Study on Design of Air-water Two-phase Flow Centrifugal Pump Based on Similarity Law

Abstract

A conventional centrifugal pump causes a drastic deterioration of air-water two-phase flow performances even at an air-water two-phase flow condition of inlet void fraction less than 10% in the range of relatively low water flow rate. Then we have developed a two-phase flow centrifugal pump which consists of a tandem arrangement of double rotating cascades and blades of outer cascade have higher outlet angle more than 90º. In design of the two-phase flow pump for various sized and operating conditions, similarity relations of geometric dimensions to hydraulic performances is very useful. The similarity relations of rotational speed, impeller diameter and blade height are investigated for the developed impeller in the present paper. As the results, the similarity law of rotational speed and impeller diameter is clarified experimentally even in two-phase flow condition. In addition, influences of blade height on air-water two-phase flow performances indicate a little difference from the similarity relations.