Experimental and Numerical Simulation of an Airlift Pump with Conventional and Modified Air Injection Device

Abstract

The effect of air injection device on the performance of airlift pump used for water pumping has been studied numerically and experimentally. An airlift pump of dimensions 42mm diameter and 2200 mm length with conventional and modified air injection device was considered. A modification on conventional injection device (normal air-jacket type) was carried out by changing injection angle from 90  (for conventional) to 22.5  (for modified). Continuity and Navier-Stokes equations in turbulent regime with an appropriate two-phase flow model (VOF) and turbulent model (   ) in two dimensions axisymmetry flow were formulated and solved by using the known package FLUENT version (14.5). The numerical and experimental investigations were  carried out for both conventional and unconventional air-jackets at submergence ratio of 0.75 and air mass flow rate from 0.5, 2, 10, 50 and 85 kg/hr. Comparisons between the numerical and experimental results for both injection devices were made and fair agreements were found and the main results showed that the performance and maximum efficiency of airlift pump is increased for higher mass flow rate of injected air for the tested submergence ratio using unconventional airjacket performance with average enhancement were 9% and 10% for performance and maximum efficiency respectively.