Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Cryogenics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cryogenics

Unsteady flow analysis regarding stall flow and rotating cavitation in the
first-stage of a multistage LNG cryogenic submerged pump
Cong Wang a, Lin Guo a, *, Zhigang Liu a, Yongxue Zhang b, Zhuoliang Li a
a
Energy Research Institute, Qilu University of Technology Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250014, PR China
b
College of Mechanical and Transportation Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, the evolution of vortex structure and energy conversion process under the coupling of stall and
Coupling effect of stall and cavitation cavitation flow (CSC) in the first-stage of a multistage LNG cryogenic submerged pump are numerically studied
Flow instability in detail, using a time-scale-driven hybrid URANS/LES turbulence model and a mushy interfacial dynamics
Vortex dynamics
cavitation model. The flow instability diagnostic parameter, PVS, is then established combining the first and
EPR
LNG cryogenic submerged pump
second laws of thermodynamics. Further, the dynamic behaviors under CSC are analyzed by Liutex method and
the fluctuations of vortex intensity are investigated in time-frequency domain. Results show that compared with
the oscillation process of the pump head, PVS is more intuitive to depict the stall state. It is treated as light and
deep stall as PVS drops to 0.2 and 0.15, while PVS is further reduced and finally locks at about 0.12. For the
above conditions, vortices at the inlet section involves high-frequency cavity-shedding vortex and low-frequency
impact vortex. The middle separation region absorbs the upstream shedding vortex and transports the separation
vortex downstream, whereas vortices with the highest intensity locates at the outlet diffusion section in the
helical shape. Among the vortex-vortex interaction, broadband oscillations get more significant under CSC.

complex unsteady flow occurs in the pump accompanied by boundary

1. Introduction
As one of the cleanest-burning fossil fuels and the highlighted ther­
mal sink, LNG (liquefied natural gas) has rapidly gained growth in the
industry mix and multigeneration system working with renewable en­
ergies such as solar and geothermal heat. For the net zero emissions
targets, the global demand of LNG is expected to grow from 360 million
tons in the present to reach nearly 700 million tons until 2040 [1].
Considering the regional unprecedented volatility in supply and demand
by the COVID-19 pandemic, LNG bunkering vessels, each of which is
shipped enough fuel to power about 72,500 homes for a year, are
typically utilized for the ocean-going transportation for less spending
and greater flexibility. To strictly guarantee the requirements in sealing
and cold preservation for the LNG, the multi-stage submerged centrif­
ugal pump is the best solution to load and unload LNG cryogenic in
profound hypothermia environment.
However, on the one hand, the continuous switching of the load to
offset the variability of send-out requirements causes the pump-fed unit
to run off-design, passing regions of intensive vibration levels more
frequently. This has the potential to compromise the safe and stable
operation of the pump-fed unit. Under off-design conditions, the
layer separation vortex, secondary flow, reflux, backflow, rotor–stator
interaction and rotating stall, etc [2]. The stall flow and backflow may
further intensify at the inlet and outlet of the impeller under the deep
off-design conditions, while the nonequilibrium of upstream and
downstream flow triggers the separation vortex, which usually propa­
gates along the same rotation direction as the impeller and result in the
severe rotating stall. The coherent unsteady flow patterns will take a toll
on energy-saving and stable performance of a multistage pump-fed unit,
especially during the shutdown process. Roca [3] pointed out that a
rocket engine encounters many transient processes such as engine start
and thrust control, chilling, engine shutdown, reignition and so on
during a launch sequence. The dynamic characteristics in frequent
handoffs are known to be complex and fatal factors in the stability of a
rocket engine. They can cause serious vibration and oscillation troubles
for the propellant feed system. Surge failure, which is the extreme
problems in rocket pumps, is one of the typical phenomena.
One the other hand, when low-temperature refrigerants move at a
high speed, cavitation is an unavoidable tough issue for the LNG cryo­
genic submerged pump [4]. Cavitation is an intense phase-transition
phenomenon with rapid liquid vapor generated and explosively grown
in the interior or at the interface between the liquid and solid [5]. The

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: linguo@sderi.cn (L. Guo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cryogenics.2022.103546
Received 26 March 2022; Received in revised form 2 August 2022; Accepted 10 August 2022
Available online 23 August 2022
0011-2275/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Nomenclature Abbreviation
CSC coupling effect of rotating stall and cryogenic cavitation
u homogeneous velocity (m/s) URANS unsteady Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes
p pressure (Pa) LES large eddy simulation
h sensible enthalpy (J/kg) LNG liquefied natural gas
f mass fraction DES detached eddy simulation
Pr Prandtl number TSDM time-scale-driven hybrid URANS/LES turbulence model
Pk production term for turbulent kinetic energy IDM mushy interfacial dynamics model
S strain rate magnitude (m/s2) RMS root-mean-square
Df eddy viscosity damping coefficient EPDM entropy production diagnostic model
ta analytical time scale (s− 1) LEPR local entropy production rate
Q second invariants of velocity gradient tensor (m2/s4) DEPR direct entropy production rate
Hn helicity in normalized form, TEPR turbulent entropy production rate
ΔpL perturbation of the latent heat transfer (Pa) DFEPR diffusion entropy production rate
ΔpT perturbation of turbulence (Pa) IEPR interface entropy production rate
ur relative velocity (m/s) FEPR fluctuation entropy production rate
hp potential rotor enthalpy (J/kg) WEPR wall entropy production rate
hk kinematic rotor enthalpy (J/kg) FTDEPR finite temperature difference entropy production rate
A deformation of the velocity gradient (s− 1) TOEPR total entropy production rate
B vorticity tensor (s− 1) PREG gradient of potential rotor enthalpy
R rigid vorticity vector (m2/s) SEPRG gradient of specific entropy production rate
fi impeller rotation frequency (s− 1) PVS PREG versus SEPRG
Q0 rated flow (m3/h) PTP peak-to-peak value
SD standard deviation
Greek symbols
ρm mixture density (kg/m3) Subscripts & superscripts
μ viscosity (pa⋅s) i, j, k directions
ω vorticity (s− 1) L, t laminar and turbulent flow
λci imaginary part of the conjugate complex eigenvalue l/g liquid / vapor phase

nature of cavitation in cryogenic fluids are known to be quite different
from that in water at room temperature. According to the Clapeyron
equation [5], the cryogenic fluids’ saturation vapor pressure is
commonly more sensitive to the change of temperature than water due
to the smaller liquid/ vapor density ratio (i.e., the sensitivity of the LNG
saturation vapor pressure with respect to the temperature is about
16 kPa/K, while 0.19 kPa/K for water according to the database of
REFPROP 9.1 [6]). The resulting fast variations in volume of the cryo­
genic cavitation causes the significant mass transfer and pulse pressure
waves with liquid hammer pressures generated as the formed micro-jet
eroding the cryogenic resistance alloy coats, which indicates the per­
formance degradation [7], the initial of the flow instability [8], etc. Kim
et al. [9] and Pouffary et al. [10] systematically summarized three kinds
of unsteady cavitation flow patterns in the upstream-installed inducer of
liquid oxygen rocket turbopump, namely supersynchronous cavitation,
alternate cavitation and subsynchronous cavitation. The results show
that there is no clear transition boundary between different flow pat­
terns. Under the effect of accelerated collapse effect of dense bubbling
zone, there are multiple flow patterns coexisting with intermittent
repetition characteristics, which eventually result in the performance
degradation and fatigue failure of the turbopump after long-period
action.
At present, due to the multiple rotating side walls, deep and low
temperature environment and high fuzziness of the vapor–liquid inter­
face, it is difficult for optical path and ray, which are utilized in the
conventional multiphase flow tests, to capture the unsteady flow char­
acteristics clearly. Ultimately, the detailed data of the flow such as slip,
enrichment and detachment of vortex structure are seriously missing
under the combined action of complex boundary conditions and ther­
modynamic effects. For numerical simulations, considerable difficulties
are still encountered in carrying out such a model in a practicable
simulation tool for the simultaneous prediction of stall and cavitating
flows because the local presence of variable physical property, deep off-
design conditions, two phases and composite coherence vortices
dramatically enhance the unsteadiness and unpredictability of the flow
field and renders common numerical methods inapplicable [11–14].
As a fact, stall and cavitation flows in centrifugal pump is depicted as
a rotating separated flow and rapid phase change phenomenon under
complex constraints. Ensuring the prediction ability of turbulence and
thermodynamic cavitation models is the research basis of transient
characteristics under the combined action of cavitation and stall flows.
Since 1990s, Reynolds averaged method (RANS) and large eddy simu­
lation (LES) have been widely applied in the transient calculation of
separation flow. For modeling the completely viscous turbulence in
rotating machinery, the simplified URANS models largely depend on the
semi-empirical equations, boundary conditions, flow field topology and
so on. Thus, it is difficult to capture refined details foe the vortex evo­
lution, which involves vortex formation, periodic shedding, viscous
dissipation and interesting energy backscatter phenomenon [15]. In
contrast, LES model can better distinguish the turbulent vortex structure
and present higher resolution in turbulence fluctuation spectrum.
However, for the nonlinear 3D transient flow issues with high Reynolds
number in a centrifugal pump at high speed, the huge cost of compu­
tational resources hinders its application [16,17]. In order to better
balance the computational cost and prediction accuracy in engineering
business, the hybrid URANS / LES calculation model came into being,
like detached eddy simulation (DES) [13], delayed detached eddy
simulation (DDES) [14], etc. According to the different characteristics of
large-scale and small-scale vortices in turbulent flow, URANS model is
adopted in the region mainly characterized by small-scale vortices
dissipation, while the transportation of large-scale vortices is modeled
by LES method. And the automatic switching between the two models is
realized by comparing the local grid scale and wall distance. Although
DES class models have facilitated to predict engineering separation flow,
there are still some defects when applicated for the rotating turbulence
in the pump, such as grid dependency, nonmonotonic convergence of

2
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

grid refinement and unsolved high calculation cost [18]. Meanwhile, to ( ) [ ( )]

∂(ρm ui ) ∂ ρm ui uj ∂p ∂ ∂ui ∂uj 2 ∂uk
date, the major efforts on the cavitation model have concentrated on + = − + (μ + μt ) + − δ (2)
∂t ∂xj ∂xi ∂xj ∂xj ∂xi 3 ∂xk ij
that cavitation occurs with negligible interphase energy interactions.
Actually, due to the coupling of thermal effects and variable thermo­ [( ) ]
∂ ∂ [ ] ∂ μ μt ∂h
physical properties, the assumption is reasonable for cavitation in room- [ρ (h + fv L) ] + ρ uj (h + fv L) = + (3)
∂t m ∂xj m ∂xj PrL Prt ∂xj
temperature fluids but fails for thermo-sensible ones [19,20–22]. As
demonstrated by Utturkar et al. [23], the key challenges for numerical ( )
∂αl ∂ αl uj
computations for thermo-sensible cavitation are the presence of strong + = ṁ+ + ṁ− (4)
∂t ∂xj
nonlinearity in the energy equation, smudged interface with mushy
cavity, the temperature dependence of various physical properties and where ρm is the mixture density, u is the homogeneous velocity, p
so on. To overcome the above limitations, certain transport-equation denotes the pressure, μ is the viscosity, h is the sensible enthalpy, f stands
based cavitation models have been proposed to determine the liquid/ for the mass fraction, Pr indicates the Prandtl number. Subscripts i, j, k
vapor volume fraction. However, the introduction of empirical judg­ are the directions, L, t represent laminar and turbulent flow, and l, v are
ment greatly weakens the universality and physical essence of the model liquid and vapor phase, respectively. Here, ρm, h and fv are expressed as:
[24–26]. Shyy and Utturkar [27,28] developed a cavitation model,
ρm = ρl αl + ρv αv (5)
named interfacial dynamics-based model, regarding the interfacial mass
and momentum transfer linked to the local fluid velocity. Though their
h = cp T (6)
model was not completely empiricism-free, the few empirical coefficient
can also be transformed into a physically explicable form. In a cryogenic ρv α v
fluid, the formation of cavitation deprives heat from the surrounding fv = (7)
ρm
fluid due to thermodynamic effect and the phase boundary becomes
confined into a narrow region filled with frosty particles. The dynamics
2.2. Time-scale based hybrid turbulence model
of the interface formed involves complex interactions between vapor
and liquid phases. These interactions are not well understood in the
For turbulence closure, renouncing the ability to consistently bridge
closure region of the cavity whereas distinct interface may not exist and
URANS and LES based on the computational grid, Baglietto [58]
the mean flow (in the sense of ensemble averaging) is unsteady. Thus,
developed a turbulent timescale separation parameter to trigger
the prediction of cavitation in cryogenic fluid mainly depends on how
controlled resolution of URANS or LES-like mode inside selected flow
efficiently the model can simulate and capture the frosty boundary. Shyy
regions. And then it was embedded into the turbulent viscosity as the
et al. resolved the difficulty of frosty boundary in cryogenic cavitation
eddy viscous damping. Therefore, it is a potential work to address the
by suggesting IDM method. This modeling takes boundary region into
poor grid consistency and limited engineering applicability.
account in numerical modeling instead of definite boundary used in the
To improve the sensitivity of the hybrid model to the high inverse
calculation for conventional cavitation. So, the model with a frosty
pressure gradient in the rotating turbulence of the pump, SST k-ω model
boundary can capture in the calculation and it shows better agreement
is selected for the base of URANS [29]. The corresponding transport
with experimental data than Merkle’s model [26].
equations for turbulent kinetic energy term k and eddy frequency term ω
Although there has been a wide range of numerical research on
are:
multi-scale turbulence and thermodynamic cavitation flow, the coupling
( ) [ ]
effect of rotating stall and cryogenic cavitation (CSC) on the global ∂(ρm k) ∂ ρm uj k ∂ ∂k
performance and vortex propagation behaviors in a rotating frame still + = Pk + (μ + σ k1 μt ) − β* ρm kω (8)
∂t ∂xj ∂xj ∂xj
rarely had a well-informed discussion. In order to probe into the char­
[ ]
acteristics of transient flow field and its effect mechanism on the sta­ ∂(ρm ω) ∂ ∂ω ω
+ ρ u ω − (μ + σω μt ) = α1 Pk − β1 ρm ω2
bility of pump operation under extreme cryogenic and deep off-design ∂t ∂xj m j ∂xj k
conditions, this paper will introduce a time-scale-driven hybrid URANS/ (9)
1 ∂k ∂ω
LES turbulence model (TSDM) and a cavitation model (IDM) considering +2(1 − F1 )ρm σω2
ω ∂xi ∂xi
interface motion and thermal sensitivity to both improve the solution
accuracy and save the calculation time. The current paper is divided into 1
three parts: first, a brief description of the governing equations and the μt = 0.31ρm k (10)
max(0.31ω, SF2 )
numerical strategy involves TSDM and IDM is presented. The succeeding
part details the simulation setup, the relevant boundary conditions and where the blending functions of F1 and F2 for the proper selection of
the arrangement of operation monitoring points. Proceeding further, the k-ω and k-ε zone is expressed as:
global performance of numerical results encompassing quantitative {{ [ ( √̅̅̅ ) ] }4 }
k 500μ ρm σ ω2 k
comparison with available experimental data. Finally, concluding re­ F1 = tanh min max * , 2 ,4 (11)
marks are provided highlighting the stall propagation behavior and β ωy y ω CDkω y2
system response characteristics in cavitation flow. ( )
withCDkω = max 2ρm σ ω2 ω1 ∂xi ∂xi , 10
∂k ∂ω − 10
, y is the distance to the wall.
2. Governing equations in CSC flow And
[[ ( √̅̅̅ ) ]2 ]
2.1. Governing equations 2 k 500μ
F2 = tanh max * , 2 (12)
β ωy y ω
The set of governing equations employed in this study consists of the
The production term Pk = μtS2, S is the strain rate magnitude, which
conservative form of the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations, (
∂u
)
plus an energy equation for phase change heat transfer and a volume is expressed asSij = 12 ∂∂uxij + ∂xji . All constants are obtained by a blend
fraction transportation equation to account for the cavitation bubbles from the corresponding constants between the k-ε and the k-ω model by
dynamics, which are expressed as: α = α1x + α2(1 − x) etc. The turbulence constants in these equations
( ) above are: β*=0.09, α1 = 5/9, β1 = 3/40, σ k1 = 0.85, σω1 = 0.5,
∂ρm ∂ ρm uj
+ =0 (1) α2 = 0.44, β2 = 0.0828, σk2 = 1, σω2 = 0.856.
∂t ∂xj Then the eddy viscosity damping coefficient Df is defined to

3
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

reasonably solve the tough issue of over-estimated turbulent eddy vis­ along the thermal boundary layer according to the IDM. A temperature
cosity by URANS model, which is: difference of ΔT inside and outside the bubble forms due to the existence
⎧ of the thermodynamic boundary layer, which is obtained according to
1
⎪
⎪
⎪ μt = Df ⋅0.31ρm k
⎨ the heat balance and variable thermophysical properties during the
max(0.31ω, SF2 )
( ) (13) phase change. Finally, the saturated pressure fluctuates with the
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ Df = min
ta
,1 development of cavitation under the disturbance by turbulence and
1.31tm thermodynamic effects, which is adjusted separately for evaporation
where ta is the analytical time scale, while tm is the modular time and condensation rate. By covering the factors such as interface velocity,
thermodynamic effect and mixing density, the mass source terms arrive
scale, which are defined as:
as follows:
⎧
⎪ 1 1 ⎧
⎪
⎪ t = = √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ ρ min(0, p − pv )αl
⎨ a fa |Q| ⎪
⎪ ṁ− = ( l )2
〈 〉 (14) ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ρ − u m,n − uI,n (ρl − ρv )t∞
⎪
⎪ 1 1 ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ tm = = ⎪
⎪
fm γa ω ⎪
⎪ ρ max(0, p − pv )(1 − αl )
⎪
⎪ ṁ+ = l( )2
⎪ ρ + um,n − uI,n (ρl − ρv )t∞
⎪
⎪
Here, the empirical constant γ a = 0.085 [30]. Q is the second in­ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨ ρl ρl ρ
variants of velocity gradient tensor. The expression is: = + 1 − l e− (1− αl )/β
ρ− ρv ρv (18)
[( ) ] ⎪
⎪
1 ∂ui
2
∂ui ∂uj ⎪
⎪ ρl ρ
⎪
Q= − (15) ⎪
⎪
⎪ = l
2 ∂xi ∂xj ∂xi ⎪
⎪ ρ+ ρm
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ ∇αl
⎪
Furthermore, due to the strong rotation and large curvature effect, ⎪ um,n = u⋅n ;
⎪
⎪ n=
⎪ |∇αl |
significant energy backscatter (or back-propagation) phenomenon [31]. ⎪
⎪ (
⎩ ) ( )
It may be related to the strengthened axial tension or compression of ρl ul,n − uI,n = ρv uv,n − uI,n
vortices in Kolmogorov’s scale by Coriolis force [32]. Therefore, it will
With this simplification, the normal velocity of the interface reads:
lead to unreasonable prediction results by standard SST k-ω model due [ ]
to local overestimate dissipation rate. Inspired by Wang et al. [32], the 1 − f ρl /ρv
ul,n = f ⋅uv,n ⇒uI,n = uv,n (19)
helicity Hn, a topological measure of the intertwining of vortices and an 1 − ρl /ρv
invariant even in the viscous fluids, is employed to account for the
Specifically, a value of − 0.9 is applied for f. An estimate of this value
limitations of the energy transfer from the larger scales to smaller ones.
can be tested and then improved through numerical experiments.
Accordingly, the helicity in normalized form, Hn, is expressed as:
To sum up, for the unsteady rotating cavitating flow characterized by
u⋅(∇ × u) unbalanced phase distribution, the time-scale based hybrid turbulence
Hn = = cos[u, (∇ × u) ] (16)
‖u‖2 ⋅‖(∇ × u) ‖2 model and IDM cavitation model are considered respectively from the
aspects of turbulent viscosity correction, cryogenic cavitation thermo­
Ultimately, the refined damping function is given by:
dynamic effect and phase interface transition, so as to take into account
⎧
⎪ 1 the physical characteristics of cryogenic fluid rotating cavitation in high-
⎪ Df =
⎪
⎪
⎪ ln[ch(α⋅RT + β) ] + χ |Hn |λ speed, large curvature impeller more comprehensively.
⎪
⎨
tm 1 √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ (17)
⎪
⎪
⎪
RT = = |Q| 3. Physical model and numerical method
⎪
⎪ ta γ a ω
⎪
⎩
α = 1.571, β = 1.718, χ = 0.727, λ = 0.865 3.1. Physical model and mesh

The investigated prototype LNG cryogenic pump model is a two-

2.3. Mushy interfacial dynamics model (IDM)
Physically, cavitation is governed by kinetics and thermodynamics of
the phase transformation. The phase transition rates, which in case of
LNG dictates the heat transfer process, forms the basis of the cavitation
model. Experimental visualizations of typical cryogenic cavitation
indicated a mushy nature of cavity interface clearly [33] as showcased in
Fig. 1. The nature of cryogenic cavitation implies a weak intensity with
variable temperature and consequently less probability for existence of
pure vapor bubbles inside the cavity region. It is assumed that the gas
temperature inside the cavitation is uniform, whereas it varies gradually
Fig. 1. Schematic of smudged interface with mushy cavity.
stage, submerged rotor–stator system with the specific speed (nq) of
138 min− 1. As shown in Fig. 2, The channels are made up of an inlet
extension, a three-blade inducer, a linking-up section, two impellers
with seven blades, two guide vanes with mutually prime blades and an
outlet extension. Under a counterclockwise rotational speed of
2930 rpm, the inducer and a set of two identical impellers rotate around
the rotating shaft, whereas the rest components maintain a stationary
state.
The 3D hexahedron mesh of the two-stage impellers is generated in
TurboGrid with refined grids around the blades, while the remaining
hybrid meshes are generated using ICEM-CFD. Afterwards a uniform
mesh refinement ratio, 20.5, is applied to minimize the numerical un­
certainty induced by the mesh size more efficiently and ensure that the
element number growth is not too fast [34,35]. The detailed data of
mesh element number and corresponding numerically predicted pump
head, efficiency and y+ at 1.0Q0 of the prototype pump is listed in
Table 1. The comparison results indicate that the relative changes of
head and efficiency are less than 1 % when the mesh element number
exceeds 9.29 million. Meanwhile y+ near the blade surface is less than 2,
which meets the requirements of the turbulence model. Therefore, the
same meshing setting and the approximate element number are adopted
in other cases. The mesh details of the prototype pump including the
enlarged views of the blades and vanes are shown in Fig. 3.

4
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Fig. 2. Construction of the two-stage LNG cryogenic submerged pump.

Table 1
Mesh scheme information and performance calculation comparison.
Mesh Scheme Elements y+ on blade surfaces Head H / m Error of head /% Efficiency η/% Error of efficiency / %

1 656,1728 7.82 283.96 1.03 75.48 0.94

2 929,1702 1.85 286.89 0 76.19 0
3 1314,3305 1.01 287.55 0.23 76.84 0.85

Fig. 3. Selected mesh profile of the whole passage components of the typical pump.

3.2. Numerical methods
The 3D steady and unsteady thermo-sensitive cavitation simulations
in the two-stage LNG cryogenic submerged pump are carrying out using
the commercial CFD solver ANSYS CFX 16.0. The use of CFX Command
Language (CCL) ensures that the modified models and variables can be
correctly interpreted and declared. The Euler-Euler two-fluid approach
is employed to solve the multiphase flow system [36,37]. The static
pressure and mass flow rate conditions are configured at the inlet and
outlet, respectively. For all solid wall, no-slip boundary conditions are
applied together. The inducer and impeller domains are simulated in a
rotational frame, while the others keep stationary. Using General Grid
Interface (GGI) for mesh connection, the frozen-rotor and transient-
rotor–stator options are applied for steady and transient calculations,

5
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

separately. As to the time-step, the blades passing 1◦ i.e. 5.68 × 10–5 s

(2930 rpm) is selected [38]. Normally, five more iterations are needed to
guarantee the convergence. In this paper, first two revolutions are
simulated but the last ones are used for data processing due to relatively
stable flow fields. The simulation is considered convergence if the root-
mean-square (RMS) residual falls below 1.0 × 10-4.
Although LNG is a compound containing a variety of cryogenic
chemicals, for simplicity, its components mainly include methane,
ethane and propane (See Table 2 in detail). As refer to Ref. [39], the
saturation pressure in case of LNG is highly dependent on the change of
temperature. Due to the real LNG cryogenic submerged pump is
immersed in the LNG, the fluid temperature maintained within
112–116 K.
Since the variation of the density, viscosity and isobaric specific heat
capacity of the two phases is no more than 6.0 % for the range of
112–116 K, these properties are still regarded as a constant (values at
115 K). While for the saturation pressure, there is a rapid increase up to
37.0 % within the set temperature range, so it must to be fitted as a third
order polynomial in Eq. (20) accompanied by a correlation coefficient of
0.995:

pv (T) = 3.36T 3 − 874.51T 2 + 77516.67T − 2334735.34 (20)

In addition, certain investigations have demonstrated significant
perturbation of the latent heat transfer ΔpL [40] and turbulence ΔpT [41]
on cavitation flows, which makes the local saturation pressure pv is
higher than pv(T):
αg ρl Lev dpv (T)
ΔpL = − (21)
1 − αg ρg cp dT

ΔpT = 0.195ρm k (22)

pv = pv (T) + ΔpL + ΔpT (23)

4. Numerical simulation validations

The numerical analysis is carried out for some flow rates from over
load to part load. Pressurization and suction performance of the pump
via experiments in Fig. 4 (a) is presented to assess the reliability of the
numerical methods. As seen in Fig. 4 (b) and (c), general agreement
between the predicted and measured results are obtained. Totally, the
maximum error of 7.46 % in term of head and efficiency and maximum
difference of 0.65 m for cavitation performance are detected throughout
a wide range condition. Thus, by comparison of experiment and nu­
merical results, the unsteady flow characteristics regarding cavitation
Fig. 4. Comparison of the performance curves between the prediction model
and rotating stall instability and the propagation of the instability are
and the in-site experiments, (a) configuration of the experimental loop, (b) head
studied in the next section. and efficiency curves, (c) suction performance curves.

5. Results

5.1. Establishment of flow instability diagnostic method for the pump

Table 2
Main components and thermophysical properties of LNG. As shown in Fig. 4(a), stall-free, stall development and deep stall
Components Molar percent (%) regions can be identified according to the variable negative slope trend
Methane 95 of the head versus flow rate curve. However, for a condition under prior
Ethane 3
knowledge constrains, it is hard to determinate the stall state
Propane 2
quantitatively.
Physical Liquid Vapor Physical Liquid Vapor As the core of the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy cannot
properties properties
only determine all irreversible energy transformations quantitatively,
Temperature 112~116 – Specific 3.417 2.027 but can measure the randomness of system. A relatively new method of
(K) heat ~3.424 ~2.028
thermodynamic analysis, namely entropy production analysis, has been
Density (kg/ 441.00~ 0.00224 capacity
3
m ) 435.29 ~0.00234(kJ/(kg proposed by Bejan [42,43]. Nevertheless, there is not much literature
K)) about the entropy production diagnostic model (EPDM) in terms of two-
Sound 1333.00 276.68 Viscosity 118.62 4.46 phase flow. Based on the assumption of homogeneous model, Wang
velocity ~1325.00~277.65 (10-6 Pa s)~116.26~4.42 et al. [37,44] put forward the EPDMS in cavitation flow and introduced
(m/s)

6
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

it to the hydraulic machinery after simplifying the model of Bilicki et al.
[45]. The local entropy production rate (LEPR) by the contribution of
direct entropy production rate (DEPR), turbulent entropy production
rate (TEPR), diffusion entropy production rate (DEPR), interface en­
tropy production rate (IEPR), fluctuation entropy production rate
(FEPR), wall entropy production rate (WEPR) and finite temperature
difference entropy production rate (FTDEPR), which can be interpreted
as:
forms, develops and breaks down dramatically. Considering the game
between positive rotor enthalpy gradient and negative stall vortex
dissipation energy gradient based on the inherent form of impeller
channel, PVS parameter is thus determined. Therefore, the physical
significance of PVS parameters indicates the severity of the stall flow.
5.2. Vorticity decomposition scheme based on Liutex method

τm : ∇vm τTm : ∇vm τDm : ∇vm

Ṗs = + + +
T ̅⏟
⏟̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅ T ̅⏟
⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅ T ̅⏟
⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅
Direct entropy production rate Ṗμ Turbulent entropy production rate ṖT Diffusion entropy production rate ṖD

Em − vm ⋅Mm ρm ωm km |τwm ⋅∇vm |⋅Ai

+ + +
T
⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏟ T ̅⏟
⏟̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅ ⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅T⋅V
̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏟ (24)
Interface entropy production rate Ṗσ Fluctuation entropy production rate ṖF Wall entropy production rate ṖW
( )
λt Km,eff
1+ ∇T⋅∇T
λ T2
⏟̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏞⏞̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅⏟
Finite temperature difference entropy production rate ṖFTD

Vorticity is an important physical quantity of the classical hydro­

Hence, the total entropy production rate (TOEPR) could be obtained dynamics, which originates from Cauchy-Stokes decomposition of ve­
from integrating LEPR over the whole flow domain. The expressions are locity gradient tensor in the form of ω=▽×u [48]. However, vorticity
as follows: hardly distinguish rigid rotational motion and shear motion from the
∫ ∫ ∫ ∫ total vorticity directly, let alone the identification of the vortex evolu­
Ps = Ṗμ dV + ṖT dV + ṖD dV + ṖF dV+ tion characteristics. During the past four decades, several vortex iden­
V∫ V∫ V ∫ V (25) tification methods have been proposed successively. The most wildly
Ṗσ dV + ṖFTD dV + ṖW dV used approach is called Q criterion, which dependents on the velocity
V V V
gradient tensor decomposition. Another one, Δ criterion, regards the
In addition, the ideal flow regime in the impeller of a centrifugal rotation regions as places where the velocity gradient tensor has com­
pump is achieve when the fluid flows pass evenly along the blade profile. plex eigenvalues. λci method, which is an extension of Δ criterion,
That is, the relative velocity mere changes the trajectory direction, while applied the imaginary part of the complex eigenvalues to represent the
remains the same magnitude under the ideal flow rate. Therefore, the swirling strength. λ2 method defines the vortex target as the region
work done by the blade can be completely converted into the fluid en­ where S2 + W2 (where S and W are the symmetric and anti-symmetric
ergy, and the total rotor enthalpy (or stagnation enthalpy) ht (proposed parts of the velocity gradient tensor) has two negative eigenvalues.
by Wu et al. [46]) is conserved along the streamline, which can be Although these methods have better performance than vorticity, they
expressed as: share some common shortcomings. All of them are scalars, making
⎧ ( 2 2) 2 isosurface the only way to depict the vortex cell. However, it leads to the
⎨ h = h + h = p − ω0 r + ur
⎪
problem of selecting a proper threshold value, which is in general
(26)
t p k
ρ 2 2
⎪
⎩ empirical and arbitrary to some extent. In addition, because these
ur ⋅∇ht = ur ⋅∇hp + ur ⋅∇hk = 0 methods are scalar, people are unable to locate the rotating axis. Liu
where ur is the relative velocity vector, hp is the potential rotor [49] classified these eigenvalue-based methods as the second-generation
enthalpy, and hk denotes the kinematic rotor enthalpy. As discussed of vortex identification methods and further found a new physical
above, the relative velocity remains the same under the ideal condition, quantity-Liutex. Liutex innovatively defines its direction as the local
so hk is a constant along the streamline. Therefore, the gradient of po­ rotation axis, which works for both rigid body and fluid, addressing the
tential rotor enthalpy (PREG) is also orthogonal to ur, which is used to tough work of locating the rotating axis, and defines Liutex strength as
balance with the Coriolis force to conform the curved blade profile. twice the angular speed of the rigid rotation without shear contamina­
As discussed above, PREG corresponds to the rising of energy, while tion. Liutex is proved to be unique and Galilean invariant.
the gradient of specific entropy production rate (SEPRG) marks the di­ Based on the traditional idea of velocity gradient ∇v decomposition,
rection of energy degradation. With the weak separation flow convert­ it can be divided into two parts: symmetric part A representing defor­
ing to a strong one under stall condition, the gap between PREG and mation and anti-symmetric part B representing vorticity tensor, namely,
SEPRG is bound to become larger. Therefore, the game between the two 1( ) 1( )
forces is regarded as an effective quantitative tool to diagnose the ∇v = ∇v+∇vT + ∇v − ∇vT = A + B (28)
2 2
occurrence and development of the flow instability. Based on it, a
The Omega method can capture both strong and weak vortices
parameter, PVS (PREG versus SEPRG), is proposed in this study, which is
⃦ ⃦ simultaneously by a relatively fixed threshold value. It is defined as,
|PREG| ⃦∇hp ⃦
PVS = = 2
(27) b
|SEPRG| ‖∇(TPs /ρm ω0 ) ‖2 Ω= (29)
a+b+ε
where Qm is the mass flow rate. Theoretically, with the deterioration Where ε is a small positive number to avoid nonphysical noise, and a
of stall flow, the separation vortex structure in the channel, character­ and b is interpreted as:
ized by local low pressure, low speed and high energy dissipation [47],

7
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Fig. 5. Monitor probes in the impeller.

( )
a = trace AT A (30) { √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅ }
R = Rr = ω⋅r − (ω⋅r)2 − 4λ2ci r (32)
( )
b = trace BT B (31)
where r is the real eigenvector of ▽v, ω is the vorticity vector, ω⋅r is
In order to make both the magnitude and the direction of the rota­
the magnitude of vorticity. λci is the imaginary part of the conjugate
tional motion clear, the rigid vorticity vector R is proposed [18], which √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
is defined as: complex eigenvalue, and (ω⋅r)2 − 4λ2ci is the pure shear part.

Fig. 6. The flowchart of the computational scheme and the diagnostic tools.

8
C. Wang et al.
5.3. Distribution and regulations of monitoring points in the impeller
As mentioned in Zhang et al. [50], cavitation and stall flow first
occur in the first stage of the pump, and then cause continuously
degradation of performance through amplified asymmetry propagation.
Due to the initial phase difference in the stall cells between adjacent flow
channels, three channels along rotation direction are selected as the
research object. As shown in Fig. 5, the streamwise coordinate of the
blade inlet is marked as l = 0, and the blade outlet is marked as l = 1.
Five probes are determined in the streamwise direction, that are l = 0,
0.2, 0.4, 0.7 and 1.0, respectively. Along the spanwise direction, the hub
location is marked as s = 0, while the shroud location is defined as s = 1.
Three sections, s = 0, 0.5 and 1, are determined in the spanwise direc­
tion. For circumferential direction θ, it is noted that the pressure surface
of the blade is θ = 0, and the probe on the suction surface is θ = 1. three
circumferential monitoring positions are determined as follows: θ = 0.2,
0.5 and 0.8. Accordingly, there are 135 monitor probes in the whole
three flow channels. Furthermore, each monitor probe is named in the
form of “MP” + “flow channel (1–3)” + “streamwise location
(1–5)” + “spanwise location (1–3)” + “circumferential position (1–3)”.
For example, the symbol “MP3122” means that the monitor probe is
located in the third flow channel on the first streamwise section (l = 0),
the second spanwise section and circumferential section.
The overall solution process of this paper is as described above. Fig. 6
presents the flowchart to show the establishment process of numerical
models and theoretical parameters.
(1) PVS changes with flow rates
(b) PVS changes with cavitation
Fig. 7. Flow pattern diagnosis by PVS parameter.
9
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
5.4. Global characteristic and cognizance criterion of stall conditions
Due to the lack of clear interpretation for the propagation mecha­
nism of stall cells,
certain conditions approaching shutdown are calculated by transient
simulation. Based on the instability diagnostic and vortex identification
methods, the deep stall conditions are confirmed and the driving char­
acteristics of the dominant vortex structure and the energy conversion in
the flow channels under stall conditions are extracted in this section.
To comprehensively evaluate the flow stability in the impeller, Fig. 7
(a) presents the change of PVS with flow rates. It can be seen that the
values of PVS are higher than 0.35 when the flow rate decreases from
1.3Q0 to 0.8Q0, whereas the PVS decreases below the critical value of
0.20 when the flow rate is less than 0.5Q0, which indicates that the
stability of incoming flow in the flow channels has deteriorated irre­
versibly. As the flow rate further decreases, PVS values are stably
maintained around 0.12.
Accordingly, based on the change of PVS in Fig. 7(a), the deterio­
ration of the stall flow or flow instability inside the impeller can be
clearly divided into three stages: (1) when Q/Q0 greater than 0.8, the
pump head changes smoothly and PVS values keep above 0.35. Under
these conditions, the stall phenomenon has not yet occurred; (2) in the
range of Q/ Q0 ∈ [0.5,0.8], the value of PVS quickly approaches the
critical value of 0.20 and the head fluctuates to a certain extent for the
first time. In this stage, the flow stability is irreversibly deteriorated, and
then the initial stage of stall flow has been activated; (3) after Q/Q0
lower than 0.5, the values of PVS drop below 0.20 and finally maintain
around 0.12. In this stage, the head fluctuates much more significantly,
and the flow in the impeller ultimately switches to the deep stall mode.
From the above discussion, the stall state of the overall or particular
conditions can be determined by the PVS versus flow rates.
Besides, with the occurrence and development of cavitation in Fig. 7
(b), the power output capability of the pump will be further restricted
and the area of PVS below 0.25 is broadened further. Like a local syn­
chronization between the transient flow and structural vibration fre­
quencies being strengthened after subjecting to added disturbances in
fluid–structure coupling phenomenon, the coupling between the cavi­
tation and stall flow indicates the emergence of lock-in effect, which
means that the lock-in gets strengthened with the deterioration of
cavitation and stall flow. It can be predicted that the evolution of cavi­
tation makes the rotor system quickly transition from stall conditions to
shutdown. The following sections will further show the coupling rela­
tionship between cavitation and stall from the correlation Between in­
ternal and external transient characteristics, which facilitates to delay or
avoid such accidents.
5.5. Spatial-temporal characteristics of transient flow with cavitation and
stall flow
Cavitation multiphase flow and rotating stall flow often cover almost
all complex flow phenomena, especially the dramatic turbulent vortex
dynamics. Recently, a new vortex identification method named Liutex
has been proposed to show the magnitude of local rotation intensity and
the direction of local rotation axis simultaneously [51]. Subsequently,
the advantage of the method has been validated in some flow conditions
like high-speed rotor passage [52], reversible pump turbine [53], to list
only a few. Therefore, the distribution of mean time and peak to peak
values of relative vortex intensity identified by Liutex method along
streamwise direction with cavitation and stall flow is captured and
represented in Fig. 8. Overall, the distribution of vortex intensity under
the coupling effect of stall and cavitation is mainly manifested as fol­
lows: in the spanwise direction of the blade, the vortex intensity presents
three different trends along the streamline, that is, the vortex intensity at
the hub surface (such as MP1_11) increases firstly and then decreases,
while the vortex intensity at 0.5 times the blade height (such as MP1_21)
is quite the opposite. Besides, the vortex intensity at the probes on the
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Fig. 8. Mean and peak to peak values of vortex intensity variation along streamwise direction with cavitation and stall flow.

(a) t (b) t+1/7·t0

(c) t+3/14·t0 (d) t+2/7·t0

Fig. 9. Evolution of vortex intensity with time under the coupling effect of stall and cavitation.

shroud (such as MP1_31) experiences twists and turns. The vortex in­
tensity adjacent to the pressure (PS) and hub surface is larger than that
along the suction (SS) and shroud surface, while the intensity in the
outlet region is the largest, followed by the mid of the flow channel, and
the vortex in the inlet region is relatively the weakest. As illustrated in
Fig. 9, it is mainly originated from the generation of vortices induced by
the slip between the bubble clusters and the mainstream. As they
propagate downstream, the vortices shed close to the 0.5 times the blade
height in the middle of the channel by the action of inverse pressure
gradient. Then, the shedding vortices dilate when approaching to the PS
and excite the separation vortex, which is the reason for the offset of the
vorticity intensity peaks from PS to SS at the same spanwise location.
Finally, the maximum vorticity intensity occurs in the diffusion section
due to the strong backflow vortices.
Regarding the relative vortex intensity Ω = 0.5 as a watershed, the
region that greater than 0.5 indicates that vortex is dominated by the
rotary effect, while the rest is the shear dominance. From Fig. 10, it can
be seen that major vortex clusters in the center of the channel are

10
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Fig. 10. Distribution of relative vortex intensity along the stream­

Fig. 12. Time domain signals of PVS parameter in channel ①.
wise direction.

dominated by rotation, which hold stability and primarily chock off the
flow. On the contrary, there are vortices with more significant shear
effect at the inlet, outlet and near the blade surface, which are peculiarly
prone to serious flow instability accompanied by the dynamic genera­
tion, growth, shedding and dissipation of vortices.
Research shows that the rotating unsteady characteristics of stall and
cavitation can both lead to the imbalance of flow allocation and the
continuous decay of power output. Taking the flow rate as an example,
the above three adjacent channels are selected for statistics. As shown in
Fig. 11, there is a clear mutual complementary process between each
channel, that is, the stall cell transfers from one channel to adjacent
channels only with the occurrence of rotating stall, which lead to the
channel experiencing periodic blocked and unblocked processes.
Generally, the vortex cell propagates dynamically in the annular cascade
in the reverse rotation direction, which is corroborated by previous
studies [47,48]. Furthermore, when the dynamic cavitation is loaded
simultaneously, the compensation characteristics between adjacent Fig. 13. Time domain signals of PVS parameter in channel ②.
channels have ceased to exist. Instead, the spatiotemporal evolution of
flow rate in single channel experiences an extreme surge or almost coupling action of cavitation and stall flow in the impeller, the time
disappearance. Meanwhile, the peak-to-peak value and standard devi­ domain spectrum of PVS parameters at the probes in three adjacent
ation increase significantly, even more than ten times. As a result, the channels is extracted in Figs. 12-14 at NPSH3% under 0.3Q0. Particularly,
local asymmetry is extended to the global flow field of the impeller. for facilitating the data comparison, proper translation along the lon­
gitudinal axis at certain probes is executed.
It can be seen that massive low-level signals, i.e. PVS≪1, appear in
5.6. Dominant vortex structure under the coupling action of cavitation
the time-domain spectrum of PVS parameter at the inlet section of the
and stall flow
shroud surface (such as MP_131), the middle section of the shroud sur­
face (such as MP_331) and the outlet section of the suction surface (such
In order to clarify the dominant transient vortex structure under the

Fig. 11. Flow allocation characteristics of deep stall and its synergistic effect with cavitation (Note: PTP is peak-to-peak value, SD is standard deviation).

11
C. Wang et al.
Fig. 14. Time domain signals of PVS parameter in channel ③.
as probe MP_513). For rest probes, the time-domain signal of PVS
parameter is relatively high.
In addition, except for the monitoring probes at the outlet, the PVS
values of probes at the inlet and middle section fluctuate quasi-
periodically and distinct from each other. It can be expected that the
peak values of PVS mean the alleviation of dynamic stall or the weak­
ening of cavitation stage. The synchronous PVS peaks among two pair
probes (MP1111 and 1321, MP1131 and 1331) represents the shrinkage
of cavitation at the hub and shroud, while another peak p2 at MP1111 is
the double reduction of the impact vortex and cavitation at the inlet
section.
Furthermore, the uneven spatiotemporal distribution of PVS propa­
gates along the circumferential direction, rather than limits in a specific
channel. Comparing the three channels from Figs. 12-14, the amplitude
and timing difference exists simultaneously, which once again confirms
that the inhomogeneous flow has been spread to the global field under
the coupling effect of stall and cavitation flow, instead of the adjacent
channels.
From the global flow field, the dominant vortex structure is mainly
divided into three parts: the impact vortex at the inlet suction of the
suction surface (part A), the shedding vortex on the middle section of the
suction surface (part B) and the backflow vortex in the outlet diffusion
section (part C). Interestingly, the time-domain signals of PVS parameter
maintain sustained low level in each channel at part C, which indicates
that the vortex structure here is relatively stable as time goes by.
Whereas, the vortex structure at part A and B has significant periodic
motion, and the time-domain signal of PVS parameter behaves inter­
mittent trend in each channel, which is called the dynamic vortex. In
general, according to the flow diagnosis results of PVS parameter, the
three typical dominant vortex structures scattered all over the impeller
are clearly distinguished with the coupling action of cavitation and stall
flow. The results not only confirm the possibility of systematically
clarifying the dominant vortex structures, but also interprets the effec­
tiveness of PVS parameter in detecting the undesirable flow patterns. In
the next section, the transient characteristics and energy decay induced
by the dominant vortex structures at three parts are discussed in detail.
5.7. Dynamic / static vortex cells evolution mechanism
5.7.1. Impact vortex at part A
As shown in Figs. 12-14, for the probes in part A (such as MP_131),
the PVS parameter in the three flow channels fluctuates drastically.
According to the characteristics of flow field in Fig. 15 (a), when the
fluid flows pass the shroud surface with larger curvature, it will be
subjected to greater centrifugal force and thus deviate from the blade
profile. Then, the impact vortex will be triggered at the leading edge of
the blade [54]. Moreover, the blocking effect of bubble clusters in the
12
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
flow channel further strengthens the spillover and backflow.
In addition, according to Fig. 14 (b), the backflow can also be
backtracked to the pre-positioned inducer, and the inflow passageway is
wrapped in the backflow area. As distinguished by EPR, the values in the
outer backflow area are much greater than that in the inner inlet area,
which can greatly increase the turbulence fluctuation and energy
dissipation near the outer wall of the inducer.
It also can be observed that in the inlet section of the impeller, the
vectors always point towards the direction of the reduction of PVS.
Special emphasis is paid that most of the streamline points to shroud
surface from hub one, which reveals the mechanism of impact vortex
initiation under the dual action of cavitation and stall flow. As described
in section 5.5, inlet distortion will set off a chain reaction in the
abnormal fluctuations of the inflow allocation and work capacity, worse
still, serious risky like system shutdown.
Along the spanwise direction, three probes on the pressure surface
(MP1111, MP1121 and MP1131) are selected to show the frequency
characteristics of vortex intensity. The conclusions can be drawn that the
vortex intensity peak and frequency at MP1111 is the highest. The in­
tensity of MP1131 on the shroud ranks second, but its peak value is
concentrated in the low-frequency domain. As presented in Fig. 9,
MP1111 is affected by the high-frequency fluctuation at the cavity
interface, while MP1131 is mainly controlled by the resident inlet
impact vortex.
5.7.2. Dynamic separation vortex at part B
Inspired by the circumferential inhomogeneous distortion theory
[55], the propagation behavior of dynamic vortices in stall flow field has
been widely analyzed, but there is still lack of deep elucidation for its
driving source and its influence mechanism on upstream and down­
stream vortices. Especially after loading asymmetric cavitation, the
shedding and dissipation of dynamic vortices may encounter unique
features, which further accelerate failure time.
At the middle section of the suction surface (i.e. part B), the PVS
parameter presents a wave forward with cycle deducing, which in­
dicates that the vortex cell has significant periodic movement. As shown
in Fig. 16, this signal corresponds to the dynamic vortex cluster at the
suction surface of the blade. Different from the impact vortex at part A,
the separation vortex first enlarges, then shrinks until it disappears
completely in the diffuser section, after that it starts a new lifecycle.
As shown in Fig. 16, spanwise separation vortices gradually disap­
pear in the channel ③ and gradually grow in adjacent blade channels.
Notably, the main vortex structure in the separation regions is
comprised of the dominant vortex and the shedding vortex. With the
sustainable supply of the upstream cavity shedding vortex, the dominant
vortex keeps stable intensity and location. As for the wake region of the
dominant vortex, the backflow vortex against the rotating direction
forms a strong shear effect and induces the primary separation vortex.
After that, when the migration of the separation vortex downstream, it
undergoes secondary separation and gradually be integrated in the
backflow vortex.
The EPR characteristics caused by the evolution of vortices are
analyzed in Fig. 17. There are hybrid high/low frequency peaks in the
three nearby channels. The 7 times rotating frequency corresponds to
the repeated rapid collapse of the cavity around the probes, while the
low frequency represents the characteristic frequency of separation
vortex shedding (about fi) and the stall main vortex motion (about 2/7
fi).
5.7.3. Helical vortex in part C
The time domain signals of PVS parameter maintain low level in each
channel at the suction surface of the outlet section (such as MP_513). As
shown in Fig. 18, it corresponds to the helical vortex at the trailing edge
of the blade, which is called the dominant structure at part C in this
study. At 0.3Q0 with cavitation, when the liquid flows through the
diffusion section, the separation vortex is forced to roll up by the strong
C. Wang et al.
Fig. 15. Dominant vortex structure in part A.
backflow and develops to the outlet as helical shape. At this moment, the
rotation intensity, shear intensity and turbulence dissipation of the
impeller outlet flow field rise rapidly and is significantly stronger than
that at the leading edge of the blade (as shown in Fig. 18).
More importantly, according to Fig. 18(c), this spanwise helical
vortex topology still originates from the enhanced secondary flow by the
backflow with low-level PVS. Under the action of tangential component
of the secondary flow, the detached separation vortex no longer diffuses
directly along the radial direction, but twists into a helical path.
Subsequently, the high-intensity helical vortex is spread to the
vaneless region and guide vane, which results in the poor efficiency and
weak stability. As a result, the performance of guide vane during the
energy conversion suffers greatly discount.
Briefly, under the coupling action of stall and cavitation flow, three
dominant vortex structures appear in the impeller channel. The super­
position of low-frequency impact vortex and high-frequency cavity
shedding process mainly occurs in the inlet region, which acts as the first
interception of the flow channel and weakens the pre-whirl effect by the
13
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
inducer. The middle part is summarized as the separation region, which
serves as a bridge between the upstream and the downstream. On the
one hand, it constantly absorbs the energy from the upstream cavity
shedding vortex, and on the other hand, the shedding and diffusion of
the separation vortex also further supplement the downstream backflow
vortex. And its dominant vortex frequency is composed of high-
frequency cavity shedding vortex, low-frequency separation vortex
and dominant vortex. In the outlet section, the dominant vortex struc­
ture is the helical vortex. The typical vortex is characterized by the
highest intensity and energy loss. The streamline has seriously deviated
from the blade profile, which proves devastating to the energy conver­
sion in the guide vane.
6. Conclusions
In the present work, a developed numerical strategy and diagnostic
method for the coupling effect of dynamic stall and cryogenic cavitation
in the first-stage of a multistage LNG cryogenic submerged pump is
C. Wang et al.
(a)t+t0
(c) t+3t0
Fig. 16. Dominant vortex structure in part B.
proposed, using TSDM, IDM, PVS parameter and Liutex-based vortex
identification method. Based on the present study, the main conclusions
can be drawn:
1. The turbulent viscosity and mass transfer rate have been physically
controlled when considering the turbulent timescale in TSDM,
mushy interface motion and thermal sensitivity in IDM. A good
agreement with the experimental results is verified with the
maximum error of 7.46 % in term of head and efficiency and
maximum difference of 0.65 m for cavitation performance.
2. Along the streamline direction, the ups (PREG) and downs (SEPRG)
of the energy gradient represent the local flow instability, which is
embedded in the PVS parameter. Comparing with the oscillation of
the pump head, PVS is judged as a more intuitive parameter to depict
the stall state. It is treated as light stall as PVS drops to 0.2, while
deep stall determined when PVS falls below 0.15. After loading the
unsteady cavitation, PVS is further reduced and finally maintains at
about 0.12.
14
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
(b)t+2t0
(d) t+4t0
3. The distribution of PVS is closely related to the evolution of the
vortex. Under CSC, the local flow asymmetry is extended to the
global field of the impeller, which is mainly contributed from three
types of dominant vortex structures, named the dynamic impact
vortex at the inlet suction of the suction surface (part A), the dynamic
shedding vortex on the middle section of the suction surface (part B)
and the standing backflow vortex in the outlet diffusion section (part
C).
4. Based on the low-frequency impact vortex, frequent shedding around
the mushy interface of the cryogenic cavitation results in the
broadband oscillation in part B. While the cavity shedding vortex
sustainably conveys to the stall cell in part B, which holds stability
and primarily chocks off the flow. Driven by the low-PVS regions of
upstream separation flow and downstream backflow, the vortices in
pact C twist into the helical shape and cause great discount in the
guide vane.
Overall, under the action of CSC, PVS, vortex intensity, flow rate and
C. Wang et al. Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546

Fig. 17. Ups and downs of EPR caused by dynamic vortex cells in part B.

Fig. 18. Dominant vortex structure in part C.

15
C. Wang et al.
so on are uneven in space in a single channel and in time in the adjacent
channels. Furthermore, the instability origins from the impeller spreads
all round components upstream and downstream. Therefore, in order to
reduce the effect of CSC, structural optimization and condition adjust­
ment should be conducted from a systematic aspect.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Cong Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Vali­
dation, Writing – original draft. Lin Guo: Funding acquisition,
Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. Zhigang Liu: Funding
acquisition, Project administration, Writing – review & editing, Super­
vision. Yongxue Zhang: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – re­
view & editing. Zhuoliang Li: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing –
review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 52076113 and 52206093), the Shandong Provincial
Natural Science Foundation (ZR2021QE025 and ZR2021QE078), the
Collaborative Innovation Project of Colleges in Jinan (No.
2021GXRC059 and 2021GXRC045), and the International Cooperation
Project of Science, Education, Industry Integration in Qilu University of
Technology (No. 2022GH021).
References
[1] Kanbur BB, Xiang LM, Dubey S, et al. Cold utilization systems of LNG: a review [J].
Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2017;79:1171–88.
[2] Zhang N, Jiang J, Gao B, et al. DDES analysis of unsteady flow evolution and
pressure pulsation at off-design condition of a centrifugal pump[J]. Renew Energy
2020;153:193–204.
[3] Roca SP. Model-based robust transient control of reusable liquid-propellant rocket
engines[J]. IEEE Trans Aerosp Electron Syst 2020;57(1):129–44.
[4] Shi S, Wang G. Numerical calculation of thermal effect on cavitation in cryogenic
fluids[J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering 2012;6:1176–83.
[5] Wang S, Zhu J, Xie H, et al. Studies on thermal effects of cavitation in LN2 flow
over a twisted hydrofoil based on Large Eddy Simulation[J]. Cryogenics 2018;97:
40–9.
[6] Sun TA, Wei YB, Zou L, et al. Numerical investigation on the unsteady cavitation
shedding dynamics over a hydrofoil in thermo-sensitive fluid[J]. Int J Multiph
Flow 2019;111:82–100.
[7] Ge MM, Petkovek M, Zhang GJ, et al. Cavitation dynamics and thermodynamic
effects at elevated temperatures in a small Venturi channel[J]. Int J Heat Mass
Transf 2021;170:120970.
[8] Dular M, Griessler-Bulc T, Gutierez I, et al. Use of hydrodynamic cavitation in
(waste)water treatment[J]. Ultrason Sonochem 2015:577–88.
[9] Kim DJ, Sung HJ, Choi CH, et al. Cavitation Instabilities During the Development
Testing of a Liquid Oxygen Pump[J]. J Propul Power 2017;33(1):1–6.
[10] Pouffary B, Patella RF, Reboud JL. Numerical analysis of cavitation instabilities in
inducer blade cascade[J]. J Fluids Eng 2008;130(4):1441–8.
[11] Das R, Girimaji SS. Characterization of velocity-gradient dynamics in
incompressible turbulence using local streamline geometry[J]. J Fluid Mech 2020;
895:A5.
[12] Banks DC, Singer BA. Vortex tubes in turbulent flows: Identification,
representation, reconstruction[C]. IEEE Conference on Visualization 1994.
[13] Astarita G. Objective and generally applicable criteria for flow classification[J].
J Nonnewton Fluid Mech 1979;6(1):69–76.
[14] Wu JZ, Yang Y. Thoughts on vortex definition [J]. Acta Aerodynamica Sinica 2020;
38(1):1–8.
[15] Sheng YW, Derek BI, Lin M. Turbulence modeling of deep dynamic stall at
relatively low Reynolds number[J]. J Fluids Struct 2012;33:191–209.
[16] Zhou PJ. Investigation of stall characteristics in centrifugal pump [D]. Beijing:
China Agricultural University; 2015.
[17] Gourdain N, Sicot F, Duchaine F, Gicquel L. Large eddy simulation of flows in
industrial compressors: A path from 2015 to 2035[J]. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society A-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences 2022;2014
(372):20130323.
16
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
[18] Lenci G. A methodology based on local resolution of turbulent structures for
effective modeling of unsteady flows[D]. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2016.
[19] Ullum U, Wright J, Dayi O, Ecder A, Soulaimani A, Piche R, et al. Prediction of
rotating stall within an impeller of a centrifugal pump based on spectral analysis of
pressure and velocity data[J]. J Phys Conf Ser 2006;52:36–45.
[20] Luo TQ. Fluid Dynamics[M]. Beijing: China Machine Press; 2007.
[21] Emmons HW, Kronauer RE, Rockett JA. A survey of stall propagation-experiment
and theory[J]. ASME-Journal of Fluids Engineering 1959;81(3):409–16.
[22] Krause N, Zahringer K, Pap E. Time-resolved particle imaging velocimetry for the
investigation of rotating stall in a radial pump[J]. Exp Fluids 2005;39(2):192–201.
[23] Utturkar Y, Thakur S, Wei S. Computational Modeling of Thermodynamic Effects in
Cryogenic Cavitation[C]. Aiaa Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit. 2005,
University of Florida.
[24] Senock I, Shyy W. Evaluation of cavitation models for Navier-Stokes computations
[C]. Montreal, Canada: ASME fluids engineering division summer meeting; 2002.
[25] Wu J, Wang G, Shyy W. Time-dependent turbulent cavitating flow computations
with interfacial transport and filter-based models[J]. Int J Numer Meth Fluids
2010;49(7):739–61.
[26] Senocak I, Shyy W. Interfacial dynamics-based modelling of turbulent cavitating
flows, Part-2: Time-dependent computations[J]. Int J Numer Meth Fluids 2004;44
(9):997–1016.
[27] Shyy W, Wu J, Utturkar Y, et al. Interfacial-Dynamics-Based Cavitation Model and
Multiphase Flow Computation [C]. European Congress on Computational Methods
in Applied Sciences and Engineering 2004.
[28] Shyy W, Wu J, Utturkar Y. Computational Modeling for Cavitation for Liquid
Rocket Applications[C]. 40th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference
and Exhibit 2004.
[29] Menter FR. Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering
applications[J]. Aiaa Journal 1994;32(8):1598–605.
[30] Baglietto E, Lenci G, Concu DSTRUCT. A Second-Generation URANS Approach for
Effective Design of Advanced Systems [C]. Asme Fluids Engineering Division
Summer Meeting 2017.
[31] Wang CY, Wang FJ, Ye CL, et al. Application of the MST turbulence model to
predict the tip leakage vortex flows[J]. Engineering Computations 2020;38(1):
344–53.
[32] Wang C, Wang FJ, Li C, et al. A modified STRUCT model for efficient engineering
computations of turbulent flows in hydro-energy machinery[J]. Int J Heat Fluid
Flow 2020;85:108628.
[33] Edmonds DK, Hord J. Cavitation in Liquid Cryogens[M]. Boston: Springer US,
1969: 274-282.
[34] Wang C, Zhang YX, Li ZW, et al. Pressure fluctuation–vortex interaction in an ultra-
low specific-speed centrifugal pump[J]. Journal of Low Frequency Noise Vibration
and Active Control 2018;38(2):527–43.
[35] Wang C, Zhang YX, Zhang JY, et al. Flow pattern recognition inside a rotodynamic
multiphase pump via developed entropy production diagnostic model[J]. J Petrol
Sci Eng 2020;194:107467.
[36] Zhang WW, Yu ZY, Zahid MN, et al. Study of the gas distribution in a multiphase
rotodynamic pump based on interphase force analysis[J]. Energies 2018;11(5):
1069.
[37] Wang C, Zhang YX, Yuan ZY, et al. Development and application of the entropy
production diagnostic model to the cavitation flow of a pump-turbine in pump
mode[J]. Renewable Energy 2020;154:774–85.
[38] Yang J, Pavesi G, Liu X, et al. Unsteady Flow Characteristics Regarding Hump
Instability in the First Stage of a Multistage Pump-Turbine in Pump Mode[J].
Renewable Energy 2018;127:377–85.
[39] Song P, Sun J, Huo CJ. Cavitating Flow Suppression for a Two-Phase Liquefied
Natural Gas Expander Through Collaborative Fine-Turning Design Optimization of
Impeller and Exducer Geometric Shape[J]. J Fluids Eng 2020;142:051401.
[40] Yeonpyeong J, Kyeongseok S, Sungwon H. Development of dynamic simulation
model of LNG tank and its operational strategy[J]. Energy 2021;223:120060.
[41] Stahl HA, Stepanoff AJ. Thermodynamic aspects of cavitation in centrifugal pumps
[J]. J Basic Eng 2019;129:342–56.
[42] Bejan A. Entropy Generation Through Heat and Fluid Flow [M]. New York: Wiley;
1982.
[43] Bejan A. Entropy generation minimization: The new thermodynamics of finitesize
devices and finite-time processes[J]. J Appl Phys 1996;79(3):1191–218.
[44] Wang C, Zhang YX, Hou HC, et al. Entropy production diagnostic analysis of energy
consumption for cavitation flow in a two-stage LNG cryogenic submerged pump
[J]. Int J Heat Mass Transf 2019;129:342–56.
[45] Bilicki Z, Giot M, Kwidzinski R. Fundamentals of two-phase flow by the method of
irreversible thermodynamics[J]. Int J Multiph Flow 2002;28(12):1983–2005.
[46] Wu CH. A general theory of three-dimensional flow in subsonic and supersonic
turbomachines of axial-, radial-, and mixed-flow types[R]. NASA Technical Reports
Server NACA-TN-2604; 1952.
[47] Jeong J, Hussain F. On the identification of a vortex[J]. J Fluid Mech 1995;285:
69–94.
[48] Ji LL, Li W, Shi WD, et al. Effect of blade thickness on rotating stall of mixed-flow
pump using entropy generation analysis [J]. Energy 2021;236:121381.
[49] Liu C, Gao Y, Dong X, et al. Third generation of vortex identification methods:
Omega and Liutex/Rortex based systems[J]. J Hydrodynam 2019;31(2):205–23.
[50] Zhang JY, Cai SJ, Li YJ, et al. Visualization study of gas–liquid two-phase flow
patterns inside a three-stage rotodynamic multiphase pump[J]. Exp Therm Fluid
Sci 2016;70:125–38.
[51] Gao Y, Liu C. Rortex and comparison with eigenvalue-based vortex identification
criteria[J]. Phys Fluids 2018;30(8):085107.
C. Wang et al.
[52] Yuan ZY, Zhang YX, Wang C, et al. Study on characteristics of vortex structures and
irreversible losses in the centrifugal pump[J]. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part A J Power
nergy 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957650920983061.
[53] Zhang YN, Liu KH, Li JW, et al. Analysis of the vortices in the inner flow of
reversible pump turbine with the new omega vortex identification method[J].
J Hydrodynam 2018;30:463–9.
17
Cryogenics 129 (2023) 103546
[54] Harley P, Spence S, Filsinger D, et al. Meanline modeling of inlet recirculation in
automotive turbocharger centrifugal compressors [J]. ASME-J Turbomach 2015;
137(1):011007.
[55] Emmons H, Pearson C, Grant H. Compressor surge and stall propagation[J]. ASME
Paper-No.53-A-65, 1955.