Effects of the staggered blades on unsteady pressure pulsations and flow structures of a centrifugal pump

Author(s):  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Bo Gao ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Dan Ni ◽  
Guoping Li

Effects of the staggered blades on unsteady pressure pulsations of a centrifugal pump with a specific speed ns=147 are investigated by the numerical simulation method. The obtained results are compared with the original blades. To clarify the resulting effects, eight monitoring points are used to extract pressure signals at three typical working conditions, and component at the blade passing frequency fBPF is emphasized. Results show that the pump efficiency and head will be reduced by the staggered blades, and at the nominal flow rate, the reduction is about 1.5% from comparison with the original blades. For all the eight points, the staggered blades contribute to the reduction of pressure amplitudes at fBPF when the pump works at three flow rates. The averaged reduction is 15.5% at the nominal flow rate. However, the negative effect on the second harmonic of fBPF will be caused by the staggered blades, and the corresponding pressure amplitude will increase at 2fBPF. It means that the pressure pulsation energy will be redistributed among the discrete components in pressure spectrum by the staggered blades. From the TKE distribution, it is found that the TKE values on the blade pressure side will be significantly affected by the staggered blades.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Junxian Jiang ◽  
Xiaokai Liu ◽  
Bo Gao

Abstract High pressure pulsations excited by rotor stator interaction is always focused in pumps, especially for its control considering the stable operation. In the current research, a special staggered impeller is proposed to reduce intense pressure pulsations of a centrifugal pump with ns=69 based on alleviating rotor stator interaction. The numerical simulation method is conducted to illustrate the influence of staggered impeller on the pump performance and pressure pulsations, and three typical flow rates (0.8ФN-1.2ФN) are simulated. Results show that the staggered impeller will lead to the pump head increasing, and at the design working condition, the increment reaches about 3% compared with the original impeller. Meanwhile, the pump efficiency is little affected by the staggered impeller, which is almost identical with the original impeller. From comparison of pressure spectra at twenty monitoring points around the impeller outlet, it is validated that the staggered impeller contributes significantly to decreasing pressure pulsations at the concerned working conditions. At the blade passing frequency, the averaged reduction of twenty points reaches 89% by using the staggered impeller at 1.0ФN. The reduction reaches to 90%, 80% at 0.8ФN, 1.2ФN respectively. Caused by the rib within the staggered impeller, the internal flow field in the blade channel will be affected. Finally, it is concluded that the proposed staggered impeller surely has a significant effect on alleviating intense pressure pulsation of the model pump, which is very promising during the low noise pump design considering its feasibility for manufacturing.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 710791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Minguan Yang ◽  
Bo Gao ◽  
Zhong Li ◽  
Dan Ni

Unsteady flow structures can lead to severe vibration in centrifugal pump if the eigenfrequency of the rotor is equal to excitation frequency. In order to reduce rotor-stator interaction in centrifugal pump, a special slope volute was proposed. This paper explores the use of numerical simulation method to illustrate unsteady pressure pulsation and rotating stall characteristics under 0.05ΦN–1.4ΦN working conditions. Spectrums of pressure pulsation signals at different flow rates were analyzed. Relative velocity distributions interior blade channels were also studied to clarify correlation between flow structure and pressure spectrum. At high flow rates, predominant components in pressure spectrums always correspond to blade passing frequency ( fBPF). With decreasing of flow rate, partial flow separates from suction side of blade at 0.6ΦN, but the separate structure has little impact on pressure spectrum. From 0.8ΦN to 0.6ΦN, peak values in pressure spectrums are still located at fBPF. At rotating stall working conditions, multiple vortex structures exist in impeller, which develop with rotating impeller showing intensive unsteady properties. And partial blade channels are blocked severely. Due to the unsteady stall cell structure, stall frequencies are generated in pressure spectrum, and the excitation frequencies are different at variable flow rates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoling Cui ◽  
Yingbin Zhang ◽  
Yakun Huang

Abstract Unsteady pressure pulsation and fluid force induced by flow instabilities in the centrifugal pump is an important cause of vibration, which is detrimental to the safe operation of the pump. In this study, we numerically investigated the pressure pulsation and radial force in a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump by using the detached-eddy simulation method. We also performed a vibration displacement experiment on the shaft of the centrifugal pump. The vortex identification method was introduced to clarify the internal correlation between unsteady flow structures with pressure pulsations. The results showed that the pressure pulsations at the impeller outlet were closely associated with the periodic vortex shedding from the blade pressure surface. The rotor–stator interaction between a relatively big trailing vortex core and volute tongue generated larger pressure pulsation and radial force in the pump at a low flow rate. Under a large flow rate, the trailing vortex core was easily broken and dispersed, and this resulted in smaller pressure pulsation and radial force compared with that at a low flow rate. Under the design flow rate, the pressure pulsation intensity and the radial force in the impeller were smaller than that under the off-design flow rate. Compared with the spectra between the radial force on the impeller and radial displacement on the shaft, they both presented higher amplitude at the shaft frequency. The vibration of the pump shaft was closely related to the radial force on the impeller.


2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Gao ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Zhong Li ◽  
Dan Ni ◽  
MinGuan Yang

The blade trailing edge profile is of crucial importance for the performance and pressure pulsations of centrifugal pumps. In the present study, numerical investigation is conducted to analyze the effect of the blade trailing edge profile influencing the performance and unsteady pressure pulsations in a low specific speed centrifugal pump. Five typical blade trailing edges are analyzed including original trailing edge (OTE), circle edge (CE), ellipse on pressure side (EPS), ellipse on suction side (ESS), and ellipse on both sides (EBS). Results show that the well-designed blade trailing edges, especially for the EPS and EBS profiles, can significantly improve the pump efficiency. Pressure amplitudes at fBPF and 2fBPF are together calculated to evaluate the influence of the blade trailing edge profile on pressure pulsations. The EPS and EBS profiles contribute obviously to pressure pulsations reduction. In contrast, the CE and ESS profiles lead to increase of pressure pulsation amplitude compared with the OTE pump. Vorticity distribution at the blade trailing edge demonstrates that the EPS and EBS profiles have an effective impact on reducing vortex intensity at the blade trailing edge. Consequently, rotor–stator interaction could be attenuated leading to lower pressure pulsation amplitude. It is thought to be the main reason of pressure pulsations reduction obtained with the proper modified blade trailing edges. The results would pave the way for further optimization of the blade trailing edge profile.


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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Martin Bitter ◽  
Stephan Stotz ◽  
Reinhard Niehuis

Abstract This paper presents the simultaneous application of fastresponse pressure transducers and unsteady pressure-sensitive paint (unsteady PSP) for the precise determination of pressure amplitudes and phases up to 3,000 Hz. These experiments have been carried out on a low-pressure turbine blade cascade under engine-relevant conditions (Re, Ma, Tu) in the High-Speed Cascade Wind Tunnel. Periodic blade/vane interactions were simulated at the inlet to the cascade using a wake generator operating at a constant perturbation frequency of 500 Hz. The main goal of this paper is the detailed comparison of amplitude and phase distributions between both flow sensing techniques at least up to the second harmonic of the wake generator's fundamental perturbation frequency (i.e. 1,000 Hz). Therefore, a careful assessment of the key drivers for relative deviations between measurement results as well as a detailed discussion of the data processing is presented for both measurement techniques. This discussion outlines the mandatory steps which were essential to achieve the quality as presented down to pressure amplitudes of several pascal even under challenging experimental conditions. Apart from the remarkable consistency of the results, this paper reveals the potential of (unsteady) PSP as a future key flow sensing technique in turbomachinery research, especially for cascade testing. The results demonstrate that PSP was able to successfully sense pressure dynamics with very low fluctuation amplitudes down to 8 Pa.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 168781401982590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Wang ◽  
Yu-cheng Jing ◽  
Xiang-hui He ◽  
Hou-lin Liu

In order to enhance the efficiency of centrifugal pump, the structure of a centrifugal pump with vaned diffuser, whose specific speed is 190, was numerically improved by trimming back-blades of impeller and smoothing sharp corner in annular chamber. The energy performance, the internal flow field, the axial force, the radial force, and the pressure pulsation of the pump were analyzed. Results show that efficiency of the improving scheme 1 under the design flow rate is 77.47%, which can balance 69.82% of the axial force, while efficiency of the improving scheme 2 under the design flow rate is the maximum, which could still balance 62.74% of the axial force. The pressure pulsations of the improving scheme 2 at the typical monitoring points are less than that of the improving scheme 1 and the original scheme. The difference of the radial force peak between the improving scheme 1 and the improving scheme 2 is very small. The vector distributions of the radial force of the improving scheme 1 and the improving scheme 2 are more uniform than that of the original scheme. Considering the efficiency, pressure pulsation, and axial force, experiment measurements on the improving scheme 2 were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the improvement result. Results of energy performance experiment show that efficiency of the improving scheme 2 under the design flow rate is 76.48%, which is 5.26 percentage points higher than that of the original scheme.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-480
Author(s):  
Xiaoqi Jia ◽  
Sheng Yuan ◽  
Zuchao Zhu ◽  
Baoling Cui

Purpose Instantaneous radial force induced from unsteady flow will intensify vibration noise of the centrifugal pump, especially under off-design working conditions, which will affect safety reliability of pump operation in severe cases. This paper aims to conduct unsteady numerical computation on one centrifugal pump; thus, unsteady fluid radial force upon the impeller and volute is obtained, so as to study the evolution law of instantaneous radial force, the internal relationship between radial force and pressure pulsation, the relationship among each composition of radial force that the impeller received and the influence of leakage rate of front and back chamber on radial force. Design/methodology/approach The unsteady numerical simulation with SST k-ω turbulence model was carried out for a low specific-speed centrifugal pump using computational fluid dynamics codes FLUENT. The performance tests and pressure tests were conducted by a closed loop system. The performance curves and the pressure distribution from numerical simulation agree with that of the experiment conducted. The unsteady pressure distributions and the instantaneous radial forces induced from unsteady flow were analyzed under different flow rates. Contribution degrees of three components of the radial force on the impeller and the relation between the radial force and leakage rate were analyzed. Findings Radial force on the volute and pressure pulsation on the volute wall have the same distribution tendency, but in contrast to the distribution trend of the radial force on the impeller. In the component of radial force that the impeller received, radial force on the blade accounts for the main position. With the decrease of flow rate, ratio of the radial force on front and back casings will be increased; under large flow rate, vortex and flow blockage at volute section will enhance the pressure and radial force fluctuation greatly, and the pulsation degree may be much more intense than that of a smaller flow rate. Originality/value This paper revealed the relation of the radial force and the pressure pulsation. Meanwhile, contribution degrees of three components of the radial force on the impeller under different working conditions as well as the relation between the radial force and leakage rate of front and rear chambers were analyzed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Gao ◽  
Pengming Guo ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Zhong Li ◽  
MinGuan Yang

Intense pressure pulsation, resulted from the flow structure shedding from the blade trailing edge and its interaction with the volute tongue and the casing, is detrimental to the stable operation of centrifugal pumps. In the present study, unsteady pressure pulsation signals at different positions of the volute casing are extracted using high response pressure transducers at flow rate of 0–1.55ΦN. Emphasis is laid upon the influence of measuring position and operating condition on pressure pulsation characteristics, and components at the blade passing frequency fBPF and root-mean-square (RMS) values in 0–20.66fn frequency band are mainly analyzed. Results clearly show that the predominant components in pressure spectra always locate at fBPF. The varying trends versus flow rate of components at fBPF differ significantly for different points, and it is considered to be associated with the corresponding flow structures at particular positions of the volute casing. At the near-tongue region, high pressure amplitudes occur at the position of θ = 36 deg, namely the point at the after tongue region. For different measuring points, angular distributions of amplitudes at fBPF and RMS values in 0–20.66fn frequency band are not consistent and affected significantly by the pump operating conditions.


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