Experimental investigation and cfd analysis on single and double volute mono set centrifugal pump

Abstract

Centrifugal Pumps (CP) may be one of the most commonly used machines in the industry and in general practice. After developing computers and CFD software, numerical simulations of centrifugal pumps are very powerful tools for predicting their performance. Currently using CFD techniques to predict the performance of centrifugal pumps saves money and experimental efforts compared to old techniques in the design of centrifugal pumps. Flow analysis in centrifugal pumps is very complex mainly due to 3D flow structures involving turbulence, secondary flow, cavitation, and shakiness. In recent years, the increasing availability of computing resources and progress in the accuracy of numerical methods brings turbo engines to the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method from pure research work to competitive industrial markets. CFD simulations make it possible to visualize the flow conditions in a centrifugal pump. At present, research is progressing through the design and optimization of impellers and their effect on the performance of centrifugal pumps. Only a few researchers have focused on the reliability of pump operations. The reliability of a centrifugal pump depends on the age of the bearing. Hydraulic forces such as axial and radial forces acting on the impeller ensure bearing life. Radial force depends mainly on the pressure produced by the pump. The static pressure distribution is generally not uniform in the delivery of the impeller creating a radial fluctuation in the volute casing. So this research work is mainly focused on reducing the radial forces developed in the volute casing by creating effective separation in the volute path and the impact of double wall volute on the radial force, the noise and performance of the centrifugal pump studied From the numerical investigation carried out in this study it was proven that the radial strength developed in the volute casing was minimized so that pump vibration and impeller ring abrasion were reduced significantly without sacrificing the head and pump efficien