Optimization of centrifugal pump cavitation performance based on CFD

Abstract

In order to further improve the cavitation performance of a centrifugal pump, slots on impeller blade near inlet were studied and six groups of hydraulic model were designed. Base on cavitating flow feature inside a centrifugal pump, bubble growth and implosion are calculated from the Rayleigh-Plesset equation which describes the dynamic behavior of spherical bubble and RNG κ-ε model was employed to simulate and analyze the internal two-phase flow of the model pump under the same conditions. The simulation results show that slots on blade near inlet could improve the cavitation performance and cavitation performance improvement of the second group was more obvious. Under the same conditions, the pressure on the back of blade near inlet was higher than the pressure on the back of unmodified blade near inlet, and energy distribution in the flow channel between the two blades was more uniform with a small change of head.