Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

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

Theoretical, experimental, and numerical methods to predict the best

efficiency point of centrifugal pump as turbine
Tong Lin a, b, Zuchao Zhu a, Xiaojun Li a, *, Jian Li b, Yanpi Lin a
a
National-Provincial Joint Engineering Laboratory for Fluid Transmission System Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
b
Jiangxi College of Applied Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, China

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

Article history: The best efficiency point prediction of the pump as turbine (PAT) is one of the key issues for its appli-
Received 10 September 2020 cation. In the present paper, a theoretical method based on the impeller-volute matching principle was
Received in revised form proposed to predict the best efficiency point of PAT and validated by three centrifugal pumps with
30 November 2020
specific speeds from 58.7 to 129.6 with an error of less than 5%. In the next step, a single-stage centrifugal
Accepted 9 December 2020
Available online 13 December 2020
pump with specific speed of 90 under normal rotation speed was investigated by experiment and the
best efficiency point for pump and turbine modes were obtained. The experimental results of the head
and discharge conversion factors and the predicted results obtained through theoretical or statistical
Keywords:
Pump as turbine
methods were compared to verify further the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper. The
Best efficiency point performance curves of the pump and turbine modes were predicted using numerical methods and
Impeller-volute matching principle verified by experiment. The hydraulic loss of the main components was calculated to obtain a deeper
Numerical research understanding of the variations of best efficiency point of PAT under different rotation speeds. Finally, the
Experimental best efficiency point of PAT under different rotation speeds predicted by the theoretical and statistical
methods was compared with the numerical results.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction as a turbine is equivalent to the efficiency of the pump mode and

Energy plays an important role in economic development and
the improvement of living standards. In China, the electric power
industry is under tremendous pressure due to energy demand.
According to statistics released by the National Energy Adminis-
tration of China, the electricity consumption of the entire society in
2019 was 72,255 billion kilowatt-hours [1]. However, in high
energy-consuming industries, such as chemical, petroleum, and
mining, a phenomenon where a large amount of high-pressure
fluid is discharged directly through a pressure reducing valve oc-
curs, causing a large amount of energy to be wasted. Hence,
improving the utilization of energy has become the focus of current
research. Centrifugal pump, a common fluid conveying equipment,
has the characteristics of simple structure, low price, and wide
application. In recent years, many researchers have been carried
out a large number of theoretical, experimental, and numerical
simulation research on the use of centrifugal pumps as a turbine
(PAT). Studies have shown that the efficiency of a centrifugal pump
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: tlin9243@sina.com (T. Lin), lixj@zstu.edu.cn (X. Li).
that the centrifugal pump could be operating under the reverse
mode for energy recovery without any structural modification [2,3].
In the practical application of a centrifugal pump as a turbine, the
performance prediction of the best efficiency point (BEP) of the
turbine mode is one of the keys for PAT application. The accuracy of
the prediction results determines the time and economic cost of the
entire project. Therefore, an in-depth study of the performance
prediction method of BEP of the turbine is a great significance for
the practical application of the PAT.
As early as 1931, Thomas and Kittredge realized that pumps
could operate under the turbine mode efficiently [4]. Many re-
searchers have studied the four-quadrant characteristics of the
pump and obtained the complete characteristics curve. Authors
have used statistical or empirical methods to propose many for-
mulas to predict the BEP of PATs [5e7] are presented in Appendix A.
These formulas are based mostly on the design of a specific speed or
efficiency pump. AA Williams et al. [8] used 35 pumps with
different specific speeds to verify these formulas and show that the
prediction formula proposed by Sharma had high accuracy, but still
had 20% of test pump error was within an unacceptable range.
Hossein Naeimi et al. [9] tested a single-stage centrifugal pump as a

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.040
0960-1481/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al.
Nomenclature
B Throat width of volute
b1,2 Width at different points of the impeller
D1,2 Diameter at different points of the impeller
nsp Design specific speed at pump mode
b1;2 Angle of impeller blade at different points
u1;2 Peripheral velocity at different points of impeller
l Angle of streamline from horizontal direction in the
meridional plane
cu1,u2 Rotating component at different points of the
impeller
Z Number of impeller blades
ft Discharge coefficient of turbine mode
fp Discharge coefficient of pump mode
jt Head coefficient of turbine mode
jp Head coefficient of pump mode
vt Mean velocity in the throat of volute
r Density
sp1 Blade outlet slip coefficient of pump mode
st1;t2 Slip coefficient t at different points of turbine mode
hph Hydraulic efficiency of pump mode
turbine, compared the different prediction methods, and showed
that the method proposed by Stepanoff had higher prediction ac-
curacy. Emma Frosina et al. [10] used the CFD method to verify
these show formulas and indicated that the method proposed by
Stepanoff had better accuracy, while the method proposed by
Childs had larger errors. In recent years, authors [11e13] have also
used a statistical method to propose different prediction formulas,
but the prediction accuracy is uneven, and no universal formula can
fully predict all types of pump performance when used as a turbine.
Hence, the accuracy of the performance prediction formula pro-
posed by statistical or empirical methods depends on the number
in the statistical database and the type of PAT.
Following the revelation of the flow mechanism in the rotating
machinery such as pumps and turbines, researchers have studied
the different aspects of the BEP theoretical prediction method of
PAT. Various flow and mechanical losses occur in the actual oper-
ation of the PAT. Hence, accurate theoretical calculation of these
losses under the BEP of the turbine mode would be helpful in
reducing prediction errors. Mario Amelio et al. [14] reverse-
designed the main dimensions of the pump from the head, flow
rate, and specific speed of pump under the design conditions and
predicted the BEP of the turbine based on the empirical formula of
flow loss. Ming Liu et al. [15] derived the Euler head calculation
formula of the pump and the turbine including the slip coefficient
and established a BEP prediction model of the pump and PAT based
on the detailed analysis of the various hydraulic losses under both
modes. Different amplification factors used in the design of the low
specific speed pump will affect the performance of the PAT.
Therefore, Shi et al. [16] deduced the Euler equation of the pump
and PAT by considering the different amplification factors and ob-
tained a performance conversion relation of BEP between the pump
and PAT. Tommaso Capurso et al. [17] and Wang et al. [18] proposed
a BEP prediction formula of PAT based on the blade inlet slip factor.
Sun-Sheng Yang et al. [2,19] proposed a performance conversion
equation between the pump and PAT based on the pump efficiency
by considering the slip coefficient of the pump and determined the
constants in the conversion relationship through a combination of
experiments and CFD. Ombeni John Mdee et al. [20] combined the
performance curve of the system and Euler head theory to obtain a
32
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44
hth Hydraulic efficiency of turbine mode
hlt Volumetric efficiency of turbine mode
Ht Design head of turbine mode
Hp Design head of pump mode
Qt Design discharge of turbine mode
Qp Design discharge of pump mode
h Head conversion factor
q Discharge conversion factors
xt1;t2 Blockage coefficient at different points of turbine
mode
xp1 Blade outlet blockage coefficient of pump mode
Acronyms
PAT Pump as turbine
IVM Impeller-volute matching
BEP Best efficiency point
RBM Refined boundary mesh
ECD Eddy current dynamometer
PS Pressure side of blade
SS Suction side of blade
WSS Water supply systems
MRF Multiple reference frame
BEP prediction formula for the PAT using the differential method. Si
Huang et al. [21] proposed a pump as turbine BEP prediction
method (hereafter referred to as Huang’s method in this paper)
based on the theory of matching between the impeller and volute,
and theoretically deduced the characteristic equation of the PAT
impeller by considering the blade slip factor. However, Huang’s
method did not to distinguish between the differences in the
characteristic equation of the volute in the pump and turbine
modes. Moreover, the authors in that study also oversimplified the
characteristic equation of the impeller under the turbine mode.
In recent years, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become
a vital methodology for investigating the performance of pump and
turbines [10,22,23]. Li [24] analyzed the effect of viscosity for PAT’s
performance by the CFD methodology and proposed the head,
power, efficiency, and hydraulic loss prediction formulas related to
viscosity under the different flow rates of PAT. Sun-Sheng Yang [25]
chose the k-ε turbulence model to close the URANS equations and
obtained PAT’s performance by CFX software. The authors pointed
out that the performance prediction of the PAT using the CFD had
higher accuracy than the theoretical method and that the numer-
ical calculation results agreed well with the test results. However,
the prediction accuracy of PAT obtained through the numerical
methodology is affected by the integrity of the calculation model,
mesh quality, boundary conditions, and turbulence models.
In this paper, performance of PAT was studied using theoretical,
experimental, and numerical methods to seek a more accurate
performance prediction method. Firstly, the volute and impeller
characteristic equations under the turbine mode were derived, and
the impeller-volute matching (IVM) method was proposed and
verified through comparison with test results. Subsequently, the
performance curve of the pipe and turbine of a single-stage cen-
trifugal pump with a specific speed of 90 under normal rotation
speed (n ¼ 2900 rpm) was predicted using the numerical method.
The test platform of the pump and the turbine was built to verify
the accuracy of numerical results. The flow characteristics and hy-
draulic loss of the main components under different rotation
speeds were analyzed through the numerical method. Finally, error
analysis is performed on the prediction results of theoretical and
numerical simulations.
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

2. Impeller-volute matching (IVM) theoretical where sp1 and xp1 is the slip coefficient and blockage coefficient of
blades outlet under the pump mode, respectively.
Impeller and volute are the main components of the PAT, and The intersection of the volute characteristic equation (1) and
the matching relationship between the two components has an impeller characteristic equation (2), called the best operating point
important effect on the performance of the pump and the turbine. of pump condition, head, and flow coefficient at the intersection is
Through the characteristic equation of the volute and impeller, the as follows:
performance of the pump or turbine can be predicted. The structure
of the volute and impeller is shown in Fig. 1. Subscripts 1 and 2 hph sp1
jp ¼ lnð1þ2B=D1 Þ
(3)
represent the inlet and outlet of the impeller under the turbine 1þ B2
2B=D1 pD1 b1 xp1 tan b1
mode. Roman numerals I to VIII represents the eight sections of the
volute.
sp2
fp ¼ 2B=D1
(4)
þ pD B2
2.1. IVM principle under pump condition lnð1þ2B=D1 Þ x
1 b1 p1 tan b1

The characteristic equations of the volute and impeller under

pump conditions are shown in Eqs. (1) and (2), which are derived
by R.C. Worster and B.S c. based on the free vortex theory and the 2.2. IVM principle under turbine condition
Euler equation of the impeller [26].
Volute dimensionless characteristic equation is expressed as The characteristic equations of the volute and the impeller differ
follows: completely in turbine and pump conditions. The characteristic
. equation of the volute and impeller under the turbine condition can
hph 2B D1 be deduced according to the method of deducing the characteristic
jp ¼ fp (1)
lnð1 þ 2B=D1 Þ equation under the pump condition.
Assuming no local flow and velocity disturbance at the volute
where j, hph , and f is the head coefficient, pump hydraulic effi- throat exist, according to the free vortex theory, the velocity in the
ciency, and flow coefficient, respectively. The head coefficient and volute throat will follow the rules tocu ¼ cu1 r1 =r, where cu1 is the
Hp g Qp rotating component of the inlet velocity of the impeller under the
discharge coefficient are defined as jp ¼ u21
, fp ¼ B2 u1
.
turbine condition. For simplicity, assuming the section of volute
Without considering the pre-rotational speed at the pump inlet, throat is a square and the area is B2, then the mean velocity (vt) in
the impeller dimensionless characteristic equation is expressed as the throat can be calculated as follows [26]:
the following:
! r1ð
þB
B2 fp 1
jp ¼ hph sp2  (2) vt ¼ cu dr (5)
pD1 b1 xp1 tan b1 B
r1

Fig. 1. Main geometric parameters in a PAT.

33
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

turbine mode under the BEP is approximately equal to 1.0 [2,29],

vt lnð1 þ 2B=D1 Þ that is st1 ¼ st2 ¼ 1.
¼ (6)
cu1 2B=D1 The head of the turbine is proportional to the flow, to ensure the
third term on the right in equation (11) large than zero, Eq. (11)
Euler’s equation of impeller under the optimum operating
could be written as Eq. (12):
conditions of the turbine is [27].
 2
hth Ht g ¼ u1 cu1 (7) 1 1 D2 hlt B2 jcot b2 b1 xt1  cot b1 b2 xt2 j
jt ¼  þ ft (12)
hth hth D1 hth pb1 xt1 b2 xt2 D1
wherehth is the hydraulic efficiency of the PAT condition, consid-
The intersection of the volute characteristic Eq. (8) and impeller
ering that the hydraulic efficiency of the two models is equal [28],
characteristic Eq. (12), called the best operating point of PAT, head,
that is hth ¼ hph .
and flow coefficient at the intersection is as follows:
That is, cu1
u1 ¼ hthuH2 t g. By combining Eq. (6) with Eq. (7), the opti-
1  2
mum flow in the volute under the turbine condition can be ob-
  1 D2
D1
tained by the volute dimensionless characteristic equation: 1 2B=D1
jt ¼
hth lnð1 þ 2B=D1 Þ 2B=D1
 hlt B
2 jcotb2 b1 xt1 cot b1 b2 xt2 j
1 2B=D1 lnð1þ2B=D1 Þ hth pb1 xt1 b2 xt2 D1
jt ¼ f (8)
hth lnð1 þ 2B=D1 Þ t (13)

where jt , ft is represents head coefficient and flow coefficient  2

D2
under the turbine condition respectively, which defined as jt ¼ 1 D1
Ht g
,ft ¼ Qt
hlt represents volumetric efficiency under the ft ¼ (14)
hlt .The 2 jcotb2 b1 xt1 cot b1 b2 xt2 j
u21 u1 B2 2B=D1
lnð1þ2B=D1 Þ
 hlt B hth pb1 xt1 b2 xt2 D1
turbine mode, hlt ¼ 1
2=3 .
0:68nsp
The inflow and outflow velocity triangle of impeller under the
turbine condition is shown in Fig. 2. Considering the effect of
limited blades, the circumferential velocity component cu can be 2.3. The comparison between IVM principle under pump and
written as [26]. turbine condition

cu ¼ su  vm cot b (9) Comparing Eq. (1) and Eq. (8), the two equations are similar in
structure, which is reflected as the head of the volute being pro-
where vm and s is the component of velocity in the meridional portional to the flow in the pump and turbine conditions. However,
plane and slip coefficient respectively. as the hph < 1 and hth < 1, the slope of Eq. (8) is greater than Eq. (1).
Euler’s equation of impeller under the turbine condition is [28]. Eq. (12) is more complicated than Eq. (2), the head of the impeller is
inversely proportional to the deliveries under the pump condition,
hth Ht g ¼ u1 cu1  u2 cu2 (10)
while the head of the impeller is directly proportional to the flow
By combining Eq. (9) with Eq. (10), the impeller dimensionless under the turbine condition. The volute and impeller dimensionless
characteristic equation under the turbine condition can be characteristic curve diagram is shown in Fig. 3. Points A and B
expressed as follows: represent the best-operating conditions of theoretical results under
the pump and turbine conditions, respectively. The head and flow
 2
st1 st2 D2 hlt B2 ðcot b2 b1 xt1  cot b1 b2 xt2 Þ rate conversion factors h and q at the BEP of pump and turbine
jt ¼  þ ft (11) conditions can be obtained as follows:
hth hth D1 hth pb1 x1 b2 xt2 D1

where st1 and st2 represent the inlet and outlet slip factors of the jt
h¼ (15)
blade under the turbine mode, respectively. The slip factor for jp

Fig. 2. Velocity triangle of impeller of turbine mode. Fig. 3. Volute and impeller dimensionless characteristic curve.

34
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

accuracy of pressure transmitter, flow meter, torque sensor and

ft speed sensor respectively.
q¼ (16)
fp The diagram of the PAT test system is shown in Fig. 5. The test
system consists of a feed pump, variable frequency motor, PAT, eddy
current dynamometer, pipeline, and measurement apparatus. The
feed pump provides high-pressure fluid for the PAT. The design
2.4. Validation for the IVM method
flow and head of the feed pump is twice the design flow and head of
the PAT under the pump mode to ensure that the feed pump can
The performances of three PATs with different specific speeds in
provide sufficient energy to PAT. A bypass is set between the
Huang’s paper were predicted to verify the correctness of the IVM
booster pump and the turbine to facilitate the regulation of the flow
method proposed in this paper. The comparison of prediction re-
rate of PAT. The eddy current dynamometer (ECD) is connected
sults is shown in Table 1. Compared with the result of Huang’s
directly with the PAT through an elastic coupling to consume the
method, the flow and head coefficients of the PATs predicted by the
energy generated by the PAT. The real-time monitoring torque and
IVM method were closer to the test results. The error of the head
speed can be realized through the supporting software of the
and the discharge conversion factor of the IVM method was less
dynamometer. The pressure at the inlet and outlet of the PAT is
than 5%, which is preceding to Huang’s method and acceptable for
measured by pressure transmitters 1 and 2, and the flow rate is
engineering application. Compared with Huang’s method, the
measured by electromagnetic flow meter 2. At the outlet of PAT, a
reasons of accuracy improvement of the IVM method was to avoid
400-mm transparent Plexiglas pipe was installed for flow visuali-
the unnecessary simplification of Eq. (12).
zation. A high-speed camera with a sampling frequency of 2128
frames/s was used to capture the flow characteristics. The uncer-
3. Experimental research
tainty of the head, flow rate, shaft power, and efficiency under the
turbines mode are ±1.2%, ±0.5%, ±1.3%, and ±2.5%, respectively.
Two open test platforms were built to verify further the cor-
The range and accuracy of the measurement apparatus are
rectness of the IVM method and research the actual performance of
presented in Table 3. The test platform under pump and turbine
the pump and PAT. The main geometric and operating parameters
modes meet the class B accuracy requirements of China’s national
of the PAT are shown in Table 2.
pump testing standards.
3.1. Experimental setup

The diagram of the pump test system is shown in Fig. 4 and 3.2. Test process of performance
consists of the test pump, variable frequency motor, frequency
converter, pipeline, and measurement apparatus. The pressure at The test process of the pump is as follows. First, keep valve 1
the inlet and outlet of the pump is measured by pressure trans- fully open and close valve 2 before the test. Then, exhaust the air in
mitters 1 and 2, and flow rate is measured by electromagnetic flow the pipeline using the vacuum method. Subsequently, start the
meter 1. The uncertainty of the head, flow rate, shaft power, and motor and slowly adjust valve 2 to record the measurement pa-
efficiency under the pump mode are ±1.4%, ±0.5%, ±1.1%, and rameters of flow rate, inlet, and outlet pressure, and torque in real
±2.3%, respectively. The uncertainty calculated method of head, time. Finally, repeat the above steps and the variations of pump
shaft power and efficiency illustrated in Eq. (17) to Eq. (19) characteristics at different flow rates can be obtained. As the same
respectively [19]. inlet and outlet pipe diameters of pressure measurement and
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ignored the height difference of inlet and outlet, the variation of
  2   2      
eH ¼ DP Pp2 þ DP Pp1 þ DQ Qp2 2 þ DQ Qp1 2 kinetic energy and of potential gravitational energy was not
considered both pump and turbines mode. The head, power, and
(17)
efficiency of the pump mode were calculated using the following
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi formulas:
eP ¼ ðDT=TÞ2 þ ðDn=nÞ2 (18)
Pp2  Pp1
Hp ¼ (20)
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rg
eh ¼ ðDT=TÞ2 þ ðDn=nÞ2 þ ðDQ =Q Þ2 þ ðDH=HÞ2 (19)
Ppshaft ¼ Tp up (21)
where eH; eP; eh is the uncertainty of head, shaft power, efficiency
respectively, DP; DQ ; DT; Dn is represent measurement apparatus’s

Table 1
Comparison between the BEP prediction results of the IVM method and the Huang’s method to the test results.

Model Method Conversion factor Error (%)

q h q h

GDD80-20 (ns ¼ 58.7) [Huang et al. [21]] IVM method 1.193 1.573 3.341 4.733
Huang’s method 1.194 1.628 2.513 8.394
Test result 1.197 1.502 e e
IS100-65 (ns ¼ 98.7) [Huang et al. [21]] IVM method 1.296 1.767 3.929 2.613
Huang’s method 1.310 1.785 2.886 3.659
Test result 1.349 1.722 e e
GD100-21 (ns ¼ 129.6) [Huang et al. [21]] IVM method 1.409 1.896 1.221 1.012
Huang’s method 1.428 1.957 2.583 4.262
Test result 1.392 1.877 e e

35
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Table 2
Main geometric parameters of the PAT.

Parameter Notation Value

Impeller inlet diameter (mm) D1 169

Impeller outlet diameter (mm) D2 86
Volute base circle diameter (mm) D3 173
Blade inlet width (mm) b1 14
Blade outlet width (mm) b2 26
Blade leading edge thickness (mm) d1 3.5
Blade trailing edge thickness (mm) d2 3
Angle of streamline from horizontal direction in the inlet ( ) l1 90
Angle of streamline from horizontal direction in the outlet ( ) l2 35
Blade inlet angle ( ) b1 25
Blade outlet angle ( ) b2 30
Blade wrap angle ( ) F 145
Blade number Z 6
Throat area of the volute (mm2) F 1160.3
Design speed of pump mode (rpm) n 2900
Design flow of pump mode (m3/h) Qp 45
Design head of pump mode (m) Hp 30.9
Design efficiency of pump mode h 64.5%

Fig. 4. Pump Testing platform.

Fig. 5. PAT Testing platform.

method. Adjust the ECD to the maximum absorbed power before

rgQp Hp starting the feed pump to prevent the PAT from running away. Keep
hp ¼  100% (22)
Ppshaft valve 2 fully open and start the feed pump, then gradually regulate
valve 3 to fully open. Subsequently, slowly adjust the torque of the
where Tp, up, Pp1 and Pp2, is torque, the angular velocity of the shaft, ECD to stabilize the rotational speed. Record the flow rate, inlet and
and the inlet and outlet total pressure of the pump, respectively. outlet pressure, and recovered power of the PAT at this moment.
The test process of PAT is as follows. First, close valves 1 and 3 The flow rate arrived at this point arrived is the maximum of the
before the test and exhaust the air in the pipeline using the vacuum platform. Finally, adjust the opening of valves 1 and 3 and the
36
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Table 3 Table 5
Measurement apparatus’s range and accuracy. Mesh information for of each part.

Measurement apparatus Range Accuracy (%) Part Elements (million) Wall average yþ Worst quality

Flow meter 1 20e200 m3/h ±0.5 Inlet extend 0.2811 5.41 0.75
Flow meter 2 20e200 m3/h ±0.5 Volute 1.3889 21.42 0.46
Pressure transmitter 1 0e1 MPa ±0.1 Impeller 2.1732 11.24 0.43
Pressure transmitter 2 300-300 kPa ±0.1 Front chamber 0.5547 6.54 0.67
Torque sensor 0e70 N m ±0.3 Back chamber 0.6213 4.84 0.72
Speed sensor 0e13000 rpm ±0.01 Outlet extend 0.3002 5.36 0.86

valves of torque of ECD at the same time so that the inflow pressure
and speed of the PAT is unchanged and the variations of PAT
characteristics at different rotational speed can be obtained. The
ECD was cooled with water throughout the test. The head, power,
and efficiency of PAT were calculated using the following formula:
method was larger in the conversion factor prediction of present
PAT. The reason for the relatively large prediction error in present
PAT is related closely to its flow characteristic, which will be
explained in detail in later sections.

Pt1  Pt2 4. Numerical research

Ht ¼ (23)
rg
4.1. Numerical model
Ptshaft ¼ Tt ut (24)
The entire numerical model, which was generated using Solid-
works software, is shown in Fig. 6. The inlet and outlet have been
Ptshaft
ht ¼  100% (25) extended adequately to avoid reserve flows and obtain accurate
rgQt Ht numerical results. The entire computational flow domains are
divided into six parts: inlet and outlet extensions, front and back
where Tt, ut, Pt1 and Pt2, is the torque, the angular velocity of the
chambers, impeller, and volute. Considering the effect of leakage on
shaft and the inlet and outlet total pressure of PAT, respectively.
performance, the model includes a balance hole for the impeller
and a wearing-ring for the front and back chambers.
3.3. Comparison between tested and predicted BEP conversion
factor
4.2. Governing equations
The comparison of predicted head and flow rate conversion
factors h and q using different methods under the n ¼ 2900 rpm In the numerical calculation, water with a temperature of 25  C
operating condition to verify the accuracy of the IVM method in was selected as the flowing medium. The effects of cavitation and
predicting the BEP of PAT is shown in Table 4. The prediction ac- variable of temperature on performance are not considered both in
curacy of q and h was determined through the method of relative pump and turbine modes. The Reynolds-averaged flow governing
error. Compared with other methods, the IVM method proposed in the equations of three-dimensional incompressible flow are as
this paper had higher accuracy in predicting the conversion factors follows:
and the relative errors of q and h are 4.02% and 4.62%, respec-
tively. Sharma’s method predicted the q effectively with a relative vui
Continuity equation: ¼0 (26)
error of 2.87% but failed to predict the h with a relative error vxi
of 18.2%. The maximum relative error of q and h in Table 5 was
42.52% and 147.71%, respectively, which was predicted by
Schmiedl’s method. The method of Stepanoff and Alatorre-Frenk
yield relative errors of more than 10% in the present PAT perfor-
mance prediction. Although Huang’s method oversimplified the
characteristic equation of impeller under the turbine mode, the
relative error was less than 10% both q and h indicated that the
impeller-volute matching principle is effective in predicting the
BEP of PAT. Compared to the results in Table 1, the error of the IVM

Table 4
Comparison of head and flow rate conversion factors h and q under the BEP by
different methods.

Method Conversion Error (%)

factor

q h q h

IVM method 1.81 1.65 4.02 4.62

Huang’s method [21] 1.87 1.61 7.74 6.94
Stepanoff’s method [28] 1.55 1.24 10.92 28.57
Childs’s method [30] 1.55 1.55 10.92 10.71
Sharma’s method [31] 1.69 1.42 2.87 18.20
Schmiedl’s method [32] 2.48 4.268 42.52 147.71
Alatorre-Frenk’s method [33] 2.08 2.03 19.54 17.34
Test result 1.74 1.73 e e
Fig. 6. 3D assembly model for calculation.

37
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

created through an identical method and the node number

vui vu
Momentum equation: þ Uj i increased progressively at nearly 1.2 times between mesh 1 to mesh
vt vxj 6. The head and hydraulic efficiencies under Qp of pump mode

corresponding to different grid numbers are shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8
1 v  rui uj
’ ’
1 vP v2 u i shows that the efficiency and head fluctuation of the pump are not
¼ fi  þy þ (27)
r vxi vxj r vxj more than 0.5% if the grid number is larger than 5,326,533.
Considering the numerical accuracy and the cost of computational
where ui , P, and ru0i u0j is time-averaged velocity component, time- resources, the grid number of 5.32  106 was selected for the pump
averaged pressure, and Reynolds stress tensor, respectively. and PAT performance prediction. Detailed mesh information for
different parts is listed in Table 5.
4.3. Turbulence model
4.5. Solution parameters and boundary conditions
The SST k-u model proposed by Menter et al. [34] was selected
to close the Reynolds-averaged governing equations, which has ANSYS-CFX is a high-performance commercial computational
exhibited superior characteristics in resolving the turbulent sta- fluid dynamics software tool that can deliver reliable and accurate
tistics in rotating machinery because it combining the superior results in predicting the performance of pumps and turbines
behavior of the k-u model in near wall-regions and the robustness [35,36]. In this study, steady numerical simulations were carried
of the k-ε model in the main flow. This model is composed of out in the CFX 18.0 platform. Using the multiple reference frame
transport equations of turbulent kinetic energy k and turbulence (MRF) approach, the impeller domain was placed into the rotating
specific dissipation rate u as follows: reference frame and the other domains were set as stationary. The
8 interface between the impeller and the stationary domains applied
> vðrkÞ vðrkui Þ v vk
>
> þ ¼ G þ Gk  Yk þ Sk the frozen rotor interface. The high-resolution discretization type
>
< vt vxi vxj k vxi was selected in the advection scheme. All wetted surfaces were set
" # (28) to a no-slip wall boundary. The total pressure was applied to the
>
> vðruÞ vðruui Þ v vu
>
> þ ¼ Gu þ Gu  Yu þ Du þ Su inlet boundary conditions and mass flow was applied to the outlet
: vt vxi vxj vxj boundary conditions. The inlet pressure was 101.325 kPa under
pump mode and 0.8 MPa was set as the PAT mode. A total of 12
where Gk , Gu, G, Y, S, and Du are the turbulent kinetic energy source conditions were simulated from 0.1Qp to 1.2Qp under the pump
term, dissipation equation source term, effective diffusion coeffi- mode. At turbine mode, four different rotation speeds were simu-
cient, divergence term, user-defined source term, and orthogonal lated to seek the best efficiency point under different operating
divergence term, respectively. The subscript k and u represent the conditions. The convergence condition of both modes had a re-
transport equation of turbulent kinetic energy and the turbulence sidual error of less than1  106 . The detailed comparison of nu-
specific dissipation rate, respectively. merical setup under the pump and turbine mode shown in Table 6.

4.4. Mesh generation and grid-sensitivity analysis

4.6. Numerical result
ICEM CFD software is used to construct a hexahedral mesh for
A comparison between the pump and PAT performance pre-
the PAT fluid domains and O-Grid methods were applied to the
diction by numerical results with experimental results under the
refined boundary mesh (RBF) for the wall of all parts. The grid
normal rotational speed (n ¼ 2900 rpm) was conducted to verify
nodes at the interface of two parts should be as equal as possible to
the accuracy of the numerical results and shown in Fig. 9. At pump
reduce the data exchange error at the interface. Fig. 7 shows the
mode, the numerically predicted performance curves have the
impeller structure grid. The grid-sensitivity analysis was conducted
same tendency as the experimental data. The best efficiency point
for the design operating point (Qp) under pump mode because the
was the condition of Qp ¼ 45 m3/h for both test and simulation
PAT performance is unknown. Six different numbers of grids were

Fig. 7. Structured grids of impeller. Fig. 8. Effect of the number of grids on pump performance.

38
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Table 6
Numerical setup comparison between pump and PAT under the BEP condition.

Operating mode Pump PAT

Turbulence model SST k-u model SST k-u model

Flow medium Water at 25  C Water at 25  C
Inlet boundary conditions Total pressure (101.325 kPa) Total pressure (0.8 MPa)
Outlet boundary conditions Mass flow (12.5 kg/s) Mass flow (22.2 kg/s)
Wall roughness 50 mm 50 mm
Advection scheme High-resolution High-resolution
Convergence criterion 1  106 1  106

Fig. 9. Comparison between the experimental and numerical results under pump and
turbine mode.

results. The head declined as the discharge increased and the

numerically predicted results were larger than the experiment re-
sults. The power of the simulation-predicted and experiment re-
sults had a small divergence in the regions of 9 m3/h to 22.5 m3/h.
The divergence of performance curves could be caused by me-
chanical loss and parts of volumetric loss, which were not consid-
ered in the simulation. At turbine mode, the difference between the
numerical and the experimental results of the head and shaft po-
Fig. 10. Numerical predict performance curves of PAT at the different rotational speed.
wer was small. As the flow rate increased, the head and shaft power
increased. The BEP of the experimental and numerical results were
obtained under the conditions of 78.3 m3/h and 80 m3/h, respec- more efficient operating area.
tively. The relative error of the BEP conversion factor of h and q by Since most of the PAT lacks the inlet flow regulation device and
the numerical method was 2.3% and 2.89%, respectively. the variation of flow rate and the head is sensitive to its efficiency.
Compared with the pump mode, the turbine mode had a wider and

39
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al.
However, the common application situations of PAT, such as Water
Supply Systems (WSS), has a scope with available average head and
discharge that is very broad and infrastructure dependent. There-
fore, the variable speed operation of the PAT was proposed to in-
crease operational efficiency [37,38]. Fig. 10 shows the performance
curve comparison of the different rotational speeds from 1500 rpm
to 2900 rpm by the numerical method under the turbine mode. As
the rotational speed declined, the no-load discharge, maximum
shaft power, and head decreased. The variation of the discharge
with the head and the shaft power had the same tendency and
increased with the discharge under different rotational speeds. The
7% reduction of maximum efficiency is defined as the efficient
operating area of the PAT [39]. Fig. 10(c) shows that the maximum
efficiency of PAT has the similar values under the different rota-
tional speed operating conditions from 1500 rpm to 2900 rpm.
However, the efficient operating areas of PAT decreased as the
rotational speed decreased. The flow range of PAT efficient oper-
ating area are 30 m3/h to 55 m3/h and 60 m3/h to 110 m3/h under
the 1500 rpm and 2900 rpm condition respectively.
4.7. Hydraulic loss analysis under the turbine mode
Fig. 10(c) showed that the efficiency of PAT declined sharply
under the part-discharge conditions. Hydraulic loss is well known
to be the key in determining the BEP under different rotational
speeds. Therefore, calculating the hydraulic loss accurately is
beneficial to the prediction of BEP. Using the first law of thermo-
dynamics [40], the total input power and residual energy after
flowing through certain components under different rotational
speeds are shown in Fig. 11. All the energy loss was converted to the
PAT head, with a unit of m. The calculation formula for hydraulic
loss in stationary and rotating domains is Eq. (29) and Eq. (30)
respectively.
P1  P2
DEs ¼ (29)
rg
Q ðP1  P2 Þ  T u
DEr ¼ (30)
rgQ
whereDEs,DEr is energy loss of stationary and rotating domain, P1,
P2 is represents inlet and outlet total pressure of stationary or
rotating domain, Q, T and u is the discharge of PAT, shaft torque and
rotating angular velocity of the impeller.
The flow characteristic of mainly components of PAT under
different discharge were added in the figures to explain the reasons
for the hydraulic loss. The results showed that the components had
similar variation tendency of hydraulic loss under different rotation
speed conditions. The hydraulic loss of stationary domains such as
volute and cavity increased as the discharge increased. However,
the hydraulic loss of the rotating domain decreased first and then
increased with the flow rate increase and minimum loss appeared
at the design condition point (Qt). As the outlet extension con-
nected directly with the impeller, the flow characteristics of
impeller had a considerable effect on the hydraulic loss of the outlet
extension. Therefore, the variation law of the hydraulic loss of the
outlet extension was the same as the impeller. The hydraulic loss
was dominated by the impeller at the part-load condition while in
the large-load conditions, the largest proportion of losses in the PAT
was the cavity. The proportion of losses of volute and outlet
extension did not change with the flow.
The streamlines showed certain similarities under the different
40
Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44
rotation speeds from the flow characteristics of the main compo-
nents under the different discharges. The streamlines and contours
were colored by the local velocity. At 0.5 Qt, the streamlines of the
impeller were distorted in the outlet and a vortex occupied the
inlet. Badly flow characteristics, such as backflow appeared at the
cavity outlet where an interface was placed with the impeller. The
gradient of velocity was large in the volute and a vortex was located
near the cut-water. At Qt, the streamlines of the impeller and ve-
locity variation were uniform. Large hydraulic loss occurred
without the backflow appearing at the cavity outlet but with the
vortex appearing inside the cavity. The distributions of streamlines
were homogenous, and the velocity increased gradually, indicating
that pressure energy converts to kinetic energy more sufficiently in
the volute under these conditions. At 1.5 Qt, a vortex appeared at
the suction surface of the blade and occupied half the areas of
impeller passage. The vortex in the cavity became larger as the
discharge increased. The distributions of streamlines in the volute
were similar to the Qt condition but with a large gradient of
velocity.
Although the variation laws of hydraulic loss proportion with
the discharge were similar, the flow characteristics have some
differences when the rotation speed changed. Under the Qt con-
dition, the angle between the streamline and the outlet edge
increased as the rotation speed declined. Therefore, as shown in
Fig. 10(c), the maximum efficiency under the 1500 rpm condition
was a little smaller than the 2900 rpm condition. In addition, the
size of the vortex in the cavity decreased with the decrease in
rotation speed. Combining the flow characteristics and values of
hydraulic loss under the different conditions indicated that the flow
in the volute was relatively steady and the loss was caused mainly
by viscous dissipation. However, the turbulence characteristic
could be observed in the impeller and the cavity, which lead to
larger hydraulic loss. Table 4 shows that the reason for the IVM
method with a relatively large error in the present PAT was because
the cavity flow characteristics have a valuable effect on the con-
version factor. Therefore, the characteristic equation of the cavity
will be considered in the next stage to improve the IVM method
prediction accuracy further.
5. Comparison of theoretical, experimental, and numerical
results
Tables 7e9 shows the comparison between numerical and
experimental results of different discharges under the 2900 rpm
condition. Under the Qt, the errors of the head, efficiency, and po-
wer are 2.61%, 2.58%, and 3.76%, respectively. The relative error was
less than 5% under large-load conditions and was less than 10%
under the part-load conditions. Fig. 11 shows that the turbulence
characteristic was more complex in the part-load conditions, which
caused a decline in the accuracy of the numerical results. Overall,
the variation laws of PAT performance with the discharge predicted
by the numerical method were the same as that of the experi-
mental results and had relatively high prediction accuracy.
The affinity law was applied widely in the evaluation of the
performance of turbomachinery while the structure or operating
condition changed as shown in Equation (31) [38]. The BEP effi-
ciency of the changed type can be calculated as the ratio of the
output power (PBІІ ) and the input power (rgQBІ І HBІ І ), which are in-
dependent of the rotational speed. Tables 10e12 show the com-
parison of the BEP prediction results under different rotation
speeds obtained through the numerical, affinity law theory, and the
statistical method proposed by Oreste Fecarotta [41]. The
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Fig. 11. Hydraulic energy distribution and internal flow characteristics of the main components.

Table 7 Table 9
Numerical and test results of head. Numerical and test results of efficiency.

Q/Qt 0.5 0.625 0.75 1 1.125 1.25 Q/Qt 0.5 0.625 0.75 1 1.125 1.25

CFD (m) 29.02 32.69 37.66 54.18 64.98 77.33 CFD (%) 29.63 56.70 65.68 72.59 71.17 68.71
Test (m) 27.33 30.60 36.46 52.80 63.03 75.64 Test (%) 27.99 52.95 64.08 70.76 69.08 66.23
Error of head (%) 6.19 6.82 3.28 2.61 3.10 2.22 Error of efficiency (%) 5.85 7.09 2.49 2.58 3.02 3.74

Table 8 Table 10
Numerical and test results of power. PAT numerical and other methods prediction head.

Q/Qt 0.5 0.625 0.75 1 1.125 1.25 Rotational speed (r/min) 1500 1850 2200 2550

CFD (kW) 0.94 2.53 4.04 8.57 11.34 14.48 Affinity law theory (m) 14.49 22.05 31.18 41.88
Test (kW) 0.90 2.44 3.91 8.26 10.82 13.89 Error of Affinity law theory (%) 5.53 7.61 6.27 5.17
Error of power (%) 4.28 3.24 3.38 3.76 4.86 4.22 Oreste Fecarotta’s method (m) 18.30 25.62 33.82 42.85
Error of Oreste Fecarotta’s method (%) 33.28 25.04 15.27 7.61
Numerical method (m) 13.73 20.49 29.34 39.82

41
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Table 11 a. The IVM method proposed in this paper, which was based on the
PAT numerical and other methods prediction power. impeller-volute matching principle, can predict the conversion
Rotational speed (r/min) 1500 1850 2200 2550 factor q and h of PAT effectively. The prediction accuracy of the
Affinity law theory (kW) 1.18 2.23 3.74 5.83
IVM method is less than 5% based on the validated four cen-
Error of Affinity law theory (%) 10.28 10.40 7.78 6.00 trifugal pumps with specific speeds from 58.7 to 129.6.
Oreste Fecarotta’s method (kW) 1.56 2.67 4.15 5.99 b. Compared with the IVM method, which does not consider the
Error of Oreste Fecarotta’s method (%) 45.79 32.18 15.60 8.91 effect of cavity characteristics, the full flow field numerical
Numerical method (kW) 1.07 2.02 3.47 5.50
method based on the SST k-u turbulence model had higher ac-
curacy in predicting the conversion factors q and h. The accuracy
of the numerical method was verified through experiment re-
sults and the relative error was less than 10% in all operating
Table 12 conditions.
PAT numerical and other methods prediction efficiency.
c. The variation laws of hydraulic loss of the main components did
Rotational speed (r/min) 1500 1850 2200 2550 not change with rotation speed. The hydraulic loss was domi-
Affinity law theory (%) 73.64 73.64 73.64 73.64 nated by the impeller under the part-load condition. The hy-
Error of Affinity law theory (%) 2.41 1.6 1.42 1.38 draulic loss of cavity was the largest under the larger-load
Oreste Fecarotta’s method (%) 67.20 69.14 70.40 71.00 condition. When the discharge increased, the hydraulic loss
Error of Oreste Fecarotta’s method (%) 6.55 4.61 3.04 2.26
proportion of volute and cavity increased, while the hydraulic
Numerical method (%) 71.91 72.48 72.61 72.64
loss proportion of impeller and outlet extension decreased first
and then increased and reached the minimum value at the BEP.
d. Compared with the numerical method, the affinity law of
turbomachinery had low accuracy in BEP performance predic-
maximum efficiency is attained at n ¼ 2900 rpm, while a decrease tion when the rotation speed changed. Maximum efficiency was
is observed as the speed diverges. The efficiency predicted by af- attained at n ¼ 2900 rpm, while a decrease was observed as the
finity law was constant without considering the effect of viscosity speed diverged. The error of affinity law was larger as it deviated
and the roughness of the wall. Such a phenomenon was also away from the normal rotation speed. The BEP head and
observed by other researchers in their experiments [42,43]. As the discharge prediction accuracy under different rotation speeds
rotation speed increasingly diverges from the normal rotational obtained through Oreste Fecarotta’s method was inferior to the
speed, the more the error between the numerical method and the affinity law but effective in BEP efficiency prediction.
other methods increases. Fig. 9 shows that the numerical results are
larger than experiment results because the mechanical loss The IVM method proposed in this paper was based on the
resulting from the mechanical seal and bearings were neglected. assumption of the throat shape of the volute was square and the
Therefore, the more positive error indicates that the predicted re- flow in the volute accord with the free vortex law under the BEP. In
sults deviated from the experiment results. The results indicate that addition, the cavity characteristic was out of consideration in the
the affinity law theory had higher prediction accuracy in head and IVM method. The throat shape of volute in this research is a square,
power than Oreste Fecarotta’s method. However, Oreste Fecarotta’s which obviously needs to be undertaken on the effect of the throat
method can predict efficiency effectively as the rotation speed shape of volute and cavity characteristics on the BEP prediction of
changed. PAT in further work.

 1 2  І І 1 2  І 3 4  ІІ 1 2  І 5 4
= = = = =
nІB DІІ HBІ QB HB PB HB CRediT authorship contribution statement
¼ І ¼ ¼ (31)
nІІ
B
D H ІІ
B QB
І H ІІ
B PB
І HB
ІІ
Tong Lin: Writing - original draft, Conceptualization, Software,
where n, D, H, and P represent the rotation speed, impeller outer Experiment. Zuchao Zhu: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing
diameter, head, and power, respectively. Subscript B had the best - review & editing. Xiaojun Li: Conceptualization, Data curation,
efficiency point and superscript I and II represent the prototype and Investigation, Methodology. Jian Li: Validation, Guidance. Yanpi
changed-type, respectively. Lin: Validation, Guidance.

Declaration of competing interest

6. Conclusion The authors declare that they have no known competing

By the theoretical and numerical methods to predict the BEP
performance of the PAT were carried out in the present work. Four
centrifugal pumps with specific speeds from 58.7 to 129.6 were
employed to validate the accuracy of the IVM method based on the
impeller-volute matching principle. The accuracy of the numerical
method for predicting the performance of a PAT with a specific
speed of 90 under normal rotation speed (n ¼ 2900 rpm) was
verified through experiment results. The affinity law and another
statistical method were compared with the numerical method to
predict the BEP performance under five rotation speeds from 1500
to 2550. The following conclusions were drawn.
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of
Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LR20E090001), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52076196, U2006221), the
Science and Technology Research Project of Jiangxi Provincial
Department of Education (Grant No. GJJ191344), Key Research and
Development Program of Zhejiang Province (Grant No.
2020C01027). The supports are gratefully acknowledged.

42
T. Lin, Z. Zhu, X. Li et al. Renewable Energy 168 (2021) 31e44

Appendix A

Table 1
Performance prediction for PAT by statistical or empirical method [3].

Year Name of investigator Head correction factor (h) Discharge correction factor (q)

1957 Stepanoff 1 1
pffiffiffiffiffi
hp hp
1962 Childs 1 1
hp hp
1963 Hancock 1 1
ht ht
1980 Grover 2:6930  0:229nst 2:3790  :0264nst
1982 Hergt 6 1:6
1:3  1:3 
nst  3 nst  5
1985 Sharma 1 1
hp 1:2 hp 0:8
1988 Schmiedl 2:5 2:4
 1:4 þ  1:5 þ
hhp hhp 2
1994 Alatorre-Frenk 1 0:85hp 5 þ 0:385
0:85hp 5 þ 0:385 2hp 9:5 þ 0:205

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44