Introduction to Fluid Machines

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Centrifugal pump
 Classification of fluid machines
• Positive displacement machine(Static type)
Positive displacement machines force a fluid into or out of a chamber by
changing the volume of the chamber. The pressures developed and the
work done are a result of essentially static forces rather than dynamic
effects.
• Positive-displacement pumps are ideal for high-pressure applications like
pumping viscous liquids or thick slurries, and for applications where
precise amounts of liquid are to be dispensed or metered, as in medical
applications.
• Turbomachines (Dynamic type)
• Pumps and turbines in which energy is supplied or extracted by a rotating shaft are properly
called turbomachines
Turbomachines are dynamic fluid machines that add (for pumps) or extract (for turbines)
flow energy.
The increase in fluid energy is usually felt
as an increase in the pressure of the fluid.
The purpose of a pump is to add energy to a fluid,
resulting in an increase in fluid pressure, not
necessarily an increase of fluid speed across the
pump.
turbine extract energy from the fluid and
transfer most of that energy to some form of
mechanical energy output, typically in
the form of a rotating shaft
The fluid at the outlet of a turbine suffers an
energy loss, typically in the form of a loss of
pressure.

The purpose of a turbine is to extract energy from a

fluid, resulting in a decrease of fluid pressure, not
necessarily a decrease of fluid speed across the turbine.
In dynamic machines(turbomachines) rotating blades supply or
extract energy to or from the fluid.
For pumps, these rotating blades are called impeller blades, while for
turbines, the rotating blades are called runner blades or buckets.
Examples of dynamic pumps include
enclosed pumps and ducted pumps (those with casings around the
blades such as the water pump in your car’s engine, and
open pumps (those without casings such as the ceiling fan in your
house, the propeller on an airplane, or the rotor on a helicopter).
Examples of dynamic turbines include enclosed turbines,
such as the hydro turbine that extracts energy from water
in a hydroelectric dam, and
open turbines such as the wind turbine that
extracts energy from the wind
 Pump
• Fluid machines that move liquids are called
pumps
• When used with gases, pumps are called fans,
blowers, or compressors, depending on the
relative values of pressure rise and volume
flow rate.
 The Euler turbomachine equation
is
the axial component of the moment-
of-momentum equation.
 Turbine

Pump

The torque applied to the

contents of the control volume
 In case of turbine Euler
turbomachine
equation.
In case of a pump

The sign of the component depends on the direction of and the blade
motion, U. If and U are in the same direction, then is positive.
The shaft torque is directly proportional to the mass flow rate
It takes considerably more torque and power to pump water than
to pump air with the same volume flow rate

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Shaft power
For steady flow continuity equation

Finally, in terms of work per unit mass

This is the basic governing equation for pumps or turbines

whether the machines are radial-, mixed-, or axial-flow devices and
for compressible and incompressible flows.

Note that neither the axial nor the radial component of velocity
enter into the specific work (work per unit mass) equation.
The velocity component Vx is the generic through-flow
component of velocity and it can be axial, radial, or in-
between depending on the rotor configuration
The Centrifugal Pump
(Radial-flow turbomachines)
 Components

An impeller attached to a rotating shaft, consists of a

number of blades (usually curved), also sometimes
called vanes, arranged in a regular pattern around the
shaft

A stationary casing, housing, or volute enclosing the

impeller
Centrifugal pumps come in a variety of arrangements (open or
shrouded impellers, volute or diffuser casings, single- or double-
suction, single- or multistage) but the basic operating principle
remains the same.

Work is done on the fluid by the rotating blades (centrifugal

action and tangential blade force acting on the fluid over a
distance) creating a large increase in kinetic energy of the fluid
flowing through the impeller. This kinetic energy is converted
into an increase in pressure as the fluid flows from the impeller
into the casing enclosing the impeller.
Centrifugal pump impellers involve an increase in blade velocity along the
flow path.

The head that a pump adds to the fluid is an

important parameter.

The pump ideal head rise is the work per unit weight added to the fluid by the
pump.
 the pressure head rise that
the increase in the develops across the impeller
kinetic energy of the due to the centrifugal effect
fluid,
the pressure head rise that
develops across the
impeller due to the
diffusion of relative flow in
the blade passages
 Flow rate and the pump ideal head rise
Often the fluid has no tangential component of velocity or swirl, as it enters the
impeller

Flow rate

impeller blade height at the radius r2

ideal or maximum head rise for a centrifugal pump varies linearly with Q for a given blade
geometry and angular velocity
For actual pumps, the blade angle falls in the range of 15°-35°
with a normal range of and with
. Blades with are called backward curved, whereas blades
with are called forward curved.
Problem

Solution:
Actual head rise of the fluid (ha)
 Euler head Manometric head

hm=

hm In most of the cases except for fans

hm
manometric efficiency:

It represents the effectiveness of the pump in producing pressure from the

energy given to the fluid by the impeller.
 Efficiency of the pump

Hydraulic losses
1. Shock loss at the eye due to imperfect
matching between inlet flow and blade
entrance
2. Friction losses in the blade passages
3. Circulation loss (whirl slip)
4. Losses in the volute casing

Hydraulic efficiency

Leakage losses
Loss of fluid due to leakage in the
impeller casing clearance
Volumetric efficiency
Mechanical losses
Losses due to mechanical friction in Mechanical
bearings, packing glands and other efficiency
contact points in the machine

Overall efficiency of the

pump
A washing operation at a power plant requires 370 gallons per minute (gpm) of water. The
required net head is about 24 ft at this flow rate. A newly hired engineer looks through some
catalogs and decides to purchase the 8.25-in impeller option of the Taco Model 4013 FI Series
centrifugal pump. If the pump operates at 1160 rpm, as specified in the performance plot, she
reasons, its performance curve intersects 370 gpm at H ! 24 ft. The chief engineer, who is very
concerned about efficiency, glances at the performance curves and notes that the efficiency of
this pump at this operating point is only 70 percent. He sees that the 12.75-in impeller option
achieves a higher efficiency (about 76.5 percent) at the same flow rate. He notes that a throttle
valve can be installed downstream of the pump to increase the required net head so that the
pump operates at this higher efficiency. He asks the junior engineer to justify her choice of
impeller diameter. Namely, he asks her to calculate which impeller option (8.25-in or 12.75-in)
would need the least amount of electricity to operate .Perform the comparison and discuss.
 Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)
On the suction side of a pump, low pressures are commonly
encountered, with the concomitant possibility of cavitation occurring
within the pump.
WHAT IS CAVITATION?

Cavitation occurs when the liquid pressure at a given location is reduced to the
vapour pressure of the liquid. When this occurs, vapour bubbles form (the liquid
starts to “boil”);Then these bubbles accumulated & burst in a higher pressure region
in the pump and release huge pressure wave, causing vibration & noise within the
pump, this phenomenon can cause a loss in efficiency as well as structural damage
to the pump.
Required net positive suction head (NPSHR)
Pump manufacturers test their pumps for cavitation in a pump test facility by varying the
volume flow rate and inlet pressure in a controlled manner. Specifically, at a given flow
rate and liquid temperature, the pressure at the pump inlet is slowly lowered until
cavitation occurs somewhere inside the pump. The value of NPSH is calculated using Eq.
above and is recorded at this operating condition. The process is repeated at several other
flow rates, and the pump manufacturer then publishes a performance parameter called
the required net positive suction head (NPSHrequired), defined as the minimum NPSH
necessary to avoid cavitation in the pump

Typical pump performance curve in which net

head and required net positive suction head
are plotted versus volume flow rate.
 Available net positive suction head (NPSHA)

It represents the head that actually occurs for

the particular flow system. This value can be
determined experimentally, or calculated if the
system parameters are known.

Since irreversible head losses through the piping system upstream of the inlet
increase with flow rate, the pump inlet stagnation pressure head decreases with flow
rate. Therefore, the value of NPSH decreases with Q
For proper pump operation it is necessary that

The volume flow rate at which the

available NPSH and the required NPSH
intersect represents the maximum flow
rate that can be delivered by the pump
without the occurrence of cavitation.
The 11.25-in impeller option of the Taco Model 4013 FI Series centrifugal pump of Fig. 14–15 is
used to pump water at 25°C from a reservoir whose surface is 4.0 ft above the centreline of the
pump inlet (Fig. 14–20). The piping system from the reservoir to the pump consists of 10.5 ft of
cast iron pipe with an ID of 4.0 in and an average inner roughness height of 0.02 in. There are
several minor losses: a sharp-edged inlet (KL = 0.5), three flanged smooth 90° regular elbows (KL
= 0.3 each), and a fully open flanged globe valve (KL = 6.0). Estimate the maximum volume flow
rate (in units of gpm) that can be pumped without cavitation. If the water were warmer, would
this maximum flow rate increase or decrease? Why? Discuss how you might increase the
maximum flow rate while still avoiding cavitation.
the maximum volume flow rate
without cavitation decreases with
increase of temperature

How can we increase the maximum flow

rate without cavitation?

We can raise the height of the

reservoir surface (to increase the
hydrostatic head). We can reroute
the piping so that only one elbow
is necessary and replace the globe
valve with a ball valve (to decrease
the minor losses). We can increase
the diameter of the pipe and
decrease the surface roughness
(to decrease the major losses).
 System Characteristics and Pump Selection

Apply energy eqn between 1 & 2

represents all friction losses in the pipe and

minor losses for pipe fittings and valves.

the actual head gained by the fluid from the pump

 where K depends on the pipe sizes and lengths,
friction factors, and minor loss coefficients.

This is system equation and shows how the actual head gained by the fluid from the
pump is related to the system parameters. In this case the parameters include the
change in elevation head, and the losses due to friction.
The most common situation is that an engineer selects a pump that is somewhat
heftier than actually required. The volume flow rate through the piping system is
then a bit larger than needed, and a valve or damper is installed in the line so that
the flow rate can be decreased as necessary.
Pump characteristic curve
System equation
 Pumps in Series and Parallel
Pumps can be arranged in serial or parallel to provide additional head or flow rate capacity

Pumps in Series -Heads Added

When two (or more) pumps are arranged in serial, their resulting pump performance curve
is obtained by adding their heads at same flow rate as indicated in the figure below.

Centrifugal pump in series are used to overcome larger system head loss than one pump can
handle alone. For two identical pumps in Series the head will be twice the head of a single
pump at the same flow rate. With constant flow rate the combined head moves from 1 to 2.
In practice the combined head and flow rated moved along the system curve to 3.
Pumps in Parallel-Flow Rate Added
When two or more pumps are arranged in parallel their resulting performance
curve is obtained by adding their flow rates at the same head as indicated in the
figure below

Centrifugal pumps in parallel are used to overcome larger volume flows than one pump can
handle alone. For two identical pumps in parallel the flow rate will double (moving from 1
to 2) compared to a single pump if head is kept constant. In practice the combined head
and volume flow moves along the system curve as indicated from 1 to 3
Multistage centrifugal pump arranged in series
 Dimensionless Parameters and Similarity Laws

Dependent pump variables are the actual head rise, shaft power, and efficiency,

head rise coefficient.

power coefficient

Efficiency
 Practical experience reveals that effect of Reynold’s number & relative surface
roughness can be neglected and then for geometrically similar pumps (all pertinent
dimensions, scaled by a common length scale), the dependent pi terms are
functions of only so that

These three equations provide the desired similarity relationships among a family
of geometrically similar pumps.
 Pump scaling laws relate geometrically similar pumps.

If two pumps from the geometrically similar family are operated at the
same value of flow coefficient

it then follows that

With these so-called pump scaling laws it is possible to experimentally determine the
performance characteristics of one pump in the laboratory and then use these data to predict
the corresponding characteristics for other pumps within the family under different operating
conditions.
 Pump affinity laws
Pump affinity laws relate the same pump at different speeds or geometrically
similar pumps at the same speed.
a geometrically similar family of pumps, How pump characteristics change with
operating at a given speed change in speed of a given pump?
 (a) Change in pump speed
(constant size)

• If a pump delivers a discharge Q1 at a head H1

when running at speed N1, the corresponding
values when the same pump is running at speed N2
are given by the similarity (affinity) laws:
2 3
Q2 N2 H2  N 2  Pi 2  N 2 
    
Q1 N1 H1  N1  Pi1  N1 

where Q = discharge (m3/s, or l/s).

H = pump head (m).
N = pump rotational speed (rpm).
Pi = power input (HP, or kw).
 (b) Change in pump size
(constant speed)

• A change in pump size and therefore, impeller

diameter (D), results in a new set of characteristic
curves using the following similarity (affinity) laws:
3 2 5
Q2  D2  H2  D2  Pi 2  D2 
     
Q1  D1  H1  D1  Pi1  D1 

where D = impeller diameter (m, cm).

Note : D indicated the size of the pump

The effects of viscosity and surface roughness have been neglected
in the foregoing similarity relationships. However, it has been found
that as the pump size decreases these effects more significantly
influence efficiency
 Specific Speed

Specific speed may be determined independent of pump size.

However, for any pump it is customary to specify a value of specific speed at the flow
coefficient corresponding to peak efficiency only.

Centrifugal pumps typically are low-capacity, high head pumps, and therefore have
low specific speeds.

The concept of specific speed is very useful to engineers and designers, since if the required
head, flow rate, and speed are specified, it is possible to select an appropriate(most efficient)
type of pump for a particular application.
Specific speed may be used to approximate what general pump geometry (axial to radial) to
use for maximum efficiency.