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Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump

Received: 7 May 2017     Accepted: 15 May 2017     Published: 5 July 2017
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Abstract

Improvement performance of centrifugal pumps is critical to reduce the consumption of electrical energy. One to improve the performance is to break down the circulation near the impeller exit. This can be achieved through the use of shorted blades. Effect of different sizes of shorted blade on pump performance is studied theoretically in this research which, test rig for testing centrifugal pump with standard impeller is constructed. Three impeller configurations with different size shorted blade are installed. The head, flow rate and shaft power are measured at 1500 rotational speed for the standard pump only. Also computational model using “Fluent” under ANSYS is constructed to predict the performance parameters of centrifugal pumps and to analyze the flow field in the impellers’ passages. Standard impeller (A) and three impellers configuration with different shorted blade length of 0.25 (configuration B), 0.2 (configuration C), and 0.15 (configuration D) of the full blade length are analyzed. Computational results show a reduction in flow circulation for all shorted blades impeller comparing to standard impeller. Also static pressure distributions at impeller exit become more uniform for impeller with 0.25, 0.2, and 0.15 shorted blades. The present work proves that the length of short blades have different effects for all pump cases. The best performance in this study occurred when shorted blades have length 25% from the original blade length. So when the effect of shorted blades is needed to study, each case of centrifugal pump should be investigated separately.

Published in International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications (Volume 5, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11
Page(s) 186-193
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Centrifugal Pump, CFD, Short Blades, Turbo Machine

References
[1] Wiesner, F. J, “A review of slip factors for centrifugal impellers,” Transaction of ASME, Vol. 56, PP 250-259, October 1967.
[2] M. Gölcü, N. Usta, and Y. Pancar, "Effects of Splitter Blades on Deep well Pump Performance", Jornal of Energy Resources Technology, Vol. 129/169. PP 169-176.September 2007.
[3] Gui. Lichuan, Gu, Ghuangang, and Ghang. Hongshou, "Influences of Splitter Blades on the Centrifugal Fan Performance", The Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, 89-GT-33, pp. V001T01A015, June 1989.
[4] CUI Baoling, ZHU Zuchao, ZHANG Jianci and CHEN Ying, "The Flow Simulation and Experimental Study of Low-Specific-Speed High-Speed Complex Centrifugal Impellers", Chinese J. Ch. E. 14(4), PP 435-441, August 2006.
[5] M. F. Abd Rabo, M. S. Zahran, and M. E. A. EL-Ghany, A. S. A. Zidan, M. H. Shehata, “Characteristics for centrifugal impeller with shorted blades”, Engineering Res. Jour., Vol. 83. PP. 285-305, Helwan Univ, October 2002.
[6] E. C. Bacharoudis, A. E. Filios, M. D. Mentzos and D. P. Margaris "Parametric Study of a Centrifugal Pump Impeller by Varying the Outlet Blade Angle" The Open Mechanical Engineering Journal, 2008, 2, 75-83.
[7] K. M. Pandey, A. P. Singh and Sujoy Chakraborty "Numerical Studies on Effects of Blade Number Variations on Performance of Centrifugal Pumps at 2500 rpm" Journal of Environmental Research And Development, 2012, Vol. 6 No. 3A.
[8] P. USHA SRI and C. SYAMSUNDAR "Computational Analysis on Performance of a Centrifugal Pump Impeller" Proceedings of the 37th National & 4th International Conference on Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power, 2010, FMFP10 - TM – 07.
[9] Khalid. S. Rababa "The Effect of Blades Number and Shape on the Operating Characteristics of Groundwater Centrifugal Pumps" European Journal of Scientific Research, 2011, Vol.52 No.2, pp.243-251.
[10] B. Jafarzadeh, A. Hajari, M. M. Alishahi, M. H. Akbari "The flow simulation of a low-specific-speed high-speed centrifugal pump" Applied Mathematical Modelling, (2011) 242–249.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Sami Abdelfatah Abd Elkgany El-Shaikh, Mohamed Attia Abdellatif, Abdullah Hussein Ibrahim Aboelnil. (2017). Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications, 5(4), 186-193. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11

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    ACS Style

    Sami Abdelfatah Abd Elkgany El-Shaikh; Mohamed Attia Abdellatif; Abdullah Hussein Ibrahim Aboelnil. Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump. Int. J. Mech. Eng. Appl. 2017, 5(4), 186-193. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11

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    AMA Style

    Sami Abdelfatah Abd Elkgany El-Shaikh, Mohamed Attia Abdellatif, Abdullah Hussein Ibrahim Aboelnil. Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump. Int J Mech Eng Appl. 2017;5(4):186-193. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11,
      author = {Sami Abdelfatah Abd Elkgany El-Shaikh and Mohamed Attia Abdellatif and Abdullah Hussein Ibrahim Aboelnil},
      title = {Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump},
      journal = {International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {186-193},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijmea.20170504.11},
      abstract = {Improvement performance of centrifugal pumps is critical to reduce the consumption of electrical energy. One to improve the performance is to break down the circulation near the impeller exit. This can be achieved through the use of shorted blades. Effect of different sizes of shorted blade on pump performance is studied theoretically in this research which, test rig for testing centrifugal pump with standard impeller is constructed. Three impeller configurations with different size shorted blade are installed. The head, flow rate and shaft power are measured at 1500 rotational speed for the standard pump only. Also computational model using “Fluent” under ANSYS is constructed to predict the performance parameters of centrifugal pumps and to analyze the flow field in the impellers’ passages. Standard impeller (A) and three impellers configuration with different shorted blade length of 0.25 (configuration B), 0.2 (configuration C), and 0.15 (configuration D) of the full blade length are analyzed. Computational results show a reduction in flow circulation for all shorted blades impeller comparing to standard impeller. Also static pressure distributions at impeller exit become more uniform for impeller with 0.25, 0.2, and 0.15 shorted blades. The present work proves that the length of short blades have different effects for all pump cases. The best performance in this study occurred when shorted blades have length 25% from the original blade length. So when the effect of shorted blades is needed to study, each case of centrifugal pump should be investigated separately.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Numerical Investigation of Short Blades Effect on the Performance of a Centrifugal Pump
    AU  - Sami Abdelfatah Abd Elkgany El-Shaikh
    AU  - Mohamed Attia Abdellatif
    AU  - Abdullah Hussein Ibrahim Aboelnil
    Y1  - 2017/07/05
    PY  - 2017
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11
    T2  - International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications
    JF  - International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications
    JO  - International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications
    SP  - 186
    EP  - 193
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0248
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmea.20170504.11
    AB  - Improvement performance of centrifugal pumps is critical to reduce the consumption of electrical energy. One to improve the performance is to break down the circulation near the impeller exit. This can be achieved through the use of shorted blades. Effect of different sizes of shorted blade on pump performance is studied theoretically in this research which, test rig for testing centrifugal pump with standard impeller is constructed. Three impeller configurations with different size shorted blade are installed. The head, flow rate and shaft power are measured at 1500 rotational speed for the standard pump only. Also computational model using “Fluent” under ANSYS is constructed to predict the performance parameters of centrifugal pumps and to analyze the flow field in the impellers’ passages. Standard impeller (A) and three impellers configuration with different shorted blade length of 0.25 (configuration B), 0.2 (configuration C), and 0.15 (configuration D) of the full blade length are analyzed. Computational results show a reduction in flow circulation for all shorted blades impeller comparing to standard impeller. Also static pressure distributions at impeller exit become more uniform for impeller with 0.25, 0.2, and 0.15 shorted blades. The present work proves that the length of short blades have different effects for all pump cases. The best performance in this study occurred when shorted blades have length 25% from the original blade length. So when the effect of shorted blades is needed to study, each case of centrifugal pump should be investigated separately.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Mechanical and Electrical Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Delta Barrages, Cairo, Egypt

  • Mechanical and Electrical Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Delta Barrages, Cairo, Egypt

  • Mechanical and Electrical Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Delta Barrages, Cairo, Egypt

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