Turbulent flow analysis and cavitation prediction in axial cooling water pump

Abstract

The aim of this literature is to investigate the performance and three-dimensional flow field in an axial flow CW pump and observing cavitation phenomenon in specified situations. Computational Fluid Dynamic software FLUENT 6.3 was utilized to simulate the whole flow field of the pump to capture all features in the domain. RNG k-ε model combined with standard wall functions is used to deal with the turbulent nature of the problem. Two principal domains are verified: 1) the rotor domain which includes four moving impellers. 2) the stator domain which includes nine static vanes. Hence, the rotor-stator interaction was treated with Moving Reference Frame (MRF) technique. Pressure contour and streamlines of the simulation are shown here. The performance curve of the model is in good agreement with the reference power plant data. Finally, the cavitation region defined with the vaporization pressure is demonstrated for cases with different flow rates.