Numerical simulation of pressure fluctuation and its sensitivity analysis in a centrifugal pump

The research was conducted for the purpose of studying the pressure fluctuation of unsteady flow in a centrifugal pump. The whole flow was simulated based on large eddy simulation, and the sliding mesh technique was used. The spectrum curves of pressure fluctuation of every measuring point on the volute were achieved. The impacts of near-wall mesh scale, sampling time and sampling frequency on pressure fluctuation were analysed. The results show that the pressure pulsation near the tongue of the volute was the largest. The blade passing frequency dominated the pressure pulsation. Near-wall mesh scale had a more significant impact on the amplitude of pressure fluctuation of points that near the tongue of volute than others. And the sampling time and frequency had important Effects on precise analysis of the frequency spectrum of pressure fluctuation. © 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.