Evaluation of the Flow Inside a Side Channel Pump by the Application of an Analytical Model and CFD

The flow inside a channel pump is indeed complex and has not been understood completely until now. Especially, if the flow is to be optimised with respect to flow losses and/or acoustics details of the flow must be known and evaluated. In the present paper the flow physics of a side channel pump are examined. The paper starts with a description of the flow phenomenon occurring in the impeller, the side channel and on the interface of the impeller and the side channel. From this consideration an analytical model is derived which describes the efficiencies of the impeller and the side channel. In order to apply this model the exchange volume flow rate between the impeller and the side channel must be known. This flow quantity is calculated by CFD simulations. Finally, both the analytical model and CFD are used for the analysis of the flow inside a model side channel pump. The results of the analytical model are compared with the CFD-results and by doing this it is checked whether the results of the analytical model are in agreement with the CFD-results. Furthermore the CFD-results are used to demonstrate the dominant flow phenomenon inside a side channel pump. At the end a procedure for the evaluation of the flow inside a side channel pump is described.