Impact of Impeller Stagger Angles on Pressure Fluctuation for a Double-Suction Centrifugal Pump

Pressure fluctuation may cause high amplitude of vibration of double-suction centrifugal pumps, but the impact of impeller stagger angles is still not well understood. In this paper, pressure fluctuation experiments are carried out for five impeller configurations with different stagger angles by using the same test rig system. Results show that the stagger angles exert negligible effects on the characteristics of head and efficiency. The distributions of pressure fluctuations are relatively uniform along the suction chamber wall, and the maximum pressure fluctuation amplitude is reached near the suction inlet tongue region. The pressure fluctuation characteristics are affected largely by impeller rotation, whose dominant frequencies include impeller rotation frequency and its harmonic frequencies, and half blade passage frequency. The stagger angle exerts a small effect on the pressure fluctuations in the suction chamber while a great effect on the pressure fluctuation in volute casing, especially on the aspect of decreasing the amplitude on blade passage frequency. Among the tested cases, the distribution of pressure fluctuations in the volute becomes more uniform than the other impeller configurations and the level of pressure fluctuation may be reduced by up to 50% when the impeller stagger angle is close to 24° or 360°.The impeller structure pattern needs to be taken into consideration during the design period, and the halfway staggered impeller is strongly recommended.

Unsteady flow structures in centrifugal pump under two types of stall conditions

The stall is an unsteady flow phenomenon that always causes instabilities and low efficiency for pumps. This paper focuses on the unsteady flow structures and evolutions under two types of stall conditions in centrifugal pump impellers. Two centrifugal pump impellers, one with 6 and another with 5 blades, are considered and a developed large-eddy simulation method is adopted. The results show that the alternative stall occurs in the impeller with 6 blades, while, the rotating stall is observed in that with 5 blades. The flow structure and the pressure fluctuation characteristics are further analyzed. For the alternative stall, the stall cells are fixed relative to the impeller, but a large vortex in the stalled passage is always swaying. The outlet vortex is generated from it, and then develops and sheds periodically. For the rotating stall, the stall cells first occur in the suction side of the blade. With the growth of the stall cells, the block area gradually increases until the inlet region is almost blocked, then moves to the pressure side with a continuous decay. When the rotating stall occurs, the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation is much larger than that under the alternative stall condition. The propagation of the stall cells has a significant effect on the pressure fluctuations in the impeller.