Prediction of the Noise From a Multi-Stage Centrifugal Pump

Abstract

Presented in this paper is a one-way coupled simulation of fluid flow and structural analyses that is applied to the prediction of the noise radiated from the external surface of a 5-stage centrifugal pump. A large eddy simulation is firstly applied to compute pressure fluctuation on the internal surface of the pump. These computed fluctuations are then fed to the structural analysis based on an explicit dynamic finite element method that computes the elastic wave propagating in the solid. The computed pressure fluctuations are compared with measurements in several points in the diffuser passage and a good agreement is obtained in terms of their frequency spectra. The vibration velocities on the external surface of the pump are also compared with the measured equivalents, which show a reasonably good agreement. The proposed method thus seems quite a promising tool for prediction of and reduction in the flow-induced noise generated from hydraulic turbomachinery in general.