Comparative research on energy performance prediction of centrifugal pumps

The present situation about energy performance prediction of centrifugal pumps was introduced simply. Using the flow field computation method and the hydraulic loss method, energy characteristics of ten centrifugal pump models were predicted at design point. The flow field was simulated by FLUENT and standard k-ε turbulence model and SIMPLEC algorithm were chosen. The simulation was steady and moving reference frame was used to consider rotor-stator interaction. The head and efficiency of the ten models were predicted and compared with the experiment results. The theoretical head and hydraulic loss in impellers and volutes were calculated by the two methods. The comparison indicates that the flow field computation is more accurate. The head prediction precision can improve 0.98 percent and the efficiency is 1.51 percent. The prediction difference of the two methods was analyzed at the end.