Numerical Flow Prediction in Inlet Pipe of Vertical Inline Pump

Abstract

For a pump, the inlet condition of flow determines the outlet conditions of fluid (i.e., energy). As a rule to minimize the losses at the entry of pump, the bends should be avoided as one of the methods. But for the case of vertical inline pump, it is unavoidable in order to save the space for installation. For the purpose of investigation in inlet pipe of vertical inline pump, the unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations are solved using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The results have been shown that there is a good agreement between the performance characteristics obtained from the simulation and experiments. The velocity coefficient from the simulation along the inlet pipe sections is well matched with the theoretical values and found to have variation near the exit of inlet pipe. The pressure and velocity coefficients studies depict the flow physics at each section along with the study of helicity at the exit of inlet pipe to determine the recirculation effects. It is observed that the vortices associated with the motion of the particles are moved toward the surfaces and are more intense than the mean flow. The trends of pressure coefficient at the exit of inlet pipe were addressed with reference to the various flow rates for eight set of radial lines. Hence, this work concludes that for inlet pipe, the generation of circulation was due to the stream path and the reverse flow from the impeller and was reconfirmed with the literature.