Investigation of the Noise Induced by Unstable Flow in a Centrifugal Pump

Jiaxing Lu, Xiaobing Liu, Yongzhong Zeng, Baoshan Zhu, Bo Hu and Hong Hua
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Jiaxing Lu: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of Education, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Xiaobing Liu: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of Education, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Yongzhong Zeng: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of Education, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China
Baoshan Zhu: Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Bo Hu: Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Hong Hua: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Ministry of Education, Xihua University, Chengdu 610039, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: In order to investigate the mechanism and the characteristics of the noise induced by unstable flow in a centrifugal pump, the internal flow characteristics in the pump were numerically researched, and the acoustic pressure fluctuations at the pump inlet and outlet were experimentally investigated. Obvious corresponding relationships between the flow instabilities, the cavitation and the noise were established. It was found that the rotating stall, the backflow, the hump, the occurrence of unstable flow and the cavitation in such a centrifugal pump were effectively detected through the noise, which could help to provide fundamental information on flow instabilities and guarantee safe and steady operating conditions for the system. The recirculation and prewhirl regions in the pump upstream pipe, which were caused by the backflow and the rotation of the impeller, presented the circumferential movement with a spiral shape, causing apparent broadband fluctuations at low frequency band of the acoustic pressure. The backflow and rotating stall could also result in broadband fluctuations of the pump outlet noise, which was distributed from 100 Hz to 150 Hz. Meanwhile, the broadband fluctuations of the pump outlet acoustic pressure distributed in the low frequency range, which was produced by the occurrence of cavitation, moved to the lower frequency band as the flow rate increased. The enhanced broadband fluctuations of the pump inlet and outlet noise distributed from 1 kHz to 6 kHz were caused by the coupling between the cavitation-induced noise and the system-produced noise. The broadband fluctuations of the pump inlet noise distributed between 6 kHz and 9 kHz were regarded as the typical frequency band of cavitation in the centrifugal pump.

Keywords: centrifugal pump; unstable flow; cavitation; noise; detection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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