Design Features of Impeller Vane Cascades to Pump Gas and Liquid Mixtures Conducive to Reducing Gas Cavern Magnitudes

Abstract

We employed numerical simulation methods to investigate how design features of impeller vane cascades in a centrifugal pump processing gas and liquid mixtures will affect the magnitude of gas caverns. We derived a mathematical model for multiphase flow of incompressible fluid. We performed hydrodynamic computations for various impeller vane cascade designs. We identified regions of local gas separation in commercially available and improved cascades that may result in gas plug formation and pump failure. The paper investigates the effect of the following parameters on the magnitude of a gas cavern: the angle of attack, pressure feed, pressure gradient, and the presence of through holes and transverse cutouts in a single-tier vane cascade. We consider design features of stacked van cascades and investigate how the vane length and vane distribution uniformity in the blading section of a stacked vane system affect gas cavern magnitudes. We selected the optimum vane cascade design for multiphase impellers. The paper then indicates further lines of research.