Slurry Flow and Erosion Prediction in a Centrifugal Pump after Long-Term Operation

Yexiang Xiao, Bao Guo, Soo-Hwang Ahn, Yongyao Luo, Zhengwei Wang, Guangtai Shi and Yanhao Li
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Yexiang Xiao: State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering & Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Bao Guo: State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering & Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Soo-Hwang Ahn: State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering & Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Yongyao Luo: State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering & Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhengwei Wang: State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering & Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Guangtai Shi: Key Laboratory of Fluid and Power Machinery (Xihua University), Ministry of Education, Sichuan 610039, China
Yanhao Li: China Three Gorges Corporation, Beijing 100038, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: After long-term operation, the material loss due to slurry erosion often leads to significant changes in the impeller geometry. This change can, in turn, affect the flow characteristics and the erosion mechanism in a centrifugal pump. To investigate this matter, we consider two geometric models based on a prototype stainless steel impeller, which failed due to huge erosion problems from the pulp slurry. These two models are different in the degree of wear, with one model at the pre-erosion stage and the other with worn blades. For both models, the flow characteristics have been obtained in the Eulerian reference frame by means of the SST k-ω model. Then, in order to determine the erosion patterns, the particles have been tracked in the Lagrangian reference frame. In this way, the influence of the flow characteristics on the erosion patterns has been analyzed. Results show that the geometric variations greatly affect the flow characteristics, and consequently the erosion patterns. Particularly, it has been found that the clearance flow plays a significant role in defining erosion characteristics, such as erosion distribution, areas, and rates. Interestingly, the simulation results for current study show that the erosion rates after long-term operation greatly decrease near both the outlet edge and the blade bottom. It follows also that for accurate erosion predictions, these geometric variations have to be considered in the numerical model. This paper provides a better understanding of the complex erosion mechanism in centrifugal pumps, which can help to reduce the wear in future designs.

Keywords: centrifugal pump; Lagrangian particle tracking; solid-liquid flow; erosion; CFD (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 (5)

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