A Numerical Study on the Performance Analysis of the Mixed Flow Pump for FPSO

The seawater lift pump system is responsible for maintaining the open canal level to provide the suction flow of circulating water pump at the set point. The objective of this paper is to design a 2-stage mixed flow pump (for seawater lifting) by inverse design method and to evaluate the overall performance and the local flow fields of the pump by using a commercial CFD code. Rotating speed of the impeller is 1,750 rpm with the flow rate of 2,700 /h. Finite volume method with structured mesh and realized k- turbulent model is used to guaranty more accurate prediction of turbulent flow in the pump impeller. The numerical results such as static head, brake horse power and efficiency of the mixed flow pump are compared with the design data. The simulated results are good agreement with the design data less 3% error.