摘要

A wide operating band is important for a pump to safely perform at maximum efficiency while saving energy. To widen the operating range, a multi-point optimization process based on numerical simulations in order to improve impeller performance of a centrifugal pump used in nuclear plant applications is proposed by this research. The Reynolds average Navier Stokes equations are utilized to perform the calculations. The meridional shape of the impeller was optimized based on the following four parameters; shroud arc radius, hub arc radius, shroud angle, and hub angle as the design variables. Efficiencies calculated under 0.6Q (d), 1.0Q (d) and 1.62Q (d) were selected as the three optimized objectives. The Design of experiment method was applied to generate various impellers while 35 impellers were generated by the Latin hypercube sampling method. A Response surface function based on a second order function was applied to construct a mathematical relationship between the objectives and design variables. A multi-objective genetic algorithm was utilized to solve the response surface function to obtain the best optimized objectives as well as the best combination of design parameters. The results indicated that the pump performance predicted by numerical simulation was in agreement with the experimental performance. The optimized efficiencies based on the three operating conditions were increased by 3.9 %, 6.1 % and 2.6 %, respectively. In addition, the velocity distribution, pressure distribution, streamline and turbulence kinetic energy distribution of the optimized and reference impeller were compared and analyzed to illustrate the performance improvement.