Effects of Meridional Flow Passage Shape on Hydraulic Performance of Mixed-flow Pump Impellers

During the process of designing the mixed-flow pump impeller, the meridional flow passage shape directly affects the obtained meridional flow field, which then has an influence on the three-dimensional impeller shape. However, the meridional flow passage shape is too complicated to be described by a simple formula for now. Therefore, reasonable parameter selection for the meridional flow passage is essential to the investigation. In order to explore the effects of the meridional flow passage shape on the impeller design and the hydraulic performance of the mixed-flow pump, the hub and shroud radius ratio (HSRR) of impeller and the outlet diffusion angle (ODA) of outlet zone are selected as the meridional flow passage parameters. 25 mixed-flow pump impellers, with specific speed of 496 under the design condition, are designed with various parameter combinations. Among these impellers, one with HSRR of 1.94 and ODA of 90° is selected to carry out the model test and the obtained experimental results are used to verify accuracies of the head and the hydraulic efficiency predicted by numerical simulation. Based on SIMPLE algorithm and standard k-ε two-equation turbulence model, the three-dimensional steady incompressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved and the effects of different parameters on hydraulic performance of mixed-flow pump impellers are analyzed. The analysis results demonstrate that there are optimal values of HSRR and ODA available, so the hydraulic performance and the internal flow of mixed-flow pumps can be improved by selecting appropriate values for the meridional flow passage parameters. The research on these two parameters, HSRR and ODA, has further illustrated influences of the meridional flow passage shape on the hydraulic performance of the mixed-flow pump, and is beneficial to improving the design of the mixed-flow pump impeller.

Robust optimization design on impeller of mixed-flow pump

To increase the robustness of the optimization solutions of the mixed-flow pump,the impeller was firstly indirectly parameterized based on the 2D blade design theory.Secondly,the robustness of the optimization solution was mathematically defined,and then calculated by Monte Carlo sampling method.Thirdly,the optimization on the mixed-flow pump′s impeller was decomposed into the optimal and robust sub-optimization problems,to maximize the pump head and efficiency and minimize the fluctuation degree of them under varying working conditions at the same time.Fourthly,using response surface model,a surrogate model was established between the optimization objectives and control variables of the shape of the impeller.Finally,based on a multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm,a two-loop iterative optimization process was designed to find the optimal solution with good robustness.Comparing the original and optimized pump,it is found that the internal flow field of the optimized pump has been improved under various operating conditions,the hydraulic performance has been improved consequently,and the range of high efficient zone has also been widened.Besides,with the changing of working conditions,the change trend of the hydraulic performance of the optimized pump becomes gentler,the flow field distribution is more uniform,and the influence degree of the varia-tion of working conditions decreases,and the operating stability of the pump is improved.It is concluded that the robust optimization method proposed in this paper is a reasonable way to optimize the mixed-flow pump,and provides references for optimization problems of other fluid machinery.

Cutting Path Planning for Ruled Surface Impellers

At present, most commercial computer-aided manufacturing （CAM） systems are deficient in efficiency and performances on generating tool path during machining impellers. To solve the problem, this article develops a special software to plan cutting path for ruled surface impellers. An approximation algorithm to generate cutting path for machining integral ruled surface impellers is proposed. By fitting sampling data points of an impeller blade into a curve, a model of ruled surface blade of an impeller is built up. Furthermore, by calculating the points where the cutter axis vector intersects the free-form hub surface of an impeller, problems about, for instance, the ambiguity in calculation and machining the wide blade surface with a short flute cutter are solved. Finally, an integral impeller cutting path is planned by way of an integrated cutter location control algorithm. Simulation and machining tests with an impeller are performed on a 5-axis computer numerically controlled （CNC） mill machine, which shows the feasibility of the proposed algorithm.

Experimental and CFD studies of solid-liquid slurry tank stirred with an improved Intermig impeller

The improved Intermig impeller has been used in the seed precipitation tank in China, which could enhance the mixing and suspension of Al(OH)3 particles and the power consumption declined largely. The flow field, solids hold-up, cloud height, just off-bottom speed and power consumptions were investigated in solid-liquid mixing system with this new type of impeller by CFD and water experiment methods. Compared with the standard Intermig impeller, the improved one coupled with specially sloped baffles could promote the fluid circulation, create better solids suspension and consume less power. Besides lower impeller off-bottom clearance is good for solid suspension and distribution. The just-off-bottom speed was also determined by a power number criterion. Meanwhile, the predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data.

OPTIMIZATION DESIGN OF CENTRIFUGAL IMPELLER WITH SPLIT BLADES

An automatic aerodynamic optimization design system for centrifugal compressor impellers is developed. The system utilizes the combined optimization of blade profiles and meridional geometries. In the construction of objective functions, non-design point performances are considered to realize the performance optimization in whole work ranges of the impeller. An impeller with one row of split blades is redesigned using the proposed optimization system. Results show that for the optimal impeller, the efficiency is obviously improved in the whole mass flow ranges, while the total pressure ratio hardly varies.

Numerical Prediction and Performance Experiment in a Deep-well Centrifugal Pump with Different Impeller Outlet Width

The existing research of the deep-well centrifugal pump mainly focuses on reduce the manufacturing cost and improve the pump performance, and how to combine above two aspects together is the most difficult and important topic. In this study, the performances of the deep-well centrifugal pump with four different impeller outlet widths are studied by the numerical, theoretical and experimental methods in this paper. Two stages deep-well centrifugal pump equipped with different impellers are simulated employing the commercial CFD software to solve the Navier-Stokes equations for three-dimensional incompressible steady flow. The sensitivity analyses of the grid size and turbulence model have been performed to improve numerical accuracy. The flow field distributions are acquired and compared under the design operating conditions, including the static pressure, turbulence kinetic energy and velocity. The prototype is manufactured and tested to certify the numerical predicted performance. The numerical results of pump performance are higher than the test results, but their change trends have an acceptable agreement with each other. The performance results indicted that the oversize impeller outlet width leads to poor pump performances and increasing shaft power. Changing the performance of deep-well centrifugal pump by alter impeller outlet width is practicable and convenient, which is worth popularizing in the engineering application. The proposed research enhances the theoretical basis of pump design to improve the performance and reduce the manufacturing cost of deep-well centrifugal pump.

Machining the Integral Impeller and Blisk of Aero-Engines:A Review of Surface Finishing and Strengthening Technologies

The integral impeller and blisk of an aero-engine are high performance parts with complex structure and made of difficult-to-cut materials. The blade surfaces of the integral impeller and blisk are functional surfaces for power transmission, and their surface integrity has signif- icant effects on the aerodynamic efficiency and service life of an aero-engine. Thus, it is indispensable to finish and strengthen the blades before use. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of studies on finishing and strengthening technologies for the impeller and blisk of aero-engines. The review includes independent and inte- grated finishing and strengthening technologies and dis- cusses advanced rotational abrasive flow machining with back-pressure used for finishing the integral impeller and blisk. A brief assessment of future research problems and directions is also presented.

Review on Stress Corrosion and Corrosion Fatigue Failure of Centrifugal Compressor Impeller

Corrosion failure,especially stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue,is the main cause of centrifugal compressor impeller failure.And it is concealed and destructive.This paper summarizes the main theories of stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue and its latest developments,and it also points out that existing stress corrosion cracking theories can be reduced to the anodic dissolution（AD）,the hydrogen-induced cracking（HIC）,and the combined AD and HIC mechanisms.The corrosion behavior and the mechanism of corrosion fatigue in the crack propagation stage are similar to stress corrosion cracking.The effects of stress ratio,loading frequency,and corrosive medium on the corrosion fatigue crack propagation rate are analyzed and summarized.The corrosion behavior and the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue in corrosive environments,which contain sulfide,chlorides,and carbonate,are analyzed.The working environments of the centrifugal compressor impeller show the behavior and the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue in different corrosive environments.The current research methods for centrifugal compressor impeller corrosion failure are analyzed.Physical analysis,numerical simulation,and the fluid-structure interaction method play an increasingly important role in the research on impeller deformation and stress distribution caused by the joint action of aerodynamic load and centrifugal load.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON HIGH-SPEED CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS WITH DIFFERENT IMPELLERS

The experimental study is carried out on high-speed centrifugal pumps withthree different impellers. The experimental results and analysis show that high-speed centrifugalpumps with a closed complex impeller can achieve the highest efficiency and the lowest headcoefficient followed by those with half-open impeller and open-impeller, and can obtain much easilystable head-capacity characrastic curve, while those with a half-open complex impeller can't. Thecharacteristic curve with a open impeller is almost constant horizontal line before droppingsharply. The results also show that the axial clearance between pump casing and impeller caninfluence greatly on the performance of centrifugal pumps.

Inverse Method of Centrifugal Pump Impeller Based on Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) Method

To improve the accuracy and reduce the calcu- lation cost for the inverse problem of centrifugal pump impeller, the new inverse method based on proper orthog- onal decomposition （POD） is proposed. The pump blade shape is parameterized by quartic Bezier curve, and the initial snapshots is generated by introducing the perturbation of the blade shape control parameters. The internal flow field and its hydraulic performance is predicted by CFD method. The snapshots vector includes the blade shape parameter and the distribution of blade load. The POD basis for the snap- shots set are deduced by proper orthogonal decomposition. The sample vector set is expressed in terms of the linear combination of the orthogonal basis. The objective blade shape corresponding to the objective distribution of blade load is obtained by least square fit. The Iterative correction algorithm for the centrifugal pump blade inverse method based on POD is proposed. The objective blade load dis- tributions are corrected according to the difference of the CFD result and the POD result. The two dimensional and three dimensional blade calculation cases show that the proposed centrifugal pump blade inverse method based on POD have good convergence and high accuracy, and thecalculation cost is greatly reduced. After two iterations, the deviation of the blade load and the pump hydraulic perfor- mance are limited within 4.0% and 6.0% individually for most of the flow rate range. This paper provides a promising inverse method for centrifugal pump impeller, which will benefit the hydraulic optimization of centrifugal pump.

Investigation of CFD Calculation Method of a Centrifugal Pump with Unshrouded Impeller

Currently, relatively large errors are found in numerical results in some low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps with unshrouded impeller because the effect of clearances and holes are not accurately modeled. Establishing an accurate analytical model to improve performance prediction accuracy is therefore necessary. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical simulation is conducted to predict the performance of a low-specific-speed centrifugal pump, and the modeling, numerical scheme, and turbulent selection methods are discussed. The pump performance is tested in a model pump test bench, and flow rate, head, power and efficiency of the pump are obtained. The effect of taking into consideration the back-out vane passage, clearance, and balance holes is analyzed by comparing it with experimental results, and the performance prediction methods are validated by experiments. The analysis results show that the pump performance can be accurately predicted by the improved method. Ignoring the back-out vane passage in the calculation model of unshrouded impeller is found to generate better numerical results. Further, the calculation model with the clearances and balance holes can obviously enhance the numerical accuracy. The application of disconnect interface can reduce meshing difficulty but increase the calculation error at the off-design operating point at the same time. Compared with the standard k-ε, renormalization group k-ε, and Spalart-Allmars models, the Realizable k-ε model demonstrates the fastest convergent speed and the highest precision for the unshrouded impeller flow simulation. The proposed modeling and numerical simulation methods can improve the performance prediction accuracy of the low-specific-speed centrifugal pumps, and the modeling method is especially suitable for the centrifugal pump with unshrouded impeller.

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.

Numerical Simulation and Analysis of Power Consumption and Metzner-Otto Constant for Impeller of 6PBT

Majority of non-Newtonian fluids are pseudoplastic with shear-thinning property, which means that the viscosity will be different in different parts of the stirred tank. In such mixing process, it is difficult to predict accurately the power consumption and mean shear rate for designing novel impeller. Metzner-Otto method is a widely accepted method to solve these questions in mixing non-Newtonian fluids. As a result, Metzner-Otto constant will become a key factor to achieve an optimum way of economical mixing. In this paper, taking glycerine and xanthan gum solutions as research system, the power consumption, stirred by the impeller composed of perturbed six-bent-bladed turbine （6PBT） with differently geometrical characteristics in a cylindrical vessel, is studied by means of computational fluid dynamics （CFD）. The flow is modeled as laminar and a multiple reference frame （MRF） approach is used to solve the discretized equations of motion. In order to determine the capability of CFD to forecast the flow process, the torque test experiment is used to measure the glycerine solution power consumption. The theological properties of the xanthan gum solutions are determined by a Brookfleld rheometer. It is observed that the power consumption predicted by numerical simulation agrees well with those measured using torque experiment method in stirring glycerine solution, which validate the numerical model. Metzner-Otto constant is almost not correlated with the flow behavior index of pseudoplastic fluids. This paper establishes the complete correlations of power constant and Metzner-Otto constant with impeller geometrical characteristics through linear regression analysis, which provides the valuable instructions and references for accurately predicting the power consumption and mean shear rate of pseudoplastic fluids in laminar flow, comparatively.

An improved large eddy simulation of two-phase flows in a pump impeller

An improved large eddy simulation using a dynamic second-order sub-grid-scale （SGS） stress model has been developed to model the governing equations of dense turbulent particle-liquid two-phase flows in a rotating coordinate system, and continuity is conserved by a mass-weighted method to solve the filtered governing equations. In the cur- rent second-order SGS model, the SGS stress is a function of both the resolved strain-rate and rotation-rate tensors, and the model parameters are obtained from the dimensional consistency and the invariants of the strain-rate and the rotation-rate tensors. In the numerical calculation, the finite volume method is used to discretize the governing equations with a staggered grid system. The SIMPLEC algorithm is applied for the solution of the discretized governing equations. Body- fitted coordinates are used to simulate the two-phase flows in complex geometries. Finally the second-order dynamic SGS model is successfully applied to simulate the dense turbu-lent particle-liquid two-phase flows in a centrifugal impeller. The predicted pressure and velocity distributions are in good agreement with experimental results.

Experimental study on movement of particles in centrifugal impeller

The slurry pump is the key component of a dredger. Solid particles have strong influence on the performance of a slurry pump. The movement of solid particles in a centrifugal impeller was studied using particle image velocimetry(PIV) measurement. The experiments were conducted in a dredging pump model at Hohai University. Some transparent glass spheres with diameter of 0. 2-0. 4 mm were used as solid particles. The concentration and relative velocities of the particles were analyzed to investigate the particle trajectory. The results show that the concentration of the particles on the pressure surfaces of the blades is higher than on the suction surfaces,and the particles tend to move towards the suction surfaces. Moreover,the particles have faster relative velocities than the liquid phase through the flow channels of the impeller.

The Flow Simulation and Experimental Study of Low-Specific-Speed High-Speed Complex Centrifugal Impellers＊

Based on the Navier-Stokes equations and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, three-dimensional turbulent flow in four low-specific-speed centrifugal impellers are simulated numerically and analyzed. The relative velocity distribution, pressure distribution and static pressure rise at the design point are obtained for the regular impeller with only long blades and three complex impellers with long, mid or short blades. It is found that the back flow region between long-blade pressure side and mid-blade suction side is diminished and is pushed to pressure side of short blades near the outlet of impeller at suction side by the introduction of mid, short blades, and the size of back flow becomes smaller in a multi-blade complex impeller. And the pressure rises uniformly from inlet to outlet in all the impellers. The simulated results show that the complex impeller with long, mid and short blades can improve the velocity distribution and reduce the back flow in the impeller channel. The experimental results show that the back flow in the impeller has an important influence on the performance of pump and a more-blade complex impeller with long, mid and short blades can effectively solve low flow rate instability of the low-specific-speed centrifugal pump.

Hydraulic Optimization of a Double-channel Pump's Impeller Based on Multi-objective Genetic Algorithm

Computational fluid dynamics（CFD） can give a lot of potentially very useful information for hydraulic optimization design of pumps, however, it cannot directly state what kind of modification should be made to improve such hydrodynamic performance. In this paper, a more convenient and effective approach is proposed by combined using of CFD, multi-objective genetic algorithm（MOGA） and artificial neural networks（ANN） for a double-channel pump＇s impeller, with maximum head and efficiency set as optimization objectives, four key geometrical parameters including inlet diameter, outlet diameter, exit width and midline wrap angle chosen as optimization parameters. Firstly, a multi-fidelity fitness assignment system in which fitness of impellers serving as training and comparison samples for ANN is evaluated by CFD, meanwhile fitness of impellers generated by MOGA is evaluated by ANN, is established and dramatically reduces the computational expense. Then, a modified MOGA optimization process, in which selection is performed independently in two sub-populations according to two optimization objectives, crossover and mutation is performed afterword in the merged population, is developed to ensure the global optimal solution to be found. Finally, Pareto optimal frontier is found after 500 steps of iterations, and two optimal design schemes are chosen according to the design requirements. The preliminary and optimal design schemes are compared, and the comparing results show that hydraulic performances of both pumps 1 and 2 are improved, with the head and efficiency of pump 1 increased by 5.7% and 5.2%, respectively in the design working conditions, meanwhile shaft power decreased in all working conditions, the head and efficiency of pump 2 increased by 11.7% and 5.9%, respectively while shaft power increased by 5.5%. Inner flow field analyses also show that the backflow phenomenon significantly diminishes at the entrance of the optimal impellers 1 and 2, both the area of vortex and intensity of vortex decreases in the whole flow channel. This paper provides a promising tool to solve the hydraulic optimization problem of pumps＇ impellers.

Numerical Simulation of Stress and Deformation for a Duplex Stainless Steel Impeller during Casting and Heat Treatment Processes

A large-scale, thin wall duplex stainless steel impeller with complex geometry was deformed severely and unpredictably during casting and heat treatment processes resulted in dimensional failure for the final part. In this paper, the distortion of the impeller during casting and heat treatment was calculated. A commercial software, Experto-ViewCast, was used to simulate the transient heat transfer, solidification and mechanical behaviors during the casting and the heat treatment process. The coupled set of governing differential equations for mass, energy and mechanical balance were solved by finite control volume and finite element method. A thermoelastic-visco-plastic rheological model was used to compute the constrained shrinkage of the casting. At each time increment, a coupling of the heat transfer and mechanics was performed. Comparison of the experimental measurements with the model predictions showed good agreement. From the calculated displacements of key points of the blade, the proper inverse displacements were determined to provide an optimum casting pattern and to achieve a uniform and reasonable machining allowance for both faces of the blade.

Numerical Simulation of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Stirred Tank with a Rushton Impeller

The gas-liquid flow field in a stirred tank with a Rushton diskturbine, including the impeller region, was numerically simulatedusing the improved inner-outer iterative procedure. Thecharacteristic features of the stirred tank, such as gas cavity andaccumulation of gas at the two sides of wall baffles, can be capturedby the simulation. The simulated results agree well with availableexperimental data. Since the improved inner-outer iterative algorithmdemands on empirical formula and experimental data for the impellerregion, and the approach seems generally applicable for simulatinggas-liquid stirred tanks.

Influence of Tip Clearance on the Flow Field and Aerodynamic Performance of the Centrifugal Impeller

This paper studies numerically the influence of the tip clearance on the three dimensional viscous flowfield and performance of the NASA Low Speed Centrifugal Compressor (LSCC) impeller with a vaneless diffuser A three dimensional viscous code developed by the authors is applied with several acceleration methods: local time step, multigrid and residual smoothing The computations were performed under several operating conditions with four different tip clearance sizes(0 0%,50%,100% and 200% design t...