Influence of various volute designs on volute overall performance

This paper discusses the influence of various volute designs on volute overall performance for a certain centrifugal compressor with both vaned and vaneless diffuser. Firstly, based on a free vortex flow pattern and the assumption of a circumferentially uniform flow at the design condition, a corrected method for volute design is adopted. By means of this method, corresponding to five geometric parameters affecting the volute overall performance, ten volute cases are designed. Secondly, the numerical simulation is employed and the detailed flow field and losses in different volutes with different geometric parameters are analyzed. The numerical investigation reveals that in all of the five geometric parameters, the radial location of the cross-section has the strongest influence on the performance of the volute. The non-uniform volute inlet formed by the upward vaned diffuser outlet flow is another important factor. Finally a relatively better value of D4/D2 is concluded.