Investigation on the performance and flow characteristics of a liquid lead-bismuth pump

The liquid lead-bismuth pump is a core component of the main coolant circuit of the accelerator driven system. The pump performance has a significant effect on the safety and operational stability of the whole system. A liquid lead-bismuth pump was designed and the performance and flow characteristics of the pump were obtained numerically. Effects of transported medium on the performance of the pump and the forces acting on the hydraulic components were investigated. The results show that the operational performance of the pump is improved as the liquid medium of water is replaced with liquid lead-bismuth. The axial force acting on the impeller is dominated by the dynamic reverse force associated with flowing liquid lead-bismuth. Large-scale vortices formed at the bottom of the discharge chamber incur remarkable hydraulic loss. High risk of erosion exists at the outlet part of impeller blades and the inlet part of diffuser blades.