Abstract
Clearance flow has great impact on pressure fluctuation of centrifugal pumps. Numerical calculations are performed to study the pressure fluctuation characteristics of centrifugal pump with wear ring clearance, especially in the regions of interaction between main flow and clearance flow (IMC) and clearance. The accuracy of numerical calculations is illustrated by comparing the experiments of performance and pressure fluctuation. Results show that, in clearance region the pressure fluctuation is still governed by blade passing frequency (fBPF). Its amplitude of dominate frequency of pressure fluctuation becomes larger as the probe approaches the impeller exit. In IMC region, the pressure fluctuation at impeller outlet is dominated by fBPF. However, the dominate frequency at the entrance of impeller is less than fBPF. In addition, as the flow rate increased, the amplitude of dominate frequency of pressure fluctuation increases at impeller entrance, whereas an inverse trend is observed at wear ring clearance region.
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Abbreviations
- c P :
-
Pressure fluctuation coefficient (−)
- b :
-
Wear ring clearance (mm)
- D :
-
Impeller diameter (mm)
- IMC :
-
Interaction between main flow and clearance flow
- I :
-
Clearance length of wear ring (mm)
- H :
-
Head (m)
- η :
-
Pump efficiency (%)
- n :
-
Rotation speed (r/min)
- n s :
-
Specific speed (η)
- p :
-
Static pressure (Pa)
- Q :
-
Flow rate (m3/h)
- u :
-
Impeller circumferential velocity (m/s)
- Z :
-
Blade number (−)
- 1 :
-
Inlet of impeller
- 2 :
-
Outlet of impeller
- d :
-
Design flow rate
- − :
-
Time average
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Acknowledgments
This work is performed with the support and under the auspices of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51536008 and 51976198), the Public Projects of Zhejiang Province (LGG19E060006), the Key Research and Promotion Special Funding Project of Henan Province (192102210222, 202102210286), and Research Foundation for Talented Scholars of Henan Institute of Technology (KQ1861).
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Lulu Zheng is currently a lecturer at Henan Institute of Technology, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in 2018. His main areas of interest are turbomachinery, clearance flow and computational fluid dynamics.
Xiaoping Chen is currently an Associate Professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. He received his Ph.D. degree from University of Chinese Academy of Science in 2013. His main areas of interest are turbomachinery, turbulent flow and computational fluid dynamics.
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Zheng, L., Chen, X., Zhang, W. et al. Investigation on characteristics of pressure fluctuation in a centrifugal pump with clearance flow. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 3657–3666 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0818-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0818-8