Numerical study of the effect of splitter blade’s main geometric parameters on the performance of pump as turbine

Authors

Junhu Yang School of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, Gansu 730050, China
Senchun Miao School of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, Gansu 730050, China
Guangtai Shi School of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, Gansu 730050, China
Tingting Wang Ordnance Engineering Department, Naval University of Engineering, Wuhan 430033, China

Keywords:

Pump as turbine, Splitter blade, Geometry parameters, Optimization

Abstract

Although impeller with splitter blades has been used in pump as turbine (PAT), the effect of splitter blades on PAT performance is not very clear. In this paper, geometry parameters of splitter blade were taken to study. There are three basic geometric parameters that may influence PAT performance related to the application of splitter blade: length, circumferential position, and blade numbers. In order to understand the effects of splitter blade number, length and circumferential position to the influence of PAT, 3D Navier-Stokes solver FLUENT was used to predict performance and optimize geometry parameters . In this study, impellers having a different number of blades (z=4, 5, 6, and 7) with splitter blades (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 of the main blade length and 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 circumferential position between two long blades) were simulated. The effects of the lengths of splitter blades, circumferential position and blade numbers on the performance of PAT have been obtained.