Centrifugal pumps are the critical components in deep-sea mining. In order to investigate the particle motion in the curved channel of the impeller, three different types of curvature conform to blade profile to simplify the impeller design of pumps. A numerical study is conducted to investigate the flow field in a varying-curvature channel for solid-liquid two-phase flow. The flow of particles within the varying curvature channel is studied by combining the discrete element method (DEM) with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and a comparison with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) test results. The results show that a polyhedral mesh with a small mesh number yields very accurate results, which makes it very suitable for CFD-DEM. Based on this method, the movement of a single particle is compared and analyzed, and the particle-motion law is obtained. The effects of the curvature ratio Cr and area ratio Ar on the motion law for a single particle are studied, and the simulation results are analyzed statistically. The results show that the effect of Cr on both the particle slip velocity and the turbulent kinetic energy only changes its strength, while the distribution law does not change significantly. Compared with the curvature ratio Cr, the area ratio Ar has a greater impact on the particles, and its distribution law becomes clearly different. As the area ratio Ar increases, the arc radius and length of the corresponding particle trajectory decrease.

In deep ocean transportation pipeline, the swirling internal flow has a significant impact on the marine minerals transportation efficiency and safety. Therefore, the present work investigates various swirl flow motions for the slurry transport characteristics of the multi-sized particulate flow in a horizontal pipeline. Since the internal flow is a liquid-solid-solid mixture, a steady-state three-dimensional Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase approach in conjunction with the k-$\omega$ SST turbulence model is implemented for numerical simulation in the commercial CFD software ANSYS FLUENT 17.0. Numerical predictions of the mixture solid concentration distributions are generally in good conformance with experimental measurements. It is clearly revealed the transition of flow regime from heterogeneous to pseudo-homogeneous with the increasing level of swirl intensity at inlet. Compared to non-swirling flow, the swirling flow is of benefit to the multi-sized solid suspension capacity and the transportation efficiency. Moreover, the intense swirling vortex results in a strong influence on the characteristics of the lubrication layer formed by fine solid particles near the bottom of the pipe. These results provide valuable insights regarding the influence of swirl flow on the transport process for deep ocean mining.

In the marine fire suppression system, continuous delivery of dry chemical powder to the fire source with long powder discharge range and high dispersion concentration is essential. The work is devoted to experimental and numerical studies of the flow characteristics of the dry chemical powder jet from a horizontal injector with a wide range of Stokes numbers between 6 to 30 and Reynolds numbers between 4792 to 23,960 by considering the effect of gravitational acceleration. A CFD-based Eulerian–Eulerian multiphase model combined with Standard k-$\omega$ turbulence model was used to predict flow characteristics of particle-laden jet using dimensionless numbers, including the solid volume fraction, the normalized velocity magnitude, and the turbulent viscosity ratio. Experimental studies have been carried out for three different inflow velocities (2.06, 2.45, and 2.81 m/s). The results indicate that the particle density plays a significant role in the dispersion of the particles in the radial and axial directions. The transition from U-shaped to V-shaped solid dispersion structure on the ground can be captured with the increase of particle density. Moreover, the higher level turbulence intensity enhances the solid dispersion concentration. Finally, it was found that the Portland cement powder exhibits better discharge performance in terms of solid discharge range and dispersion concentration in comparison with other dry powders. These results have implications in the design of powder-based fire suppression system. Further studies should aim to the in-depth research on the fire extinguishing mechanism of the Portland cement powder, especially the fire suppression effectiveness and thermal decomposition process.

A study of the mixing flows (Schmidt number = 10${}^3$) in a cavitating Venturi tube that feature linear and swirling flows is presented in this paper. The Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model, the Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model, and the mixture multiphase model, as implemented in the commercial CFD ANSYS FLUENT 16.2, were employed. The main emphasis is spending on the influence of different inlet swirling ratios on the generation of cavitation and mixing behaviors in a Venturi tube. Four different inflow regimes were investigated for the Reynolds number Re = 19,044, 19,250, 19,622, 21,276: zero swirl, 15% swirl, 25% swirl and 50% swirl velocity relative to the transverse inflow velocity, respectively. The computed velocity and pressure profiles were shown in good agreement with the experiment data from the literature. The predicted results indicate that the imposed swirl flow moves the cavitation bubbles away from throat surfaces toward the throat axis. The rapid mixing between two volumetric components is promoted in the divergent section when the intense swirl is introduced. Additionally, the increase in the swirl ratio from 0.15 to 0.5 leads to a linear increase in the static pressure drop and a nonlinear increase in the vapor production. The reduction in the fluid viscosity ratio from $\frac{{\mu }_2}{{\mu }_1}=10$ to $\frac{{\mu }_2}{{\mu }_1}=1$ generates a high cavitation intensity in the throat of the Venturi tube. However, the changes in the pressure drop and vapor volume fraction are significantly small of pure water flow.

In order to study the characteristics of a bidirectional shaft tubular pump with S-type symmetric airfoil blades, a prototype model was designed, manufactured, and tested. The energy characteristics, cavitation characteristics, and runaway characteristics of the pump were obtained under forward and reverse operating conditions for five different blade angles. Based on the basic equations of the pump and the inlet and outlet velocity triangles, combined with model tests and numerical simulations, the hydraulic performance of the pump was extensively analyzed and evaluated. In addition, semi-empirical equations for reverse efficiency and runaway characteristics were proposed. The dynamic pressure-drop coefficients were introduced to compare the cavitation performance under different flow rates in forward and reverse operations. The results reveal that the efficiency of the pump in reverse operation is greater than that of forward operation only under a very small flow rate. While the cavitation performance of the bidirectional pump in the two operating modes is almost the same, the runaway speed and backflow rate in forward operation are considerably greater than those of reverse operation. The results provide an important reference for the safe and stable operation of bidirectional shaft tubular pumps.