Fluid Mechanics Analysis and Effect of Splitter Blades on the Characteristics of High-Speed Centrifugal Pump

Due to its single-stage high head, compact structure, convenient maintenance, low cost and high reliability, the high-speed centrifugal pump has been widely used in refining, petrochemical, chemical industry, and aerospace engineering fields. However, as the speed increases, the increasingly high demand for stability is showing and cavitation characteristics of the high-speed centrifugal pump is emerging. Reducing the mechanical vibration, hydraulic losses and improving the pressure distribution of the high-speed pump have become one of the main research fields for high-speed pumps. Three types of splitter blades were designed in this paper. Numerical simulations of the 3D steady flow in the high-speed pump have been carried out by using the software ANSYS CFX 12.0 and the comparative analysis of the velocity, pressure distributions and fluid mechanics in the high-speed pump under three different flow conditions were also carried out，Respectively. The effects of splitter blades on the high-speed pump performance were studied by analyzing both its inner flow field and hydraulic performance. The calculated H-Q curve of the high-speed pump was compared with the test results, and they agreed well with each other. The relative error of head at design conditions was lower than that at the non-design conditions.