Numerical Investigation of Transient Flow in a Prototype Centrifugal Pump during Startup Period

作者:Zhang, Yu-Liang*; Zhu, Zu-Chao; Dou, Hua-Shu; Cui, Bao-Ling; Li, Yi; Zhou, Zhao-Zhong
来源:INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TURBO & JET-ENGINES, 2017, 34(2): 167-176.
DOI:10.1515/tjj-2015-0064

摘要

Transient performance of pumps during transient operating periods, such as startup and stopping, has drawn more and more attentions recently due to the growing engineering needs. During the startup period of a pump, the performance parameters such as the flow rate and head would vary significantly in a broad range. Therefore, it is very difficult to accurately specify the unsteady boundary conditions for a pump alone to solve the transient flow in the absence of experimental results. The closed-loop pipe system including a centrifugal pump is built to accomplish the self-coupling calculation. The three-dimensional unsteady incompressible viscous flow inside the passage of the pump during startup period is numerically simulated using the dynamic mesh method. Simulation results show that there are tiny fluctuations in the flow rate even under stable operating conditions and this can be attributed to influence of the rotor-stator interaction. At the very beginning of the startup, the rising speed of the flow rate is lower than that of the rotational speed. It is also found that it is not suitable to predict the transient performance of pumps using the calculation method of quasi-steady flow, especially at the earlier period of the startup.