Research on a Full Three-Dimenional Inverse Method for the Mixed-Flow Pump Runner

In this paper, a full three-dimensional inverse method for the design of mixed-flow pump runner is described. The three-dimensional flow in the runner is decomposed into a tangential mean flow and a tangential periodic flow. The blades are represented by superposition of vortices and sources on the blade mean surface, and the blade mean surface is determined by the inverse method. In this method, the distribution of the circumferentially mean swirl VR_θ on the meridional geometry of the runner is prescribed and the corresponding blade shape is computed iteratively. The new method is applied to the design of a mixed-flow pump runner and the result is satisfactory.