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Article in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part A Journal of Power and Energy · November 2006
DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE184
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M. Nataraj Arunachalam V P
Government College of Technology SNS College of Technology
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The manuscript was received on 19 April 2005 and was accepted after revision for publication on 25 May 2006.
DOI: 10.1243/09576509JPE184
Abstract: This article discusses a research methodology for performance enhancement of cen-
trifugal pump through Taguchi’s parametric design concept. The objective is to find an opti-
mum impeller design and geometry that makes the pump functionally reliable for winning
customer’s confidence. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis has been done to know
how the flow pattern changes in the impeller when the pump is required to run at different oper-
ating conditions. The streamline analysis from CFD plots gives informative pictures of the flow
field, which help the designer understand how the effect of deviation made in the impeller
design specifications significantly influence the pump performance. CFD results match well
with the predictions of the pump performance at the duty point as regard to head, discharge,
and efficiency of the prototype model. The study infers that the CFD prediction tallies with
Taguchi’s experimental results.
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
766 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
flow turbomachines. Oh and Chung [21] developed statistical experiment design and adds a new dimen-
an automated design code to find the optimum sion to it by explicitly addressing two major concerns
values of design variables versus specific speed faced by all product and process designers.
based on the mean streamline analysis for centrifu-
1. How to reduce economically the variation of a
gal pump. With the recently emerged powerful qual-
product’s function in the customer’s environment?
ity design tools [22 – 25] for novelty, an attempt has
2. How to ensure that decisions found optimum
been made in this research study to propose a modi-
during laboratory experiments will prove to be
fied design parameter combination that describes
valid and reliable in manufacturing and customer
the sub-macrocharacteristics, such as total head, dis-
environments?
charge, overall efficiency, and power based on the
performance and geometry of the pump impeller at Another advantage is that optimum working
best efficiency point, as the practical pump design conditions determined from the laboratory work can
process involves a number of compromises between also be reproduced in the real production environ-
overall efficiency, discharge, total head, suppression ment. Readers who are interested in the Taguchi
of cavitation, reduction in product price, and many quality engineering are referred to references [22–25].
other vendees requirements. This article reports a
two-phase research project that has been carried
out to build up a design improvement methodology 3 PROBLEM FORMULATION
pertaining to pump impellers using the parameter
design approach as no one applies Taguchi’s offline The machine tool industry in India has made
quality technique in pump field till date. tremendous progress; however, the fluid flow field
During the first phase of work, Taguchi’s that uses various hydraulic pumps continues to
orthogonal array (OA)-based design of experiments suffer from a major drawback of not utilizing the
(DoE) concept was used to arrive at the near optimal pumps at their full potential [3, 26]. A major cause
parameters of impeller for increased discharge, leading to such a situation is not to run the pumps
improved overall efficiency, higher head, and mini- at their optimum operating conditions. The offline
mized power consumption with the view intended quality control proposed and developed by Taguchi
for enhancing the pump performance. In the encompasses all stages of the product/process devel-
second phase of the work, virtual model analysis opment. The key element for achieving high quality
was carried out using a CFD tool. The final optimized and low cost is parameter design. The objective of
design was approved by an Indian pump manufac- this research study is to obtain (modified) optimum
turer M/s. V-Guard Industries (P) Ltd, situated in dimensions of impeller (eye diameter, width of
Coimbatore city of India (hereafter referred to as V- impeller, vane outlet angle, and number of vanes)
Guard), which signalled the practical compatibility for performance enhancement of the pump. In this
of this research project. The CFD approach helped study, maximizing the discharge, head, and
the design engineers of the above pump manufactur- efficiency and minimizing the power consumption
ing industry to appreciate the performance enhance- are the objective functions. For maximizing, larger-
ment of the pump, which was possible because of the-better (LTB) quality characteristic is chosen.
the optimized impeller design. The details of this smaller-the-better (STB) quality characteristic is
endeavour are briefly presented in this research chosen for minimizing the power consumption.
article. This computational technique provides a The signal –noise (SN) ratio equations for the
new direction to the pump designer, especially for respective quality characteristic measure are given
new design and new application, without immedi- below [25]
ately going for physical prototype. This attempt for " #
pump performance enhancement has been done 1X n
1
with the intention of winning customer’s confidence, SNLTB ¼ 10 log (1)
n i¼1 yi2
thereby helping the pump manufacturers to sustain " #
in the competitive global market. 1X n
1
SNSTB ¼ 10 log (2)
n i¼1 yi2
Taguchi’s quality technique greatly improves an The process liquid enters the suction nozzle and then
organization’s ability to meet market windows and into the eye (centre) of a revolving device known as
to keep development and manufacturing costs the impeller. When the impeller rotates, it spins the
as low as possible. It uses many ideas from the liquid sitting in the cavities between the vanes
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 767
outward and provides centrifugal acceleration. As the Table 1 Impeller specifications with parameter levels
liquid leaves the eye of the impeller, a low-pressure
Levels
area is created causing more liquid to flow towards
the inlet. Because the impeller blades are curved, Control factors 1 2 3 4
the fluid is pushed in tangential and radial directions
A Impeller width (mm) b 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5
by the centrifugal force. This force acting inside the B Impeller eye diameter (mm) d 30 35 – –
pump is the same one that keeps water inside a C No. of vanes z 4 5 – –
bucket, rotating at the end of a string. Figure 1 D Vane outlet angle (8) b2 20 23 – –
depicts a side cross-section of a centrifugal pump Noise factors Range
indicating the movement of the liquid. Figure 2 Speed (r/min) 2640–2814
Current (amps) 3.54–5.60
shows an impeller model with four vanes used in Frequency (Hz) 49.2–49.6
the test pump of the present work for the trial run.
Over the recent years, several researchers [4– 21]
have taken much effort to develop hydroturboma-
Table 2 Parameter levels of impeller geometry
chines for performance enhancement through the
study of different configurations of several hypothe- Impeller dimensions
tical flow analyses. From the literature review and
Test Eye diameter No. of Vane
general insights acquired by the in-depth study pump Width (mm) (mm) vanes outlet angle
of pump impeller, the most influencing design
variables are impeller width, impeller eye diameter, 1 5.0 30 4 208
2 5.0 35 5 238
number of vanes, and vane outlet angle for enhan- 3 5.5 30 4 238
cing pump performance [26]. The pump under con- 4 5.5 35 5 208
sideration is of end-suction centrifugal type with 5 6.0 30 5 208
6 6.0 35 4 238
specific speed of 10.07. The impeller has been 7 6.5 30 5 238
designed by established method [2] for 1.25 lps dis- 8 6.5 35 4 208
charge and 21 m total head of water. Vane profile is
being generated by the single arc circular method.
Table 1 provides the impeller specifications with par-
ameter levels. Eight impeller models with parameter
combinations as given in Table 2 have been fabri-
cated in accordance with Taguchi’s L8 (41 24)
mixed OA to carry out the experimental trial runs.
Variables, namely, impeller eye diameter, number
of vanes, and vane outlet angle are considered with
two levels and impeller width with four levels.
These pumps have been tested (for different control
factors, viz., vanes, vane outlet angle, impeller eye
diameter, and impeller width against noise factors,
viz., current rating, frequency, and motor speed) in
the R&D laboratory of pump divisions of V-Guard
for performance evaluation to optimize the impeller
dimensions.
Fig. 1 Liquid flow inside a centrifugal pump
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
768 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Trials R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4
Trials R1 R2 R3 R4 R1 R2 R3 R4
Power consumption is STB type of quality character- 88.60 per cent of the pump performance for efficiency.
istics (goal is always to have minimum power con- Eye diameter 49.94 per cent, vane outlet angle 9.45 per
sumption). For the measured responses, SN ratios cent, and number of vanes 8.75 per cent are the influ-
calculated using equations (1) and (2) are presented ential parameters for improving the head. Control par-
in Table 5. ameters, namely, eye diameter 71.27 per cent and
impeller width 22.10 per cent, significantly influence
the discharge of the centrifugal pump. For minimizing
5.2 Computation scheme for L8 OA experiment
the power consumption, Taguchi’s DoE-based analy-
The sum of squares is computed by using the compu- sis reveals that the eye diameter 43.35 per cent,
tation scheme [23]. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) number of vanes 22.56 per cent, and vane outlet
shown in Table 6 is mainly constructed to determine angle 21.58 per cent are the significant control par-
the significance of each source of variation by arriving ameters. It is very important to note that the above
at the variance (Fo) value. Tables 7 and 8 present the conclusions are applicable for the eight trial runs at
ANOVA calculation from which it is established that the assigned levels for the control variables. However,
the most significant parameters of impeller are eye there will be no change in the order of the control par-
diameter contributing 74.34 per cent followed by ameters; the changes will only occur in the percentage
number of vanes 14.26 per cent, both accounting for of contribution.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 769
Table 6 ANOVA scheme for OA experiments diameter (level 2 for factor B), five vanes (level 2 for
factor C), and 238 of vane outlet angle (level 2 for
Sources Sum Degrees of Mean Variance
of variation of squares S freedom w square S/w F0 factor D); and from Fig. 5, the efficiency is maximum
at 6.5 mm of impeller width (level 4 for factor A),
A SA l21 VA VA/Ve 35 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 2 for factor
B SB m21 VB VB/Ve
C SC n21 VC VC/Ve B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 208 of vane
D SD o21 VD VD/Ve outlet angle (level 2 for factor D). Figure 6 shows
e Se p21 Ve that the power consumption is maximum at
T ST N21
5.0 mm of impeller width (level 1 for factor A),
30 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 1 for factor
B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 208 of vane
Variance (Fo) value is found by dividing the mean
outlet angle (level 1 for factor D).
square of each factor by the mean square of the
error variable considered.
5.4 Summary of the first-phase experimental
5.3 Response curve analysis investigation
Response curves are graphical representations of For many experimental situations in practice, more
change in performance characteristics for the vari- than one response will be measured for different
ation in the process parameter level. These curves combination of values for which a set of design vari-
give a pictorial view of variation of each factor and ables may be taken. When there are several
describe what the effect on the pump performance responses, the optimum condition for one response
would be when a parameter shifts from one level to is not very likely the same as the optimum condition
another. for the other response. Hence, it needs to be dis-
It is clear from Fig. 3 that the discharge is maxi- cussed how to find the overall optimum condition
mum at 6.5 mm of impeller width (level 4 for factor for several responses when employing OA-based par-
A), 35 mm of impeller eye diameter (level 2 for ameter designs. The solution is simultaneous optim-
factor B), four vanes (level 1 for factor C), and 23 8 ization. In this research work, responses, viz., head,
of vane outlet angle (level 2 for factor D); from discharge, efficiency, and power are considered and
Fig. 4, the head is maximum at 6.5 mm of impeller found that each response has different significant
width (level 4 for factor A), 35 mm of impeller eye factors and different optimal levels. To find the
Source DOF SS MS F0 r SS MS F0 r
Source DOF SS MS F0 r SS MS F0 r
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
770 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 3 Response curve for discharge (optimum Fig. 6 Response curve for power (optimum
combination A4B2C1D2) combination A1B1C1D1)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 771
SNdischarge
1:3806 3:0042 4:9229 3:3324
SNpower ¼ þ þ þ
2 4 4 4 1 1 1 1 1
¼ 10 log þ þ þ
8:2376 4 2:3422 22 1:6672 1:572
3
8 ¼ 5:236 dB
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
772 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 7 Pump performance characteristic curves [courtesy: V-Guard Ind. (P) Ltd]
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 773
Fig. 7 (Continued)
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
774 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 7 (Continued)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 775
Fig. 7 (Continued)
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
776 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 7 (Continued)
and overall efficiency flowrate. The performance grid generator, pre- and post-processor has helped
curves have been worked out on the basis of the to accelerate the hydraulic design of pump without
data obtained through the experiments. Figure 7 going through the route of model development exer-
furnishes the performance characteristic curves of cise usually followed for designing a new pump.
the newly developed pumps tested at V-Guard. The
maximum discharge at the observed duty point
head of 23.09 m for pump 9 assembled with impeller 7.1 Modelling impeller in CFX-build CFD tool
whose parameters are optimized using Taguchi’s The impeller vane geometry called swept backward
quality design concept is 1.27 lps and the overall curved form is generated using AutoCAD by plotting
efficiency is 25.84 per cent against the declared dis- the coordinate points of all the vertices of the fluid
charge at the duty point head of 20 m is 1.1 lps and path and transferring to CFX preprocessor for getting
overall efficiency of 21 per cent. Whereas pumps two-dimensional surfaces of the model. Giving thick-
1 – 8 assembled with impeller specifications as in ness extrudes the surface, as the flow through the
OA (Table 2) did not perform to the expected level impeller is identical in every blade passage; these
of the optimized pump 9. similarities of the blade passages simplify the model-
ling by considering a single blade passage for flow
7 SECOND PHASE: CFD ANALYSIS simulation in the complete pump.
CFD analysis enables to simulate the flow pattern 7.2 Flow field analysis
that is likely to occur at the intended design con-
ditions of the pump and to predict the changes in By applying the boundary conditions, the flow analy-
the flow pattern encountered in the impeller when sis is executed using CFX-3D flow solver. The final
the pump is required to run at other operating solution is postprocessed to visualize the flow pat-
conditions away from the design flow pattern tern. The results of the flow field investigation are
experimentally. The powerful capacity of the CFD presented in terms of stream line, velocity field,
software developed with flow solver, state-of-the-art blade surface static pressure distribution, and
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 777
absolute frame total pressure distribution for the then the pressure goes below the vapour pressure
impeller passages (Figs 8(a) to (r)). Figures 8(a) to of the liquid. It is verified in this CFX analysis that
(q) show the surface static pressure distribution in the pressure does not go below the vapour pressure.
the impeller blade passages, which gives an idea of This static pressure on impeller analysis is carried
blade loading. If at all low-pressure regions occur, out considering the balancing effect of bubble
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
778 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
Fig. 8 (Continued)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 779
Fig. 8 (Continued)
JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
780 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
pressure upon the flow property that likely results passive surface of the blade for the optimized
during the cavitation phase. The solution arrived one (1.09 bar).
through CFX 5 flow code does contain the cavitation
module to take care of the balancing effect of cavita- 8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
tion bubbles. Figures 8(b) to (r) show the general flow
pattern in the impeller. The relative velocities of the The tie between D1 and D2 leading to the final choice
impeller were found to decrease from the eye to the of D2 for the optimum impeller geometry resulting
outer edge because of the frictional losses in flow from overall summary table is confirmed as the
passage between blades. Maximum velocity of the right selection from the CFX analysis and Taguchi’s
impeller is found to be in the range shown in experimental investigations, as shown in Table 10.
Table 10 and the flow appears to be smooth in all The research study shows that the eye diameter has
cases of flow simulation. a significant role rather than the impeller width in
the pump performance.
The results of the CFD analysis have been com-
pared with the experimental results of the pump
7.3 Summary of second phase CFD analysis test conducted in hydraulic test laboratory and
found to be in good agreement with each other.
In this flow simulation, pump comprising impeller
This is a unique advantage of CFD simulation, in
and diffuser geometries has been analysed together
which one can visualize the performance of the
using one blade passage only as is being done in
pump during the design stage itself without even
other kinds of turbomachinery flow analysis. Per-
building the physical prototype. In addition, micro-
formance as a function of flow parameters is evalu-
analysis of flow properties at any point of interest in
ated in the form of discharge, head, efficiency, and
the hydraulic passages of the pump could be visual-
power consumption variations. The CFD results
ized only with the help of CFD software. The identi-
seem to be in good agreement with the experimental
fication of the point of separation and other kinds of
results performed on the actual pumps, thus demon-
secondary flow contributing to hydraulic losses
strating the capability of CFD tool for flow simulation
could be controlled by intelligent editing of the
in the pump during the design stage itself. The
blade profile angles at suitable location. Besides
results of average velocity and pressure distribution
the flow pattern at design point, the flow data at
through the vane passage from the eye to the outer
the off-duty regime are unique information that pro-
periphery for the flow stream are presented in
vide a rich insight into the physics of fluid flow in
Table 10. The quantitative results obtained from
the blade profile. This information will certainly
the trials in CFX analysis indicate that pump 9
help the designer to generate a unique knowledge
(assembled with impeller whose specifications
base that could further enhance the hydraulic
have been optimized through the conduct of DoE)
design quality of the pump. The impeller fabricated
performs in a superior manner in comparison with
with optimized design specifications assembled in
the other pumps for the following obvious reasons.
pump 9 is not found in any of the eight trial runs.
1. There is a less velocity variation in distribution L8 (41 24) OA extends to conducting 64 experi-
from eye to outer edge between the flow passages. ments for optimizing the parameters, which
2. The average pressure distribution is also high for consume more time and need more investment.
the flow stream starting from active surface to Instead of fabricating 64 impellers, only eight
Table 10 Comparison of results: virtual model analysis versus prototype model analysis
CFX analysis results Experimental results
Test pump Inlet Outlet Diff Inlet Outlet Diff Q (lps) TH (m) OAE (%)
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006
Optimizing impeller geometry for performance enhancement 781
impellers have been fabricated and test runs are 2 Lazarkiewicz, S. and Troskolanski, A. T. Impeller
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performance; however, volute design can also be practical approach to the hydraulic design and per-
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Taguchi’s robust design approach for quality is ation of mixed– flow pump impellers using mean
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JPE184 # IMechE 2006 Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy
782 M Nataraj and V P Arunachalam
APPENDIX Subscripts
i replications of measured response
Notation
e error term
b impeller width A, B, C, D control (variables) factors
d impeller eye diameter T total
Proc. IMechE Vol. 220 Part A: J. Power and Energy JPE184 # IMechE 2006