The Unsteady Pressure Field in a High Specific Speed Centrifugal Pump Impeller—Part I: Influence of the Volute

An experimental investigation is presented regarding the unsteady pressure field within a high specific speed centrifugal pump impeller (ω_s = 1.7) which operated in a double spiral volute. For this, twenty-five piezoresistive pressure transducers were mounted within a single blade passage and sampled in the rotating impeller frame with a telemetry system. The influence of varying volume flux on the pressure transducers was evaluated in terms of pressure fluctuation magnitudes and phase differences. The magnitude information reveals that the pressure fluctuations from the impeller-volute interaction grew as the volume flux became further removed from the best efficiency point and as the trailing edge of the impeller blade was approached. These fluctuations reached 35% of the pump head in deep part load. The upstream influence of the volute steady pressure field dominates the unsteady pressure field within the impeller at all off design load points. Acquired signal phase information permits the identification of the pressure field unsteadiness within the impeller passage as fundamentally synchronized simultaneously with the volute tongue passing frequency. Special emphasis was placed on the volume flux regime where the pump and impeller pressure discharge characteristic undergo hysteresis, as impeller inlet and outlet recirculation commence and cease. A synthesis of the rotating transducers was performed to obtain unsteady blade loading parameters. The value of the unsteady lift coefficient varies on the order of 200% for a single blade in part load operation (at 45% bep), an abrupt fluctuation occurring as the fore running blade suction side passes a volute tongue. The unsteady moment coefficient and center of pressure are also shown to vary significantly during the impeller-volute tongue interaction.