Numerical Investigation on the Effect of the Geometric Parameters of the Impeller on Vortex Pump Performance

To optimize an innovative vortex pump structure, the present study has investigated the effects of the impeller's geometrical parameters, including impeller diameter, impeller height, blade width, and blade number, using Ansys Fluent commercial software. According to the results, increasing the blade length always led to an increase in the pump head while having a dual effect on the pump efficiency. Although increasing the width of the blades led to greater vorticity, the small space between the blades caused by their greater width limited the vortices between them, and thus reduced the turbulence intensity and improved the pump's performance. The counters of vorticity magnitude, turbulence intensity, iso- surfaces obtained from the Q-criterion, and streamlines were studied to gain a better understanding of the flow structure in the pump. Based on the simulations, the pump efficiency reached a peak of 57.8% at 60 m(3)/h while the maximum head was 24.43 m.