Performance correction chart of centrifugal oil pump for handling viscous liquids

Abstract

The viscosity of oil has a pronounced impact on the operating conditions of the pump. Pumps that are tested with water but are used to transport viscous fluids must have their head, flow, and efficiency values corrected to approximate their performance with the viscous fluid. In this article the hydraulic characteristics of centrifugal oil pumps with different specific speeds for pumping viscous fluids are studied experimentally. The relationship of correction factor with performance characteristics, rotational speed and oil viscosity is investigated. According to the affinity law by KSB, the performance correction chart of flow rate, head and efficiency is plotted. The typical calculated examples show that the calculated results by the diagram methods are consistent with the experiments. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.