Computational Study of the Noise Radiation in a Centrifugal Pump When Flow Rate Changes

Ming Gao, Peixin Dong, Shenghui Lei and Ali Turan
Additional contact information
Ming Gao: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Peixin Dong: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Shenghui Lei: Thermal Management Research Group, Efficient Energy Transfer (ηET) Department, Bell Labs Ireland, Nokia, Dublin D15 Y6NT, Ireland
Ali Turan: School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester M60 1QD, UK

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: Noise radiation is of importance for the performance of centrifugal pumps. Aiming at exploring noise radiation patterns of a typical centrifugal pump at different flow rates, a three-dimensional unsteady hydro/aero acoustic model with large eddy simulation (LES) closure is developed. Specifically, the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings model (FW-H) is employed to predict noise generation by the impeller and volute. The simulated flow fields reveal that the interactions of the blades with the volute induce root mean square (RMS) pressure and further lead to noise radiation. Moreover, it is found that the profiles of total sound pressure level ( TSPL ) regarding the directivity field for the impeller-generated noise demonstrate a typical dipole characteristic behavior, whereas strictly the volute-generated noise exhibits an apparently asymmetric behavior. Additionally, the design operation (Here, 1 Q represents the design operation) generates the lowest TSPL vis-a-vis the off-design operations for all the flow rates studied. In general, as the flow rates decrease from 1 Q to 0.25 Q, TSPL initially increases significantly before 0.75 Q and then levels off afterwards. A similar trend appears for cases having the larger flow rates (1–1.25 Q). The TSPL deviates with the radiation directivity and the maximum is about 50%. It is also found that TSPL by the volute and the blades can reach ~87 dB and ~70 dB at most, respectively. The study may offer a priori guidance for the experimental set up and the actual design layout.

Keywords: centrifugal pump; 3D flow field; varying flow rate; impeller and volute radiation noise; total sound pressure level ( TSPL ) (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: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/2/221/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/2/221/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:2:p:221-:d:90250

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().