Unsteady cavitation flows in a centrifugal pump operating under off-design conditions are investigated by using a numerical framework combining the re-normalization group k–ɛ turbulence model and the transport equation-based cavitation model. The reliability and accuracy of the numerical model are demonstrated by the satisfactory agreement between the experimental and numerical values of the pump performance. Under partial discharge, the frequency spectra of the pressure fluctuation at the impeller inlet become more complex as the pump inlet pressure decreases. The maximum amplitude of pressure fluctuation at the blade leading edge for cavitation flow is 2.54 times larger than that for non-cavitation flow because of the violent disturbances caused by cavitation shedding and explosion. Under large discharge, the magnification on the maximum pressure amplitude is 1.6. This finding indicates that cavitation has less influence on pressure fluctuations in the impeller under large discharge than under partial discharge. This numerical simulation demonstrates the evolution of cavitation structure inside the impeller.

The existing research on improving the hydraulic performance of centrifugal pumps mainly focuses on the design method and the parameter optimization. The traditional design method for centrifugal impellers relies more on experience of engineers that typically only satisfies the continuity equation of the fluid. In this study, on the basis of the direct and inverse iteration design method which simultaneously solves the continuity and motion equations of the fluid and shapes the blade geometry by controlling the wrap angle, three centrifugal pump impellers are designed by altering blade wrap angles while keeping other parameters constant. The three-dimensional flow fields in three centrifugal pumps are numerically simulated, and the simulation results illustrate that the blade with larger wrap angle has more powerful control ability on the flow pattern in impeller. The three pumps have nearly the same pressure distributions at the small flow rate, but the pressure gradient increase in the pump with the largest wrap angle is smoother than the other two pumps at the design and large flow rates. The pump head and efficiency are also influenced by the blade wrap angle. The highest head and efficiency are also observed for the largest angle. An experiment rig is designed and built to test the performance of the pump with the largest wrap angle. The test results show that the wide space of its efficiency area and the stability of its operation ensure the excellent performance of the design method and verify the numerical analysis. The analysis on influence of the blade wrap angle for centrifugal pump performance in this paper can be beneficial to the optimization design of the centrifugal pump.

To study the pressure pulsations induced by quasi-steady cavitation in a centrifugal pump, the pressure pulsations at the pump inlet and outlet were experimentally investigated with the development of cavitation. Moreover, the internal flow characteristics in the pump during the process were numerically determined. The numerical simulation results agreed well with the results obtained from the experimental test, verifying the accuracy of the numerical simulation. Furthermore, the cavitation-induced pump inlet and outlet pressure pulsations of the centrifugal pump were analyzed by wavelet analysis and fast Fourier transform, and the cavitation incipient point and occurrence of the unstable cavitation point were obtained. The results of both wavelet analysis and fast Fourier transform show that in the quasi-steady cavitation stage of the centrifugal pump at the design flow rate, the pump inlet and outlet pressure pulsations are significantly increased at twice the axial frequency, while the other axial frequency components are weak and the internal flow is stable. With the development of cavitation in the pump, the pump inlet and outlet pressure pulsations at the axial frequency and its multiples afford some obvious broadband pulsations. To investigate the mechanism of quasi-steady cavitation-induced pressure pulsation in the centrifugal pump, the dynamic mode decomposition was used for internal flow field analysis. The results show that different inflow states lead to obvious differences in the internal flow and unsteady flow structures. There are complex pressure pulsation characteristics dominated by different frequencies in the centrifugal pump. Blade passing frequency plays an important role in the entire flow field, and its mechanism has been analyzed. This research will provide experimental and theoretical support for quasi-steady cavitation recognition and help researchers improve the operation stability of the centrifugal pump.

The influence of prewhirl regulation by inlet guide vanes (IGVs) on a centrifugal pump performance is investigated experimentally and numerically. The experimental results show that IGVs can obviously change the head and increase the efficiency of the tested centrifugal pump over a wide range of flow rates. Although the cavitation performance is degraded, the variation of the cavitation critical point is less than 0.5 m. Movement of the computed three-dimensional streamlines in suction pipe and impeller are analyzed in order to reveal the mechanism how the IGVs realize the prewhirl regulation. The calculated results show that the influence of IGVs on the cavitation performance of centrifugal pump is limited by a maximum total pressure drop of 1777 Pa, about 7.6% of the total pressure at the suction pipe inlet for a prewhirl angle of 24°.

The energy performance and radial force of a mixed flow pump with symmetrical and unsymmetrical tip clearance are investigated in this paper. As the tip clearance increases, the pump head and efficiency both decrease. The center of the radial force on the principal axis is located at the coordinate origin when the tip clearance is symmetrical, and moves to the third quadrant when the tip clearance is unsymmetrical. Analysis results show that the total radial force on the principal axis is closely related to the fluctuation of mass flow rate in each single flow channel. Unsteady simulations show that the dominant frequencies of radial force on the hub and blade correspond to the blade number, vane number, or double blade number because of the rotor stator interaction. The radial force on the blade pressure side decreases with the tip clearance increase because of leakage flow. The unsymmetrical tip clearances in an impeller induce uneven leakage flow rate and then result in unsymmetrical work ability of each blade and flow pattern in each channel. Thus, the energy performance decreases and the total radial force increases for a mixed flow pump with unsymmetrical tip clearance.

Frequent changes in the operating modes pose significant challenges in the development of a pump-turbine with high efficiency and stability. In this paper, two pump-turbine runners, one with a large positive blade lean and the other with a large negative lean, are investigated numerically and experimentally. These two runners are designed by using the optimum stacking condition at the high pressure edge (HPE). The experimental and the numerical results show that both runners have good efficiency performances, and pressure fluctuations for the runner with a negative blade lean are much lower than those for the runner with a positive blade lean. The internal flow field analyses clarify the effects of the blade lean on the pressure distribution around the runner blades. In the turbine mode at partial load, the negative blade lean can control flow separation in the high pressure side of the runner and then reduce the pressure fluctuations in the vaneless space.