Experimental investigation of a rectangular airlift pump

Abstract

Hydraulic performance of an airlift pump having a rectangular cross-section 20mm 80mm was investigated through an experimental program. The pump was operated at six different submergence ratios and the liquid flow rate was measured at various flowrates of air injected. The effectiveness of the pump, defined as the ratio of the mass of liquid pumped to the mass of air injected, was determined as a function of the mass of air injected for different submergence ratios. Results obtained were compared with those for circular airlift pumps using an analytical model for circular pumps. Effectiveness of the rectangular airlift pump was observed to be comparable to that of the circular pumps. Hydraulic performance of the rectangular airlift pump investigated was then described by a set of semilogarithmic empirical equations. Copyright 2010 I. I. Esen.