Improvement of Internal Flow Performance of a Centrifugal Pump-As-Turbine (PAT) by Impeller Geometric Optimization

Jian Xu, Longyan Wang, Stephen Ntiri Asomani, Wei Luo and Rong Lu
Additional contact information
Jian Xu: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Longyan Wang: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Stephen Ntiri Asomani: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Wei Luo: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Rong Lu: National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China

Mathematics, 2020, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-23

Abstract: Rotor-stator interaction (RSI) in the centrifugal pump-as-turbine (PAT) is a significant source of high amplitude of the pressure pulsation and the flow-induced vibration, which is detrimental to the stable operation of PAT. It is therefore imperative to analyze the rotor-stator interaction, which can subsequently be used as a guideline for reducing the output of PAT noise, vibration and cavitation. In addition, it is important for a PAT to have a wide operating range preferably at maximum efficiency. In order to broaden the operating range, this work proposes a multi-condition optimization scheme based on numerical simulations to improve the performance of a centrifugal PAT. In this paper, the optimization of PAT impeller design variables (b 2 , β 1 , β 2 and z) was investigated to shed light upon its influence on the output efficiency and its internal flow characteristics. Thus, the aim of the study is to examine the unsteady pressure pulsation distributions within the PAT flow zones as a result of the impeller geometric optimization. The numerical results of the baseline model are validated by the experimental test for numerical accuracy of the PAT. The optimized efficiencies based on three operating conditions (1.0 Q d , 1.2 Q d , and 1.4 Q d ) were maximally increased by 13.1%, 8.67% and 10.62%, respectively. The numerical results show that for the distribution of PAT pressure pulsations, the RSI is the main controlling factor where the dominant frequencies were the blade passing frequency (BPF) and its harmonics. In addition, among the three selected optimum cases, the optimized case C model exhibited the highest level of pressure pulsation amplitudes, while optimized case B reported the lowest level of pressure pulsation.

Keywords: pump-as-turbine (PAT); geometric optimization; internal flow characteristics; rotor-stator interaction (RSI); blade passing frequency (BPF) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/8/10/1714/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/8/10/1714/ (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:jmathe:v:8:y:2020:i:10:p:1714-:d:423856

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

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