Low Speed Design of Rear Rotor in Contra-Rotating Axial Flow Pump

The application of contra-rotating rotors for higher specific speed pump has been proposed in our studies, which is in principle effective for reducing the rotational speed and/or the pump size under the same specification of conventional axial flow pump. In the previous experiments of our prototype, the cavitation inception at the tip region of the rear rotor rather than that of the front rotor and the strong potential interaction from the suction surface of the rear rotor blade to the pressure surface of the front one were observed, indicating the possibility to further improve the pump performance by optimizing rotational speed combination between the two rotors. The present research aims at the design of rear rotor with lower rotational speed. Considering the fact that the incoming flow velocity defects at the tip region of the rear rotor, an integrated inflow model of 'forced vortex' and 'free vortex' is employed. The variation of maximum camber location from hub to tip as well as other related considerations are also taken into account for further performance improvement. The ideas cited above are separately or comprehensively applied in the design of three types of rear rotor, which are subsequently simulated in ANSYS CFX to evaluate the related pump performance and therefore the whole low speed design idea. Finally, the experimental validation is carried out on one type to offer further proofs for the availability of the whole design method.