Investigating the efficiency of centrifugal pumps via fea

The area of significance to a centrifugal pump design is the impeller geometric parameters that help achieve pump performance. The recent investigation conducted at Rand Water show that the loss of hydraulic performance of centrifugal pumps used at their pumping stations is as a result of the detachment of the impeller neck rings on the impellers. A design modification to the casing wear rings or impeller neck rings was recommended to smooth the entry of water into the eye of the impeller by reducing the gap between the casing wear ring and the impeller neck ring. Various tests are performed on the centrifugal pumps at the Zuikerbourch Rand Water Pumping Station and show that design parameters such as the diameter of the impeller, blade angles, number of blades, suction diameter and discharge diameter can have considerable influence on the performance of the centrifugal pumps. A model and simulation to predict the efficiency losses of these pumps is proposed. Computation Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations are carried at the different parameters and it was observed that it saves time and costs of the company when designing the centrifugal pump.