Study on Improving Cavitation Performance of Centrifugal Pump by Perforation at the Front Cover Plate

Abstract

To improve the cavitation performance of a centrifugal pump, the high-pressure liquid in the front pump cavity is introduced into the cavitation area on the back of the blade by perforated holes at the front cover of the impeller. Based on the RNG k-ε turbulence model and Zwart-Gerber-be1amri cavitation model, the numerical calculation and analysis of the cavitation flow field in the model before and after perforation under different cavitation numbers is carried out by FLUENT. The results show that: The perforation at the front cover plate can effectively improve the pressure value of the cavitation area on the back of the blade. To some extent, the change of pressure gradient restrains the development of cavitation. The perforation at the front cover plate can effectively reduce the integral value of the cavitation bubble in the passage, improve the flow passage conditions in the impeller passage, and reduce the blockage degree of the cavitation to the passage. At the same time, the fluctuation range of the cavitation volume in the impeller is small in a rotation cycle after the perforation. It can be seen that the way of perforation at the front cover plate can effectively improve the cavitation performance of the centrifugal pump.