CFD FOR CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS: A REVIEW

S V Jain V J Lakhera
Assistant Professor Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department Mechanical Engineering Department
Institute of Technology Institute of Technology
Nirma University Nirma University
Sarkhej - Gandhinagar Highway Sarkhej - Gandhinagar Highway
Ahmedabad-382481(Gujarat) Ahmedabad-382481(Gujarat)
M: 09998623087 M: 09723618303
Fax: 02717-241917 Fax: 02717-241917
e-mail: sanjay.jain@nirmauni.ac.in e-mail: vikas.lakhera@nirmauni.ac.in

S R Shah
M Tech in Thermal Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department
Institute of Technology
Nirma University
Ahmedabad-382481(Gujarat)
M: 09998678934
e-mail: saurabh9978@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Centrifugal pumps find wide applications in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, process
plants, power sector, residential areas etc. There are various ways of achieving higher efficiency
of the pumps like performance monitoring of the system, preventive maintenance, replacement
of the damaged parts, use of latest technology etc. However, all these techniques will be
beneficial provided sufficient care is taken at the design stage itself.

For the cost-effective design of pumps it is very crucial to understand the flow behavior in
different parts of the pump i.e. how energy transfer and transformation take place in the different
parts, which help in predicting their performance in advance before manufacturing them.
Experimental model testing is one of the solutions for prediction of performance but it is tedious,
time consuming and costly. Conversely, theoretical approach for prediction of efficiency merely
gives a value; but it is unable to determine the main source for the poor performance.

In recent years, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become an important tool for the flow
analysis of centrifugal pumps due to the development of the high speed computers and evolution
of CFD. In CFD approach, the flow domain is divided into the discrete cells and fundamental
conservation equations are solved at discrete points numerically at different operating points with
the help of computer. This helps in prediction of flow behavior in different parts of the system
before actually manufacturing it. In case of modification of existing systems, the modifications
can be incorporated in numerical model using CFD and their effects can be predicted before
implementing them. This paper reviews the research work carried out by different investigators
in the field of flow analysis of centrifugal pumps using CFD as a numerical simulation tool.

Performance prediction of centrifugal pump is often a challenging task as it requires analysis of

the highly complex flow which is turbulent and three dimensional in nature and having
continuously changing flow passage. Many investigators have applied CFD as a numerical
simulation tool for the cost-effective design of centrifugal pumps like prediction of part load
performance, flow visualization in different components of the pump, micro pump analysis,
cavitation analysis etc. Pump’s operating range spans from full-load down to close to the shut-off
head. For pumps, important questions are-to what extent can the current 3D Navier-Stokes
design tools be used to identify the onset of instabilities in the flow and how accurately the
pumps characteristic can be predicted.

Impeller and diffuser flows have been studied extensively and volute flow study has appeared as
an interesting research field for further improving the pump performance. With the aid of the
CFD approach, the complex internal flows in water pump impellers which are not fully
understood yet can be well predicted to speed up the pump design. Cavitation in centrifugal
pump is undesirable phenomenon. It is found that homogeneous two phase Reynolds-Averaged-
Navier-Stokes equations are used to predict cavitation behavior of the pump. The rotor-stator
interaction is also one of the least understood phenomena in centrifugal pumps.