Pressure fluctuation in single-phase pumps has been studied widely, while less attention has been paid to research on multiphase pumps that are commonly used in the petroleum chemical industry. Therefore, this study investigates the pressure fluctuation for a multiphase rotodynamic pump handling air–water two-phase flow. Simulations based on the Euler two-fluid model were carried out using ANSYS_CFX16.0 at different Inlet Gas Void Fractions (IGVFs) and various flow rate values. Under conditions of IGVF = 0% (pure water) and IGVF = 15%, the accuracy of the numerical method was tested by comparing the experimental data. The results showed that the rotor–stator interaction was still the main generation driver of pressure fluctuation in gas–liquid two-phase pumps. However, the fluctuation near the impeller outlet ascribe to the rotor–stator interaction was weakened by the complex gas–liquid flow. For the different IGVF, the variation trend of fluctuation was similar along the streamwise direction. That is, the fluctuation in the impeller increased before decreasing, while in the guide vane it decreased gradually. Also, the fluctuation in the guide vane was generally greater than for the impeller and the maximum amplitude appeared in the vicinity of guide vane inlet.
Recent researches show that the pressure increment of a multiphase pump is affected by bubble size and distribution. In order to study the bubble distribution characteristics in such pumps, a novel approach describing the variable bubble size in the pump is proposed. The bubble number density equation, which has taken into account the phenomena of break-up and coalescence, is introduced into the flow simulation, and the drag coefficient is revised because of the interaction of multiple bubbles. The reliability of the approach is verified by comparison with the experiment. It was established that the bubbles move to the impeller hub due to the difference in centrifugal force between gas and liquid. Despite the high collision rate near the hub, bubble size changes little with the stirring action of the impeller. The mixture flows in a disorderly way and the bubble diameter increases due to the rotor-stator interaction. Owing to the increasing flow area in the diffuser, bubbles move to the mainstream region, and bubble size reaches its maximum owing to the flow separation near the hub. The distribution of bubbles is also analyzed under a different inlet gas volume fraction (IGVF) and inlet bubble diameter (d 0). Bigger IGVF brings about a higher collision rate of bubbles, while smaller d 0 makes the diffusion of bubbles easier.
Based on the stress-strength interference model, the safety factor of traditional mechanical design method is introduced into reliability design theory and the new concept of reliability safety factor is extracted. Then a new design method based on the reliability safety factor is established. The reliability safety factor design method can effectively avoid the blindness and conservatism of traditional design method, and can also reduce the complexity of general reliability design method. When stress and strength are subordinated to various distributions, the reliability safety factors and reliability values are calculated and relevant design formulas are presented. The actual application to mechanical design proved that the new reliability design method is feasible and useful to improve the design level and reduce the cost.
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