Numerical Investigation of Periodic Fluctuations in Energy Efficiency in Centrifugal Pumps at Different Working Points

Hehui Zhang, Shengxiang Deng and Yingjie Qu
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Hehui Zhang: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Shengxiang Deng: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Yingjie Qu: Hunan M &W Energy Saving Tech. Co., Ltd., Changsha 410208, China

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: In order to simulate the energy efficiency fluctuation behavior of an industrial centrifugal pump with a six-blade impeller, a full-scale three-dimensional (3D) an unsteady state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was used. Five operational points with different flow fluxes were numerically investigated by using the Navier–Stokes code with shear-stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model. The predicted performance curves agreed well with the test data. A sine function was fitted to the transient calculation results and the results show that the efficiency fluctuates mainly on the blade passing frequency, while the fluctuation level varies with flow rate. Furthermore, high efficiency is not necessarily associated with low fluctuation level. The efficiency fluctuation level is high at part-load points, and becomes relatively low when flow rate exceeds the design value. The effect of change in torque is greater than that of the head lift with respect to fluctuations of efficiency. Based upon the analysis of velocity vector distribution of different impeller phase positions, a hypothesis which considers both the effect of pump’s structural shape and flow fluxes was proposed to explain the above behavior by analyzing the impeller–tongue interaction. This work enriches the theoretical system of flow parameters fluctuation of centrifugal pump, and provides useful insight for the optimal design of centrifugal pumps.

Keywords: centrifugal pump; energy efficiency; computational fluid dynamics; fluctuation (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 references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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