The Effects of Meridian Surface Shape on the Pressure Pulsation of a Multi-Stage Electric Submersible Pump

Abstract

The influence mechanism of the internal pressure fluctuation propagation law of multi-stage submersible electric pump (ESP) is still unclear, which has been a major problem restricting the stable exploitation of deep-sea oil and gas. In order to investigate the effect of different meridian profiles on the pressure pulsation characteristics of three-stage submersible electric pumps, the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) method is used to numerically investigate it. The results show that the lower the pressure pulsation amplitude in the pump caused by the meridional shape that is more in line with the flow law, has a positive effect on the operation stability. The change of the shape of the meridian greatly affects the pressure pulsation law in the secondary and final pumps. The rotor–stator interaction causes the pressure pulsation amplitude of the monitoring point in the middle of the pump chamber to reach a peak value. By using continuous wavelet transform analysis, it is found that the regularity of 1–2 times frequency conversion is complicated due to multiple pulsation sources and low frequency propagation coupling between stages. At 3–6 times frequency, it is basically close to the pulsation rule of the blade frequency. The above research provides a basis for improving the operation stability of the ESP.