The effects of the rotor-stator interaction on unsteady pressure pulsation and radial force in a centrifugal pump

An unsteady numerical analysis has been conducted to study the strong interaction between impeller blade and volute tongue of a centrifugal pump. The 3-D-URANS equations were solved with the shear stress transport turbulence model for a wide range of flow rates. These unsteady interactions are mostly related to the unsteady radial force due to an imbalance in the pressure field at the impeller periphery. This force represents dynamic load that are one of the most important sources of vibration and hydraulic noise. Based on this phenomenon, this work analyzes and gives a more realistic prediction of the pressure fluctuation and the radial force during steady and unsteady calculation by considering the effect of the change in the pump operating point. Actually, the pressure fluctuations in the impeller and the volute were recorded by mounting nine monitoring points on the impeller and volute casing. The results of the existing analysis has proven that the pressure fluctuation is periodic due to the relative position of impeller blade to volute tongue. The characteristics of the time domain and frequency domain of the pressure pulsation were analyzed under different coupling conditions. Fast Fourier transform was performed to obtain the spectra of pressure pulsation. Besides, the steady and unsteady forces were calculated around the impeller periphery to fully characterize the pump behavior. The obtained pump performance curves were numerically compared with the experimental ones, and the outcome have shown an acceptable agreement between both curves.

Unsteady Pressure Measurements in a High-Speed Centrifugal Compressor

This paper presents the unsteady data acquisition system used to measure the pressure field in high speed compressors.Details and electronic sketches are given for the conditioners developed in-house that have been used to amplify and to filter the pressure signal with the aim of acquiring data up to 150 kHz.A discussion of the experimental results carried out in a centrifugal compressor is proposed.Through different processing of the pressure signals and a comparison with URANS simulations,the excitation of the pressure transducers by the pressure waves generated by shock waves that occur between the impeller and the diffuser is highlighted.The levels of pressure fluctuations measured when entering into surge are also presented and reveal very repetitive behaviour of the flow instabilities.

Experimental and numerical investigation on sound generation from airfoil-flow interaction

Aerodynamic noise due to interaction between incoming turbulence and rotating blades is an important component in the wind turbine noise. The rod-airfoil configuration is used to investigate the interactive phenomenon experimentally and nu- merically. Distribution of unsteady pressure on the airfoil surface is measured for different rod positions and airfoil attack angles. Two National Advisory Committee for Aeronatics （NACA） airfoils, NACA0012 and NACA0018, and two wind turbine airfoils, S809 and S825 are investigated. In addition, for low angles of attack, the flow field around the airfoil＇s leading edge is investigated with the particle image velocimetry （PIV）. The experimental results indicate that unsteady pressure disturbances on the airfoil surface are related to the rod vortex shedding. Meanwhile, the interaction flow field of the rod and NACA0012 airfoil is simulated with the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes method （URANS）, and the obtained pressure spectra are compared with the experimental results.

Investigation of pressure wave behaviors in the rotational speed effects on a pressure-exchange wave rotor

A wave rotor is suitable for compact and efficient pressure-exchange between gas flows.This work measured the circumferential pressure distribution of the rotor/stator interfaces and utilized a CFD method to simulate the unsteady pressure waves.The experimental and CFD results showed some slopes in the circumferential pressure distributions,and the slopes indicated the traces of specific unsteady pressure waves.Such traces varied regularly if the rotational speed varied within a range from-11%to+11%off the baseline value,but they were seriously disturbed if the rotational speed varied by-45%from the baseline value.It verified that a pressure wave in a wave rotor tended to keep its pressure ratio and propagation velocity unchanged if the rotational speed varied by a small extent,and that the pressure wave could not keep its propagation patterns if the rotational speed varied by a large extent.Because of the pressure wave behaviors,the wave rotor demonstrated specific regulations of the rotational speed effects on its operational states.

Detailed Analysis of the Flow in the Inducer of a Transonic Centrifugal Compressor

Numerical and experimental investigations were conducted in a transonic centrifugal compressor stage composed of a backswept splittered unshrouded impeller and a vaned diffuser. A detailed analysis of the flow in the inducer (i.e. the entry zone of the impeller between the main blade leading edge and the splitter blade leading edge) is proposed from choke to surge. Steady and unsteady simulations were performed using the code elsA, which uses a multi-domain approach on structured meshes and solves the compressible RANS equations, associated with a two-equation turbulence model k-l in the rotating frame of reference. The 1MW LMFA-ECL test rig was used for carrying out the tests in the compressor stage. Unsteady pressure measurements up to 150 kHz and Laser Doppler Anemometry measurements were performed in the inducer. A good agreement is obtained between the experimental and numerical data even if an over dissipation is noticed in the numerical results. The change in flow pattern from choke to surge is mainly due to a change in the tip leakage flow trajectory which straightens, leading to a flow blockage of an individual passage near shroud. A spectral analysis shows that only the blade passing frequency and its harmonics compose the various spectra obtained from choke to surge.

Supersonic Cavity Flows over Concave and Convex Walls

Supersonic cavity flows are characterized by compression and expansion waves, shear layer, and oscillations inside the cavity. For decades, investigations into cavity flows have been conducted, mostly with flows at zero pressure gradient entering the cavity in straight walls. Since cavity flows on curved walls exert centrifugal force, the features of these flows are likely to differ from those of straight wall flows. The aim of the present work is to study the flow physics of a cavity that is cut out on a curved wall. Steady and unsteady numerical simulations were carried out for supersonic flow through curved channels over the cavity with L/H = 1. A straight channel flow was also analyzed which serves as the base model. The velocity gradient along the width of the channel was observed to increase with increasing the channel curvature for both concave and convex channels. The pressure on the cavity floor increases with the increase in channel curvature for concave channels and decreases for convex channels. Moreover, unsteady flow characteristics are more dependent on channel curvature under supersonic free stream conditions.