Numerical studies on cavitation behavior in impeller of centrifugal pump with different blade profiles

To investigate the influence of blade profiles on cavitation behavior in impeller of centrifugal pump, a centrifugal pump with five different blade profiles impellers are studied numerically. The impellers with five different blade profiles (single arc, double arcs, triple arcs, logarithmic spiral and linear -variable angle spiral) were designed by the in-house hydraulic design code using geometric parameters of IS 150-125-125 centrifugal pump. The experiments of the centrifugal pump have been conducted to verify numerical simulation model. The numerical results show that the blade profile lines has a weak effect on cavitation inception near blade inlet edge position, however it has the key effect on the development of sheet cavitation in impeller, and also influences the distribution of sheet cavitation in impeller channels. A slight changing of blade setting angle will induce significant difference of cavitation in impeller. The sharp changing of impeller blade setting angle causes obvious cavitation region separation near the impeller inlet close to blade suction surface and much more flow loss. The centrifugal pump with blade profile of setting angle gently changing (logarithmic spiral) has the super cavitation performance, which means smaller critical cavitation number and lower vapor cavity volume fraction at the same conditions. © 2015, Turbomachinery Society of Japan. All rights reserved.