Young-Joon An, Byeong Rog Shin*
The Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 25, no. 3, pp.767-772, 2011

Abstract : A numerical simulation on suction vortices behavior in a centrifugal pump was carried out to investigate their influence on the internal flow through impellers including formation and shedding of cavitation by using a finite-volume method and k-ω Shear Stress Transport turbulence model. For cavitating flow, a two phase homogeneous cavitation model was used. A full three-dimensional flow in a singlesection centrifugal pump consisting of a six blade impeller and shroud ring was computed with structured mesh. A constant suction vortex is imposed as a boundary condition. Vortices behavior was investigated according to the variation of flow rates of two pump systems with and without suction vortices. From the results, suction vortices induced biased flow structure and more cavitations, especially at the low flow rate condition. Complicated internal flow phenomena through impellers such as formation of cavitations, growing and shedding of the vortex, flow separation and flow unsteadiness due to the suction vortices are investigated and discussed.

Keyword : Centrifugal pump; Suction vortices; Cavitation; Void fraction; Flow unsteadiness; Computational fluid dynamics