Numerical studies are presented on the pressure pulsations, hydraulic excitation forces and alternative stresses produced in a radial volute pump with high head application. The effect of excitation forces due to Rotor-Stator Interaction (RSI) are evaluated using One-way fluid structure Interaction in terms of alternative stresses on impeller pressure side and suction side. Initially, the pump performance parameters are predicted using steady state Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and compared with the available test data. Due to the transient behavior of pressure pulsations, a transient CFD simulation has been conducted using RANS models to predict the pressure pulsations and its behavior with time on impeller vane outlet and tongue locations. These unsteady pressure distributions are further coupled with the Finite element (FE) model of the impeller to solve and monitor for the stresses induced due to the transient hydraulic loading. To attenuate the alternating stresses produced due to RSI, the geometry of the vane is modified by providing a skew cut with 30° at vane outlet. The pressure pulsation amplitude and stresses are reduced by 10% and 10% respectively for a skew cut of 30° at vane trailing edge.

The pulsating flow conditions which a turbocharger turbine is exposed cause important deviations of the turbine aerodynamic performance when compared to steady flow conditions. Indeed, the secondary flows developing in the turbine are determined by the inflow aerodynamic conditions, which largely vary during the pulse cycle. In this paper, a high-resolved Large Eddy Simulation is performed to investigate and characterize the flow field evolution in a turbocharger radial turbine over the pulse cycle. At first, the model is validated against experimental results obtained in gas-stand flow conditions. Then, the instantaneous flow field at the rotor mid-span section is compared to the one given by the equivalent cycle-averaged steady flow conditions. The results highlight five distinct flow features. At low mass flow rates, when the relative inflow angle assumes large negative values, the flow separates at the blade pressure side, causing a secondary flow consisting in two counter-rotating vortices characterized by a diameter comparable to the blade passage. As the mass flow rate increases, the first vortex persists at the blade tip while the second one moves closer to the blade trailing edge. This corresponds to the second characteristic flow field. With increasing relative inflow angle, for the third characteristic flow feature, only the recirculation at the blade leading edge is displayed and its size gradually reduces. For the fourth characteristic flow feature, at moderate negative values of the relative inflow angle, the flow field is well aligned with the blade profile and free of secondary flows. Then, as the relative inflow angle gradually grows towards large positive values, the flow separates on the blade suction side causing the mixing of the flow with the stream flowing on the pressure side of the previous blade.

The distribution of wind speed in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer - ABL has an essential role in the structural design and modeling of chimneys in thermal power plants. As a case study, the recently rehabilitated West Thermal Power Plant in Bucharest was selected. For the numerical modeling of the wind effect, a database was developed with the atmospheric parameters monitored for more than two years, in the selected area. The known pressure coefficients - Cp for a chimney are only valid for some conventional forms. In the present paper for the numerical modeling of the Cp coefficient and of the wind velocity coefficient, the real surface of the chimney was analyzed, considering also its roughness. A significant effect of the pressure distribution, known as the suction effect, was observed. The vertical distribution of the horizontal component of wind speed is strongly influenced by the presence of nearby buildings. They act as a roughness effect by producing air turbulence, separating the flow and inducing the “wake effect”. This phenomenon produces a variation of the average parameters of wind speed and turbulence, depending on the height and distribution of the buildings. For a proper modeling, some details are mentioned regarding the characteristics and dimensions of the analyzed chimney, associated with the land surface and its topography, with the wind speed and the structure of the chimney. Next, some criteria for modeling and selecting the geometric scale are mentioned, followed by some details on the meshing solution for the CFD modeling. A fine mesh is preferred for the inner and outer surface of the chimney in the bottom area, around the chimney, with a quality of about 0.75 for each model tested. The quality of the element is determined with a determinant of the Jacobian matrix, as a measure of the distortion of the shape of the elements. The inlet profile of dissipation rate ε produced by the turbulence was considered from the approximation of Richards and Hoxey. Knowing the wind velocity distribution and the coefficient of force exerted on the chimney, the acting force of the wind is determined. Some results obtained by numerical modeling are mentioned in the last part of the paper on wind velocity distribution, pressure values and force distribution, as altitude functions. The obtained results are in agreement with the experimental data, the highest difference being of approximately 3.43 %, in the top of the chimney, depending on the margin of the discretization field.

Due to gravity, solids in slurries will settle if density differences between the solids and liquid are positive (i.e., particle has a negative buoyant force) unless rheological properties and flow conditions are adequate to overcome the gravitational effects. The rate of settling depends on the force balance of the particle, which includes the surface forces associated with fluid rheology. Given the same fluid and solid properties, the larger and more dense particles tend to settle faster. When pumping slurry into a vessel at concentrations precluding hindered settling with insufficient mixing, particle and density distributions can result in preferential settling, creating stratification in the solids concentration within the vessel. For vessels with transfer line inlets located in the lower portion of the tank, the stratified solids concentration may be detrimental to the transfer system performance. Elevated concentrations of solids in the slurry entrained at the inlet to the transfer line can result in the effective viscosity or slurry bulk density exceeding the design limits of the pump. These conditions could result in plugging of the transfer line or onset of cavitation of the pumps because of excessive pressure drop. These conditions can be exacerbated with periodic inlet conditions existing at the transfer line inlet. Periodic conditions can result when vessel mixing is intermittent such as with pulsed jet mixers (PJM). The transfer line inlet conditions are impacted by the periodic nature of the PJM operations with respect to suspension of solids and their transport to the inlet of the transfer line. A scaling approach is presented, and corresponding test requirements are developed for assessing the prevention of plugging the pipeline. Line plugging mechanisms are addressed that exclude plugging due to steady-state high-density slurry entering the transfer line and reducing the net positive suction head available (NPSHA) at the pump inlet to below that required for pump operation. Items considered include the transition to reduced relative flow velocities, such that the critical pipe velocity for solids deposition, U cd , is not maintained, and segregation of heavy solids during the transport. The recommended requirements to prevent plugging include: • Limits for viscosity and density for entrained slurry to prevent the pressure drop in the pipeline from exceeding pump capacity. • Limits for viscosity and density for entrained slurry to prevent the net positive suction head available (NPSHA) from falling below the net positive suction head required (NPSHR) for operating the pump. • Transfer line velocity and flow rate requirements to maintain solids in suspension, while avoiding line plugging that results from deposition of solids within the transfer line. This paper describes the development of the scaling and testing requirements to verify that proposed approaches for transfer and pump out are appropriately developed for operational success within the plant operating windows.

The thermodynamic effects on the suction performance of a liquid oxygen (LOX) pump, observed during liquid rocket engine combustion tests, were investigated. Owing to the pump rotational speed and inlet pressure variation in the short duration of the engine starting, LOX pump head drops occurred occasionally depending on the initial pump inlet condition. Because the engine tests were performed at various inlet temperature and pressure settings of the LOX pump, the resulting suction performance behaviors of the LOX pump were varied. The critical cavitation number, at which the pump head drops 3%, was considered as the main parameter for representing the pump suction performance. The suction performance behaviors shown in the engine tests were investigated based on the classical theory of thermodynamic effects on cavitation. The LOX pump component test results in water, the LOX pump assembly suction performance test results in liquid nitrogen, and the J-2 LOX pump test results available in the open literature were used in the analysis and comparison. It was found that the critical cavitation number ratio of a pump could be expressed as a function of the thermodynamic parameter Σ * . For a given LOX pump flow condition, Stepanoff’s B-factor was almost constant at the specified head drop condition; as a result, Brennen’s time scale ratio βwas not constant but varying with Σ * . The argument of the geometrical similarity of pump cavitation at the critical condition of the pump head drop was addressed in conjunction with the constancy of Stepanoff B-factor.

Many different active flow control methods are used to manipulate the flow field about aerodynamic surfaces in order to obtain the most desirable aerodynamic performance. Among these techniques, boundary layer suction is one of the most effective techniques used to improve aerodynamic performance of the airfoil. In this study, the configuration of a pure suction jet actuator is optimized over an oscillating NACA0012 airfoil at the Reynolds number of 1.35 × 10 5 to control the dynamic stall behavior. The airfoil was pitched around the quarter-chord location with a sinusoidal motion and the angle of attack was varied between −5 and 25 degrees. Genetic algorithm was implemented as the optimization method. However, since large number of numerical simulations were required for this purpose, an artificial neural network was employed for training a function between the control parameters and the airfoil aerodynamic coefficients. Aerodynamic performance defined as lift-to-drag ratio was chosen as the objective function of the optimization. Location, velocity amplitude, opening length and jet incidence angle were the control parameters of this optimization. It was shown that when the velocity amplitude and opening length were maximum, the airfoil reached its highest performance. Moreover, the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoil were remarkably improved when the jet incident angle approached to 90 degrees. Placing the suction jet actuator in the range between 3 to 6 percent of the airfoil chord, was found to have the greatest effect on improving the aerodynamic performance. For the optimum configuration, the airfoil separation. It was shown that when the velocity amplitude and opening length were maximum, the airfoil reached its highest performance. Moreover, the aerodynamic characteristics of the airfoil were peaked in the range between 90 to 120 degrees, with 107 having the best performance in our database.

The generation of lift is a fundamental problem in aerodynamics and in general in fluid mechanics. The explanations on how lift is generated are often very incomplete or even not correct. Perhaps the most popular explanation of lift is the one with the Bernoulli equation and with the longer path over an airfoil as compared to the path below the airfoil, assuming the flow arrives at the same time at the trailing edge on both paths. This is an intuitive assumption, but no equation is derived from this assumption. In some explanations the Bernoulli equation is also complemented with Newton’s laws of motion. In other explanations Newton’s law is said to be the only explanation. Other explanations mention the Venturi suction effect to explain the generation of lift. In books of aerodynamics and on the homepage of well-known research institutes the explanations are, although better and partially correct, still very often incomplete. In this contribution the generation of lift is explained in a scientific way based on the conservation principles of mass, momentum and energy and how they have to be applied to close the system of equations in order to explain the generation of lift. The most common incomplete or incorrect explanations of lift are also analysed and it is explained why they are incomplete or wrong. In this work the generation of lift is explained based on the conservation equations. It is shown how and when they apply to the problem of lift generation and how the system of equations has to be closed.

In this study, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation (RANS) of the uniform blowing and suction (UB/US) control on a Clark-Y airfoil was performed aiming at improving an airfoil performance by friction drag reduction. First, the control effect when only the uniform blowing control or uniform suction control is applied on the airfoil surface was investigated by changing the control locations. The blowing or suction velocity was 0.14% of the free-stream velocity and the blowing/suction area was set at four different locations from the leading edge to the trailing edge on both the upper and lower surfaces. The Reynolds number based on the chord length is 1.5 × 10 6 . The angle of attack is set to 0°. It was found that friction drag is decreased/increased by single UB/US control. It was also found that the lift-to-drag ratio improved with UB on the lower surface or US on the upper surface, and decreased with UB on the upper surface or US on the lower surface. In the combined control of UB and US, the blowing and suction velocity was 0.14% or 0.26% of the free-stream velocity and the locations of blowing/suction and flow conditions were the same as those in the cases with either UB or US. It seemed that the lift-to-drag ratio was improved by the combined control of UB on the lower surface and US on the upper surface. In particular, the lift-to-drag ratio was most improved by US on the lower rear surface and UB on the upper rear surface.

Friction drag reduction effect of a passive blowing on a Clark-Y airfoil is investigated. The passive blowing is conducted by the pressure difference on a wing surface between suction and blowing regions. The suction and the blowing regions are respectively set around the leading edge and the rear part of the upper surface. The Reynolds number based on the chord length is 0.65 × 10 6 and 1.54 × 10 6 . The angle of attack is set to 0° and 6°. The mean velocity profiles on the blowing region and the downstream are shifted away from the wall by the passive blowing. This behavior qualitatively suggests local reduction of skin friction on the wing surface. As a result of the quantitative assessment, which takes into account the effects of pressure gradient and the roughness of the wall, the local friction drag reduction effect of passive blowing is estimated to reach 4%–23%.

Blowing or suction on the wall is expected to efficiently control the characteristics of wall-bounded turbulent flow such as wall-frictional coefficient. To understand the mechanism of the change of turbulence statistics caused by this method, we experimentally investigated the effect of uniformly blowing and suction flow on a turbulent structure in a relatively simple flow, fully developed turbulent channel flow. For blowing, the friction coefficient and the thickness of the low-speed region increased. These results imply that the boundary layer becomes unstable because the growth of viscous sublayer is rapid and the time-scale of reaching a critical thickness is small due to the blowing from the wall. On the other hand, for suction, the opposite tendency appeared.

In this contribution two different design methods for axial flow profiles are presented. A direct method based on a singularity method (SDM) is compared with an inverse design method (IDM). For the application of the SDM a profile is used with a circular arc camber line and a thickness distribution of bisuper-ellipses. The stagger angle is adjusted in such a way that the turning of the flow on the cross section is realized. For the adjustment of the stagger angle of the cross section the fast working SDM is applied. The stagger angle is varied until the corresponding deflection angle calculated by the SDM is reached. The IDM consists of an inverse boundary layer- and an inverse potential theory method. Along the suction side the shape factor of the boundary layer is prescribed conveniently for the laminar and turbulent part. The velocity distribution at the outer edge of the boundary is calculated by an inverse boundary layer method. On the pressure side the velocity distribution is chosen in such a way that a corresponding circulation is realized for turning the flow. Finally, the whole geometry of the cascade is calculated by the inverse potential theory method. The examination of one cross section is done numerically using the commercial RANS Solver ANSYS CFX. Low Reynolds number of approximately 4.25 × 10 5 and the transition from laminar to turbulent are taken into account by the transition SST model.

The effects of applying a coupled unsteady blowing and suction combination over SD7003 airfoil at Reynolds number of 60,000 at an angle of attack of 13°, where a large separation on the suction side of the airfoil existed, was considered to investigate active flow control (AFC) mechanism. URANS equations were employed to solve the flow field and k–ω SST was used as the turbulence model. The unsteady blowing and suction were implemented at an angle to the surface crossing the boundary layer (CBL). The influence of location and frequency of the blowing/suction jets were examined.

Energy harvesting performance for a flapping foil device is evaluated to determine how activated leading edge motion affects the aerodynamic forces and the cycle power generated. Results are obtained for a thin flat foil that pitches about the mid-chord and operates in the reduced frequency range of k = fc/U of 0.06–0.10 and Reynolds numbers of 20,000 and 30,000 with a pitching amplitude of 70° and heaving amplitude of h 0 = 0.5c. Time resolved data are presented based on direct force measurements and are used to determine overall cycle efficiency and coefficient of power. These results are compared against a panel-based discrete vortex model to predict power production. The model incorporates a leading edge suction parameter predictor for vortex shedding and empirical adjustments to circulatory forces. It is found that the leading edge motions that reduce the effective angle of attack early in a flapping stroke generate larger forces later in the stroke. Consequently, the energy harvesting efficiencies and power coefficients are increased since the generated aerodynamic loads are better synchronized with the foil motion. The efficiency gains are reduced with increasing reduced frequencies.

Centrifugal pump performance curves instability, characterized by a local dent, can be the consequence of flow instabilities in rotating or stationary parts. Such flow instabilities often result in abnormal operating conditions, causing severe problems such as increased pressure pulsation, noise and vibration which can damage both pump and system. For the pump to have reliable operation, it is necessary to understand the onset and the mechanism of the phenomenon resulting in performance curves instability. Present paper focuses on performance curves instability of a centrifugal pump of low specific speed (ω s = 0.65, N s = 1776) and aims at a better understanding of the mechanism leading to the head drop observed during tests at part load. For that purpose, Computation Fluid Dynamic (CFD) was performed using a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approach. The geometry used for present research is in fact the first stage of a multi-stage centrifugal pump and is composed of a suction chamber, a closed-type impeller, a vaned diffuser and return guide vanes to next stage (not included). Leakages at wear ring and stage bush were also included in the computed geometry in order to consider their potential influence on pump stability. The occurrence of the instability in CFD is found at a higher flow rate than in the experiments. It is observed that the pre-swirl angle is under-predicted by several degrees which leads to change the impeller operating conditions. Nevertheless, the analysis of the CFD results is still useful to have a better understanding of the onset of the head drop. When the head drops, a switching of low radial and axial velocities at the impeller outlet from the hub side to the shroud side is observed. This change of flow pattern goes along with a strong increase of the diffuser inlet throat recirculation and the development of stall, that impairs pressure recovery between the impeller outlet and the diffuser inlet. As the pump flow rate is further decreased below the head drop flow rate, recirculation at the diffuser throat extend toward the impeller outlet and impact Euler head. Conversely, the pressure recovery from the impeller outlet to the diffuser inlet throat increases again as the flow velocity slowdown can be effective again. Consequently, the pump head increases again.

Swirling flow in pump sump intake has been the subject of discussion for the past decades due to the detrimental effects brought about by its existence. Among the effects of swirling flow are reduced pump efficiency, cavitation, excessive vibration and load imbalance at the pump impeller which are caused by hydraulic problems associated to swirling flow such as swirls and vortices. One of the remedial measures for preventing such occasion is by keeping the pump inlet submerged above a defined value known as the minimum inlet submergence. It is the minimum submergence required to reduce the probability of the occurrence of free surface vortices. However, this requirement may not be fulfilled in some situations due to on site conditions or operational restrictions. In this paper, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of swirl angle in the pump intake flow when the pump inlet is submerged near the value of minimum inlet submergence. The ratio of pump submergence to the minimum submergence was varied between 0.8 to 1.2 with constant inlet Froude Number which referred to as submergence ratio. The strength of the swirl in the intake flow was determined by measuring the swirl angle which was accomplished using a swirl meter attached in the suction pipe. Measurements using Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was performed to capture the velocity profile in the intake sump. The swirl angle distribution across the range of submergence ratios was dominated by a subsurface vortex formed at the sump floor. As soon as the submergence was reduced below the minimum submergence, a free surface vortex emerged near the pump inlet and brought a swirl retardation effect to the swirl meter rotation resulting in a bigger fluctuation of the swirl meter reading. An anti vortex device (AVD) called the floor splitter commonly used to reduce vorticity at pump inlet was installed and its effect on the reduction of swirls and vortices was evaluated.

Experiments of an inducer with symmetric slits were conducted. The purpose of the study is to explore the suppression effect on cavitation instabilities by slits. The slits are located in a throat position in each blade and it means symmetric slits. The experiments are done through measuring pressure fluctuation in the flow field and shaft displacement and visualization using high speed camera. In this study, the head performance, the suction performance, the cavity length and the occurrence range and the strength of the cavitation instabilities are compared with the results of inducer without slit. As a result, the slit in throat position does not give bad effect on head performance, improves suction performance, and has a relation to suppression of oscillation of cavitation instabilities because of the suppression effect of cavity length, although the occurrence range of super-synchronous rotating cavitation unfortunately increases because the cavity develops slowly.

The pump inlet casing deflects the fluid flow from the inlet pipe, mainly arranged normally to the axis, into the axial direction. The pump inlet casing can take a large variety of geometrical shapes from curved pipes to three-dimensional elbows. The hydrodynamic field induced by symmetrical suction elbow (SSE) at the pump inlet is experimentally investigated in order to quantify it effects at the pump inlet. The pump test rig and the experimental setup are detailed. A SSE model is installed at the pump inlet. Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements are performed on the annular cross section located at the pump inlet. As a result, the map of the velocity field is determined quantifying the non-uniformities induced by SSE. Next, the full 3D turbulent numerical investigation of the flow in the SSE is performed. The numerical results on the annular cross section are qualitatively and quantitatively validated against LDV data. A good agreement between numerical results and experimental data is obtained. The hydrodynamic flow structure with several pairs of vortices is identified examining the vorticity field. However, two pairs of vortices with largest contribution to the flow non-uniformity are examined. Three parameters are considered to quantify the evolution of each vortex center: two geometrical quantities (e.g. the radial and angular coordinates) and one hydrodynamic (the magnitude of vorticity). The largest values of the vorticity magnitude are identified in the center of both vortices located behind the shaft. The 3D distribution of the vortex core filaments is visualized. As a result, the 3D geometry of the SSE and the pump shaft are identified as the main sources of the flow non-uniformity at the pump inlet. This deep analysis of the 3D flow field induced by the SSE paves the way towards an improved geometry with practical applications to real pump and pump-turbines.

The following study describes the optimization design procedure of a double-suction pump. BASELINE pump is designed as inlet nozzle diameter 800 mm and impeller outlet diameter 740 mm. Each component of a BASELINE pump, impeller configurations, discharge volute, and the suction casing were determined by DOE (Design of Experiments) and sensitivity analysis. However, finite selected design parameters for each component are mostly restricted to the free surface design of the pump casing. In this study, the optimization method approach along with steady Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is introduced to achieve the high efficiency request of a double-suction pump. To investigate the matching optimization of the impeller and discharge volute at design point, the full parametric geometry of discharge volute was developed referred to the BASELINE shape and Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II) was used. Optimization result shows that by increasing the volute cross-sectional area from the volute tongue till the circumferential angle 180 deg. provides lower loss. This is due to the improvement achieved for the better distribution of the velocity gradient within the volute. A validated unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was also employed to investigate the performance difference between optimized volute design and the BASELINE which correlated to the pressure fluctuation and secondary flow behavior inside the cross-sections from 80% to 120% of nominal flow rate. The result shows that the flow distortion in the streamwise direction is stronger with the BASELINE and sensitively affects the operation stability. This is due to the different secondary flow pattern in the cross-sections, hence demonstrating a design direction of desired volute cross-sectional shape for high-performance can be used in a double-suction volute pump.

This paper presents an experimental work on dynamic characteristics of a cavitating inducer. In the present study, the focus is placed on the cavitation compliance K and the mass flow gain factor M, which are necessary for stability analysis of a propulsion system of liquid propellant rockets. Our experiment revealed that the magnitude of K and M increased as the inlet pressure and the flow rate decreased: the volume of the cavity increased. It also clarified that K had no significant phase delay and M had the phase delay of about 90 degrees, regardless of the inlet pressure and the flow rate.

A predictive transient one-dimensional rotodynamic pump model is currently developed into the CATHARE-3 thermal-hydraulic system code at CEA Saclay, France. Flow is computed in each part of the pump (suction, impeller, diffuser, volute and discharge pipe) based on the definition of a mean stream line. Several cells are used to mesh each part of the rotodynamic pump, which makes this model different from usually called “1D models”. In this study, the model is tested on a medium specific speed centrifugal pump in every operating modes encountered in the first quadrant (positive flow rate and rotational speed). A flow rate evolution is performed at the nominal rotational speed and also at rotational speed equal to zero in order to produce complete first quadrant homologous curves. Relative discrepancy between computation and experiment is respectively less than 10% and 15% on the whole obtained homologous head and torque curves.