Experimental Investigations on the Inner Flow Behavior of Centrifugal Pumps under Inlet Air-Water Two-Phase Conditions

Energies

Gérard Bois¹  Jinfeng Zhang²  Qiaorui Si²  Haoyang Zhang²  Qianglei Cui²  Shouqi Yuan² 

[1] LMFL, FRE CNRS 3723, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, 59046 Lille, France;National Research Center of Pumps, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China;

关键词: two-phase flow pattern;    rotor-stator interaction;    centrifugal pumps;    overall performance;    visualization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en12224377

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Centrifugal pumps are widely used and are known to be sensitive to inlet air-water two-phase flow conditions. The pump performance degradation mainly depends on the changes in the two-phase flow behavior inside the pump. In the present paper, experimental overall pump performance tests were performed for two different rotational speeds and several inlet air void fractions (α_i) up to pump shut-off condition. Visualizations were also performed on the flow patterns of a whole impeller passage and the volute tongue area to physically understand pump performance degradation. The results showed that liquid flow modification does not follow head modification as described by affinity laws, which are only valid for homogeneous bubbly flow regimes. Three-dimensional effects were more pronounced when inlet void fraction increased up to 3%. Bubbly flow with low mean velocities were observed close to the volute tongue for all α_i, and returned back to the impeller blade passages. The starting point of pump break down was related to a strong inward reverse flow that occurred in the vicinity of the shroud gap between the impeller and volute tongue area.

【 授权许可】

Unknown