Numerical investigation on flow-induced structural vibration and noise in centrifugal pump

A full scale structural vibration and noise induced by flow was simulated by a hybrid numerical method. An interior flow field was solved by large eddy simulation firstly. The sliding mesh technique was applied to take into account the impeller-volute interaction. A sensitivity analysis on effects of near-wall grid size and sampling time on amplitude of pressure pulsations was performed to impose appropriate vibration exciting source. Computed modal of pump components was validated by experimental results, before the volute vibration and sound field were simulated using a coupled vibro-acoustic model. The numerical results indicated that the amplitude of pressure fluctuation, especially on those points located at near the volute tongue, strongly depended on near-wall grid size. The dominated frequency of the vibration velocity of volute was also blade-passing frequency (BPF), which was in according with frequency spectral characteristics of unsteady pressure fluctuation. Directivity distribution of radiation acoustic field excited by volute vibration was typical dipoles. This study shows that it is feasible to use the hybrid numerical method to evaluate the flow-induced vibration and noise generated in centrifugal pump.