Unsteady Turbulent Simulation and Pressure Fluctuation Analysis for Centrifugal Pumps

The pressure fluctuation in the flow passage of both impeller and casing is addressed on design condition. The initial conditions for the unsteady turbulent simulation are resulted from the steady calculations, and the three dimensional unsteady turbulent simulation concerning the rotor-stator interaction is executed by a Navier-Stoke solver embedded with k -ε turbulence model and with appropriate moving interface boundary conditions. Detecting points are distributed in the flow passage in different radial and circumferential positions to capture the static pressure fluctuation character for one cycle of the impeller. The time-domain spectrums show that the static pressure curves are periodic and have five peaks and five valleys. With the radius increasing, the pressure fluctuation peak-to-peak values in the impeller are increasing, and reach the maximum value on the interface. In the casing flow passage, those values are about 7% of local static pressure except some ones near the tongue. The values become decreasingly in the diffuser pipe. The frequency spectrums transformed by fast Fourier transform （FFT） show that the dominant frequency is approximate with the blade passing frequency, and the pressure fluctuations in impeller passage have high frequency content while those in casing ones have no such information.

Experimental Study of the Pressure Fluctuations in a Pump Turbine at Large Partial Flow Conditions

Frequent shifts of output and operating mode require a pump turbine with excellent stability. Current researches show that large partial flow conditions in pump mode experience positive-slope phenomena with a large head drop. The pressure fluctuation at the positive slope is crucial to the pump turbine unit safety. The operating instabilities at large partial flow conditions for a pump turbine are analyzed. The hydraulic performance of a model pump turbine is tested with the pressure fluctuations measured at unstable operating points near a positive slope in the performance curve. The hydraulic performance tests show that there are two separated positive-slope regions for the pump turbine, with the flow discharge for the first positive slope from 0.85 to 0.91 times that at the maximum efficiency point. The amplitudes of the pressure fluctuations at these unstable large partial flow conditions near the first positive slope are much larger than those at stable operating condtions. A dominant frequency is measured at 0.2 times the impeller rotational frequency in the flow passage near the impeller exit, which is believed to be induced by the rotating stall in the flow passage of the wicket gates. The test results also show hysteresis with pressure fluctuations when the pump turbine is operated near the first positive slope. The hysteresis creates different pressure fluctuations for those operation points even though their flow rates and heads are similar respectively. The pressure fluctuation characteristics at large partial flow conditions obtained by the present study will be helpful for the safe operation of pumped storage units.

Numerical Simulation of Pressure Fluctuations in a Large Francis Turbine Runner

The pressure fluctuation caused by unsteady flow in runner is one of the main reasons of vibration for a large Francis hydraulic turbine. It directly affects the steady operation of the hydraulic turbine unit. The existing research of the pressure fluctuation in hydraulic turbine mainly focuses on the unsteady flow in draft tube. Accurate distribution of pressure fluctuations inside a runner is not very clear. In this paper, the numerical method for predicting the pressure fluctuations in runner is investigated and the numerical simulation is performed for a large Francis hydraulic turbine. It is proved that the combination of shear-stress transport（SST） k-o） turbulence model and pressure-implicit with splitting of operators（PISO） algorithm could give more reliable prediction of pressure fluctuations in runner. The frequencies of pressure fluctuations in runner are affected by the flow in guide vane and the flow in draft tube The first dominant frequency is significantly determined by the flow in draft tube, especially at part load condition. This frequency is approximately equal to one-third of the runner rotating frequency. The evident second dominant frequency is exactly equal to the guide vane passing frequency. The peak-to-peak amplitudes of pressure fluctuations in runner at small guide vane open angle are larger than that at large open angle at the same operating head. The amplitudes at points on blade pressure surface are generally greater than that on suction surface. The research results could be used to direct the hydraulic design and operation stability improvement of a large Francis hydraulic turbine.

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.

Intraocular pressure fluctuation and the risk of glaucomatous damage deterioration: a Meta-analysis

AIM: To systematically review whether the increased fluctuation of intraocular pressure(IOP) is a risk factor for open angle glaucoma(OAG) progression. METHODS: Scientific studies relevant to IOP fluctuation and glaucoma progression were retrieved from MEDLINE,EMBASE and CENTRAL databases, and were listed as references in this paper. The hazard ratio(HR) was calculated by using fixed or random-effects models according to the heterogeneity of included studies. RESULTS: Individual data for 2211 eyes of 2637 OAG patients in fourteen prospective studies were included in this Meta-analysis. All studies were longitudinal clinical studies with follow-up period ranging from 3 to 8.5 y. The combined HR was 1.23(95%CI 1.04-1.46, P=0.02) for the association between IOP fluctuation and glaucoma onset or progression with the evidence of heterogeneity(P<0.1).Subgroup analyses with different types of IOP fluctuation were also evaluated. Results indicated that the summary HR was 0.98(95%CI 0.78-1.24) in short-term IOP fluctuation group, which showed no statistical significance with heterogeneity, whereas, the combined HR was 1.43(95%CI1.13-1.82, P=0.003) in long-term IOP fluctuation group without homogeneity. Sensitivity analysis further showed that the pooled HR was 1.10(95%CI 1.03-1.18, P=0.004) for long-term IOP fluctuation and visual function progression with homogeneity among studies(P=0.3). CONCLUSION: Long-term IOP fluctuation can be a risk factor for glaucoma progression based on the presentedevidence. Thus, controlling the swing of IOP is crucial for glaucoma or glaucoma suspecting patients.

Pressure Fluctuation in the Submerged Circulative Impinging Stream Reactor

Pressure fluctuation in the submerged circulative impinging stream reactor （SCISR） is studied by measuring the dynamic pressure with micro pressure sensors of high accuracy, with water as the process material. Experimental results show that the maximum amplitude of fluctuation can be up to about 1.6kPa. On the power spectra the fluctuation is relatively concentrated in the range of 〈1000Hz, with some weak peeks in acoustic wave range. The space profile of intensive fluctuation region in the reactor is determined. The region is found to take the form of a couple truncated cones of empty core, with coincided bottoms, and is symmetrical with respect to the impinging plane and approximately symmetrical about the axis, essentially independent of u0. The integral intensity of fluctuation increases as the impinging velocity, Uo increasing.

Flow Pattern and Pressure Fluctuation of Severe Slugging in Pipeline-riser System

During the exploitation of offshore oil and gas,it is easy to form severe slugging which can cause great harm in the riser connecting wellheads and offshore platform preprocessing system.The flow pattern and pressure fluctuation of severe slugging were studied in an experimental simulation system with inner diameter of 0.051 m.It is found that severe slugging can be divided into three severe slugging regimes：regime I at low gas and liquid flow rates with large pressure fluctuation,intermittent flow of liquid and gas in the riser,and apparent cutoff of liquid phase,regime II at high gas flow rate with non-periodic fluctuation and discontinuous liquid outflow and no gas cutoff,regime III at high liquid flow rate with degenerative pressure fluctuation in form of relatively stable bubbly or plug flow.The results indicate that severe slugging still occurs when the declination angle of pipeline is 0,and there are mainly two kinds of regimes：regime I and regime II.As the angle increases,the formation ranges of regime I and regime III increase slightly while that of regime II is not affected.With the increase of gas superficial velocity and liquid superficial velocity,the pressure fluctuation at the bottom of riser increases initially and then decreases.The maximum value of pressure fluctuation occurs at the transition boundary of regimes I and II.

CFD simulation of pressure fluctuation characteristics in the gas-solid fluidized bed:Comparisons with experiments

A simple hydrodynamic model based on two-fluid theory, taking into account the effect of discrete particles on both the gas- and solid-phase momentum equations, was used to numerically investigate the pressure fluctuation characteristics in a gas-solid fluidized bed with the aid of CFX 4.4, a commercial CFD software package, by adding user-defined Fortran subroutines. Numerical simulations together with typical experimental measurements show that pressure fluctuations originate above the distributor when a gas pulse is injected into the fluidized bed. The pressure above the bubble gradually increases due to the presence of a rising bubble. When the bubble passes through the bed surface, the pressure near the bed surface gradually decreases to a lower value. Moreover, the pressure signals in the bubbling fluidized beds show obviously periodic characteristics. The major frequency of pressure fluctuations at the same vertical position is affected slightly by the operating gas velocity, and the amplitude of pressure fluctuations is related to both the operating gas velocity and the vertical height. In this study, the influence of the operating gas velocity on the pressure wave propagation velocity can be ignored, and only two peak frequencies in the power spectrum of the pressure fluctuations are observed which are associated with the bubble formation above the distributor and its eruption at the bed surface.

Pressure fluctuation and its influencing factors in circulating water pump

In order to investigate the effect of sampling frequency and time on pressure fluctuations, the three-dimensional unsteady numerical simulations were conducted in a circulating water pump. Through comparison of turbulence models with hydraulic performance experiment, SST k-co model was confirmed to study the rational determination of sampling frequency and time better. The Fast Fourier Transform （FFT） technology was then adopted to process those fluctuating pressure signals obtained. On these bases, the characteristics of pressure fluctuations acting on the tongue were discussed. It is found that aliasing errors decrease at higher sampling frequency of 17 640 Hz, but not at a lower sampling frequency of 1 764 Hz. Correspondingly, an output frequency range ten-times wider is obtained at 17 640 Hz. Compared with 8R, when the sampling time is shorter, the amplitudes may be overvalued, and the frequencies and amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations can not be well predicted. The frequencies at the tongue are in good agreement with the values calculated by formula and the frequency compositions less than the blade passing frequency are accurately predicted.

Reliability of Blood Pressure Measurements: An Analysis of the White Coat Effect and Its Fluctuations

In this paper, we evaluate the difference between the first and second measurements of blood pressure (BP) when BP is measured twice using the results of 17,775 medical checkups. The two measurements for both systolic BP (SBP) and the diastolic BP (DBP) fluctuated a large amount even though they were measured at a short interval. The first measurements were 6.7 and 2.4 mmHg higher than the second ones for SBP and DBP, suggesting a white coat effect. Then, the factors that might affect the differences between the two measurements were analyzed by the regression models. For both SBP and DBP, the difference increased as the first measurement increased. Age, gender, BMI and alcohol consumption were other important factors affecting the difference. In the case of a typical male individual, the typical criteria for hypertension of 140/90, 160/100 and 180/110 mmHg criteria in the first measurement would correspond to 135/86, 150/94 and 165/102 mmHg in the second measurement. The necessity of developing accurate and cost-efficient BP measurement methods is strongly suggested.

Pressure Fluctuation in the Submerged Circulative Impinging Stream Reactor

Pressure fluctuation in the submerged circulative impinging stream reactor (SCISR) is studied by meas- uring the dynamic pressure with micro pressure sensors of high accuracy, with water as the process material. Ex- perimental results show that the maximum amplitude of fluctuation can be up to about 1.6kPa. On the power spectra the fluctuation is relatively concentrated in the range of <1000Hz, with some weak peeks in acoustic wave range. The space profile of intensive fluctuation region in the reactor is determined. The region is found to take the form of a couple truncated cones of empty core, with coincided bottoms, and is symmetrical with respect to the impinging plane and approximately symmetrical about the axis, essentially independent of u0. The integral intensity of fluctua- tion increases as the impinging velocity, u0 increasing.

Pressure fluctuation signal analysis of pump based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition method

Pressure fluctuations, which are inevitable in the operation of pumps, have a strong non-stationary characteristic and contain a great deal of important information representing the operation conditions. With an axial-flow pump as an example, a new method for time-frequency analysis based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition （EEMD） method is proposed for research on the characteristics of pressure fluctuations. First, the pressure fluctuation signals are preprocessed with the empirical mode decomposition （EMD） method, and intrinsic mode functions （IMFs） are extracted. Second, the EEMD method is used to extract more precise decomposition results, and the number of iterations is determined according to the number of IMFs produced by the EMD method. Third, correlation coefficients between IMFs produced by the EMD and EEMD methods and the original signal are calculated, and the most sensitive IMFs are chosen to analyze the frequency spectrum. Finally, the operation conditions of the pump are identified with the frequency features. The results show that, compared with the EMD method, the EEMD method can improve the time-frequency resolution and extract main vibration components from pressure fluctuation signals.

Reduction of shrinkage porosities in aluminum alloy castings by external pressure fluctuation under gravity field

A novel method to improve the feeding capacity of ZL205 A alloy castings by pressure fluctuation during its solidification process under gravity field was proposed. The experiments were done in the graphite mould by applying the fluctuation pressure at the top of the riser. Results of the X-ray inspection of castings and simulations of flow velocity of alloy melt and temperature field show that the new method can effectively improve the feeding capacity and significantly reduce the shrinkage in the castings. The mechanism of improving the feeding capacity by pressure fluctuation is that the fluctuating pressure can make the ZL205 A alloy melt form a vibration wave in the melt. The vibration wave can intensify the convection of the melt, and therefore, break down the barrage from the feeding channel which forms during the solidification process of the ZL205 A alloy, improving the feeding capacity.

Wavelet analysis of pressure fluctuation signals in a gas-solid fluidized bed

It has been shown that much dynamic information is hidden in the pressure fluctuation signals of a gas-solid fluidized bed. Unfortunately, due to the random and capricious nature of this signal, it is hard to realize reliable analysis using traditional signal processing methods such as statistical analysis or spectral analysis, which is done in Fourier domain. Information in different frequency band can be extracted by using wavelet analysis. On the evidence of the composition of the pressure fluctuation signals, energy of low frequency (ELF) is proposed to show the transition of fluidized regimes from bubbling fluidization to turbulent fluidization. Plots are presented to describe the fluidized bed's evolution to help identify the state of different flow regimes and provide a characteristic curve to identify the fluidized status effectively and reliably.

Elimination of Fuel Pressure Fluctuation and Multi-injection Fuel Mass Deviation of High Pressure Common-rail Fuel Injection System

The influence of fuel pressure fluctuation on multi-injection fuel mass deviation has been studied a lot,but the fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet is still not eliminated efficiently.In this paper,a new type of hydraulic filter consisting of a damping hole and a chamber is developed for elimination of fuel pressure fluctuation and multi-injection fuel mass deviation.Linear model of the improved high pressure common-rail system（HPCRS）including injector,the pipe connecting common-rail with injector and the hydraulic filter is built.Fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet,on which frequency domain analysis is conducted through fast Fourier transformation,is acquired at different target pressure and different damping hole diameter experimentally.The linear model is validated and can predict the natural frequencies of the system.Influence of damping hole diameter on fuel pressure fluctuation is analyzed qualitatively based on the linear model,and it can be inferred that an optimal diameter of the damping hole for elimination of fuel pressure fluctuation exists.Fuel pressure fluctuation and fuel mass deviation under different damping hole diameters are measured experimentally,and it is testified that the amplitude of both fuel pressure fluctuation and fuel mass deviation decreases first and then increases with the increasing of damping hole diameter.The amplitude of main injection fuel mass deviation can be reduced by 73%at most under pilot-main injection mode,and the amplitude of post injection fuel mass deviation can be reduced by 92%at most under main-post injection mode.Fuel mass of a single injection increases with the increasing of the damping hole diameter.The hydraulic filter proposed by this research can be potentially used to eliminate fuel pressure fluctuation at injector inlet and improve the stability of HPCRS fuel injection.

Calculation grid and turbulence model for numerical simulating pressure fluctuations in high-speed train tunnel

Calculation grid and turbulence model for numerical simulating pressure fluctuations in a high-speed train tunnel are studied through the comparison analysis of numerical simulation and moving model test.Compared the waveforms and peak-peak values of pressure fluctuations between numerical simulation and moving model test,the structured grid and the SST k-ωturbulence model are selected for numerical simulating the process of high-speed train passing through the tunnel.The largest value of pressure wave amplitudes of numerical simulation and moving model test meet each other.And the locations of the largest value of the initial compression and expansion wave amplitude of numerical simulation are in agreement with that of moving model test.The calculated pressure at the measurement point fully conforms to the propagation law of compression and expansion waves in the tunnel.

Statistical analysis of pressure fluctuations during unsteady flow for low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps

A three-dimensional transient numerical simulation was conducted to study the pressure fluctuations in low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps. The characteristics of the inner flow were investigated using the SST k-ω turbulence model. The distributions of pressure fluctuations in the impeller and the volute were recorded, and the pressure fluctuation intensity was analyzed comprehensively, at the design condition, using statistical methods. The results show that the pressure fluctuation intensity increases along the impeller streamline from the leading edge to the trailing edge. In the impeller passage, the intensity near the shroud is much higher than that near the hub at thc inlet. However, the intensity at the middle passage is almost equal to the intensity at the outlet. The pressure fluctuation intensity is the highest at the trailing edge on the pressure side and near the tongue because of the rotor-stator interaction. The distribution of pressure fluctuation intensity is symmetrical in the axial cross sections of the volute channel. However, this intensity decreases with increasing radial distance. Hence, the pressure fluctuation intensity can be reduced by modifying the geometry of the leading edge in the impeller and the tongue in the volute.

Investigation on Reduction of Pressure Fluctuation for a Double-Suction Centrifugal Pump

Double-suction centrifugal pumps have been applied extensively in many areas,and the significance of pressure fluctuations inside these pumps with large power is becoming increasingly important.In this study,a double-suction centrifugal pump with a high-demand for vibration and noise was redesigned by increasing the flow uniformity at the impeller discharge,implemented by combinations of more than two parameters.First,increasing the number of the impeller blades was intended to enhance the bounding effect that the blades imposed on the fluid.Subsequently,increasing the radial gap between the impeller and volute was applied to reduce the rotor-stator interaction.Finally,the staggered arrangement was optimized to weaken the efficacy of the interference superposition.Based on numerical simulation,the steady and unsteady characteristics of the pump models were calculated.From the fluctuation analysis in the frequency domain,the dimensionless pressure fluctuation amplitude at the blade passing frequency and its harmonics,located on the monitoring points in the redesigned pumps(both with larger radial gap),are reduced a lot.Further,in the volute of the model with new impellers staggered at 12°,the average value for the dimensionless pressure fluctuation amplitude decreases to 6%of that in prototype pump.The dimensionless rootmean-square pressure contour on the mid-span of the impeller tends to be more uniform in the redesigned models(both with larger radial gap);similarly,the pressure contour on the mid-section of the volute presents good uniformity in these models,which in turn demonstrating a reduction in the pressure fluctuation intensity.The results reveal the mechanism of pressure fluctuation reduction in a double-suction centrifugal pump,and the results of this study could provide a reference for pressure fluctuation reduction and vibration performance reinforcement of doublesuction centrifugal pumps and other pumps.

Influence of the Axial Position of the Guide Vane on the Fluctuations of Pressure in a Nuclear Pump

The influence of the axial mount position of the guide vane on the pressure fluctuation in a nuclear pump(AP1000)is investigated.The characteristics of the three-dimensional flow inside the nuclear pump are analyzed by means of numerical simulation.Results indicate that when the axial relative distance between the guide vane and the pumping chamber is reduced,in conditions of“small flow,”the efficiency of the pump increases,the pressure inside the pumping chamber decreases,while the losses related to the guide vane grow.Under large flow conditions,as the efficiency of the pump decreases,the losses for the guide vane and the pumping chamber increase.The pressure fluctuation in the annular pumping chamber is basically determined by the rotation frequency and the blade passing frequency.The magnitude of these fluctuations is affected by the guide vane axial position.In particular,the smallest possible amplitude is obtained when the outlet central plane of the guide vane coincides with the outlet axis of the pumping chamber.

Characterizing pressure fluctuation into single-loop oscillating heat pipe

The pressure characteristics inside single loop oscillating heat pipe （OHP） having 4.5 mm inner diameter copper tube with the loop height of 440 mm were addressed. Distilled water was used as working fluid inside the OHP with different filling ratios of 40%, 60% and 80% of total inside volume. Experimental results show that the thermal characteristics are significantly inter-related with pressure fluctuations as well as pressure frequency. And the pressure frequency also depends upon the evaporator temperature that is maintained in the range of 60-96 ℃. Piezoresistive absolute pressure sensor （Model-Kistler 4045A5） was used to take data. The investigation shows that the filling ratio of 60% gives the highest inside pressure magnitude at maximum number of pressure frequency at any of set evaporator temperature and the lowest heat flow resistance is achieved at 60% filling ratio.