EFFECTS OF SPLITTER BLADES ON THE LAW OF INNER FLOW WITHIN CENTRIFUGAL PUMP IMPELLER

Analysis on the inner flow field of a centrifugal pump impeller with splitter blades is carried out by numerical simulation. Based on this analysis, the principle of increasing pump head and efficiency are discussed. New results are obtained from the analysis of turbulence kinetic energy and relative velocity distribution: Firstly, unreasonable length or deviation design of the splitter blades may cause great turbulent fluctuation in impeller channel, which has a great effect on the stability of impeller outlet flow; Secondly, it is found that the occurrence of flow separation can be decreased or delayed with splitter blades from the analysis of blade loading; Thirdly, the effect of splitter blades on reforming the structure of "jet-wake" is explained from the relative velocity distribution at different flow cross-sections, which shows the flow process in the impeller. The inner flow analysis verifies the results of performance tests results and the PIV test.