the regularity of the orbit of hydraulic loads exerted upon the impeller collapses while hydraulic loads exerted upon the short blades remain circumferentially periodic.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bolpaire ◽  
J. P. Barrand

The operational range and the performances of pumps are limited by the occurrence of backflow and prerotation in the suction pipe as the flow rate is reduced. This paper presents the study of static pressure measurements and visualizations in the suction pipe, near the inlet of a centrifugal pump, at partial flow rates, in steady conditions, and during a fast start-up of the pump. The tests were carried out in water on the DERAP© test loop of the ENSAM Lille laboratory. Standard methods allowed to determine the recirculation critical flow rate. A visualization method showed that the axial extent of the recirculation and the prerotation with the flow rate is considerably reduced during a fast start-up compared to steady conditions.


Author(s):  
R. Fongang ◽  
J. Colding-Jørgensen ◽  
R. Nordmann

A 2-dimensional fluid model is developed to investigate the hydrodynamic forces exerted on a rotating impeller caused by the impeller-fluid-volute interaction in a centrifugal pump. In this model, the impeller periphery and the volute contour are replaced by a distribution of unsteady vortices. The impeller center is assumed to execute a whirling motion about the rotor center. This is an improvement of the earlier quasisteady flow model of Colding-Jørgensen (1980) where the impeller was taken as a single vortex-source point. The forces can be presented as a sum of a steady and an unsteady part. The rotordynamic coefficients are deduced from the unsteady forces decomposed into radial and tangential components relative to the orbit described by the impeller center. In comparison to most of the theoretical and experimental results found in the literature, the model seems to give good prediction. It appears clearly from this analysis that, under certain operating conditions, the fluid forces on the impeller have a destabilizing effect on the pump rotor.


2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijie GUO ◽  
Hidenobu OKAMOTO ◽  
Yoshiyuki MARUTA

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 743-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zhang ◽  
H. Tsukamoto

Experimental and computational study was developed for unsteady hydrodynamic forces on a diffuser pump impeller excited by the interaction between the impeller and the vaned diffuser with the same number of vanes as impeller. Unsteady flow calculations are made using commercially available CFD software, CFX-TASCflow, as well as the two-dimensional vortex method. Calculated pressure and fluid forces on the impeller show good agreement with measured ones. It has been demonstrated that the fluid forces on the impeller with the same number of vanes as the vaned diffuser are smaller compared with other combinations of vane numbers. However, the pressure fluctuations are found to be greater than other cases.


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