A Review of Design Considerations of Centrifugal Pump Capability for Handling Inlet Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flows

Qifeng Jiang, Yaguang Heng, Xiaobing Liu, Weibin Zhang, Gérard Bois and Qiaorui Si
Additional contact information
Qifeng Jiang: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Xihua University, No. 999 Jinzhou road, Jinniu District, Chengdu 610039, China
Yaguang Heng: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Xihua University, No. 999 Jinzhou road, Jinniu District, Chengdu 610039, China
Xiaobing Liu: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Xihua University, No. 999 Jinzhou road, Jinniu District, Chengdu 610039, China
Weibin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery, Xihua University, No. 999 Jinzhou road, Jinniu District, Chengdu 610039, China
Gérard Bois: LMFL, FRE CNRS 3723, ENSAM, 8 Boulevard Louis XIV, 59046 Lille CEDEX, France
Qiaorui Si: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: Most of the pumps working under two phase flows conditions are used in petroleum industry applications, like electrical submersible pumps (ESP) for hydrocarbon fluids, in chemistry, nuclear industries and in agriculture for irrigation purposes as well. Two-phase flows always deteriorate overall pump performances compared with single flow conditions. Several papers have been published aiming to understand flow physics and to model all the main mechanisms that govern gas pocket formation and surging phenomena. These mechanisms depend on the pump type, the impeller geometry, the rotational speed, design and off-design liquid flow rate conditions, the volumetric gas fraction, the fluid properties and the inlet pressure. In the present paper, a review on two phase performances from various centrifugal pumps designs is presented, mainly based on experimental results. The main focus is devoted to detect the significant geometrical parameters that: (1) Modify the pump head degradation level under bubbly flow regime assumption; (2) Allow single stage centrifugal pumps keep working under two-phase flow conditions with high inlet void fraction values before pump shut down, whatever the pump performance degradations and liquid production rates should be. Because most of the published experimental studies are performed on dedicated laboratory centrifugal pump models, most of the present review is based on air-water mixtures as the working fluid with inlet pressures close to atmospheric conditions. The following review supposes that gas phase is considered as a non-condensable perfect gas, while the liquid phase is incompressible. Both phases are isolated from external conditions: neither mass nor heat transfer take place between the phases.

Keywords: two phase flows; centrifugal pump; review; design guidelines (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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