Analysis and Optimization of a Vaned Diffuser in a Mixed Flow Pump to Improve Hydrodynamic Performance

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Hyuk Kim ◽  
Kwang-Yong Kim

Hydrodynamic analysis and an optimization of a vaned diffuser in a mixed-flow pump are performed in this work. Numerical analysis is carried out by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the shear stress transport turbulence model. A validation of numerical results is conducted by comparison with experimental data for the head, power, and efficiency. An optimization process based on a radial basis neural network model is performed with four design variables that define the straight vane length ratio, the diffusion area ratio, the angle at the diffuser vane tip, and the distance ratio between the impeller blade trailing edge and the diffuser vane leading edge. Efficiency as a hydrodynamic performance parameter is selected as the objective function for optimization. The objective function is numerically assessed at design points selected by Latin hypercube sampling in the design space. The optimization yielded a maximum increase in efficiency of 9.75% at the design flow coefficient compared to a reference design. The performance curve for efficiency was also enhanced in the high flow rate region. Detailed internal flow fields between the reference and optimum designs are analyzed and discussed.

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Miner

This paper presents the results of a study using a coarse grid to analyze the flow in the impeller of a mixed flow pump. A commercial computational fluid dynamics code (FLOTRAN) is used to solve the 3-D Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations in a rotating cylindrical coordinate system. The standardk-εturbulence model is used. The mesh for this study uses 26,000 nodes and the model is run on a SPARCstation 20. This is in contrast to typical analyses using in excess of 100,000 nodes that are run on a super computer platform. The smaller mesh size has advantages in the design environment. Stage design parameters are, rotational speed 1185 rpm, flow coefficientφ=0.116, head coefficientψ=0.094, and specific speed 2.01 (5475 US). Results for the model include circumferentially averaged results at the leading and trailing edges of the impeller, and analysis of the flow field within the impeller passage. Circumferentially averaged results include axial and tangential velocities, static pressure, and total pressure. Within the impeller passage the static pressure and velocity results are presented on surfaces from the leading edge to the trailing edge, the hub to the shroud, and the pressure surface to the suction surface. Results of this study are consistent with the expected flow characteristics of mixed flow impellers, indicating that small CFD models can be used to evaluate impeller performance in the design environment.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Miner

This paper presents the results of a study using coarse grids to analyze the flow in the impellers of an axial flow pump and a mixed flow pump. A commercial CFD code (FLOTRAN) is used to solve the 3-D Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations in a rotating cylindrical coordinate system. The standard k−ε turbulence model is used. The meshes for this study use 22,000 nodes and 40,000 nodes for the axial flow impeller, and 26,000 nodes for the mixed flow impeller. Both models are run on a SPARCstation 20. This is in contrast to typical analyses using in excess of 100,000 nodes. The smaller mesh size has advantages in the design environment. Stage design parameters for the axial flow impeller are, rotational speed 870 rpm, flow coefficient ϕ=0.13, head coefficient ψ=0.06, and specific speed 2.97 (8101 US). For the mixed flow impeller the parameters are, rotational speed 890 rpm, flow coefficient ϕ=0.116, head coefficient ψ=0.094, and specific speed 2.01 (5475 US). Evaluation of the models is based on a comparison of circumferentially averaged results to measured data for the same impeller. Comparisons to measured data include axial and tangential velocities, static pressure, and total pressure. A comparison between the coarse and fine meshes for the axial flow impeller is included. Results of this study show that the computational results closely match the shapes and magnitudes of the measured profiles, indicating that coarse CFD models can be used to accurately predict performance. [S0098-2202(00)02202-1]


Author(s):  
Bo-Min Cho ◽  
Joon-Hyung Kim ◽  
Young-Seok Choi ◽  
Kyoung-Yong Lee ◽  
Hye-Young Oh ◽  
...  

This study presents the hydrodynamic analysis and optimization for a single-channel submersible pump impeller. The numerical analysis involved the use of the shear stress transport turbulence model to solve three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The optimization process was based on a radial basis neural network model and was conducted by considering two design variables to control the area from the inlet to the outlet of the impeller. The hydrodynamic performance of the pump impeller was optimized by selecting the efficiency as the objective function. The objective function was numerically assessed via Latin hypercube sampling at design points selected in the design space, and the optimization yielded a maximum increase in efficiency of approximately 1% in terms of the design flow rate, as compared to the initial design. The performance curve for the efficiency was also improved in the high flow rate region. Further details of the internal flow fields between the reference and optimum designs are also analyzed and discussed in this work.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven M. Miner

A commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is used to compute the flow field within the first-stage rotor and stator of a two-stage mixed flow pump. The code solves the 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations in rotating and stationary cylindrical coordinate systems for the rotor and stator, respectively. Turbulence effects are modeled using a standardk−εturbulence model. Stage design parameters are rotational speed890 rpm, flow coefficientφ=0.116, head coefficientψ=0.094, and specific speed2.01(5475 US). Results from the study include velocities, and static and total pressures for both the rotor and stator. Comparison is made to measured data for the rotor. The comparisons in the paper are for circumferentially averaged results and include axial and tangential velocities, static pressure, and total pressure profiles. Results of this study show that the computational results closely match the shapes and magnitudes of the measured profiles, indicating that CFD can be used to accurately predict performance.


Author(s):  
Jin-Hyuk Kim ◽  
Chong-Hwi Jin ◽  
Kwang-Yong Kim

This paper presents an optimization procedure for high-efficiency design of a vane diffuser in a mixed-flow pump. Optimization techniques based on a radial basis neural network model are used to improve the performance of a vane diffuser in a mixed-flow pump. In flow analyses, three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the shear stress transport turbulence model are discretized by using finite volume approximations and solved on hexahedral grids to evaluate the efficiency as the objective function. The numerical results are validated through a comparison with experimental data for the head, power and efficiency. Latin-hypercube sampling method as design-of-experiments is used to generate the design points within the design space. In order to improve the efficiency of a mixed-flow pump, four variables defining the lean angle at diffuser vane tip span, the distance between trailing edge of impeller blade and leading edge of diffuser vane, the straight vane length ratio, and the diffusion area ratio are selected as design variables in the present optimization. As a result of the present study, the efficiency at the design point is remarkably enhanced through the design optimization.


Author(s):  
Yo Han Jung ◽  
Young Uk Min ◽  
Jin Young Kim

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the effect of tip clearance on the suction performance and flow characteristics at different flow rates in a vertical mixed-flow pump. Numerical analyses were carried out by solving three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Steady computations were performed for three different tip clearances under noncavitating and cavitating conditions at design and off-design conditions. The pump performance test was performed for the mixed-flow pump and numerical results were validated by comparing the experimental data for a system characterized by the original tip clearance. It was shown that for large tip clearance, the head breakdown occurred earlier at the design and high flow rates. However, the head breakdown was quite delayed at low flow rate. This resulted from the cavitation structure caused by the tip leakage flow at different flow rates.


Author(s):  
Leilei Ji ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Weidong Shi ◽  
Fei Tian ◽  
Shuo Li ◽  
...  

In order to study the effect of different numbers of impeller blades on the performance of mixed-flow pump “saddle zone”, the external characteristic test and numerical simulation of mixed-flow pumps with three different impeller blade numbers were carried out. Based on high-precision numerical prediction, the internal flow field and tip leakage flow field of mixed flow pump under design conditions and stall conditions are investigated. By studying the vorticity transport in the stall flow field, the specific location of the high loss area inside the mixed flow pump impeller with different numbers of blades is located. The research results show that the increase in the number of impeller blades improve the pump head and efficiency under design conditions. Compared to the 4-blade impeller, the head and efficiency of the 5-blade impeller are increased by 5.4% and 21.9% respectively. However, the increase in the number of blades also leads to the widening of the “saddle area” of the mixed-flow pump, which leads to the early occurrence of stall and increases the instability of the mixed-flow pump. As the mixed-flow pump enters the stall condition, the inlet of the mixed-flow pump has a spiral swirl structure near the end wall for different blade numbers, but the depth and range of the swirling flow are different due to the change in the number of blades. At the same time, the change in the number of blades also makes the flow angle at 75% span change significantly, but the flow angle at 95% span is not much different because the tip leakage flow recirculates at the leading edge. Through the analysis of the vorticity transport results in the impeller with different numbers of blades, it is found that the reasons for the increase in the values of the vorticity transport in the stall condition are mainly impacted by the swirl flow at the impeller inlet, the tip leakage flow at the leading edge and the increased unsteady flow structures.


Author(s):  
Leilei Ji ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Weidong Shi ◽  
Ramesh Agarwal

This paper investigates the influence of different tip clearances on the transient characteristics of mixed-flow pump under stall condition. The instantaneous internal flow fields of mixed-flow pump with four tip clearances (0.2 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm and 1.1 mm) are explored by conducting unsteady time accurate simulations. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are employed in the simulations and the results of computations are compared with experimental data. The results show that the pump head decreases by 22.1% and the pump efficiency drops by 13.9% at design flow condition when the impeller tip clearance increases from 0.2 mm to 1.1 mm. The swirling flow occurs in the inlet pipe of the mixed-flow pump with different tip clearances under stall condition, and the initial starting point of the swirling flow gets further away from the impeller inlet with increase in tip clearance because of increase in circumferential velocity and change in momentum of the tip leakage flow (TLF). The high turbulent eddy dissipation (TED) regions in the flow are attributed to the TLF, swirling flow, back flow and stall vortex, and their intensity are affected by the change in tip clearance. The oscillating trend of time domain distribution of TED enhances first and then decreases with increase in tip clearance and it exhibits a propagation feature under the effect of stall vortex, while most of the energy in the frequency domain remains concentrated in the low frequency part under stall condition.


Author(s):  
Guangtai Shi ◽  
Zongku Liu ◽  
Yexiang Xiao ◽  
Helin Li ◽  
Xiaobing Liu

To investigate the effect of tip clearance on the velocity distribution in a multiphase pump, the internal flow and velocity distribution characteristics in pump under different tip clearances are studied using experimental and numerical methods. Simulations based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) and the standard k-ε turbulence model are carried out using ANSYS CFX. Under conditions of inlet gas void fraction (IGVF) is 5% at the flow rate of 0.6Q, 0.7Q and 0.8Q (Q is the design flow rate), the accuracy of the numerical method is verified by comparing with the experimental data using high-speed photography. Results show that the leakage flow interacts with the main flow and evolves into the tip leakage vortex (TLV). Due to the TLV, the pressure, velocity, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), vorticity and streamlines on the S2 stream surface in the impeller and diffuser are changed greatly under different tip clearances. The velocities at the impeller outlet and diffuser inlet along the radial direction are also changed. The axial velocity distribution is similar to the meridional velocity distribution at the impeller blade outlet. While the relative velocity and absolute velocity distribution show the opposite trends. In addition, the vorticity is larger near the tip separated vortex and the hydraulic loss in pump is also increased due to the TLV.


Author(s):  
Hyeonmo Yang ◽  
Sung Kim ◽  
Kyoung-Yong Lee ◽  
Young-Seok Choi ◽  
Jin-Hyuk Kim

One of the best examples of wasted energy is the selection of oversized pumps versus the rated conditions. Oversized pumps are forced to operate at reduced flows, far from their highest efficiency point. An unnecessarily large impeller will produce more flow than required, wasting energy. In the industrial field, trimming the impeller diameter is used more than changing the rotation speed to reduce the head of a pump. In this paper, the impeller trimming method of a mixed-flow pump is defined, and the variation in pump performance by reduction of the impeller diameter was predicted based on computational fluid dynamics. The impeller was trimmed to the same meridional ratio of the hub and shroud, and was compared in five cases. Numerical analysis was performed, including the inlet and outlet pipes in configurations of the mixed-flow pump to be tested. The commercial CFD code, ANSYS CFX-14.5, was used for the numerical analysis, and a three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with a shear stress transport turbulence model were used to analyze incompressible turbulence flow. The performance parameters for evaluating the trimmed pump impellers were defined as the total efficiency and total head at the designed flow rate. The numerical and experimental results for the trimmed pump impellers were compared and discussed in this work.


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