Suppression of Diffuser Rotating Stall in a Centrifugal Pump by Use of Slit Vane

The objective of this research is to suppress pressure fluctuation by machining slits to the diffuser vanes and clarify its effect on the diffuser rotating stall from the hydrodynamics point of view. In order to investigate pressure fluctuations due to the diffuser rotating stall, both experiment and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) calculations were conducted. In the experiment, two kinds of pump (one is original and another is with slit vanes) characteristics and time history of static pressure were measured. Then, data processing of wave form were conducted by FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis. The static pressure transducers were mounted at casing-side of diffuser inlet in two passages. On the other hand, the CFD calculations were carried out to investigate the behavior of the diffuser rotating stall and the effect of slit vanes using a commercial CFD software, ANSYS CFX. A positive slope of head-flow characteristics is confirmed around at ϕ = 0.036 in the case of original pump. On the other hand, it has been shifted to lower flow rate, ϕ = 0.020 in the case of slit vanes. The periodic pressure fluctuations were observed for both cases at those flow rate, respectively. Then, it was confirmed that the diffuser rotating stall occurs and the number of cell is one from the co-relation between pressure wave form of two flow passages. The unsteady RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) calculations were conducted for two kinds of pump. Then the internal flow within the diffuser were compared and the differences were clarified.