In this study, in order to understand the relation between the diffuser rotating stall and the fluctuating radial thrust, unsteady RANS simulation of a centrifugal pump was carried out. The rotating stall with single stall cell was qualitatively reproduced though the propagation speed was smaller than the experiment. The pressure amplitude caused by the rotating stall was comparable to the measured one, and the tendency that the propagation speed increases as the flow rate increases agreed with experiment. The radial thrust fluctuation due to the rotating stall was well evaluated by the simulation, and a considerable difference of phase angle between the stall cell position and the working direction of radial thrust was detected, which also agreed with experiment. On the basis of simulation result, the reason is found to be that the radial force acting on the impeller external wall at the liner ring section due to stall cell was not very small but comparable to that acting on the impeller blade and outer wall, while their working directions were roughly 100° different. This suggests that considering the leakage flow in numerical simulation is important to accurately predict the radial forces generated by rotating stall.
Rotating stall phenomenon frequently causes the troubles such as vibrations acting on the shaft system and reduces the reliability of turbomachines. In the present study, the diffuser rotating stall in a three-stage centrifugal pump was experimentally studied. Special emphasises were placed on the geometrical conditions; an axial offset of rotor against the stationary part, which might be unavoidable due to accumulation of geometrical tolerances and assembling errors., and the radial clearances of annular leakage paths which increases the thru-flow rate at the impellers and the first and second stage diffusers. As a result, with the rotor axial offset to the suction side, the rotating stall appeared only at the third stage diffuser, while with that to the discharge side, the rotating stall was more significant. By enlarging the leakage flow passages at the inter-stage bush and the balancing flow channel, the onset range of rotating stall became narrower in the first and second stage diffusers, which was well explained by the increase of the thru-flow rate. On the other hand, with the enlarged leakage passage at the liner ring, the onset range became slightly wider.
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