This study focuses on the leakage characteristics of a modified revolving vane expander (M-RVE) using both static and dynamic leakage analysis. The no-expansion scenario showed a maximum volumetric efficiency of 18.7% was achieved at 5.5 bar(g) suction pressure, showing the severity of internal leakages. The blocker angle study demonstrated the importance of the correct opening-angle selection to avoid under or over-expansion. The maximum volumetric efficiencies for opening angles of 94 deg and 145 deg were 2.8% and 8.3%, respectively, at suction and discharge pressures of 6.5 bar(g) and 1 atm, respectively. The static leakage test demonstrated that the M-RVE housing was properly sealed, and the observed leakage in the dynamic test was mostly due to internal leakages. The results showed that the leakages through the radial clearance, endface, and vane side gaps make up 54%, 33%, and 8.5% of the overall leakage. Comparison between the theoretical and experimental data of the leakages through the radial clearance gap showed significant deviations at higher suction pressures. The reasons are thought to be due to the shafts' tilt, and the cylinder and rotor head deflections. It is believed that the deflection of the shaft created new leakage paths or changed the geometry of the current paths.

Numerical investigations are carried out in a single-stage subsonic axial flow compressor to unravel the influence of blade tip surface roughness on the tip leakage flow characteristics and hence the compressor performance. The studies were carried out at different tip clearance of 0.38 τ , 0.77 τ , 1.15 τ , and 1.54 τ and blade tip surface roughness of 0.31 ε and 0.62 ε . The tip clearance of 0.38 τ with blade tip surface roughness of 0.62 ε resulted in the highest stall margin and pressure rise of 20.3% and 4.3%, respectively. The compressor blade loading was found to be improved by 5.9% after incorporating the blade tip surface roughness. The isosurfaces of vorticity contour plotted using the Q-criterion showed the reduction in strength of the tip leakage vortex. The tip leakage trajectory was found to be shifted toward the suction surface of the blade for the blade tip with surface roughness. This positive alteration in the tip leakage flow structure led to the improved performance for the blade tip with surface roughness.

Tip clearance in hydraulic machines may complicate the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) effects. In this investigation, a mode-based approach (modal work) is evaluated and employed to quantitatively predict the added mass, added stiffness, and hydrodynamic damping ratio, in relation to the first-order bending mode of a vibrating hydrofoil. The investigated relative tip clearance ranges from 0.067% to 2% of the span length. The predicted vortex shedding frequency, natural frequency, and hydrodynamic damping ratio of the hydrofoil are in good agreement with the previously published experimental results, with relative deviations within 9.92%, 6.97%, and 11.23%, respectively. Simulation results show that the added mass, added stiffness, and hydrodynamic damping ratio increase inversely as the tip clearance increases. In particular, as the relative tip clearance increases from 0.067% to 2%, the added mass in still water, the added stiffness, and hydrodynamic damping ratio at a velocity of 10 m/s decrease by 18.66%, 9.36%, and 27.99%, respectively. As the tip clearance increases, the inversely increased pressure difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the vibrating hydrofoil is the main reason for the inversely increased hydrodynamic damping ratio. This is due to the energy leakages via the tip clearance region increase as the tip clearance increases, which may cause less fluid force to resist the vibration of the hydrofoil, resulting in less negative modal work done by the fluid load on the hydrofoil.

In this work, forced convection in the laminar outflow between two disks is predicted. The disks can be corotating or contrarotating with equal or with different angular velocities. A published closed form solution is used to model the forced convection. The simplified energy equation is discretized using a finite difference method. The discretized equation is solved using the tridiagnal matrix algorithm (TDMA). Results are obtained for a heat flux as well as a specified temperature boundary condition and are presented for various flow parameters such as throughflow Reynolds number, rotational Reynolds number, gap ratio and speed ratio. The parameters except the speed ratio affect the temperature field strongly. The computed Nusselt number is in good agreement with the published experimental data. The coupling of closed form solution and energy equation predicts temperature field accurately. Additionally, the solution procedure is simplified considerably and the solution is obtained with lesser computational resources.

Subsea multiphase pumps must operate reliably with a process fluid transitioning from a pure liquid, to a mixture of gas and liquid, and to eventually just gas; and pressure seals controlling secondary leakage paths are important for both pump efficiency and dynamic stability considerations, in particular, for flows with a sizable gas volume fraction (GVF). Early work advances a three-wave shape seal that generates significant direct stiffness and hence aids to increase the natural frequency of a vertical pump. This paper details dynamic load tests and produces rotordynamic force coefficients for the wavy-seal operating with a gas in liquid mixture made of air in light ISO VG 10 oil. For operation with pure liquid, GVF = 0, a stiffness (K), damping (C), and added mass (M) model fully characterizes the test article. For operation with a mixture, the seal dynamic stiffness coefficients vary greatly with excitation frequency; the direct dynamic stiffness hardens while the cross coupled stiffness decreases as the whirl frequency approaches shaft speed and then increases for super synchronous frequency. For operation with GVF from 0.1 to 0.8, the seal produces a large positive centering dynamic stiffness. Notably, the seal direct damping coefficient does not depend on frequency though reduces continuously as the inlet GVF increases from 0 to 1 (all gas). The current research adds relevant test data and unique dynamic force coefficients to the design selection of seals in multiphase pumps.

Water-lubricated rubber bearings are widely used in the propulsion shafting of military craft and ships. These bearings may wear down after a period of service, and consequently, their lubrication characteristics will change, affecting the operation of the shaft. Hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings with partial wear at the bottom are studied by finite difference method. The steady-state characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings with wear and elastic deformation of rubber liner considered are solved with successive over-relaxation iteration method, and the dynamic characteristics are further calculated with finite perturbation method. The results show that water film thickness and distribution of water film pressure is significantly changed by wear. With the same eccentricity ratio, the maximum water film pressure, load capacity, attitude angle, and friction force are reduced by wear, but the friction coefficient is increased by wear. Under the same load, the minimum water film thickness and the maximum water film pressure are slightly affected by wear, the eccentricity ratio increases with the increase of wear, and the attitude angle and the friction coefficient decrease with the increase of wear. For large eccentricity ratios, the direct stiffness coefficients and direct damping coefficients are decreased by wear. The maximum allowable wear depth is approximately 1/6 of the bearing clearance.

Tip clearance results in the leakage flow from blade pressure side to suction side, which will further cause the tip leakage vortex (TLV). Moreover, the flow pattern in an impeller is seriously deteriorated due to the TLV and its interaction with the main stream. In this work, the TLV in a mixed flow pump is investigated by numerical simulation validated by experiment measurement. The primary tip leakage vortex (PTLV) trajectory is specially studied with consideration of the tip clearance size δ, the impeller blade number Z i , and the impeller rotational speed n. The results show that δ slightly shifts the separation point (SP) of the PTLV but rarely affects the separation angle α . The increase in Z i and the decrease in n both lead to the shift of the SP toward the blade trailing edge and the decrease in α . Furthermore, a theoretical prediction model is proposed to predict the PTLV trajectory, by which the axial position and radial position of PTLV trajectory versus the rotation angle can be predicted. The proposed model is verified to be accurate to predict the PTLV trajectory, especially for the PTLV trajectory in the main flow passage. The dynamic evolution of TLV under different tip clearance sizes can all be classified into the same three stages: splitting stage, developing stage, and merging stage. Meanwhile, the dynamic evolution frequency f e is the same as the impeller rotational frequency f i .

In this paper, the effect of the inducer tip clearance is studied to understand its impact on the cavitating and noncavitating performance of centrifugal pumps. Helical inducers with constant pitch and with variable (progressive) pitch are considered. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of a single stage pump are conducted on each inducer type to determine the cavitating (two-phase) and noncavitating (single-phase) performance for varying inducer tip clearance. The Rayleigh–Plesset cavitation model is used to understand the bubble dynamics under the assumptions of single fluid undergoing no thermal energy transfer between each phase. Experimental tests are conducted on a pump with the variable pitch inducer to determine the true performance in cavitating and noncavitating operating conditions. Experimental results are compared to the simulations to validate the accuracy of the proposed numerical modeling. Net positive suction head (NPSH) with 3% differential head drop is used as a criterion to identify the true cavitation performance of each inducer configuration. It is found that, as the inducer tip clearance increases, excessive back leakage and larger vortex recirculation occur at the tip location. This results in pressure loss within the inducer and, consequently, degrades the cavitation performance. In addition, the change in cavitation performance with the tip clearance is much more evident for variable pitch inducer geometries as compared to the constant pitch case. Furthermore, the impact on the noncavitating performance of inducer tip clearance is found to be minimal.

Inducers are used as a first stage in pumps to minimize cavitation and allow the pump to operate at lower inlet head conditions. Inlet flow recirculation or backflow in the inducer occurs at low flow conditions and can lead to instabilities and cavitation-induced head breakdown. Backflow of an inducer with a tip clearance (TC) of τ = 0.32% and with no tip clearance (NTC) is examined with a series of computational fluid dynamics simulations. Removing the TC eliminates tip leakage flow; however, backflow is still observed. In fact, the NTC case showed a 37% increase in the length of the upstream backflow penetration. Tip leakage flow does instigate a smaller secondary leading edge tip vortex that is separate from the much larger backflow structure. A comprehensive analysis of these simulations suggests that blade inlet diffusion, not tip leakage flow, is the fundamental mechanism leading to the formation of backflow.

The issues of leakage with respect to the clearance between the pump plunger outer diameter and the pump barrel inner diameter and other operation conditions have been revisited in this paper. Both Poiseuille flow rate due to the pressure difference and Couette flow rate due to the plunger motion have been considered. The purpose of this study is to better understand the nature of the leakage with respect to pressure difference, eccentricity, and motion related to the plunger of typical sucker rod pump systems. More specifically, based on the newly derived relaxation time scales for transient solutions of the governing Navier–Stokes equations, the quasi-static nature of relevant measurement techniques is confirmed for the current production systems. This key observation is also demonstrated with a computational model using the experimentally measured pressure difference and the plunger movement.

The characteristics of radial pressure distribution inside side chamber and leakage flow through balancing holes of centrifugal pumps are very important for accurately predicting the axial thrust produced by a balancing system. Therefore, a rapid and sufficiently accurate calculation method is required. An integrated model describing the characteristics of radial pressure distribution inside side chamber and leakage flow rate through balancing holes was established. In this model, the correction coefficient of liquid pressure at side chamber entrance and the discharge coefficient of balancing holes were obtained by experiment. The IS 80-50-315 type single-suction, single-stage, and cantilevered centrifugal pump with the structure of double wear-rings and balancing holes was employed as a model to investigate the characteristics of internal liquid flow of the balancing system. Under different pump flow rates, pump performance curves, radial pressure distribution inside side chamber, and leakage flow rate through balancing holes were examined with different balancing hole diameters. Afterward, the experimental data were compared with the predicted results. The comparisons showed a reasonable consistency. Consequently, according to detailed pump dimensions and operating conditions, the integrated model in current form is recommended for centrifugal pumps, which have low specific speed and are with balancing systems of double wear-rings and balancing holes. This can be used for the prediction of radial pressure distribution inside side chamber and leakage flow rate through balancing holes and can be used both at the design stage and nondesign stage.

Tip clearance in pump induces tip leakage vortex (TLV), which interacts with the main flow and leads to instability of flow pattern and decrease of pump performance. In this work, the characteristics of TLV in a mixed-flow pump are investigated by the numerical simulation using shear stress transport (SST) k– ω turbulence model with experimental validation. The trajectory of the primary tip leakage vortex (PTLV) is determined, and a power function law is proposed to describe the intensity of the PTLV core along the trajectory. Spatial–temporal evolution of the TLV in an impeller revolution period T can be classified into three stages: splitting stage, developing stage, and merging stage. The TLV oscillation period T T is found as 19/160 T, corresponding to the frequency 8.4 f i (f i is impeller rotating frequency). Results reveal that the TLV oscillation is intensified by the sudden pressure variation at the junction of two adjacent blades. On analysis of the relative vorticity transport equation, it is revealed that the relative vortex stretching item in Z direction is the major source of the splitting and shedding of the PTLV. The dominant frequency of pressure and vorticity fluctuations on the PTLV trajectory is 8.4 f i , same as the TLV oscillation frequency. This result reveals that the flow instability in the PTLV trajectory is dominated by the oscillation of the TLV. The blade number has significant effect on pressure fluctuation in tip clearance and on blade pressure side, because the TLV oscillation period varies with the circumferential length of flow passage.

Electric submersible pumps (ESPs) utilize grooved-rotor/smooth-stator (SS/GR) seals to reduce leakage and break up contaminants within the pumped fluid. Additionally, due to their decreased surface area (when compared to a smooth seal), grooved seals decrease the chance of seizure in the case of rotor-stator rubs. Despite their use in industry, the literature does not contain rotordynamic measurements for smooth-stator/circumferentially grooved-rotor liquid annular seals. This paper presents test results consisting of leakage measurements and rotordynamic coefficients for a SS/GR liquid annular sdeal. Both static and dynamic variables are investigated for various imposed preswirl ratios (PSRs), static eccentricity ratios (0–0.8), axial pressure drops (2–8 bars), and running speeds (2–8 krpm). The seals' static and dynamic features are compared to those of a smooth seal with the same length, diameter, and minimum radial clearance. Results show that the grooves reduce leakage at lower speeds (less than 5 krpm) and higher axial pressure drops, but does little at higher speeds. The grooved seal's direct stiffness is generally negative, which would be detrimental to pump rotordynamics. As expected, increasing preswirl increases the magnitude of cross-coupled stiffness and increases the whirl frequency ratio (WFR). When compared to the smooth seal, the grooved seal has smaller effective damping coefficients, indicative of poorer stability characteristics.

This paper presents a numerical study of the impact of tip gap uncertainties in a multistage turbine. It is well known that the rotor gap can change the gas turbine efficiency, but the impact of the random variation of the clearance height has not been investigated before. In this paper, the radial seals clearance of a datum shroud geometry, representative of steam turbine industrial practice, was systematically varied and numerically tested by means of unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD). By using a nonintrusive uncertainty quantification (UQ) simulation based on a sparse arbitrary moment-based approach, it is possible to predict the radial distribution of uncertainty in stagnation pressure and yaw angle at the exit of the turbine blades. This work shows that the impact of gap uncertainties propagates radially from the tip toward the hub of the turbine, and the complete span is affected by a variation of the rotor tip gap. This amplification of the uncertainty is mainly due to the low-aspect ratio of the turbine, and a similar behavior is expected in high pressure (HP) turbines.

This study is focused on the development and validation of an analytical model to predict the performance characteristics of multiphase flow twin-screw pump for wide range of operating conditions. A 200 HP, 635 gpm capacity multiphase flow twin-screw pump was tested with inlet pressure varying from 15 psig to 100 psig at gas void fraction (GVF) varying from 0% to 100% to validate the model. A new model is proposed to study the leakage flow in the twin screw pump. Adiabatic compressible flow is assumed in the circumferential clearance. The acceleration of the two-phase flow is taken into account in the new model. The change of Mach number of the leakage flow in the clearance and the possibility of choked flow at the outlet of the clearance was studied. Model provided important information about pressure distribution across the screw length, volumetric efficiency of the pump, and chocked flow condition. Model verification using experimental data concluded the paper.

Adding back vanes to the rear shroud of centrifugal pumps is sometimes practiced in order to alleviate large axial forces. Effective design and flow characteristics of back vanes remain obscure due to lack of knowledge associated with experimental complexities in study of this area. In this study, various design parameters of the conventional noncurved rectangular back vanes are evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Furthermore, the complex flow structure at the rear chamber of these pumps is illustrated and discussed with the advantage of CFD which is a highly costly and taxing job if one chooses to capture it using experimental methods. Effect of back vanes outer radius, width, clearance, thickness, vane angle, and number of vanes on pump characteristics and axial thrust has been investigated. New findings of this study show that back vanes are capable of canceling the axial thrust in a large range of flow rates without a penalty to the machine efficiency, provided that suitable design parameters are selected. In addition, the best efficiency point (BEP) will not be affected by usage of back vanes. The rear chamber’s flow pattern suggest that back vanes have a repumping effect causing increased pump head at longer back vane configurations.

The drag torque caused by the viscous shear in open multiplate wet clutches has been studied in most available literature whose focus is placed on low circumferential speed. However, the drag torque increases drastically in the high circumferential speed range. The underlying physical principles and the influencing factors of the drag torque at high speed are still indeterminate. The present study aims to experimentally investigate the characteristics of the wobbling vibrations of plates and to characterize the effects of average clearance, flow rate of lubricant, shifting condition, and the number of friction interfaces on the drag torque at high circumferential speed. The result of the experiment reveals that the friction plate (FP) starts to wobble periodically at low circumferential speed, though the effect is insignificant. The dominant frequency of plate wobbling movements increases with the input speed. When wobbling vibrations of plates become unstable, the wobble gradually becomes nonlinear. The experiments confirm that the mechanical contacts between plates during the unstable wobbling vibration result in the drag torque rise at high circumferential speed. At high speed, the supplying flow rate of the lubricant influences the drag torque values. The rotation of separator plates (SPs) brings forward the torque rise and makes the drag torque rise smoother. By reducing the number of interfaces, the drag torque rise is delayed and the magnitude becomes smaller. Finally, a four-stage drag torque characteristic curve is illustrated to show the dominant factors of drag torque at different stages.

A new approach based on the open source tool OpenFOAM is presented for the numerical simulation of a mini gerotor pump working at low pressure. The work is principally focused on the estimation of leakage flow in the clearance disk between pump case and gears. Two main contributions are presented for the performance of the numerical simulation. On one hand, a contact point viscosity model is used for the simulation of solid–solid contact between gears in order to avoid the teeth tip leakage. On the other hand, a new boundary condition has been implemented for the gear mesh points motion in order to keep the mesh quality while moving gears with relative velocity. Arbitrary coupled mesh interface (ACMI) has been used both in the interface between clearance disk in inlet/outlet ports and between clearance disk and interteeth fluid domain. Although the main goal of the work is the development of the numerical method rather than the study of the physical analysis of the pump, results have been compared with experimental measurement and a good agreement in volumetric efficiency and pressure fluctuations has been found. Finally, the leakage flow in the clearance disk has been analyzed.

In Francis turbines, which are normally designed at a reaction ratio of 0.5, the available pressure energy in the fluid is converted into 50% kinetic energy before entering the runner. This causes high acceleration of the flow in guide vanes (GVs), which adds to the unsteadiness and losses in the turbine. In sediment-affected power plants, the hard sand particles erode and gradually increase the clearance gap between the GV and facing plates, which causes more disturbances in downstream turbine components. This study focuses on investigating the flow through the clearance gap of the GV with cambered hydrofoil shapes by using particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The measurements are carried out in one GV cascade rig, which produces similar velocity fields around a GV, as compared to the real turbine. The investigation is done in two cases of cambered GV National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) profiles, and the comparison of the velocity and pressure distribution around the hydrofoil is done with the results in symmetric profile studied earlier. It is seen that the pressure distribution around the hydrofoil affects the velocity field, leakage flow, and characteristics of the vortex filament developed inside the cascade. NACA4412, which has flatter suction side (SS) than NACA2412 and NACA0012, is seen to have smaller pressure difference between the two adjacent sides of the vane. The flow inside the clearance gap of NACA2412 enforces change in the flow angle, which forms a vortex filament with a rotational component. This vortex along with improper stagnation angle could have greater consequences in the erosion of the runner inlet (RIn) and more losses of the turbine.

The influence of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics of various wing geometries was investigated through wind-tunnel experimentation. The test models represented racing car front wings of varying complexity: from a simple single-element wing to a highly complex 2009-specification formula-one wing. The aim was to investigate the influence of boundary-layer transition and Reynolds-number dependency of each wing configuration. The single-element wing showed significant Reynolds-number dependency, with up to 320% and 35% difference in downforce and drag, respectively, for a chordwise Reynolds number difference of 0.81 × 10 5 . Across the same test range, the multi-element configuration of the same wing and the F1 wing displayed less than 6% difference in downforce and drag. Surface-flow visualization conducted at various Reynolds numbers and ground clearances showed that the separation bubble that forms on the suction surface of the wing changes in both size and location. As Reynolds number decreased, the bubble moved upstream and increased in size, while reducing ground clearance caused the bubble to move upstream and decrease in size. The fundamental characteristics of boundary layer transition on the front wing of a monoposto racing car have been established.