Journal of Thermal Science Vol.22, No.

4 (2013) 345−351

DOI: 10.1007/s11630-013-0634-x Article ID: 1003-2169(2013)04-0345-07

Experimental Analysis of Flow Structure in Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump

Designed with Different Rotational Speed Concept

Linlin Cao1, Satoshi Watanabe2, Toshiki Imanishi1, Hiroaki Yoshimura1, Akinori Furukawa3
1. Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan
2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan
3. Oita National College of Technology, Japan

© Science Press and Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

As a high specific speed pump, the contra-rotating axial flow pump distinguishes itself in a rear rotor rotating in
the opposite direction of the front rotor, which remarkably contributes to the energy conversion, the reduction of
the pump size, better hydraulic and cavitation performances. However, with two rotors rotating reversely, the sig-
nificant interaction between blade rows was observed in our prototype contra-rotating rotors, which highly af-
fected the pump performance compared with the conventional axial flow pumps. Consequently, a new type of rear
rotor was designed by the rotational speed optimization methodology with some additional considerations, aiming
at better cavitation performance, the reduction of blade rows interaction and the secondary flow suppression. The
new rear rotor showed a satisfactory performance at the design flow rate but an unfavorable positive slope of the
head – flow rate curve in the partial flow rate range less than 40% of the design flow rate, which should be
avoided for the reliability of pump-pipe systems. In the present research, to understand the internal flow field of
new rear rotor and its relation to the performances at the partial flow rates, the velocity distributions at the inlets
and outlets of the rotors are firstly investigated. Then, the boundary layer flows on rotor surfaces, which clearly
reflect the secondary flow inside the rotors, are analyzed through the limiting streamline observations using the
multi-color oil-film method. Finally, the unsteady numerical simulations are carried out to understand the com-
plicated internal flow structures in the rotors.

Keywords: Contra-rotating rotors, Internal flow, Limiting streamlines, Tip leakage vortex, Corner separation

Introduction contra-rotating axial flow pump has better hydraulic and

cavitation performances than the conventional axial flow
The axial flow pump with higher flow rate operation is pump with the same design specification, and its effi-
increasingly required in several industrial fields due to its ciency can be widely improved by separated rotational
advantages of the low cost and compact structure, while speed control on each rotor in the off design flow rate
it is also suffering the cavitation problem and efficiency range [3,4].
deterioration as high specific speed pump [1]. The con- Given the same design rotational speed for both rotors
tra-rotating axial flow pump with two rotors rotating re- of our prototype (Nf =Nr), the cavitation inception was
versely, offers a better solution for these fields [2]. In our observed in the tip region of the rear rotor rather than the
previous experiments, it has been confirmed that, the front rotor at the off design conditions, indicating large

Received: April 2013

Satoshi Watanabe: Professor, Kyushu University, Japan.
www.springerlink.com
346 J. Therm. Sci., Vol.22, No.4, 2013

Nomenclature
H Head [m] Greek letters
i Incidence angle [°] φ Flow rate coefficient
N Rotational speed [r/min] ψ Head coefficient
P Pressure [Pa]
Q Volumetric flow rate [l/s] Subscripts
rc Casing radius [m] 1 At inlet
rh Hub radius [m] 2 At outlet
Ut Tip velocity of rotors [m/s] d Design values
Vz Axial velocity [m/s] f Front rotor
Vθ Circumferential velocity in
new New designed rotor pair
absolute frame [m/s]
W Relative velocity [m/s] r Rear rotor

static pressure reduction between these two rotors [3]; methodology for the front and rear rotor combination was
and the significant blade rows interaction was observed, proposed with some additional considerations in the new
which was responsible for the repetitive stresses unfa- rear rotor design, aiming at reduction of blade rows in-
vourable to the safe and reliable operation [5]. Conse- teraction, better cavitation performance and the secon-
quently, in our previous paper, the rotational speed opti- dary flow suppression [6]. Compared to the prototype
mization methodology for the front and rear rotor com- rotors designed with the same rotational speed as Nf
bination was proposed with some additional considera- =Nr=1225 r/min, the rotational speed combination of the
tions, aiming at reduction of blade rows interaction, bet- new rotor pair is determined as Nf=1311 r/min and
ter cavitation performance and the secondary flow sup- Nr=1123 r/min which offers the equivalent inflow relative
pression [6]. A new rear rotor was designed with the re- velocity (Wf1 = Wr1) as well as the equal required net
duced rotational speed, of which the favorable perform- positive suction head for both front and rear rotor. After
ances at design flow rate was obtained in both experi- the determination of rotational speeds, the blade profiles
mental and CFD analyses, indicating the validity of the of new rear rotor were designed with considering the
rotational speed optimization methodology in terms of followings:
performances at the design condition. However, the newly (1) The positive incidence angle is considered to avoid
designed rear rotor showed an unfavorable positive slope the occurrence of cavitation on the pressure side.
on the head – flow rate curve in the partial flow rate range (2) The stagger angle is reduced to weaken the blade
less than 40% of the design flow rate, which should be row interactions.
avoided for the reliability of pump-pipe systems. (3) The more precise inflow velocity model based on
In the present research, to understand the internal flow the actual flow condition at the outlet of the front rotor is
field of new rear rotor and its relation to the perform- adopted.
ances at the partial flow rates, both the experimental and (4) The maximum camber position is varied span-
CFD investigations are carried out on the new rear rotor wisely to suppress the secondary flow in the flow pas-
at the various flow rates. Velocity distributions are firstly sage [8].
measured at the inlets and outlets of the front and rear Design flow rate and head are set to be Qd=70 L/s and
rotors. Since the flow field in the rear rotor is known to Hd=4 m respectively, which are identical to those of pro-
be highly complicated especially at partial flow rates [7], totype rotors. Design heads of front and new rear rotor
the boundary layer flows on rotor surfaces, which clearly results in Hd,f= 2.15 m and Hd,r=1.85 m. Table 1 summa-
reflect the secondary flow inside the rotors, are analyzed rizes the blade profiles of the test rotors. The blade num-
through the limiting streamline observations using the bers of the front and rear rotors are 4 and 5 respectively.
multi-color oil-film method. Finally, unsteady numerical Details of the design methodology can be found in our
simulations are carried out to suffice the lacked informa- former report [6].
tion on detailed internal flow structures.
Performance of contra-rotating rotors
Test Contra-Rotating Rotors Figure 1 shows the total pump performances of the
contra-rotating axial flow pumps with the prototype pair
Reduced rotational speed design of rear rotor (RR2) and the newly designed rotor pair (RR3). In RR3
As mentioned above, the rotational speed optimization pair, the identical front rotor for the RR2 pair is adopted
L. Cao et al. Experimental Analysis of Flow Structure in Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump Designed with Different Speed 347

Table 1 Main dimensions of test rotors

Hub Mid Tip
r=50.0 mm r=74.5 mm r=99.0 mm
Profile NACA4410 NACA4408 NACA4406
Front
rotor Solidity 1.29 0.90 0.70
(4 blades)
Stagger 51.72° 68.48° 75.85°
Profile NACA4410 NACA4408 NACA4406
Rear rotor
RR2 Solidity 0.84 0.72 0.60
(5 blades)
Stagger 64.24° 72.54° 77.56°
Max. camber loc. 60% chord 50% chord 40% chord
Rear rotor
RR3 (new) Solidity 1.01 0.86 0.72
(5 blades)
Stagger 64.82° 69.73° 72.20°

with increased rotational speed from Nf =1225 r/min to Nf

=1311 r/min. It can be seen in this figure that RR3 pair
satisfies the design specifications with better efficiency
compared with RR2 pair, while the more pronounced
positive slope is found on the H-Q curve in the partial
flow rate range of Q<28L/s.
Figure 2 plots the measured performances of the front
and rear rotors in non-dimensional forms, where the head
and flow coefficients are defined respectively by
ψ=gH/Ut2 and φ=Q/π(rc2-rh2)Ut. Designed values of φ are
indicated in the figure, which are different between pro-
totype rotors (RR2 Pair) and new ones (RR3) due to the
difference in rotational speeds. Compared with RR2 ro-
tors, RR3 rotors show obvious superiorities in the per-
formances of head rise and hydraulic efficiency at the
design flow rate. The performance of front rotor is
slightly improved with RR3 in the wide flow rate range,
which is simply due to the weakened potential interaction
from the rear rotor with the reduced stagger angle and the
reduced rotational speed. The rear rotor performance is
well improved in RR3 pair, which contributes to the sat-
isfactory head in the total pump performance. However,
the steep positive slope on the ψ-φ curve of RR3 rear

Fig. 2 Normalized head performances and efficiency of rotors

for both RR2 and RR3 pairs

rotor can be observed in the range with φr<0.1, which

corresponds to the dimensional flow rate range of Q<
28L/s.
Consequently, the improvements of entire pump per-
formances are limited to the higher flow rate region, and
an obvious positive slope mainly induced by the new rear
rotor is observed on H-Q curve at the partial flow rates as
shown in Fig. 1, which is known fairly unfavorable to the
reliable operation of the entire pump-pipe system.
To understand the cause of the positive slope of new
Fig. 1 Total pump performances rear rotor performance, experimental investigations on
348 J. Therm. Sci., Vol.22, No.4, 2013

the flow field are carried out in the next section. suddenly change with the development of reversed flow
near the hub wall, in which the circumferential velocity
Experimental Analysis decreases. It is important to note that, near the tip, the
circumferential velocity starts to decrease for RR2 and
Velocity measurements with 5-holes Pitot probe RR3 pairs while that is kept unchanged for the only front
To understand the internal flow structures of the con- rotor operation, which clearly indicates the effect of the
tra-rotating rotors with the new rotor pair (RR3), the rear rotor on the exiting flow from the front rotor. The
circumferentially averaged velocity distributions at cer- decrease of circumferential velocity at the tip region for
tain cross sections, upstream of the front rotor (Pos.1), RR2 and RR3 pairs is believed to be due to the entrain-
between the front and rear rotors (Pos.3), and down- ment effect of the circumferential flow induced by the
stream of the rear rotor (Pos.4), are firstly measured by a rear rotor rotating reversely to the front rotor.
5-holes Pitot probe. Since the rotational speed of the rear rotor is reduced
Figure 3 shows the measured radial distributions of in RR3 pair, the change in the exiting flow from the front
circumferentially averaged axial (Vz) and circumferential rotor influences more the inflow triangle of the rear rotor
(Vθ) components of the absolute velocity at Pos. 3. Each in RR3 pair. Actually, the incidence angle distributions of
component is normalized by the front rotor tip velocity the rear rotor plotted in Fig. 4 show the decrease of the
Utf in order to examine the effect of the rear rotor on the incidence angle near the tip region of RR3 pair despite of
flow exiting from the front rotor by directly comparing the flow rate decrease from Q=28 L/s to 21 L/s, which
among the RR2, RR3 pairs and only front rotor operation. might be the possible reason for the steep positive slope
The similar axial velocity distributions with the flow re- of head performance curve of RR3 pair.
circulation near the hub can be seen at the low flow rates
for all the rotor combinations. The circumferential veloc-
ity is generally increased with the decrease of the flow
rate, and that is more remarkable near the tip region, in-
dicating the development of the secondary flow inside
the front rotor. Nevertheless, with the further decrease of
the flow rate, the distributions of circumferential velocity

Fig.4 Incidence angle distributions of rear rotor in both RR2

and RR3 pairs

Figure 5 shows the velocity distributions at the outlet

of the rear rotor for both RR2 and RR3 rotor pairs, and
each component is normalized by the rear rotor tip veloc-
ity Utr. Since the flow turnings are still achieved in both
rotor pairs despite of the low flow rates at Q=28L/s and
Fig.3 Velocity distribution in radial direction at Pos. 3 in 21L/s, the reason for the steep positive slope on the head
various rotor combinations performance curve of RR3 pairs is believed to lie in the
L. Cao et al. Experimental Analysis of Flow Structure in Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump Designed with Different Speed 349

incoming flow change, which will be discussed later in boundary flow turning around the trailing edge from
the next section. pressure to suction surfaces is observed at both flow rates,
as marked by ‘B’. On the other hand, only weak secon-
dary flow can be seen near the hub area on the pressure
surface.
Looking more closely at the streamlines on the suction
surface, it can be noticed that, by reducing the flow rate
from Q=28 L/s to Q=21 L/s, the corner separation on the
suction surface becomes narrower, but the leading loca-
tion of the corner separation near the hub goes upstream
and the secondary flow turning around the trailing edge
Fig.5 Velocity distribution in radial direction at Pos. 4 in both
RR2 and RR3 rotor pairs at low flow rates becomes more remarkable, the latter of which implies the
thickened separation for the lower flow rate.
Limiting streamline observations Combining with the limiting streamlines on the hub
surface shown in Fig. 7, the streamlines on the pressure
The boundary layer flows on rotor surfaces, which
surface as well as inside the passage could be much more
clearly reflect the secondary flow inside the rotors, are
distinctively recognized. On the pressure surface, the
analyzed through the limiting streamline observations
flow generally goes along the surface from the leading
using the multi-color oil-film method, which is applied as
edge to the trailing edge with the fairly weak radial sec-
described in our previous papers [9, 10]. Before the
ondary flow being separated into ○ 2 and ○ 3 as shown
pump operation, well compounded green, red and blue
colored oil are painted respectively on the pressure, suc- in Fig. 6, which can be observed also on the hub surface
tion surfaces of the blades and the hub surface. All col- shown in Fig. 7. This secondary flow encounters with the
ored oils are mixed by the Petroleum hydrocarbons based flows turning around the trailing edge of the adjacent
lubricating oil as base solvent, fluorescent pigment, Oleic blade ○ 4 and ○ 5 , forming the saddle point ○ 6 . After

acid for the dispersion of fluorescent pigment, and grease that, the secondary flows ○ 2 and ○ 4 , merge and go onto

for the adjustment of stickiness. After three minutes op- the suction surface, forming the corner separation de-
eration at the constant flow rate and rotational speed of scribed above. The secondary flows, ○ 3 and ○ 5 , also

the front and rear rotors, the limiting streamlines on the merge and go downstream, avoiding the occurrence of
rotor surface are then obtained. reversed flow near the hub surface despite of such low
Limiting streamlines on both suction and pressure flow rates.
surface of the RR3 rear rotor blade at the low flow rates Generally, under both flow rates of Q=28 L/s and 21
of Q=28 L/s and Q=21 L/s are presented in Fig. 6. Gen- L/s, the internal flow of the new rotor pair is turned out
erally, at both flow rates, the distinctive secondary flow to be highly complicated with strong secondary flows.
from hub to tip area is observed covering nearly half of The secondary flow structures including the corner sepa-
the suction surface with clear separation lines “A” from ration are supposed to be more developed with the reduc-
main flow streamlines, forming a corner separation. The tion of the flow rates, while it is difficult to recognize the
difference of the streamlines on the hub surface. To fur-
ther understand the internal flow variation between these
two flow rates, the unsteady numerical simulation is car-
ried out for RR3 pair.

Numerical simulation

Unsteady numerical simulations are herein carried out

for RR3 pair by a commercial CFD code, ANSYS CFX-
13. In our former studies [7], the unsteady flow simula-
tions have been found to be necessary even for the de-
signed flow rate. The time step is set to be less than that
corresponding to 0.5 degree of the rotation of rotors, and
the time averaged data after, at least, four revolutions of
each rotor are used for the evaluation. The ‘transient ro-
tor-stator model’ implemented in ANSYS CFX is applied
Fig.6 Limiting streamlines on suction (left) and pressure (right) at the interface between computational domains of the
surfaces of RR3 rear rotor at Q=28L/s and 21 L/s front and rear rotors. As the boundary conditions, the
350 J. Therm. Sci., Vol.22, No.4, 2013

mass flow rate is specified at the inlet located 4Dc up- lines, whose trace of the centerline is closer to the suction
stream of the front rotor, and the static pressure at the surface at Q=21 L/s than at 28 L/s. From the velocity
outlet located 1.3Dc downstream of the rear rotor. All the contours, the corner separation at the root of suction sur-
walls are treated as non-slip wall. The total number of the face of the blade can be easily recognized as low relative
calculation nodes is about 1.1 million for the whole pas- circumferential velocity region, and the size of the corner
sages, where 10 nodes are distributed between the blade separation becomes apparently larger by reducing the
tip end and the casing wall, which has been found to be flow rate from Q=28 L/s to 21 L/s.
sufficient to reproduce the overall flow field inside the
blade passages of the front and rear rotors as well as the
detailed flow structures such as the tip leakage flow. The
turbulence model of ‘Shear Stress Transport (SST)’ is
employed.

Fig.8 Static pressure contours at cylindrical surface of

r/rc=0.95 inside the rear rotor of RR3 pair

Fig.7 Limiting streamlines on hub surfaces of RR3 rear rotor

at Q=28L/s and 21 L/s

The performance characteristics reproduced by CFD is

plotted in Fig. 1. We can confirm a qualitative agreement
between CFD and test data, both of which show a posi-
tive slope between the flow rates of Q=28 L/s and 21L/s.
Figure 8 shows the static pressure contours on the cy-
lindrical surface near the tip region (r/rc=0.95), from
which the existence of tip leakage vortex can be distinc-
tively recognized by the low pressure trough as indicated
by the broken lines. Usually, as the flow rate is decreased,
the tip leakage vortex which forms inside the blade pas-
sage becomes stronger and is detached more from the
suction surface of the blade due to the increased blade Fig.9 Contour maps of the relative circumferential velocity
loading. By further decrease of the flow rate, the tip and surface velocity vectors on several meridional
leakage vortex is known to get out of the passage from plane near the suction surface of RR3 rear rotor blade
the inlet, causing the significant pressure losses. However,
in the rear rotor of RR3 pair, it is interesting to see that The enlarged blockage due to this corner separation
the tip leakage vortex gets back into the blade passage by induces the incoming flow toward the tip side, resulting
reducing the flow rate to 21 L/s, indicating the reduced in the incidence angle reduction near the tip as experi-
blade loading with the decrease of the flow rate, which is mentally observed in Fig. 4. The strength of the tip leak-
consistent with the observed incidence decrease of the age vortex is weakened due to the reduced blade loading
RR3 rear rotor at the tip area as shown in Fig. 4. and the vortex gets back into the blade passage, which is
Figure 9 shows the contour maps of the relative considered to cause another additional blockage inside
circumferential velocity and surface velocity vectors on the blade passage. This scenario seems to be the most
several meridional plane near the suction surface of RR3 probable reason for the steep positive slope on the
rear rotor blade. From the velocity vectors, we can again head-rise performance curve of RR3 pair as observed in
notice the tip leakage vortex as depicted by the broken Fig. 1.
L. Cao et al. Experimental Analysis of Flow Structure in Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump Designed with Different Speed 351

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