Numerical simulation on role of the rotating stall on the hump characteristic in a mixed flow pump using modified partially averaged Navier-Stokes model

Insufficient understanding of flow instability interaction between hump characteristic and the rotating stall is a major problem in the application of mixed flow pumps. In this paper, the unsteady flow characteristics of a mixed flow pump are studied numerically to understand the hump characteristic generating mechanism using a modified SST k-ω partially averaged Navier-Stokes (MSST PANS) model. The predicted pump characteristic curves show good agreement with experimental data. Fundamental results on time-averaged flow pattern and energy loss distributions depict that the substantial rise of energy loss in the pump impeller is the main reason for the hump characteristic. Detailed flow structures show the peak regions of circumferential vorticity (Ω_θ) and boundary vortex flux (BVF) are located at the blade tip near the trailing edge (TE) and leading edge (LE). Further analysis on the flow angle and blade loading are carried out. The results indicate that the peak region located near the LE of spanwise = 0.8 and streamwise = 0.3 is the source of the rotating stall evolution. In this process, the substantial reduction in the blade loading occurs near the LE, eventually induces the head drop. Finally, pressure fluctuations analysis depicts that low-frequency signal is observed induced by the rotating stall evolution.