A CFD Study on the Mechanisms Which Cause Cavitation in Positive Displacement Reciprocating Pumps

A transient multiphase CFD （computational fluid dynamics） model was set up to investigate the main causes which lead to cavitation in PD （positive displacement） reciprocating pumps. Many authors agree on distinguishing two different types of cavitation affecting PD pumps： flow induced cavitation and cavitation due to expansion. The flow induced cavitation affects the zones of high fluid velocity and consequent low static pressure e.g. the valve-seat volume gap while the cavitation due to expansion can be detected in zones where the decompression effects are important e.g. in the vicinity of the plunger. This second factor is a distinctive feature of PD pumps since other devices such as centrifugal pumps are only affected by the flow induced type. Unlike what has been published in the technical literature to date, where analysis of positive displacement pumps are based exclusively on experimental or analytic methods, the work presented in this paper is based entirely on a CFD approach, it discusses the appearance and the dynamics of these two phenomena throughout an entire pumping cycle pointing out the potential of CFD techniques in studying the causes of cavitation and assessing the consequent loss of performance in positive displacement pumps.

Study on cavitation of liquid nitrogen in pumps induced by coupling of pressure drop and external temperature

A cryogenic pump is a kind of pump for transporting low-temperature fluid.The medium in the cryogenic pump is prone to cavitation.To study the cavitation of liquid nitrogen in the pump induced by the coupling of pressure drop and external heating,the Zwart cavitation model and SST k-ωturbulence model were used,and the functional relationship between saturated steam pressure and the temperature was imported into CFX software by CEL language for solution.The external characteristics and internal flow of the cryogenic pump at different inner wall temperatures of volute were analyzed.The results show that when the temperature of the inner volute wall is above 128 K at the inlet pressure of 0.078 MPa,the pressure distribution in the volute changes significantly,the head and efficiency of the cryogenic pump decrease significantly,and the external temperature has a significant impact on the performance of the cryogenic pump.When the temperature of the inner volute wall is lower than 128 K,the temperature of the inner volute wall has little effect on the pressure distribution in the volute.Due to the heat absorption of cavitation,the temperature of the cavitation area in the impeller decreases.The influence of inlet pressure on the temperature distribution in the volute can be ignored.Affected by the external temperature,the high-temperature area in the pump is mainly distributed near the volute tongue and the inner volute wall,and the cavitation area in the volute is also distributed near the same position.The vapor volume fraction in this area increases with the inner wall temperature.The research results have reference values for selecting thermal insulation measures and improving cavitation resistance.

Cavitation recognition of axial piston pumps in noisy environment based on Grad-CAM visualization technique

The cavitation in axial piston pumps threatens the reliability and safety of the overall hydraulic system.Vibration signal can reflect the cavitation conditions in axial piston pumps and it has been combined with machine learning to detect the pump cavitation.However,the vibration signal usually contains noise in real working conditions,which raises concerns about accurate recognition of cavitation in noisy environment.This paper presents an intelligent method to recognise the cavitation in axial piston pumps in noisy environment.First,we train a convolutional neural network(CNN)using the spectrogram images transformed from raw vibration data under different cavitation conditions.Second,we employ the technique of gradient-weighted class activation mapping(Grad-CAM)to visualise class-discriminative regions in the spectrogram image.Finally,we propose a novel image processing method based on Grad-CAM heatmap to automatically remove entrained noise and enhance class features in the spectrogram image.The experimental results show that the proposed method greatly improves the diagnostic performance of the CNN model in noisy environments.The classification accuracy of cavitation conditions increases from 0.50 to 0.89 and from 0.80 to 0.92 at signal-to-noise ratios of 4 and 6 dB,respectively.

Research on Cavitation Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Herringbone Gear Pump

Cavitation is a common issue in pumps,causing a decrease in pump head,a fall in volumetric efficiency,and an intensification of outlet flow pulsation.It is one of the main hazards that affect the regular operation of the pump.Research on pump cavitation mainly focuses on mixed flow pumps,jet pumps,external spur gear pumps,etc.However,there are few cavitation studies on external herringbone gear pumps.In addition,pumps with different working principles significantly differ in the flow and complexity of the internal flow field.Therefore,it is urgent to study the cavitation characteristics of external herringbone gear pumps.Compared with experimentalmethods,visual research and cavitation area identification are achieved through computation fluid dynamic(CFD),and changing the boundary conditions and shape of the gear rotor is easier.The simulation yields a head error of only 0.003%under different grid numbers,and the deviation between experimental and simulation results is less than 5%.The study revealed that cavitation causes flow pulsation at the outlet,and the cavitation serious area is mainly distributed in the meshing gap and meshing area.Cavitation can be inhibited by reducing the speed,increasing the inlet pressure,and changing the helix angle can be achieved.For example,when the inlet pressure is 5 bar,the maximumgas volume fraction in themeshing area is less than 50%.These results provide a reference for optimizing the design and finding the optimal design parameters to reduce or eliminate cavitation.

Influence of Cavitation on Unsteady Vortical Flows in a Side Channel Pump

Previous investigation on side channel pump mainly concentrates on parameter optimization and internal unsteady vortical flows.However,cavitation is prone to occur in a side channel pump,which is a challenging issue in promoting performance.In the present study,the cavitating flow is investigated numerically by the turbulence model of SAS combined with the Zwart cavitation model.The vapors inside the side channel pump firstly occur in the impeller passage near the inlet and then spread gradually to the downstream passages with the decrease of NPSHa.Moreover,a strong adverse pressure gradient is presented at the end of the cavity closure region,which leads to cavity shedding from the wall.The small scaled vortices in each passage reduce significantly and gather into larger vortices due to the cavitation.Comparing the three terms of vorticity transport equation with the vapor volume fraction and vorticity distributions,it is found that the stretching term is dominant and responsible for the vorticity production and evolution in cavitating flows.In addition,the magnitudes of the stretching term decrease once the cavitation occurs,while the values of dilatation are high in the cavity region and increase with the decreasing NPSHa.Even though the magnitude of the baroclinic torque term is smaller than vortex stretching and dilatation terms,it is important for the vorticity production along the cavity surface and near the cavity closure region.The pressure fluctuations in the impeller and side channel tend to be stronger due to the cavitation.The primary frequency of monitor points in the impeller is 24.94 Hz and in the side channel is 598.05 Hz.They are quite corresponding to the shaft frequency of 25 Hz(fshaft=1/n=25 Hz)and the blade frequency of 600 Hz(fblade=Z/n=600 Hz)respectively.This study complements the investigation on cavitation in the side channel pump,which could provide the theoretical foundation for further optimization of performance.

DETECTION OF CAVITATION IN CENTRIFUGAL PUMP BY VIBRATION METHODS

For the purpose of detecting the cavitation of centrifugal pump onsite and real time, the vibration signals on varied operation conditions of both cavitation and non-cavitation obtained through acceleration sensors were analyzed. When cavitation occurs, the cavities near the leading edge of the blade will appear periodic oscillating, which will induce quasi-synchronous vibration. The frequency of the quasi-synchronous vibration symmetrically appears on the two sides of the blade passing frequency, by which the cavitation incipiency can be detected. During the developing process of the cavitation, as the severe complexity of the unsteady flow, it is very difficult to detect the development of cavitation by classical analysis methods. Fractal method of Higuchi is successfully used for detecting the incipiency, fully development of cavitation and the development between them.

DISCOVERY AND ANALYSIS ON CAVI TATION IN PIEZOELECTRIC PUMPS

The contributing factors for the cavitation in piezoelectric pumps areanalyzed, theoretically, and the device fitting for observing and recording is set up. With it theexperiments are carried out to observe the emergence and the flowing of the cavitations in thepiezoelectric pumps. According to the statistic and the analysis to the data of the experiments, thepeculiar features are discovered. These features are composed of balls-amassing, center-more, andflow-out.

Unsteady Flow and Structural Behaviors of Centrifugal Pump under Cavitation Conditions

Cavitation has a significant e ect on the flow fields and structural behaviors of a centrifugal pump. In this study, the unsteady flow and structural behaviors of a centrifugal pump are investigated numerically under di erent cavitation conditions. A strong two-way coupling fluid-structure interaction simulation is applied to obtain interior views of the e ects of cavitating bubbles on the flow and structural dynamics of a pump. The renormalization-group k-ε turbulence model and the Zwart–Gerbe–Belamri cavitation model are solved for the fluid side, while a transient structural dynamic analysis is employed for the structure side. The di erent cavitation states are mapped in the head-net positive suction head(H-NPSH) curves and flow field features inside the impeller are fully revealed. Results indicate that cavitating bubbles grow and expand rapidly with decreasing NPSH. In addition, the pressure fluctuations, both in the impeller and volute, are quantitatively analyzed and associated with the cavitation states. It is shown that influence of the cavitation on the flow field is critical, specifically in the super-cavitation state. The e ect of cavitation on the unsteady radial force and blade loads is also discussed. The results indicate that the averaged radial force increased from 8.5 N to 54.4 N in the transition progress from an onset cavitation state to a super-cavitation state. Furthermore, the structural behaviors, including blade deformation, stress, and natural frequencies, corresponding to the cavitation states are discussed. A large volume of cavitating bubbles weakens the fluid forces on the blade and decreases the natural frequencies of the rotor system. This study could enhance the understanding of the e ects of cavitation on pump flow and structural behaviors.

Experimental Study of Cavitation Phenomenon in a Centrifugal Blood Pump Induced by the Failure of Inlet Cannula

Cavitation of centrifugal blood pump is a serious problem accompany with the blocking failure of short inlet cannula. However, hardly any work has been seen in published literature on this complex cavitation phenomenon caused by the coupling effect of inlet cannula blocking and pumps suction. Even for cavitation studies on ordinary centrifugal pumps, similar researches on this issue are rare. In this paper, the roles of throttling, rotation speed and fluid viscosity on bubble inception and intensity in a centrifugal blood pump are studied, on the basis of experimental observations. An adjustable throttle valve installed just upstream blood pump inlet is used to simulate the throttling effect of the narrowed inlet cannula. The rotation speed is adjusted from 2 600 r/rain to 3 200 r/min. Glycerin water solutions are used to investigate the influences of kinetic viscosity. Bubbles are recorded with a high-speed video camera. Direct observation shows that different from cavitation in industrial centrifugal pumps, gas nuclei appears at the nearby of vane leading edges while throttling is light, then moves upstream to the joint position of inlet pipe and pump with the closing of the valve. It＇s found that the critical inlet pressure, obtained when bubbles are first observed, decreases linearly with viscosity and the slope is independent with rotation speeds; the critical inlet pressure and the inlet extreme pressure which is obtained when the throttle valve is nearly closed, fall linearly with rotation speed respectively and the relative pressure between them is independent with rotation speed and fluid viscosity. This paper studies experimentally on cavitation in centrifugal blood pump that caused by the failure of assembled short inlet cannula, which mav beneficial the desima of centrifugal blood Dumo with inlet cannula.

Theoretical analysis of effect of solid phase on cavitation performance of deep-sea mining pump

In view of the present situation of low cavitation performance of deep-sea mining slurry pump, the effect of solid phase on the cavitation performance of deep-sea mining pump is analyzed theoretically. The relationship between gas and liquid phases are established by cavitation nucleon theory and mass energy equation as well as solid phase and liquid phase, and then we explored the relationship between gas phase and solid phase. The results show that the critical bubble radius and solid-phase concentration flow rate during the cavitation can be related to the liquid pressure. Eq.(19) show that the larger the solid particle concentration and the solid phase flow, the earlier the cavitation will occur, and pump anti-cavitation performance will decline.

Numerical Simulation of Cavitation in a Centrifugal Pump at Low Flow Rate

Based on the full cavitation model which adopts homogeneous flow supposition and considering the compressibility effect on cavitation flow to modify the re-normalization group k-e turbulence model by the density function,a computational model is developed to simulate cavitation flow of a centrifugal pump at low flow rate.The NavierStokes equation is solved with the SIMPLEC algorithm.The calculated curves of net positive suction head available (NPSHa) HNPSHa agree well with the experimental data.The critical point of cavitation in centrifugal pump can be predicted precisely,and the NPSH critical values derived from simulation are consistent with the experimental data.Thus the veracity and reliability of this computational model are verified.Based on the result of numerical simulation,the distribution of vapor volume fraction in the impeller and pressure at the impeller inlet are analyzed.Cavities first appear on the suction side of the blade head near the front shroud.A large number of cavities block the impeller channels,which leads to the sudden drop of head at the cavitation critical point.With the reduction of NPSHa,the distribution of pressure at the impeller inlet is more uniform.

Unsteady Cavitation Analysis Using Phase Averaging and Conditional Approaches in a 2D Venturi Flow

The present study refers to a cavitating Venturi type section geometry characterized by a convergent angle of 18°?and a divergent angle of about 8°?where the sheet cavity presents typical self-oscillation behavior with quasi-periodic vapor clouds shedding. This work is an extension of previous works concerning void ratio measurements and velocity fields using double optical probe and constitutes a complete analysis of the two-phase structure of unsteady cavitating flow. This paper provides a new method based on conditional and phase averaging technique with wall pressure signal to treat experimental data in order to evaluate more precisely time-averaged and rms values of the void ratio and instantaneous velocity fields. Conditional analysis shows a different behavior of the two-phase flow dynamics leading to highlight high void ratio events linked to the break-off cycle. Unsteady phase averaging of the optical probe signal gives the evolution of the void ratio at each studied location in the venturi and shows that the fluctuations close to the wall (where the re-entrant jet is predominant) are in phase with the upper part of the cavity instead of the thickness of the cavity which is unchanged.

Raising the Speed Limit of Axial Piston Pumps by Optimizing the Suction Duct

The maximum delivery pressure and the maximum rotational speed determine the power density of axial piston pumps.However,increasing the speed beyond the limit always accompanies cavitation,leading to the decrease of the volumetric efficiency.The pressure loss in the suction duct is considered a significant reason for the cavitation.Therefore,this paper proposes a methodology to optimize the shape of the suction duct aiming at reducing the intensity of cavitation and increasing the speed limit.At first,a computational fluid dynamics(CFD)model based on the full cavitation model(FCM)is developed to simulate the fluid field of the axial piston pump and a test rig is set to validate the model.Then the topology optimization is conducted for obtaining the minimum pressure loss in the suc-tion duct.Comparing the original suction duct with the optimized one in the simulation model,the pressure loss in the suction duct gets considerable reduction,which eases the cavitation intensity a lot.The simulation results prove that the speed limit can increase under several different inlet pressures.

Effects of silt particle on cavitation flow in centrifugal pump

Based on numerical method, effects of silt particle with certain silt mean diameter and silt concentration on the evolution of cavitation in a centrifugal pump were studied. Silt mean diameter 0.005 mm and silt concentration 1.0% were adopted in numerical simulations. Cavitation flow in a flat- nosed cylinder was simulated to validate the designed algorithm. Cavitaton flows of water and silt-laden water were simulated and compared. The results indicate that the silt particles promote the evolution of cavitation. At the outlet pressure of 6.0×10^5 Pa, cavitation bubbles do not exist in the water flow, but a few cavitation bubbles appeare in the silt-laden water flow, demonstrating the silt particles induce the formation of cavitation bubbles. At the outlet pressure of 5.29×10^5 Pa, the vapor volume fraction in the silt-laden water flow is much larger than that in the water flow, indicating that the silt particles enhance the evolution of cavitation. The properties of silt particle, static pressure, flow field structure, turbulent kinetic energy and density difference have a close relationship with the evolution of cavitation.

Investigating the Validity of Acoustic Spectrum as a Prediction Tool for Pump Cavitation

Cavitation in pumps causes destructive consequences;it must be detected and prevented. The aim of the present work is investigating the validity of sound spectrum as a prediction tool for pump cavitation. Results showed that;for the discrete frequencies of RF = 47.5 Hz, and BPF = 285 Hz and its second, third, and fourth harmonics of 570 Hz, 855 Hz, and 1140 Hz respectively;there are no great variations in the noise signal for the cavitation and non-cavitation conditions. For the discrete frequency of 147 Hz, there is also no great variation in the noise signal at this frequency. The only apparent result is that;the occurrence of cavitation results high energy noise signals at high frequencies from 1000 Hz to 10000 Hz. The absence of any discrete frequency to be monitored makes the sound spectrum not valid as a prediction tool for cavitation in the pumps.

Research on blade tip clearance cavitation and turbulent kinetic energy characteristics of axial flow pump based on the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes model

To reveal the cavitation forms of tip leakage vortex(TLV)of the axial flow pump and the flow mechanism of the flow field,this research adopts the partially-averaged Navier-Stokes(PANS)model to simulate the cavitation values of an axial flow pump,followed by experimental validation.The experimental result shows that compared with the shear stress transport(SST)k-ωmodel,the PANS model significantly reduces the eddy viscosity of the flow field to make the vortex structure clearer and allow the turbulence scale to be more robustly analyzed.The cavitation area within the axial flow pump mainly comprises of TLV cavitation,clearance cavitation and tip leakage flows combined effect of triangular cloud cavitation formed.The formation and development of cavitation are accompanied by the formation and evolution of vortex,and variations in vortex structure also generate and promote the development of cavitation.In addition,an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the turbulent kinetic energy(TKE)transport equation and cavitation patterns was also conducted,finding that the regions with relatively high TKE are mainly distributed around gas/liquid boundaries with serious cavitation and evident gas-liquid change.This phenomenon is mainly attributed to the combined effect of the pressure action term,stress diffusion term and TKE production term.

叶片隆起对离心泵空化性能的影响

提出一种在叶片工作面布置隆起结构来提高离心泵抗空化性能的方法,基于RNG k-ε湍流模型和Kubota空化模型对离心泵非定常工况下的空化流动进行数值模拟,并对初始叶型和隆起叶型下的空化发展进行对比分析.结果表明:在未发生空化阶段,隆起叶型的泵扬程较初始光滑叶型有小幅度下降;在空化数减小至0.43时,隆起叶型的扬程大于原始叶型,其中隆起直径为2 mm的扬程最高;隆起结构延缓了空化的发生,表现出对空化现象的良好抑制效果;在空化发展阶段,叶片工作面的隆起结构增大了叶片工作面面积和表面粗糙度,改变了叶轮内部流道结构,在近壁面处形成了相对高压和高湍动能区域,增大了压力梯度,减小了叶轮进口低压区面积,有效抑制空化的发生和发展,减小空泡体积;在不同的空化发展阶段,隆起结构在工作面的不同位置未对空化发展产生明显影响.

诱导轮对高速液氧泵空化流场影响研究

高抗空化诱导轮可以改善液氧泵的空化特性,提高大推力火箭的可靠性。基于计算流体力学方法,建立了高速液氧泵的流动仿真模型,通过三组试验工况验证了模型准确性,研究了诱导轮叶片数对液氧泵性能和空化特性的影响。结果表明:使用诱导轮可以减小离心轮空化面积,代偿离心轮的汽蚀,提高液氧泵扬程;在入口流量和出口压力不变的条件下,增加诱导轮叶片数,液氧泵的效率增加,扬程降低,离心轮空化面积增加,诱导轮代偿离心轮汽蚀能力削弱。综合考虑液氧泵性能参数和空化特性,三叶片诱导轮能够满足大推力液体火箭的高可靠性要求。

Numerical Study of Unsteady Flows with Cavitation in a High-Speed MicroCentrifugal Pump

The unsteady flows caused by the interaction between the impeller and the volute in a high-speed micro centrifugal pump are numerically studied. The internal flows of both with and without cavitations are analyzed using the CFX. The characteristics of unsteady pressure on the blade surfaces and the symmetric plane of the volute are presented and compared. The results show that the amplitudes of pressure fluctuations of critical cavitation on the blade pressure surface (PS) are bigger as compared with those at the non-cavitation condition, but on the suction surface (SS), the situation is on the contrary. When cavitation occurs, reduction of load in the impeller is a result. In the present study, such reduction of load is observed mainly on the first half of the blades. Pressure fluctuations at five monitoring points, denoted by WK1 to WK5 in the volute, are also analyzed. No matter at the critical cavitation or at the non-cavitation conditions, the monitored pressure fluctuations are at the same frequencies, which equal to the blade passing frequency (BPF) and its multiples. However, the amplitudes of the fluctuations at critical cavitation condition are considerably stronger, as compared with those for without cavitation. © 2017, Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

斜盘式轴向柱塞泵空化特性分析

针对斜盘式轴向柱塞泵的空化现象,建立了斜盘式轴向柱塞泵全流域模型,采用计算流体力学方法研究了全流域空化特性分布,分析了排油口负载压力、缸体转速和斜盘倾角等工况参数对全流域空化特性的影响规律。研究表明:空化主要发生在吸油区的吸油口、配流盘和柱塞腔区域,空化随气相体积分数增大而加重;排油口负载压力由10 MPa增至30 MPa,吸油口、配流盘和柱塞腔气相体积分数峰值分别由6.28%增至6.68%、5.91%增至7.13%、10.03%增至11.23%;缸体转速由2 200 r/min增至3 000 r/min,吸油口、配流盘和柱塞腔气相体积分数峰值分别由6.39%增至6.41%、6.26%增至10.54%、7.13%增至10.16%;斜盘倾角由3.64°增至5.64°,吸油口、配流盘和柱塞腔气相体积分数峰值分别由6.34%增至6.41%、14.7%降低至13.9%、10.16%增至11.66%。斜盘式轴向柱塞泵在实际设计中,排油口负载压力、缸体转速和斜盘倾角的取值在合理范围内越低越好,斜盘倾角取值存在最优区间。