Cavitation is a fundamental issue in pump design. This topic is usually approached through costly experimental tests. The aim of this work is to apply numerical methodologies to the evaluation of the required Net Positive Suction Head in centrifugal impellers. An industrial pump from WEIR-Gabbioneta SRL has been experimentally analyzed to collect detailed information on the pump behaviour in cavitating conditions. The experimental apparatus has been also analyzed to individuate the pressure levels along the hydraulic circuit. Numerical analyses were performed on a 2D test case representing the NACA 0009 profile using the ANSYS CFX® commercial code. The available cavitation model has been tested and tuned considering different values for the bubble number density, the vapour volume fraction and the bubble diameter. After comparison with the experimental data, the most accurate configuration has been used for the pump simulation. Then, multiphase simulations have been performed using the tuned cavitation model. The computational domain includes several diameters of the hydraulic circuit before the pump and the impeller. The bubble cavitation phenomenon generated by the circuit characteristics as well as the flow pre-swirl at the impeller inlet section are individuated for the lowest flow rate.

Numerical Prediction of Cavitation in Pumps / Salvadori, Simone; Cappelletti, Alessandro; Martelli, Francesco; Nicchio, Alessandro; Carbonino, Luca; Piva, Alberto. - ELETTRONICO. - (2012), pp. 568-575. (Intervento presentato al convegno Conference on Modelling Fluid Flow (CMFF’12) The 15th International Conference on Fluid Flow Technologies tenutosi a Budapest nel 4-7 Settembre 2012).

Numerical Prediction of Cavitation in Pumps

Simone Salvadori;
2012

Abstract

Cavitation is a fundamental issue in pump design. This topic is usually approached through costly experimental tests. The aim of this work is to apply numerical methodologies to the evaluation of the required Net Positive Suction Head in centrifugal impellers. An industrial pump from WEIR-Gabbioneta SRL has been experimentally analyzed to collect detailed information on the pump behaviour in cavitating conditions. The experimental apparatus has been also analyzed to individuate the pressure levels along the hydraulic circuit. Numerical analyses were performed on a 2D test case representing the NACA 0009 profile using the ANSYS CFX® commercial code. The available cavitation model has been tested and tuned considering different values for the bubble number density, the vapour volume fraction and the bubble diameter. After comparison with the experimental data, the most accurate configuration has been used for the pump simulation. Then, multiphase simulations have been performed using the tuned cavitation model. The computational domain includes several diameters of the hydraulic circuit before the pump and the impeller. The bubble cavitation phenomenon generated by the circuit characteristics as well as the flow pre-swirl at the impeller inlet section are individuated for the lowest flow rate.
2012
9789630845885
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2760276
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