Relationship between Axial Width and Flow Characteristics of Pump Chamber in Double Volute Centrifugal Pump

The axial width of pump chamber has a great influence on the flow characteristics of the pump chamber in the centrifugal pump. A single-stage single-suction double volute centrifugal pump with a semi-open impeller was selected as the object. For the 6 different pump chamber axial width, it was concluded that the pump chamber pressure at the different angles (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) along the radial variation characteristics according to the contrast analysis of the pump cavity pressure field, velocity field distribution. The correlation between the pump chamber pressure and the impeller radius was revealed. The tangential velocity and radial velocity along the axial distribution curves were draw. The results show that when the axial width of pump chamber increases from 23.9 mm to 43.9 mm, the pressure value of the same radial position increases gradually. The radial pressure difference is decreasing. At the same axial width of pump chamber, the pressure mean increases along the radial approximately parabola. The tangential velocity of different angular directions has little difference in axial distribution. The mean of dimensionless tangential velocity in the turbulent core area decreases from 0.32 to 0.19 with the increasing of pump chamber axial width. The radial velocity varies is greatly along the axial direction. There are eddies at the directions of 0and 180°, but the mean of radial velocity in the turbulent core area is about 0. This research provides the reference for centrifugal pump hydraulic design, structural design and the accurate calculation of axial force.