ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Pressure contours on a centrifugal pump impeller

Ref: NASA Glenn Research Center, Dr. Rodrick V. Chima, http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/5810/rvc/swift.htm

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

I. Objective

The objective of this laboratory is to explore the operating characteristics of a simple centrifugal pump. Tests will be conducted using an experimental apparatus manufactured by Armfield, Inc. which will allow for various parametric variations in a closed loop pump/pipe system. Data acquisition will be by means of a computer-controlled interface. Data will be reduced and presented is a form typically used to analyze pump characteristics. Results will be discussed in a laboratory report. II. Background Pumps used to transport liquids, gases and slurries are an integral part of our everyday lives. Homes, appliances, businesses, factories, schools, and vehicles all depend upon pumps to move fluids for process heat transfer, indoor air comfort heating and cooling, domestic water supply, and industrial processes. Gasoline and natural gas are pumped hundreds of miles though underground pipelines to distribution terminals and processing plants, including one in Champaign, Illinois. (There are approximately 95,000 miles nationwide of refined products pipelines. Refined products pipelines are found in almost every state in the U.S. These refined product pipelines vary in size from relatively small 8 to 12 inch diameter lines up to 42 inches in diameter.

Figure 1. Major refined petroleum products pipelines in the 48 state US region

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Crude oil is pumped across the tundra of Alaska in the 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), which is one of the largest pipeline systems in the world. It stretches from Prudhoe Bay on Alaskas North Slope, through rugged and beautiful terrain, to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in North America. Since pipeline startup in 1977, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the operator of TAPS, has transported over 15 billion barrels of oil.

Figure 2. Photograph of a portion of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and map of pipeline

Sanitary sewage is pumped to treatment plants for eventual discharge into creeks and rivers. Specialized pumps are used to pump concrete in new building construction when access for a truck is limited. It has been estimated that industrial pumping systems account for nearly 25% of industrial With the national goal to dramatically reduce our electrical energy demand in the United States.

dependence upon foreign energy sources in the next 2 decades, providing pump users with strategic, broad-based energy management and performance optimization solutions will reduce electricity consumption and also can improve the bottom-line profitability of businesses. The pump is the oldest fluid-energy transfer device known, with at least two designs dating to 250-1000 BCE: the undershot-bucket waterwheels used in Asia and Africa (an example is shown in Figure 3); and the Archimedes screw pump (Figure 4), which is still being used today to transport solidliquid mixtures such as concrete slurry. A machine that moves a liquid is typically called a pump, while other types of machines that move gaseous fluids have different names, depending upon the approximate pressure increase produced. A fan causes a pressure rise on the order of a few inches of water; a blower increases pressure in the range of 1 atmosphere of pressure; and a compressor increases pressure much higher, up to many atmospheres. This laboratory will focus only on pumps.

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Figure 3. Example of an early undershot waterwheel. Flowing stream water is used to turn a large wheel, providing power for a mechanical operation.

Figure 4. Archimedes screw pump. Rotation of screw traps liquid and raises it from river to canal Pumps are categorized in two basic types: positive-displacement or rotary-dynamic (or simply dynamic). Positive-displacement pumps (PDP) force fluid movement by changing the volume of a The chamber increases and decreases in volume by chamber through which the fluid passes.

application of external power. Fluid is drawn into the chamber as the volume increases, and is forced out

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

the discharge port as the volume is reduced. Examples include piston pumps, gear pumps, and hearts of mammalian animals. In the case of the piston pump, fluid is drawn into the chamber (or cylinder) as the piston is moved to the bottom of its stroke, maximizing the cylinder volume. When the piston begins to move to the top of the stroke, minimizing the cylinder volume, flow begins out of the discharge port. (A series of valves causes the flow to move in the desired direction.) In a mammalian heart, the chamber increases in size, drawing blood in through a vein; the chamber is then contracted due to muscle action, causing blood to flow out through an artery. A check valve (one-way valve) prevents flow from going backwards through the inlet port. Because of their design, PDPs provide a pulsating flow due to the inlet, trapping, and outlet processes (in animals, known as a pulse). If the discharge of a PDP is blocked, very high pressure can result, which may damage the pump or attached pipe network. pumps, and gasoline filling station dispensers. Common applications of PDPs are engine oil circulation in automotive engines, medicine metering in syringe

(a)

(b) double rotary gear pump; (c) mammal heart

(c)

Figure 5. Three examples of positive displacement pumps: (a) manual water well pump; (b)

Dynamic pumps move fluid by imparting a momentum increase to the fluid via a set of rotating blades or vanes, typically of a specialized design. Unlike the positive displacement pump, there is not a closed or trapped volume. Fluid continuously moves into the pump body, around the blades, and out through the discharge port. As a result, the flow is steady, not pulsating like the PDP, and they also tend to produce a higher flow rate. However, they are not very effective with high viscosity fluids, and also require the inlet chamber to be primed, that is filled with liquid, in order to start the pumping action, whereas PDPs are self priming.

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

For this laboratory, we will confine our study to rotary dynamic centrifugal pumps, or simply centrifugal pumps. As seen in the Figure 6, a centrifugal pump consists of an outer casing, an impeller (which rotates), and an expanding area scroll. Fluid is drawn into the center of rotation of the impeller (1), and is accelerated by the movement of the vanes on the impeller as it moves tangentially outward. The fluid velocity and pressure increase while in the impeller and as the flow diffuses (decelerates) in the expansion area, a further increase in pressure results at the discharge point (2). The most common design of impeller blades is backward facing, as shown; however other special designs include radial and forward facing. Fixed vanes may also be used to help steer the flow toward the exit, resulting in improved flow and/or pressure increase.

Figure 6. Schematic of centrifugal pump

III. Basic Output Parameters Assuming steady state flow, a centrifugal pump essentially increases the Bernoulli head of the flow between points 1 and 2 (inlet and outlet, Figure 6). If losses due to viscous work and heat transfer are ignored, the change in head H is shown as
p V2 p V2 + + z H = g 2g g + 2g + z = hs hf 2 1

(1)

where p is pressure, is fluid density, V is fluid velocity, g is the gravitational constant, z is the elevation, hs is the pump head supplied and hf the losses. characterizing pump performance. The net head H is an important parameter in It represents the maximum discharge pressure (or pressure rise

above the inlet pressure) for a pump when the flow is zero. The easiest way to visualize this is to imagine

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

the discharge pipe from the pump being connected to a very long, vertically oriented pipe. The head, usually indicated in feet or inches of water column, is literally the height of the column of water that the pump would support with no fluid flow. Some simplifications can be made to the head equation, based on the following assumptions: Inlet and discharge velocity are usually about the same Change in height z is usually very small

This results in the head being roughly equal to the increase in pressure head between points 1 and 2:
p p p 2 p 1 p H g g = g = g 2 1

(2)

The power required by a pump is another important parameter, especially in light of the desire to operate a pump at its most efficient point, which is the condition at which the minimum power is supplied to effect the needed change in flow or pressure to the fluid. The power delivered to the fluid Pw can be expressed as:
Pw = g Q H

(3)

where Q is the volumetric flow rate of fluid through the pump. This term is often called the water horsepower implying that it is the measure of power imparted into the fluid stream. The power required to drive the pump Pb (for brake power) is determined by measurement of the shaft torque and rotational speed:
Pb = T = 2 n T

(4)

where n is the rotational speed in revolutions per second, and T is shaft torque. If there were no losses in the pump, you would expect Pw and Pb to be equal, but of course that is never the case. Thus, we can define a pump efficiency to be the ratio of power added to the fluid Pw to the power supplied Pb (via an electric motor or other source):
Pw g Q H = Pb 2 n T

(5)

Obviously, one goal as a designer of a pumping system is to make the efficiency as high as

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

possible to minimize power consumption. But this can be difficult as centrifugal pumps often are required to operate over a wide range of conditions. In this case, the designer needs to optimize based on the most likely operating conditions that the pump will be operated for the largest part of its duty cycle. Shown in Figure 7 are curves for Power, Efficiency, and Head vs. Flowrate for a typical centrifugal pump operating at a constant speed. Note that as flow decreases to zero, the Head becomes maximum. Conversely, as flow increases to maximum, the head goes to a minimum. This relationship is called a rising characteristic curve. A stable head-capacity characteristic curve is one in which there is only one possible flow rate Q for a given Head, as shown here. For this pump, the maximum Head is slightly greater that 1.1m. The optimum efficiency for this pump is around 40%, at a flow rate of about 0.7 dm3/s. As noted earlier, though, if this pump was required to operate over a flow rate ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 dm3/s, it would operate at a non-ideal point for much of its duty cycle. In this case, it would be better to find a pump that had either a flatter efficiency curve or one that peaked at a lower flow rate. Notice on the Power-Flowrate curve how below the optimum efficiency point, the Power required is almost constant over a wide range of flow rates. However, the change in Head is significant over this same range.

Figure 7. Centrifugal pump characteristic plot IV. Experiments Apparatus Figure 8 shows front and top view schematic diagram. Key components are noted below:

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Component Identification 1-Water reservoir 2-Gate valve to control discharge flow rate 3-Turbine-type flow sensor 4-Pump and motor 5-Pressure sensor 6-Ball valve to control inlet (suction) pressure 7-Temperature sensor 8-Baseplate 9-Drain valve 10-Drain hole 11-Extra impeller 12-Drain valve in pump casing 13-Pressure sensor

Figure 8. Schematic of centrifugal pump apparatus

ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Water is held in a transparent reservoir (1) and supplied to the inlet of the pump (4) through plastic tubing. A valve (6) can be used to change the inlet restriction to the pump, causing a change in the inlet suction pressure. A pressure sensor (5) and temperature sensor (7) are used to measure the inlet conditions of the water. The pump housing is transparent so that the impeller can be observed while rotating. The discharge from the pump is through plastic tubing, with a valve (2) used to vary the flow rate and pressure. A pressure sensor (13) is used to measure the discharge pressure, and a turbine flow meter (3) measures the volumetric flow rate of water. Water returns to the reservoir (1), which contains baffles to settle the flow and separate air bubbles before is it drawn into the inlet tube. The general operation of the apparatus will be through a software control panel on a PC. The operator will set pump speed through the computer control panel, and adjust valve settings on the apparatus that will result in changes in pressure, temperature, and flowrate. These values are monitored on the computer display, and once the desired set points are achieved, data is collected. The operator will enable the software to record data through a data acquisition system directly to an Excel spreadsheet. Experimental Procedure In this lab, you will be collecting flowrate, pressure, temperature and power data so that you can prepare pump characterization plots, as shown in Figure 7. Follow the operating instructions provided by your TA, and record data as appropriate. Two different impellers will be tested, one by each group. The raw data spreadsheets will be shared among the groups. IV. Data Reduction Using the equations provided in Section III, reduce the data collected and prepare a plot as shown in Figure 7. Be careful to watch your units! You should have two plots, one for each impeller tested. V. Report A formal written report is not required for this laboratory exercise. Your TA will provide you with an assignment sheet.
References 1. 2. 3. 4. Fluid Mechanics, 4th Edition, Frank M. White, WCB McGraw-Hill, 1999.
th Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 4 Edition, Robert W. Fox and Alan T. McDonald, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992.

Instruction Manual: Centrifugal Pump Demonstration Unit, Armfield, Inc. The Hydraulic Institute, http://www.pumps.org/

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