Numerical Investigation of a High-Speed Electrical Submersible Pump with Different End Clearances

The end clearance of the impeller is one of the most important structural parameters in the hydraulic design of a high-speed electrical submersible pump (ESP). In this paper, an ESP with a rotating speed of 6000 r/min was taken as the research object. Numerical calculations were carried out for five different end clearance conditions of 0.1 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.9 mm, and 1.2 mm, respectively, to obtain the performance and internal flow field under different situation. The simulation results were verified by the pump performance experiment. It showed that the increase of the end clearance led to a decrease of the head and efficiency of the electrical submersible pump. Through the analysis of the internal flow field, it was found that the existence of the end clearance reduced the flow rate and caused free pre-whirl. With the increase of the end clearance, the phenomenon of de-flow in the diffuser passage was aggravated, which further reduced the performance of the electrical submersible pump. Finally, the reasonable recommended value of the end clearance was given, which facilitated the optimization design and engineering application of the high-speed ESP.

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