Effect of axial offset of rotor on thrust characteristics of a centrifugal pump

Abstract

To ensure the reliability of multi-stage centrifugal pumps, the prediction of axial thrust is an important issue for the design of balancing device and selection of thrust bearing. However, it is known that the fluid forces acting on rotor could be sensitively affected by the geometrical relations between rotor and stator especially at the low flow rate. Among them, the effect of axial offset of rotor has not been studied sufficiently though the axial offset is easily caused by accumulation of manufacturing tolerances and assembling errors. In this study, experimental/numerical investigations on the effect of axial rotor offset in a final stage model of a three-stage centrifugal pump are carried out. The axial offset is intentionally given to shaft system to the both of discharge/suction side. As a result, the axial thrust is significantly affected by the axial offset in the flow rate range below 50% of the design. It is shown by CFD analysis that this effect of axial offset is caused by the interaction between the back flow from the diffuser and the main flow.