CFD Based Flow Analysis Of Centrifugal Pump

Abstract

Flow analysis in centrifugal pumps has long been an intensive subject of research. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the present day state-of-art technique for fluid flow analysis. Numerical simulation of 200 m3/hr capacity centrifugal pump carried out using commercial CFD package FLUENT is presented. The steady state simulations were carried out using Reynolds averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) equations. It was found that non-uniformities are created in different parts of the pump at off-design conditions which result in the decrease in efficiency. The operating characteristic curves predicted by the numerical simulation were compared with the results of model testing and are found in good agreement.