The impeller outlet width of centrifugal pumps is of significant importance for numbers of effects. In the paper, these effects including the performance, pressure pulsations, hydraulically generated vibration, and noise level are investigated. For the purpose, two approaches were used to predict the vibration and sound radiation of the volute under fluid excitation force. One approach is the combined CFD/FEM analysis for structure vibration, and then the structure response obtained from the FEM analysis is treated as the boundary condition for BEM analysis for sound radiation. The other is the combined CFD/FEM/BEM coupling method. Before the numerical methods were used, the simulation results were validated by the vibration acceleration of the monitoring points on the volute. The vibration and noise were analyzed and compared at three flow conditions. The analysis of the results shows that the influences of the sound pressure of centrifugal pumps on the structure appear insignificant. The relative outlet widthb2*atnq(SI) = 26.7 in this paper should be less than 0.06, based on an overall consideration of the pump characteristics, pressure pulsations, vibration and noise level.
The leakage flow paths in the sidewall gaps of centrifugal pumps are of significant importance for numbers of effects. The paper is concerned with the transient flow in the leakage flow paths with wear ring clearance variation. For this purpose, numerical simulations of the whole pump were carried out. The grid dependence and yplus check were performed first. Additionally, experimental data of performance characteristic and pressure fluctuation inside the sidewall gap was used to validate the numerical results. The transient velocity fields inside the sidewall gaps during one blade passage period were simulated. And the leakage through the wear ring gap was obtained for all operating points investigated. To have a better idea of attenuation and propagation of pressure inside the sidewall gap, the unsteady pressure distributions in the gap were calculated. Additionally, the surfaces of the impeller were divided into four parts. The fluid force on each part was expressed as a percentage of the total radial force. Through comparing the flow fields, the pressure distributions, and the radial force between the pumps with different wear ring clearances, the effects of the wear ring clearance were discussed in detail. The results can be used to guide the optimum design of the pump sidewall gaps.
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