Numerical Research of the Effect of the Outlet Diameter of Diffuser on the Performance and the Radial Force in a Single-Stage Centrifugal Pump

In this paper, a single-stage pump with diffuser vanes of different outlet diameters has been investigated both numerically and experimentally. The influence of the diffuser vane outlet diameter on pump hydraulic performance and on the radial force of the impeller is explored. Pumps equipped with three different diffusers but with impellers and volutes of the same parameters were simulated by 3D Navier-Stokes solver ANSYS-FLUENT in order to study the effect of the outlet diameter of vaned diffuser on performance of the centrifugal pump. Structured grids of high quality were applied on the whole computational domain. Experimental results were acquired by prototype experiments and were then compared with the numerical results. Both experimental and numerical results show that the performance of a pump with a diffuser of smaller outlet diameter is better than of bigger outlet diameter under all operating conditions. The radial force imposed on the impeller obtained by unsteady numerical simulation was analyzed. The results also indicated that an appropriate decrease in the outlet diameter of the diffuser vane could increase the radial force.