This paper presents a large eddy simulation of a centrifugal pump impeller during a transient condition. The flow rate is sinusoidal and oscillates between 0.25Qd (Qd indicates design load) and 0.75Qd when the rotating speed is maintained. Research shows that in one period, the inlet flow rate will twice reach 0.5Qd, and among the impeller of one moment is a stall state, but the other is a non-stall state. In the process of flow development, the evolution of low-frequency pressure fluctuation shows an obviously sinusoidal form, whose frequency is insensitive to the monitoring position and equals to that of the flow rate. However, inside the impeller, the phase and amplitude in the stall passages lag behind more and are stronger than that in the non-stall passages. Meanwhile, the strongest region of the high-frequency pressure fluctuation appears in the stall passages at the transient rising stage. The second dominant frequency in stall passages is 2.5 times to that in non-stall passages. In addition, similar to the pressure fluctuation, the evolution of the low-frequency head shows a sinusoidal form, whose phase is lagging behind that by one-third of a period in the inlet flow rate.
Visualization of gas-liquid flow pattern in a centrifugal pump impeller and its influence on the pump performance
