Numerical analysis of the flow in centrifugal pump impeller

A flow solver, that allows the evaluation of the effects of different design parameters on the impeller performance, has been developed. Quasi 3D Euler equations, including artificial compressibility approach for incompressible flows, are written in quasi-conservative form and are solved by using a finite volume method that employs Runge-Kutta time stepping. The solution is obtained on the blade to blade stream surface by taking into account the thickness of the meridional stream robe. The solver is used to analyze the flow field inside different pump impellers for which experimental data is available. The comparison of the calculated and measured results reveals that the flow solver is capable of predicting impeller performances. The present paper also shows that the performance test of a centrifugal impeller may be carried out by using a numerical code in a cheaper and less time consuming way.