Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Numerical simulation and experimental study on the comparison of

the hydraulic characteristics of an axial-flow pump and a full tubular
pump
Lijian Shi a, Wenpeng Zhang a, Haifeng Jiao a, Fangping Tang a, *, Li Wang b, Dandan Sun c,
Wei Shi d
a
College of Hydraulic Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225100, China
b
Huai’an Water Resources Survey and Design Institute Co., Ltd, Huai’an, 223001, China
c
Xuzhou Water Conservancy Architectural Design & Research Institute, Xuzhou, 221000, China
d
South-to-North Water Transfer Eastern Jiangsu Water Resources Co., Ltd, Nanjing, 210029, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An axial-flow pump impeller is designed on the basis of plane cascade theory, which is based on surface
Received 14 August 2019 element method, to study the influence of impeller rotor on the hydraulic performance of the a full
Received in revised form tubular pump. Then, the performance of the full tubular and axial-flow pumps has been compared and
30 January 2020
analyzed through CFD and model test, respectively. First, two-dimensional plane cascade theory is used
Accepted 21 February 2020
for the hydraulic design of pump impeller blades according to the design condition of an axial-flow
Available online 24 February 2020
pump. Second, the CFD calculations of full tubular pump and axial-flow pumps are performed using
numerical simulation software. Finally, the reliability of the numerical simulation is verified by using a
Keywords:
Axial-flow pump
model test. Results show that under the design condition of the axial-flow pump, the head, efficiency,
Full tubular pump and maximum efficiency correspond to 3.30 m, 86.3%, and 86.69%, respectively. In the design condition,
Hydraulic design the head of the full tubular pump is 3.12 m and decreases by 5.5%, and the hydraulic efficiency is 78.54%
Numerical calculation and declines by 7.76%. The hydraulic loss caused by clearance backflow and the disc friction loss caused
Experimental analysis by rotor housing mainly caused the reduction in the hydraulic performance of the full tubular pump.
Meanwhile, the decrease in the maximum operating head of the full tubular pump is greater than that of
the axial-flow pump. Moreover, the safe and stable operation area of the full tubular pump is only 82.43%
of that of the axial-flow pump. This work has important theoretical and guiding significance in the design
and practical engineering application of the full tubular pump.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Axial-flow pump is widely used in large-scale water diversion,
agricultural irrigation, urban flood control, and drainage projects
because of its large flow and low head. The large pump device
system can be divided into shaft and tubular pumps according to
the motor layout. The motors of the shaft and tubular pump devices
are arranged outside and inside the pump system, respectively. Full
tubular pump is a special type of pump system. It is a new type of
electromechanical integration product that is combined with sub-
mersible motor and tubular pump technology, wherein the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tangfp@yzu.edu.cn (F. Tang).
impeller is installed on the motor rotor lumen. The impeller blades
are directly connected to the motor rotor and has no blade tip
clearance. Thus, the motor rotor becomes part of the impeller
rotation. Although the full tubular pump has no blade tip clearance,
it increases the disk friction and hydraulic losses of the motor rotor
because of the clearance backflow at the inlet. This phenomenon is
also the key scientific problem that needs to be solved in the pro-
motion of large-scale pumping station project. Nevertheless, the
full tubular pump has many advantages, such as the ability to
eliminate the transmission shaft, no need for tall factory buildings,
small investment in civil engineering, short construction period,
compact structure, can be lifted as a whole, and has minimal
environmental impact. Full tubular pump has great potential
application in military equipment, such as in urban emergency
discharge, urban water environment engineering and nuclear

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.02.082
0960-1481/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1456 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464
Fig. 1. 3D model diagram of axial flow pump impeller.
submarine.
The full tubular pump impeller is actually the axial-flow pump
impeller. Several reports on the design and flow field analysis of
axial-flow pump are available locally and internationally [1e5].
However, reports on the full tubular pump, especially on the hy-
draulic performance analysis of the full-flow pump are relatively
few. Shi Lijian et al. [6] investigated the influence of the main design
parameters on the performance of the axial-flow pump. Then, they
controlled the direction of blade performance change when
designing axial-flow pump. Finally, they verified the hydraulic
performance of the axial-flow pump after changing the design
parameters using CFD numerical calculation method to determine
the final modified design scheme. Zhou Jiren et al. [7] conducted a
targeted design on the hydraulic model of axial-flow pump by
changing the cascade density and airfoil placement angle, whereas
the optimal design scheme was obtained by adopting the multi-
condition optimization design method. Tang Fangping et al. [8]
designed and optimized axial-flow pump impeller based on the
subject analysis of hydraulic and structure performance. Moreover,
they established the mathematical model of the multisubject
design optimization of axial-flow pump blade through the coupling
relationship of the two subjects. The optimization target of the
highest impeller efficiency and the lightest blade mass was ach-
ieved by using collaborative optimization algorithm. Huang Haitian
et al. [9] introduced the concept of water pump hydraulic model-
targeted design in the eastern route of South-North Water Trans-
fer Project when the pump hydraulic model was designed and
selected. Initially, the method of equal head and increased flow was
adopted to determine the design parameters of the water pump.
Then, CAD technology combined with CFD calculation was used to
design the pump hydraulic model. The movement of the high-
efficiency zone of the pump hydraulic model can be obtained
through the optimization of key geometric parameters, such as
impeller hub ratio and the cascade density. Tang Fangping et al. [10]
Fig. 2. Impeller diagram of full tubular pump.
Fig. 3. 3D model of full tubular pump impeller.
investigated the hydraulic performance of several S airfoils to
improve the reverse energy of the axial-flow pump impeller,.
However, the traditional axial-flow pump are faced with chal-
lenges, such as low efficiency, high head and poor cavitation per-
formance. Liu Chao [11] proposed that the development of the full-
flow pump system remained in improving the efficiency of pump
device by analyzing the technical innovation and development of
the axial-flow pump system. Gu Zhisheng et al. [12] examined the
characteristics of different kinds of full tubular pump systems and
enumerated the problems of the full tubular pump that needed to
be solved in future research. Li Shenghu et al. [13,14] analyzed the
application of full tubular pump and concluded that its operation is
stable and its performance is satisfactory. Wang C. et al. [15,16]
adopted the methods of numerical and experimental study to
explore the pressure fluctuation, vibration, and noise of multistage
pump.
Full tubular pump eliminates the transmission shaft, and its
structural advantages become highly evident. However, the effi-
ciency level and flow field changes have not been fully explained
because of the presence of motor rotor in the rim area of the axial-
flow pump. In work, the hydraulic model design and performance
analysis of the full tubular pump of circulating water supply for
nuclear submarine are performed on the basis of the research
methods of numerical simulation and model test, and the full
tubular pump performance and internal flow situation are expected
to be obtained. The research content of this paper can provide
guidance on the hydraulic design and application of full tubular
pump, which has important research significance and application
value.
2. Pump design
In this work, a new type of circulating water supply full tubular
pump for nuclear submarine is taken as the research object. On the
basis of previous studies, the hydraulic designing of the axial-flow
pump was conducted using CFD numerical simulation software,
and the reliability of the numerical simulation results was verified
using a physical model test.
The design requirements of the axial-flow pump are presented
as follows: the impeller diameter D ¼ 350 mm, the rotational speed
n ¼ 950 r/min, and nD value is 332.5. Design flow Q ¼ 390 L/s, and
design head H ¼ 3.2 m, whereas pump specific speed ns ¼ 905. A
Table 1
Parameters of the pump.
Parameter Symbol Value
Rated speed n 950 r/min
Rated discharge Q 390 L/s
Rated head H 3.2 m
Impeller diameter D 0.35 m
Impeller blade number Zi 4
Guide vane number Zg 7
 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464 1457

Fig. 4. Calculation diagram of axial-flow pump device.

Fig. 6. Analysis of mesh irrelevance of axial-flow pump impeller.

dY d
¼ hR u ðrVu Þ (2)
dr dr

where hR is the impeller efficiency, u is angular velocity of the

impeller rotation, u ¼ 2pn/60, and n is the impeller rotation speed.
The equation which is obtained by combining Equations (2) and
(1), is expressed as follows:
Fig. 5. Calculation diagram of full tubular pump device.
d V2 dVz dVu
hR u ðrVu Þ ¼ u þ Vz þ Vu (3)
dr r dr dr
350-mm straight pipe is used in the inlet and outlet of the pump
because the full tubular pump is directly installed on the pipe. The The flow (continuity) constraint condition is presented as
total axial length of the pump device is less than 500 mm to reduce follows:
the footprint. The blade angle type of the axial-flow pump is not ð
rt
adjustable. Thus, its hub and rim can be designed as cylindrical. The Q ¼ 2phV V rdr (4)
hydraulic design and numerical simulation of the axial-flow pump rh z
are based on the prototype pump. The numerical simulation objects The total energy constraint condition is expressed as follows:
of the three-dimensional (3D) flow field inside the pump device
include the inlet and outlet straight pipes, the impeller, the guide ðrt
vane, and the water guiding cone. 2puhV hh
rgQH ¼ Vz Vu r 2 dr (5)
The radial balance equation is adopted in this study to calculate g
rh
the flow passage considering that the blade load of the axial-flow
pump and the radial component velocity under design condition
where hv is the volume efficiency of the pump, hh is the hydraulic
are small. Based on plane cascade theory, the blade modeling is
efficiency of the pump, rt is the radius of the impeller rim, rh is the
completed using the surface element method, so as to achieve a
radius of the impeller hub.
stable, fast, and certain accuracy design of the axial-flow pump
According to Equations (3)e(5), the axial velocity distribution
impeller.
depends on the distribution of the blade load (circular rector), and
The radial equilibrium equation of the mean velocity distribu-
the circular rector is expressed as:
tion in the downstream (clearance) of the impeller is expressed as
follows:  
G ¼ 2prt ut Al2 þ Bl þ C (6)

The triangles of inlet and outlet velocity at different radiuses

that meet the requirements of design flow. Moreover, the design
head can be obtained by non-dimensionalizing and integrating the
dY Vu2 dVz dVu circular rector, the continuity constraint condition, and the total
¼ þ Vz þ Vu (1) energy constraint condition. Thus, the inlet b1 and the outlet flow
dr r dr dr
angles b2 have been determined.
where Y is the actual specific work generated at the radius, Y ¼ gHr, The designing of the axial-flow pump blade is conducted by
Hr is the total head at the radius, g is the acceleration of gravity, Vu is combining plane cascade theory and panel element method. The
the circumferential component of the absolute velocity down- entire design program is written by Fortran. In the design program,
stream of the impeller, and Vz is the axial velocity. Q, H, and n are taken as design parameters; d/D, A/B, C/B, (l/t)t, and
The radial change in blade efficiency is ignored, therefore: Z are taken as variable parameters; and efficiency is taken as design
1458 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464
Fig. 7. Physical diagrams of test components and systems.
Fig. 8. Comparison of numerical calculation results of the pump device.
target. The outlet flow angle b2 was obtained through program
iteration under the condition of high impeller efficiency. Therefore,
the inlet flow should basically meet the requirement of no impact
by combining the parameters determined by the preliminary
design, such as hub ratio, blade number, cascade density, and blade
thickness. Lastly, the design results of the axial-flow pump blade
can be obtained through program iteration according to the design
requirements. The number of impeller blade is 4, the number of
guide vane is 7, the hub ratio is 0.4, the diameter of impeller is
350 mm, the shroud cascade density is 0.79, the cascade density
multiple of blade hub is 1.4, the blade placement angle at the rim is
15.33 , and the blade placement angle at the hub is 46.59 . The 3D
model of the axial-flow pump impeller is shown in Fig. 1.
In the full tubular pump design, the impeller of the axial-flow
pump is welded together with the motor rotor. The key design
component is the rotor size of the motor. A certain flow is observed
between the motor rotor and the housing to cool the motor. The gap
flow is designed through the inlet and outlet pressure of impeller.
The minimum size of the designed gap is 0.7 mm, and the rest size
of the gap is 2 mm. In this work, the motor rotor is a simplified
model without coil arrangement. The maximum thickness of the
rotor is 18 mm, whereas the axial length is 100 mm. The schematic
of the full tubular pump impeller and the 3D model are shown in
Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, respectively.
3. Numerical schemes and experimental setup
3.1. Computational model
Based on the axial-flow pump hydraulic model designed above,
the calculation domain includes inlet pipe, outlet pipe, impeller,
and guide vane. The guide vane is designed with supporting guide
vane, with inlet flow angle designed according to the design flow
condition of the impeller. The blade number of the guide vane is 7,
the hub ratio is also 0.4, and the impeller tip clearance is 0.10 mm.
The detailed information is listed in Table 1. The axial-flow pump
hydraulic model is applied in the circulating water system. The flow
and head are relatively stable, whereas the axial-flow pump blades
are non-adjustable blades. Therefore, this work adopted the cyl-
inder design for the impeller hub. The entire computational domain
of the numerical simulation is shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5.
3.2. Governing equations and boundary conditions
The governing equation for numerical simulation is the time-
averaged NeS equation, whereas the turbulence model is the
standard k-ε model. The inlet boundary condition was set as the
total pressure inlet, and the total pressure is a standard atmosphere
 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464 1459

Fig. 9. Comparison result diagram of axial-flow pump device. Fig. 11. Rotor clearance backflow curves.

pressure. The outlet boundary condition adopts mass flow outlet, expressed by the following formula:
and the design flow Qopt is 390 L/s. The impeller is the rotation  .
domain, in which the boundary of the impeller shroud wall is set to T
H ¼ Pout T
 Pin rg (7)
reverse rotation at the same speed relative to the impeller, whereas
the other domains are set as the stationary domains. The rotation T is the total pressure of impeller outlet, Pa; and P T is the
where Pout in
speed is 950 r/min. The solid wall boundary includes blade surface, total pressure of impeller inlet, Pa.
hub and inner surface of impeller shroud. The solid wall surface The hydraulic efficiency formula of the axial-flow pump
satisfies the non-slip condition of viscous fluid, and the standard impeller is expressed as follows:
wall function boundary condition is adopted in the near-wall area.
The “Stage” interface model with average velocity is adopted for the
rgQH
rotation and static interfaces, whereas “None” interface type is h¼ (8)
Tp u
adopted for the interface of other parts [17,18].
where Tp is torque, N$m.
3.3. Grid independence analysis The inlet and outlet water pipes and water-guide cone are
modeled in UG, and the structured grid division is conducted in
This work calculates the impeller head of the axial-flow pump ICEM. TurboGrid was used to model the impeller and guide vane.
according to the Bernoulli energy equation. The hydraulic perfor- After dividing the parts into grids, they were assembled in CFX to
mance of the axial-flow pump impeller is predicted by the velocity obtain the whole computing domain of the device.
field, pressure field and the torque on the impeller [19e21]. The axial-flow pump impeller is divided as a hexahedral struc-
The calculated head of the axial-flow pump impeller is ture by TurboGrid. The impeller of the axial-flow pump is the
working part of the whole calculation domain. Thus, the number of
impeller mesh has an important influence on the calculation re-
sults. The analysis of grid independence is shown in Fig. 6. The

Fig. 10. Test performance comparison between axial-flow pump and full tubular
pump. Fig. 12. Diagram of the friction loss power curve and the pump shaft power curve.
1460 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464
increase in mesh slightly affect the computational efficiency when
the mesh of the single-channel impeller reaches up to 140,000.
Therefore, during the numerical calculation, the number of the
single channel impeller grid is approximately 140,000. The number
of grids in other computational domains is selected according to
relevant references.
3.4. Experimental setup
According to the numerical simulation results of axial-flow
pump and full tubular pump, the impeller, guide vane, and inlet
and outlet pipe are processed for the model test. The impeller
diameter of the axial-flow pump is 350 mm and the test speed is
950 r/min. The axial-flow pump impeller with a hub ratio of 0.4 and
the blade number of 4, which indicate that the copper material is
adopted, is shown in Fig. 7(a). Guide vanes are shown in Fig. 7(b),
and the hub ratio is also 0.4, the number of guide blades is 7,
indicating that the steel material is adopted. The full tubular pump
impeller is shown in Fig. 7(c). The motor rotor is machined accu-
rately according to CAD size and is fixed with the blade through
four 3 mm countersunk-hole screws. The test device is shown in
Fig. 7(d). After the pump is installed and inspected, the positioning
surfaces of the guide vane and impeller chamber have axial runout
of 0.10 mm, the outer surface of the hub has a radial runout of
0.08 mm, and the tip clearance is controlled within 0.18 mm.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Analysis of CFD calculation results
Numerical simulation is conducted for axial-flow pump and full-
Fig. 13. Pressure cloud diagram of front and back of impeller (Q ¼ 390 L/s).
flow pump According to the design results. The numerical results
are shown in Fig. 8.
The numerical calculation results in Fig. 8 suggest that the flow-
head and flow-efficiency curves are smooth. In the design condition
Q ¼ 390 L/s, the head of the axial-flow pump is 3.28 m and its ef-
ficiency is 86.84%. The axial-flow pump hydraulic model requires a
head of 3.2 m under the design flow condition, with small error and
accurate design results. The design condition is only the optimal
operating condition of the pump. According to the performance
curve in Fig. 8, when the motor rotor with a certain thickness is
added to the outer edge of the axial-flow pump impeller, the head
and efficiency are greatly reduced at the same flow condition. This
phenomenon occurs because of two main reasons. First, a backflow
gap between the motor rotor and the housing, and some water
flows back from the blade outlet area to the blade inlet area are
observed, thereby affecting the flow field of the blade inlet,
resulting in hydraulic loss and reduced head and efficiency. In
addition, clearance backflow water and the outer edge of the motor
rotor produce large disc friction loss, which increases the torque
and shaft power, thereby resulting in further efficiency reduction.
According to Fig. 8, under off-design conditions, the maximum
operating head of the axial-flow pump device can reach up to
5.58 m, whereas the maximum operating head of the full tubular
pump device is only approximately 4.6 m. With the further increase
in head, the full tubular pump device will enter the saddle area in
advance. The ratio of the maximum operating head to the designed
head of the axial-flow pump device is 1.74, whereas the full tubular
pump device is 1.44. The safe and stable operating area of the full
tubular pump device is only 82.43% of the axial-flow pump device.
This observation also indicates that the clearance backflow will
further interfere with the unsteady flow field at the inlet of the
 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464
Fig. 14. Axial velocity distribution diagram of impeller inlet along blade spreading direction.
axial-flow pump impeller under the condition of small flow rate,
thereby causing the axial-flow pump to enter the saddle area in
advance. According to the performance curve, the head reduction
degree of the full-flow pump device is inconsistent under the
condition of large flow and small flow because the backflow rate of
the rotor clearance varies under different working conditions, and
the interference degree to the inlet flow field is also unlike, thereby
leading to inconsistent hydraulic loss and head drop.
4.2. Analysis of the test results
The test was carried out in accordance to the standards in a
model test bench of China. The performance test of each blade
angle should be no less than 15 test points. First, the hydraulic
performance of the axial-flow pump device was tested. After the
axial-flow pump device test was completed, the motor rotor and
impeller chamber were further processed and manufactured. Then,
the hydraulic performance of the full tubular pump device test was
completed. The numerical simulation results of the axial-flow
pump device are compared with the test results (Fig. 9) to verify
the reliability of the numerical simulation.
According to Fig. 9, under the design conditions (flow rate is
390 L/s, rotation speed is 950 r/min), the test efficiency is 86.3%, and
the head is 3.30 m, which is very close to the numerical simulation
results. The maximum operating efficiency of the test is 86.69%, the
maximum efficiency of the numerical simulation is 86.55%, and the
error is 0.16%. In the case of large flow rate, the deviation of the
efficiency curve is slightly larger, but the overall test curve is in
good agreement with the numerical calculation curve, whereas the
numerical model results have high reliability, thereby further
verifying the accuracy of the axial-flow pump design results.
The comparison between the performance curve of the full
tubular pump device and the axial-flow pump device is shown in
Fig. 10.
According to Figs. 10 and 8, the trend of test results is consistent
1461
with the CFD calculation results, indicating that the numerical
simulation of full-flow pump is accurate. The head curve of the full
tubular pump is in good agreement with the numerical results, but
its test efficiency is slightly lower than that of CFD. The maximum
operating efficiency of the full tubular pump test is 78.71%.
4.3. Analysis of gap backflow results
The full tubular clearance flow under different flow conditions is
shown in Fig. 11.
The pressure at the outlet of the impeller is high and the inlet
pressure is low because of the existence of a certain size gap be-
tween the rotor and the stator of the motor. Thus, the reverse
clearance flow from the outlet area of the impeller to the inlet area
will be formed. This gap backflow can play a good role in cooling the
motor. In Fig. 11, under the design condition, the clearance backflow
rate is 1.78 L/s, which accounts for only 0.46% of the pump flow rate.
Thus, the flow leakage loss of the pump was small and could be
ignored. The gap backflow decreases with the increase in flow, and
the change trend of the backflow curve is consistent with the
change trend of the head curve. The gap backflow decreases with
the head near the saddle area, showing that the gap backflow is
mainly affected by the inlet and outlet pressure. The ratio of
clearance backflow to head is basically a straight line with hori-
zontal coordinate under different mainstream conditions, which
also indicates that the clearance backflow under different working
conditions is directly proportional to the pressure difference at the
outlet and inlet, and the clearance flow is mainly affected by the
pressure difference.
4.4. Analysis of the friction loss power results
Fig. 12 shows the friction loss power and the pump shaft power
under different flow conditions. Pt is the disc friction loss power
caused by clearance backflow, whereas Pn is the shaft power of the
1462 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464

Fig. 15. Axial velocity distribution and inlet flow characteristics of the impeller.

impeller blade.
The friction loss power of the full tubular pump is smaller than
that of the axial-flow pump. The friction loss power under different
flow conditions is only approximately 550 w. The pump operates in
the unstable condition area within the region from 0.45 Qopt to 0.7
Qopt, and the friction loss power increases with the flow rate.
However, within the range of 0.7 Qopt to 1.05 Qopt, the clearance disc
friction loss power basically remains unchanged. The friction loss
power increases with the flow rate when the flow condition is in
the range of 1.05 Qopt to 1.15 Qopt. The change trend in Pt/Pn curve
increases with the flow rate, which rises rapidly under large flow
conditions. According to the Pt/Pn curve, the ratio of friction loss
power to pump shaft power is between 3% and 4% under the flow
condition of 0.45 Qopt to 1.0 Qopt. When Q reaches approximately
1.15 Qopt, the ratio of friction loss power to pump shaft power can
reach 6%, causing the efficiency of the full tubular pump decrease
greatly under large flow condition.
4.5. Analysis of the inlet flow field distribution
The front and back pressure distribution cloud of axial-flow
pump impeller and full tubular pump impeller, are taken out
(Fig. 13).
According to Fig. 13, the pressure distribution trend is consistent
from hub to rim, but the pressure in the rim area of the axial-flow
pump impeller is significantly higher than that of the full tubular
pump impeller, inducting that the working capacity of the axial-
flow pump impeller is higher than that of the full tubular pump
impeller. This phenomenon also caused the low head of the full
tubular pump impeller. The pressure distribution regulation on the
 L. Shi et al. / Renewable Energy 153 (2020) 1455e1464
back of the axial-flow and full tubular pump impellers is consistent,
and the area of low pressure zone is slightly different, inducting
that the cavitation performance of the impeller is not obviously
affected by the clearance backflow under the design condition.
According to previous analysis, due to the existence of a motor
rotor that rotates with the impeller, the decrease in efficiency is
mainly due to the increase in shaft power caused by the disc friction
loss and the energy loss that resulted from clearance backflow. The
axial velocity of the impeller inlet from the hub to the rim (Q ¼ Qopt)
is taken out (Fig. 14).
In Fig. 14, span represents blade span, span ¼ 0 represents hub
position, and span ¼ 1 represents rim position. The position of the
impeller inlet is around streamline ¼ 0.1 (Fig. 14). According to the
comparison of the calculation results of the two impellers, the axial
velocity is greatly affected in the inlet rim area of the impeller when
clearance backflow is observed, and the closer to the impeller rim,
the more the axial velocity decreases. The axial velocity affects
approximately 15% of the blade length in the area. Clearance
backflow has minimal effect on the inlet velocity in other locations.
The internal flow field of the impeller is removed to analyze the
internal flow pattern difference between the axial flow pump and
the full tubular pump (Fig. 15). The main flow pattern difference
between the inlet of the axial-flow pump and the full tubular pump
is in a small flow condition. The flow pattern of the impeller inlet of
the axial-flow pump is smooth, whereas vortex and bias flow
phenomenon are observed at the impeller inlet of the full tubular
flow pump. A low-pressure area is generated by the flow pattern
near the impeller rim disturbed by the clearance backflow. The
change in the hydraulic characteristics of the full tubular pump
impeller is mainly caused by the clearance backflow. The effect of
the clearance backflow on the performance of the full tubular pump
gradually decreases with the increase in pump flow. In Fig. 12, the
flow pattern at the inlet and outlet of the impeller of the tubular
flow pump is affected by the clearance reflux. The influence is
obvious when it is close to the rim of the full tubular pump
impeller. The impact of clearance backflow on the inlet of the full-
flow pump impeller decreases with the increase in pump flow. The
inlet flow pattern of the impeller of the full tubular pump is
remarkable under the design and large flow conditions.
5. Conclusions
In the current work, the flow behaviors of the axial-flow pump
and the full tubular pump under different flow conditions were
studied by numerical simulation and model test. The numerical
simulation results have a good agreement with the model test re-
sults, which indicating that the numerical simulation methods are
reliable and accurate. The internal flow configurations have
changed greatly due to the different structures of the axial-flow
pump and the full flow pump. The primary conclusions can be
summarized as follows:
(1) When the designed flow rate is 390 L/s, the head of the axial-
flow pump device is 3.30 m, and the efficiency reaches 86.3%,
and the maximum efficiency reaches 86.69%. The results
show that the plane cascade design method based on surface
element method is feasible for axial flow pump impeller.
(2) When the designed flow rate is 390 L/s, the head of full
tubular pump device is 3.12 m, the head decreases by 5.5%,
the hydraulic efficiency is 78.54%, and the efficiency de-
creases by 7.76%.
(3) The hydraulic loss caused by clearance backflow and the disc
friction loss caused by rotor housing are the main reasons for
decreased of efficiency of the full tubular pump. The clear-
ance backflow rate of the full tubular pump is proportional to
1463
the pressure difference between inlet and outlet of the
impeller. In addition, the full tubular pump will enter the
saddle area to operate in advance due to the existence of
clearance backflow. The safe and stable operation area of full
tubular pump is only 82.43% of the axial-flow pump.
The present work has obtained some key results by the com-
parison of the hydraulic characteristics of an axial-flow pump and a
full tubular pump. However, the transient characteristics of the full
tubular pump has not be well solved and should be considered in
the further studies.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lijian Shi: Data curation, Methodology, Software. Wenpeng
Zhang: Data curation, Writing - original draft. Haifeng Jiao:
Writing - original draft. Fangping Tang: Investigation, Formal
analysis. Li Wang: Writing - review & editing. Dandan Sun: Vali-
dation, Investigation. Wei Shi: Writing - review & editing.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (grant number 51376155); the National Sci-
ence Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (grant number
BK20190914); the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Higher
Education Institutions of China (grant number 19KJB570002);
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project (2019M661946); the
National Science Foundation of Yangzhou of China(grant number
YZ2018103); the Priority Academic Program Development of
Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (grant number PAPD).
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