Cavitation CFD using STAR-CCM+.pdfVIP

Cavitation CFD using STAR-CCM+ of an Axial Flow Pump with Comparison to Experimental Data Edward M. Bennett, Ph.D. Vice President of Fluids Engineering March 17, 2014 The Project ? Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI), an engineering consultancy, was approached by a major pump manufacturer to undertake a redesign of a line of axial pumps ? A class of axial pumps requires redesign to achieve reduced Net Positive Suction Head Required (NPSHr) ? The customer wishes to validate STAR-CCM+ against the existing configuration before proceeding with redesign ? An Internal Research and Development Effort was undertaken to examine the efficacy of the cavitation model in STAR-CCM+ ? The axial pump configuration was analyzed using several turbulence models and associated cavitation parameters ? A second complex test configuration for which exact test conditions were known was also analyzed ? Conclusions were made regarding STAR-CCM+ capability to resolve cavitation problems in complex pump configurations 2 Definitions ? The phenomenon of cavitation occurs when the net pressure in the fluid decreases below the vapor pressure, e.g. 3170 Pa for water at 25°C ? The net pressure in the fluid is a function inlet pressure, which is commonly stated in terms of head, i.e. Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) ? Net Positive Suction Head Available (NPSHa) is the actual fluid energy at the inlet, defined as the difference between the inlet total head and vapor pressure expressed in terms of head ? Net Positive Suction Head Required (NPSHr) is the NPSH point at which the pump performance drops below some acceptable level, often defined as a point at which the total dynamic head (TDH) produced by the pump drops by 3% ? Cavitation can thus be reduced by increasing NPSHa via inlet conditions or decreasing NPSHr via geometry modifications 3 Breakdown Curve ? The occurrence of cavitation is visually presented via the breakdown curve, where NPSHa is plotted against TDH ? As NPSHa is l