Parametric investigation of a centrifugal slurry pump while handling clear water

Mehmet Salih Cellek, Tahsin Engin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The performance of centrifugal slurry pump impellers strongly depends upon the complex configuration of the asymmetrical flow-field in the axial direction which is highly unsteady. The flow-field, in turn, is considerably affected by design parameters of volute casing and impeller geometry. Although many studies have focused on their optimization in water pumps, few studies have been conducted about centrifugal slurry pumps. The current study investigates the performance of a centrifugal slurry pump experimentally and numerically on, using clear water instead of slurry mixtures to avoid the effects of nonlinear intense the slurry mixtures. Additionally, a parametric study is carried out numerically to investigate the effects of blade configuration on the performance of slurry pump. Blade number, blade height and blade thickness are considered as the affecting parameters. The results show that the increase in blade number leads to an increase at head and shaft power. However, the hydraulic efficiency is variable and depends on flow rates. Around operation conditions of the studied pump, the impellers which have three and four blades are more efficient than impellers with two and five blades. Furthermore, by increasing of blade height from 30 mm to 50 mm, the performance of the slurry pump increases only at high flow rates. On the other hand with the decreases in blade thickness from 50 mm to 30 mm, the performance of centrifugal slurry pump increases at all flow range.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-28
Number of pages10
JournalIsi Bilimi Ve Teknigi Dergisi/ Journal of Thermal Science and Technology
Volume36
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors are thankful to Scientific and Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK-TEYDEP-3110368) and Company of Tufekcioglu Kaucuk Ltd for their supports on this research.

FundersFunder number
Company of Tufekcioglu Kaucuk Ltd
National Council for Scientific ResearchTUBITAK-TEYDEP-3110368

    Keywords

    • Blade height
    • Blade number
    • Blade thickness
    • Parametric study
    • Slurry pump

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