In order to evaluate the effects of the short blade locations on the anti-cavitation performance of the splitterbladed inducer and the pump, 5 inducers with different short blade locations are designed. Cavitation simulations and experimental tests of the pumps with these inducers are carried out. The algebraic slip mixture model in the CFX software is adopted for cavitation simulation. The results show that there is a vortex at the inlet of the inducer. Asymmetric cavitation on the inducer and on the impeller is observed. The analysis shows that the short blade locations have a minor effect on the internal flow field in the inducer and on the external performance of the pump, but have a signi ficant effect on the anti-cavitation performance. It is suggested that the inducer should be designed appropriately. The present simulations found an optimal inducer with better anti-cavitation performance.
The transient behavior of centrifugal pumps during transient operating periods,such as startup and stopping,has drawn more and more attention recently because of urgent needs in engineering.Up to now,almost all the existing studies on this behavior are limited to using water as working fluid.The study on the transient behavior related to solid-liquid two-phase flow has not been seen yet.In order to explore the transient characteristics of a high specific-speed centrifugal pump during startup period delivering the pure water and solid-liquid two-phase flow,the transient flows inside the pump are numerically simulated using the dynamic mesh method.The variable rotational speed and flow rate with time obtained from experiment are best fitted as the function of time,and are written into computational fluid dynamics(CFD)code-FLUENT by using a user defined function.The predicted heads are compared with experimental results when pumping pure water.The results show that the difference in the transient performance during startup period is very obvious between water and solid-liquid two-phase flow during the later stage of startup process.Moreover,the time for the solid-liquid two-phase flow to achieve a stable condition is longer than that for water.The solid-liquid two-phase flow results in a higher impeller shaft power,a larger dynamic reaction force,a more violent fluctuation in pressure and a reduced stable pressure rise comparing with water.The research may be useful to understanding on the transient behavior of a centrifugal pump under a solid-liquid two-phase flow during startup period.
Interaction between rotor and struts has great effect on the performance of small axial fan systems.The small axial fan systems are selected as the studied objects in this paper,and four square struts are downstream of the rotor.The cross section of the struts is changed to the cylindrical shapes for the investigation:one is in the same hydraulic diameter as the square struts and another one is in the same cross section as the square struts.Influence of the shape of the struts on the static pressure characteristics,the internal flow and the sound emission of the small axial fans are studied.Standard K-ε turbulence model and SIMPLE algorithm are applied in the calculation of the steady fluid field,and the curves of the pressure rising against the flow rate are obtained,which demonstrates that the simulation results are in nice consistence with the experimental data.The steady calculation results are set as the initial field in the unsteady calculation.Large eddy simulation and PISO algorithm are used in the transient calculation,and the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings model is introduced to predict the sound level at the eight monitoring points.The research results show that:the static pressure coefficients of the fan with cylindrical struts increase by about 25%compared to the fan with square struts,and the efficiencies increase by about 28.6%.The research provides a theoretical guide for shape optimization and noise reduction of small axial fan with struts.
