World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

Ji-Wei Shen*, Qing-Ming Jin, Bo Wang, He-Chao Guo, Fu-Yi Zhang and Ke-Xin Xie

ABSTRACT

To reveal the energy conversion characteristics of centrifugal pumps being operated as a hydraulic turbine under different flow rates. Based on the STMPLEC algorithm, a numerical simulation of internal viscous flow was conducted for the operation process of a single-stage centrifugal pump as a hydraulic turbine. Through numerical calculations, the hydraulic losses at various components where liquid flows through during the operation of the single-stage centrifugal pump, as well as the evolution characteristics of the internal flow fieldin the hydraulic turbine, were obtained. The study focused on analyzing the changes in hydraulic loss for key components such as the impeller, volute, draft tube, and the extension section at the turbine inlet under different flow rates. The research results indicate that the impeller and volute are the main components where hydraulic losses occur within the turbine. The hydraulic loss in the impeller decreases initially and then increases with rising flow rates, while the hydraulic loss in the volute steadily increases.In conclusion, the contours analysis of the flow field inside the turbine indicates that under low flow conditions, the flow within the impeller is relatively uniform. Under design flow conditions, there are vortices at both the inlet and outlet ends of the impeller, with recirculation occurring at the blade outlet. At high flow rates, the range of these vortices further expands, and the flow becomes increasingly chaotic.

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