Track: Simulation Competition
Abstract
Centrifugal pumps are the most often used pumping equipment in hydraulics. They are hydraulic machinery that transform mechanical energy into hydraulic energy. A pump is a mechanical device that transports fluids from one location to another. Because of the 3D flow structure involving turbulence, secondary flow, cavitation, and unsteadiness, the flow analysis inside the centrifugal pump is quite complicated. In recent years, advances in the accuracy of numerical methods and increased availability of computational resources have taken turbo machinery Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technologies from the realm of pure research into the competitive industrial market. In this project calculations for compressible fluids and unsteady flow were done using continuity equations and for incompressible fluid Navier-Stoke equations. The achieved Reynold number shows that the flow is turbulent with all other parameters of volume flow, tangential velocity and specific speed calculated. 1st Principle was used to optimize the performance of the pump. It was found that cavitation at high flow rates can be avoided should the impeller blades be redesigned, and the stator blades must be modified to improve the transfer of the kinetic energy of the water flow to pressure energy.