Design and Analysis of Mixed flow Centrifugal pump

SHEIKH SAAD ARSHAD1, SIJAL AHMED1, EMEN WAHEED1, and MINHAJ AKBAR1
1Air University, PAF Complex, E-9, Islamabad
1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
[email protected]
Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to design and analyze mixed flow centrifugal pump using analytical and computational
methods. In order to design a mixed flow centrifugal pump analytically we have selected three main parameters
that were head, mass flow rate and rpm using pump performance curves in such a way that these values come
in the range of mixed flow centrifugal pump i.e. head =10m, flow rate = 50m3/hr and rpm =2850. The governing
equations that were used are Bernoulli equation and Euler’s pump equation. For Computational model Vista
CPD design module is used to design the impeller and volute and for flow simulations ANSYS CFX is used.

Keywords: Mixed flow Centrifugal pump, Bernoulli equation, Euler’s Pump equation, Vista CPD, ANSYS CFX

Introduction
Centrifugal pumps are one of the most used pump type in industries around the world. The principles on which
these pumps are manufactured in industries are to produce simple, robust and efficient pumps. Pumps have
wide application in many fields and due to their vast importance a lot of research in now being done in order to
check out all the possibilities under which a simple, robust and efficient pump can be designed. Centrifugal
pumps are mainly of three type’s axial pump, radial pump and mixed flow pump. Axial gives more flow rate and
less head, radial gives more head and less flow rate whereas mixed flow centrifugal pump can be called as a
hybrid pump having the characteristics of axial and radial pump. Mixed flow centrifugal pump gives more flow
rate with moderate head therefore designing of mixed flow centrifugal pump is chosen for the research in this
paper.

Today researcher are working on different projects to come up with a product/ process through which simple,
robust and efficient products or processes can be made. In the current research designing of a mixed flow
centrifugal pump and its behavior under different conditions using ANSYS Vista CPD design tool are being
considered. Development of Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) techniques has enabled us to predict and
analyze the behavior of pump in a virtual environment that give results which are very close to the natural
environment. Along with analytical model that is made using the governing equations, flow analysis using CFD
tools is used in this research to check the behavior of the designed pump. CFD techniques have not only saved
financial debts but have also opened a new path of innovations. Inlet and outlet parameters are provided and
the behavior of the pump is analyzed under the given conditions. Design of mixed flow centrifugal pump started
with the selection of three main parameters that were head, mass flow rate and rpm using pump performance
curves [1]. Following are the materials and methods through which the pump is designed and analyzed.

Mathematical Modeling:
The design of a centrifugal pump involves a number of design factors. The theoretical approach followed to
construct the mathematical model for the pump is demonstrated below, including all the procedures necessary
to design the centrifugal pump. The governing equations upon which the pump is designed are:

Bernoulli’s equation:

𝒑 𝒗𝟐
𝑯= + + 𝒁𝒆 (𝟏)
𝝆𝒈 𝟐𝒈
Euler’s pump equation:

A control volume is used at our point of interest for setting up an equilibrium equation.

(𝑼𝟏 .𝑪𝟏𝑼 −𝑼𝟐 .𝑪𝟐𝑼 )

𝑯= (𝟐)
𝒈

It expresses the impeller’s head at tangential and absolute velocities in inlet and outlet.
Impeller design:
Analytical modelling of mixed flow centrifugal pump started with the three main parameters that were head,
flow rate and rpm for designing of impeller that is shown the table 1

Table 1: Initial Parameter for design

Parameters Values
Head 10 m
Flow rate 50 m3/hr
Rotational speed 2850 rpm

Specific speed (Ns) is a non-dimensional design index that identifies the geometric similarity of pumps. It is
used to classify pump impellers as to their type and proportions and is determined by the following expression
[3][4].
𝑅𝑃𝑀 × (𝐺𝑃𝑀)0.5
𝑁𝑠 = = 3085 (3)
(𝐻)0.75
Specific speed is considered a reference number that describes the hydraulic features of a pump, whether it’s
axial, mixed or radial.

The curve for specific speed versus percentage head rise as shown in the Figure 1 and 2[1], from best
efficiency point to shut off enables to determine the number of vanes required for the pump and the discharge
angle.

Figure 1: Change in capacity vs. change in head Figure 2: specific speed vs % head rise
Figure Figure
Hence, the number of impeller vanes selected for this application was 6 with a discharge angle of 25˚.

The specific speed for the pump and the number of vanes can be used to determine the value for the Head
constant therefore

Head Constant, Ku = 1.18

With the help of the head constant the Impeller Diameter can be calculated as:
1840 × 𝐾𝑢 × 𝐻 0.5
𝐷2 = = 4.363 in (4)
𝑅𝑃𝑀
The capacity constant Km 2, can be determined from the Figure 2 using the Specific Speed and the number of
vanes [1].
 Figure 3: Specific speed vs % D1/D2 Figure

The Eye diameter can be determined with the help of the Figure 3[1]:

The ratio of the Eye Diameter and the Impeller Diameter from the Figure with respect to the Specific Speed,
Ns is:
𝑫𝟏
= 𝟎. 𝟔𝟑 (𝟓)
𝑫𝟐
By substituting the value for the Impeller Diameter D2 the Eye Diameter is calculated to be:= 2.75 𝑖𝑛
Eye Diameter is calculated to be:
𝑫𝟏 = 𝟐. 𝟕𝟓 𝒊𝒏 (6)
The selection of shaft diameter was based on the standard sizes available [1].
Shaft diameter = 1 in

Impeller Eye Area = Area at impeller eye – shaft area = 5.154 in2

The Net Positive Suction Head is used to indicate the over-pressure needed at the inlet of the pump to avoid
cavitation. It can be calculated using the following relationships:

Average meridonal velocity at blade inlet:

𝟎.𝟑𝟐𝟏 ×𝑸 𝐟𝐭
𝑪𝒎𝟏 = = 𝟏𝟑. 𝟕 𝐬𝐞𝐜 (𝟕)
𝑨𝒆

Peripheral velocity:
𝑫𝟏 ×𝑹𝑷𝑴 𝐟𝐭
𝑼𝒕 = = 𝟑𝟒. 𝟐𝟐 𝒔𝒆𝒄 (𝟖)
𝟐𝟐𝟗

Using the Figure from [1] for NPSHR against Cm1 and Ut, the NPSHR can be found:

NPSHR = 11ft
After the impeller mathematical modelling the volute geometrical parameters were determined in accordance
with the impeller design parameters

Volute Design:
In order to determine how the impeller design physically relates to the volute area, cutwater diameter and the
volute width, the following mathematical relations are used:

The volute velocity constant, K3, can be predicted using the following Figure 4:
 Figure 4: Figure for K3 versus Ns

Volute velocity constant: K3 = 0.27

𝟎.𝟎𝟒 ×𝑮𝑷𝑴
Volute Area: 𝑨𝟖 = 𝑲 𝟎.𝟓 = 𝟓. 𝟔𝟗 𝐬𝐪. 𝐢𝐧 (𝟗)
𝟑 × (𝑯)

Volute width was determined with the consideration of Ns. Values in the following table are considered
reasonable guidelines in the pump industry for calculating the volute width [5][6]:

Table2: Guidelines for Volute Width

Specific Speed, Volute width,
Ns b3
<1000 2.00 b2
1000-3000 1.75 b2
>3000 1.60 b2

According to the table given above:

Volute width = 1.6 b2 = 1.2416 in

A minimum gap must be maintained between the impeller diameter and volute lip to prevent noise, pulsation
and vibration. The following table acts as a guideline for determining cut water diameter.

Table 3: Guidelines for Cutwater Diameter

Specific Speed, Cutwater Diameter,
Ns D3
600-1000 D2x 1.05
1000-1500 D2x 1.06
1500-2500 D2x 1.07
2500-4000 D2x 1.08

According to the relationship given in the table above, the cutwater diameter for the volute can be calculated
as:
D3 = 1.09 D2 = 4.76in
Computational Modelling and Flow Analysis:
Development of computational fluid dynamics has enabled us to easily predict and analyze the behavior of
steady and unsteady internal flows in pumps.In order to check the behaviour of the designed pump following
method were used.

Geometry modeling and Grid Meshing:

Using Vista CPD tool and the input parameters required we have designed the impeller and volute for the
mixed flow centrifugal pump. For further detailing and modifications we have used bladegen module to cater
the design errors. Hexa-Meshing of blade is done using turbogrid and volute’s tetra prism meshing is done
using ICEM CFD tool can be visualized in the figure 1 and figure 2 shown. Volute and impeller are coupled in
CFX using frozen rotor option and to decrease the computational work we have used periodic functions with
single passage. Preprocessing conditions for analysis is shown in table 3.

Figure 5: Tetra Prism meshing of Volute Figure 6: Hexa meshing of Impeller

Table 4: Input parameter of preprocessing

Results and Discussion:

The results of the analysis are the main part of any research work. With the basic input parameter as shown
in table 1 using analytical methods we find out other design parameter. Using CFD post module we analysed
the behaviour of our pump. Pressure increases from inlet to outlet of pump at different blade loading as shown
in the Figure 7 and 8.

Figure 7: Blade loading at 0.1 span wise locations Figure 8: Blade loading at 0.5 span wise locations

Static pressure is gradually increasing at every span location and there is no abrupt changes observed.
Pressures on both side of blade are crossing each other at 95 to 99 % stream-wise location i.e. trailing edge.
Pump Performance curves through which pump performance over a wide range of flow rates, heads and power
consumptions are obtained for this specific pump initial parameters which shoes that with the increase in the
flow rate the head decreases [2].

Head Vs Flowrate
25
20
HEAD (m)

15
10
CFD RESULT
5
0
0 20 40 60 80
Flowrate (m^3/hr)

.
Conclusion
The computational and analytical study of mixed flow centrifugal pump using CFD Analysis software and
governing equations led us to the following conclusions.
 Mathematical result of the mixed flow centrifugal pump complies with the computational results.
 Efficiency of the pump calculated mathematically comes about 80% whereas the flow simulation
gave us efficiency of about the 87%.
 From the research it can be seen that there is more room for modification and efficiency of the pump
can be altered e.g. just by changing the inlet and outlet angles of the impeller blade the efficiency
improves
 Results of the simulations shows that mixed flow centrifugal pumps are more preferable than axial
and radial pumps as they give more flow rate with more head.
References
[1] Igor J. K., joseph P, M., 2000, “Pump handbook” ISBN 0-07-034032-3, McGraw Hill, pp 2.10-2.493.

[2] Patel, Kiran.; Joyoti, N. Ramakrishnan.: CFD analysis of Mixed flow pump, may 2006, Pittsburgh,
International ANSYS conference 2006, Pennsylvania

[3] Bacharoudis E.C., Filios A.E., .,2008, “Parametric study of a centrifugal pump impeller by varying the
outlet blade angle,” The Open Mechanical Engineering Journal, 2, 75-83.
[4] Lobanoff, Val S., 1910-Centrifugal pumps: design & application/ Val S-2nded, pp. 32-68
[5] Standard API,610., “Centrifugal pumps for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries” January
2002, 9th edition.
[6] Dadhich, M., Haiyani, D ., “Flow simulation(CFD) % fatifue(FEA) analysis of a centrifugal pump,” volume
3, issue 3, sep-dec,2012, pp 67-83