PERFORMANCES PREDICTION OF CENTRIFUGAL PUMP BY NUMERICAL SIMULATION

摘要

In this paper, the performances of a centrifugal pump were predicted by numerical simulation. Several aspects were specially emphasized. First, volute case had a great effect on a pump's performance and should be included in calculation domain in order to improve prediction accuracy. Second, in steady flow field calculation, meshes of both volute case and impeller were steady although the impeller was put in relatively rotating coordinates. While in a real pump the impeller keeps rotating inside the volute case so the flow patterns inside keep changing every time. Special attentions were paid on the effect of volute case during numerical simulation. Then, the influences of mesh size and turbulence model were investigated. The predicted curves obtained from different calculations were compared with experimental data. The reasons for differences were analyzed at the end.