To study the influence of inlet guide vanes (IGVs) on the pressure pulsation of a shaft tubular pump, this paper first conducts an experiment to study IGVs. Then, numerical calculations of the shaft tubular pump with and without IGVs are performed to analyze the hydraulic performance and pressure fluctuation characteristics. Finally, the reliability and accuracy of the data are verified by a model test. Numerical simulation results show that with additional IGVs, the pressure pulsation amplitude at the impeller inlet first decreases and then increases under small‐flow and design conditions but gradually increases under large‐flow conditions. When the IGVs are added to the impeller inlet of the shaft tubular pump, the hydraulic loss in front of the impeller inlet increases, resulting in a significant drop in the head and efficiency of the pump device when the flow rate is less than 1.12 Q_d; when the flow rate is greater than 1.12Q_d, the head and efficiency of the pump device do not change significantly. IGVs can improve the condition of impeller water inflow and reduce pressure fluctuation on the blade surface.

In this study, a comparative analysis of the shutdown transitions of a full-flow pump and an axial-flow pump was carried out through numerical simulation and model tests. The UDF method was used to achieve control of the impeller rotational speed during shutdown. The results show that during the shutdown transition, the rate of decline of rotational speed, flow rate, and torque of the axial-flow pump are greater than those of the full-flow pump, so the axial-flow pump stops faster than the full-flow pump. The axial force of the axial-flow pump is significantly lower than that of the full-flow pump, and the maximum value of the radial force of the axial-flow pump is approximately 1.14 times that of the full-flow pump. Due to the influence of the clearance backflow vortex, the impeller inlet and outlet of the full-flow pump generate clearance backflow vortices in the near-wall area, resulting in the overall flow pattern of the impeller chamber being worse than that of the axial-flow pump and the hydraulic loss being greater than that of the axial-flow pump. The runaway speed and flow rate of the axial-flow pump are higher than those of the full-flow pump. Due to the influence of the clearance backflow, the range of the high entropy production rate at the suction side of the impeller of the full-flow pump is always larger than that of the axial-flow pump. The research results in this paper can provide theoretical support for the selection and operation of pumps in large low-head pumping stations.

In this study, the positive and negative power-off process of a bi-directional full-flow pump is investigated by model tests and numerical simulations, and the results show that under steady conditions, the head of the bi-directional full-flow pump in the positive direction is larger than in the negative direction. The positive power-off process of the bi-directional full-flow pump is slower than the negative power-off process. The clearance backflow rate of the bi-directional full-flow pump continues to drop during the power-off process until it remains stable under the runaway condition. The clearance backflow causes the vortex at the impeller inlet and the size of the vortex gradually decreases during the power-off process. Compared to the positive power-off process, the backflow vortex ratio is greater, and therefore, the flow pattern is poorer during the negative power-off process. The entropy production rate in the negative power-off process is significantly greater than that in the positive power-off process. The pumping condition has the largest hydraulic loss in the whole power-off process. The runaway rotational speed in the positive power-off process is higher than that in the negative power-off process, and the axial force in the positive runaway condition is 1.40 times greater than in the negative runaway condition. During the power-off process, the vibration and pressure pulsation in the negative operation is significantly greater than that in the positive operation, and the acceleration of the impeller vibration from large to small is the Y (vertical) direction, Z (axial) direction, and X (horizontal) direction. The research in this paper can provide an important reference for the design and operation of the bi-directional full-flow pump.

In this study, model tests and numerical simulations are conducted to study the bi-directional full-flow pump (BFFP). Firstly, the head, efficiency and shaft power of the BFFP are significantly higher in the positive operating condition than in the negative operating condition. When the unit operates in the positive direction, the clearance reflux flow rate, the flow uniformity and velocity-weighted average angle of the impeller inlet, and the intensity of pressure pulsation are significantly greater than those during the negative operation. When the pump unit is operating at low flow rates, the clearance reflux produces a significant disturbance to the impeller inlet main flow. Two vortices appear in the near-wall area of the clearance outlet (i.e., impeller inlet), and the range of vortices is larger in the positive operation than in the negative operation. Secondly, at low-flow and design-flow conditions, the total entropy production of the pump unit in the positive direction is greater than that in the negative direction. When at small- and design-flow rates, the amplitude of pressure pulsation in the positive direction is smaller than that in the negative direction. This study will contribute to the research and development of a full-flow pump.

In order to study the pressure pulsation characteristics and structural dynamic response characteristics of a vertical shaft cross-flow pump, this study used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation method to analyze the pressure pulsation characteristics of the inlet passage, impeller, and guide vane positions of the vertical shaft cross-flow pump device. At the same time, this study analyzed the equivalent stress–strain characteristics of the impeller and guide vane of a vertical shaft cross-flow pump based on fluid structure coupling technology and comprehensively analyzed the deformation modes of the impeller blades and guide vanes under dynamic water flow. This research shows that due to the influence of rotor–stator interaction, the amplitude of pressure pulsation at the interface between the impeller and guide vane of the pump device is the largest and that the main frequency distribution at this position is relatively complex. The non-uniformity of stress distribution at the impeller position gradually decreases with an increase in the radial distance. The high stress and strain zones of the impeller and guide vane are concentrated at the root of the blade. This study can provide reference for hydraulic optimization design and stable operation of similar pump devices.