The multistage centrifugal pump is the critical component of mineral resources lifting in deep-sea mining. The reflux of nodules in the lifting pipe caused by the emergency pump stop can easily cause the pump to clog. In this paper, coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics and Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM co-simulations) are used to clarify the solid-liquid two-phase flow in two-stage centrifugal pumps under different particle sizes (10–20, 20–30, 30–40, 40–50 mm) with constant particle concentration. The movement and accumulation behaviour of particles in different flow fields (pipeline to pump, the first to the second pump stage) is investigated. Meanwhile, the effect of particle size and particle reflux velocity on the blockage of the flow channel in the pump was investigated. Particle accumulation in the pump was observed to determine the key factors affecting the pump’s reflux capacity. The residual mass of particles in the pump at different particle sizes was counted. Simultaneously, the percentage of residual mass of 10–20 mm particles in the pump was compared between the experiment and the simulation with an acceptable tolerance of within 10%. In addition, pressure changes in the blockage-prone section were also investigated. A comparison between experiments and simulations verifies the consistency of the trend on the pump inlet pressure when clogged with 50 mm particles. It was found that larger particles in the range of 10–30 mm can better ensure the pump’s reflux performance.

Six-stage centrifugal pumps are used in deep-sea mining lifting systems and are required to convey slurry containing coarse particles. A six-stage centrifugal pump suitable for operation in a natural mining system was manufactured. High-flow and full-scaled slurry conveying experiments at a 5% and 9% volume concentration of particles was carried out at a large modified test site with artificial nodules. CFD-DEM simulations were carried out to obtain slurry transport characteristic curves, particle transport and distribution characteristics, where the simulation method was validated by the experiment data. A clarified two-stage pump can be used instead of a multi-stage pump for simplified simulation calculations with acceptable accuracy. Local agglomeration of particles caused by backflow was found at the outlet of the diffuser, and such agglomeration decreased with increasing flow rates. It was found that particles are transported non-uniformly, particles transport in diffusers in strands. Particles are transported in a pulse-like mode within the pump, with the latter stage showing similar particle characteristics to those transported in the previous pump stage.

Lifting coarse mineral particles from thousands of meters of seabed to the supportive vessSel is a crucial part of exploitation of deep-sea mineral resources, and the vertical transportation part is a key component of the deep-sea mining system. Three typical vertical transportation schemes are discussed and compared from the aspects of working mechanism, structural scheme, transportation capacity, system efficiency and implementation feasibility in the context of commercial exploitation of deep-sea polymetallic nodules. The conclusion is that the hydraulic pipeline lifting system with a centrifugal pump is a comprehensive scheme. Furthermore, the basic composition and function of the hydraulic lifting system are introduced, and the transportation performance indicators and technical requirements under commercial mining conditions are analyzed. As the key equipment of the lifting system, the structural characteristics, design theory, transportation performance analysis methods and research progress of the lifting pump are described. A 1000 m sea trial was carried out. The lifting system, the tests of the centrifugal pump and the sea trial are introduced.

The Y-shaped elbow is used as a connecting pipe between the buffer and the lift pipe in the deep-sea mining system. After being mixed with seawater in the Y-shaped elbow, nodule particles are lifted to the sea surface mining ship via the lift pump. In this paper, we employ a computational fluid dynamics and discrete element coupled method (CFD-DEM) to study the characteristics of particle transport in the Y-shaped elbow. Considering a large diameter of the particles, we discuss the behavior of particles and fluid under different conveying velocities. In addition, the simulation was verified based on the experiment. The results show that the simulation agrees well with the experiment. On this basis, the distribution and motion characteristics of the particles in the Y-shaped elbow were obtained. The interaction between fluid and particles is also discussed. These findings suggest that the particles can be successfully transported when the pump runs at medium to high frequencies. The particles are basically moving along the pipe wall and slower than the fluid flow. Moreover, it was found that the particle motions are more complex with the increasing of conveying velocities, and it is closely related to the secondary flow of fluid. Some suggestions on the actual particle transportation can be put forward based on the research in this paper.

In order to improve the hydraulic performance of a deep-sea mining pump, this research proposed a multi-objective optimization strategy based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation, genetic algorithm back propagation (GABP) neural network, and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-III (NSGA-III). Significance analysis of the impeller and diffuser parameters was conducted using the Plackett–Burman experiment to filter out the design variables. The optimum Latin hypercube sampling method was used to produce sixty sample cases. The GABP neural network was then utilized to establish an approximate model between the pump’s hydraulic performance and design variables. Finally, the NSGA-III was utilized to solve the approximation model to determine the optimum parameters for the impeller and diffuser. The results demonstrate that the GABP neural network can accurately forecast the deep-sea mining pump’s hydraulic performance, and the NSGA-III global optimization is effective. On the rated clear water conditions, the optimized pump has a 14.65% decrease in shaft power and a 6.04% increase in efficiency while still meeting the design requirements for the head. Under rated solid-liquid two-phase flow conditions, the head still meets the design requirements, the shaft power is decreased by 15.64%, and the efficiency is increased by 6.00%.

Deep-sea mining, as a critical direction for the future development of mineral resources, places significant importance on the mechanical characteristics of its transportation pipelines for the safety and efficiency of the entire mining system. This paper establishes a simulation model of the deep-sea mining system based on oceanic environmental loads and the mechanical theory of deep-sea mining transportation pipelines. Through a static analysis, the effective tension along the pipeline length, the maximum values of bending moment, and the minimum values of bending radius are determined as critical points for the dynamic analysis of pipeline mechanical characteristic monitoring. A dynamic simulation analysis of the pipeline’s mechanical characteristics was conducted, and simulation sensor data were obtained as inputs for the prediction model construction. A prediction model of pipeline mechanical characteristics based on the BP neural network was constructed, with the model’s prediction correlation coefficients all exceeding 0.95, enabling an accurate prediction of pipeline state parameters.