• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.6 s.249
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• pp.578-586
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• 2006

Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the thermal effects of the gravitational potential on the centrifugal instability of a Taylor-Couette flow, and to further study the detailed flow fields and flow bifurcations to spiral vortices. The effects of centrifugal potential on the centrifugal instability are also investigated in the current study. Spiral vortices have various types of mode depending on Grashof number and Reynolds number. The correlation of Richardson number with the spiral angle of the spiral vortices shows that the structure of the spiral vortices strongly depends on the Richardson number. The heat transfer rate of the inner cylinder increases with increasing Grashof number. It is also confirmed that the torque required to rotate the inner cylinder increases as Grashof number increases.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.21-28
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• 2007

The ratio of disk friction loss in a centrifugal pump is very large for the total pump loss in the range of very low specific speed. Therefore, impeller radius should be shortened to increase the pump efficiency because the disk friction loss is proportional to the fifth power of impeller radius. In order to compensate the decreased head by the shortened impeller radius, vane angle at impeller outlet should be increased. However, as the vane angle at impeller outlet becomes larger, performance instability occurs at low flow rate regions. In this study, J-Groove is adopted to suppress the performance instability and detailed examination is performed for the influence of the J-Groove on the pump performance. The results show that J-Groove gives good effect on the suppression of performance instability. Moreover, as J-Groove increases pump head considerably, the pump size can be smaller for head requirements.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.7 no.3 s.24
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• pp.23-31
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• 2004

An experimental study on the performance and instability development characteristics of a centrifugal compressor equipped with an adjustable inlet guide vane has been performed with varying guide vane angles. The test was conducted at the design speed of 20,800 rpm for 6 guide vane angles : $-30^{\circ},\;-20^{\circ},\;10^{\circ},\;0^{\circ},\;10^{\circ},\;20^{\circ},\;30^{\circ}$. Unsteady pressures were measured using high-frequency pressure transducers at the inducer to investigate the instability phenomena such as rotating stall and surge inside the compressor. From the unsteady measurements, it is found that the transient process from rotating stall to surge was mainly affected by inlet guide vane angles. The results of the present study can be applied to the instability control of the centrifugal compressors using a adjustable inlet guide vane.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.1123-1131
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• 2002

An experimental study on the performance and instability development characteristics of a centrifugal compressor equipped with a cambered variable diffuser has been performed with varying diffuser vane angles. The test was conducted at the design speed of 20,800 rpm and the 80% design speed of 16,640 rpm for 5 diffuser angles : 65$^{\circ}$, 70$^{\circ}$, 75$^{\circ}$, 77.5$^{\circ}$, 80$^{\circ}$ The steady performance test results showed that choking mass flow rate decreases and total pressure ratio increases with a narrowed surge margin as the diffuser vane angle increases. Unsteady pressures were measured using high-frequency pressure transducers at the inducer and the diffuser throat to investigate the instability phenomena such as rotating stall and surge inside the compressor. From the unsteady measurements, it is found that the transient process from rotating stall to surge was mainly affected by diffuser angles. The results of the present study can be applied to the instability control of the centrifugal compressors using a variable diffuser.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.94-100
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• 2014

In double-suction centrifugal pumps, it was found that cavitation instabilities occur with vibration and a periodic chugging noise. The present study attempts to identify cavitation instabilities in the double-suction centrifugal pump by the experiment and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Cavitation instabilities in the tested pump were classified into three types of instabilities. The first one, in a range of cavitation number higher than breakdown cavitation number, is cavitation surge with a violent pressure oscillation. The second one, in a range of cavitation number higher than the cavitation number of cavitation surge, is considered to be rotating cavitation and causes the pressure oscillation due to the interaction of rotating cavitation with the impeller. Last one, in a range of cavitation number higher than the cavitation number of rotating cavitation, is considered to be a surge type instability.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.409-417
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• 2009

An investigation of surge inception in a centrifugal compressor was done with measurements of steady and unsteady static pressure. Vaneless diffuser and vaned diffuser were tested. Analyses of the static pressure and the pressure fluctuation showed that stall at the impeller leading edge occurred at first, and then it extended to downstream. In case of the vaneless diffuser, deterioration of the pressure rise in the impeller triggered instability. For the vande diffuser, instability that was generated in the impeller propagated into the vaned diffuser, however the pressure recovery by the vaned diffuser made the operation of the compressor stable at low flow rate.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.467-474
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• 2004

A large-eddy simulation is performed for turbulent flow in a concentric annulus with the inner wall rotation at Re$\sub$Dh/=8900 for three rotation rates N=0.2145, 0.429 and 0.858. Main emphasis is placed on the inner wall rotation effect on near-wall turbulent structures. Near-wall turbulent structures close to the inner wall are scrutinized by computing the lower-order statistics. The anisotropy invariant map for the Reynolds stress tensor and the invariant function are illustrated to reveal the altered anisotropy in turbulent structure. Probability density functions of the splat/anti-splat process are explored to develop a sufficiently complete picture of the contributions of the flow events to turbulent production. The present numerical results show that the altered turbulent structures may be attributed to the centrifugal instability, which leads to the augmentation of sweep and ejection events.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.40-54
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• 2009

Cavitation instabilities in turbo-machinery such as cavitation surge and rotating cavitation are usually explained by the quasi-steady characteristics of cavitation, mass flow gain factor and cavitation compliance. However, there are certain cases when it is required to take account of unsteady characteristics. As an example of such cases, cavitation surge in industrial centrifugal pump caused by backflow vortex cavitation is presented and the importance of the phase delay of backflow vortex cavitation is clarified. First, fundamental characteristics of backflow vortex structure is shown followed by detailed discussions on the energy transfer under cavitation surge in the centrifugal pump. Then, the dynamics of backflow is discussed to explain a large phase lag observed in the experiments with the centrifugal pump.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.21-26
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• 2016

The objective of present study is to assess the performance of the first stage compressor in a total 3-stage 5000 HP-level turbo compressor. CFD commercial code, CFX has been used to predict three-dimensional flow characteristics inside of the impeller. Shear Stress Transport (SST) model has been used to simulate turbulent flows through Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Grid dependency has been also checked to get optimal grid distribution. Numerical results have been compared with the experimental test results to elucidate performance characteristics of the present compressor. In addition, flow characteristics of the impeller only have been studied for various blade configurations. Angular offset in leading edge of the blade has been selected for the optimal blade design. Performance characteristics in region of low mass flow rate and high pressure ratio between the impeller entrance and exit have been investigated for the selection of optimal blade design. Also, flow instability such as stall phenomena has been studied and anti-stall characteristics have been checked for various blade configurations in the operational window.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.18-25
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• 2008

Recent trends of a centrifugal pump are high speed in rotation and high pressure in head with high efficiency to meet the demands of industries. However, the newly developed pumps make trouble of pressure pulsation in the pumping system by performance instability of the pump. Moreover, cavitation, which is a main obstacle of high rotational speed in the pump, occurring in an impeller gives serious damages to the impeller and casing wall. The purpose of present study is not only to develop a simple method to improve pump performance but also to suppress the occurrence of cavitation in the centrifugal pump by use of J-Groove. J-Groove is a shallow groove installed on the casing wall in the meridional direction. The application of J-Groove to a centrifugal pump with a new type impeller of "semi-closed impeller" has proved its effectiveness as a useful countermeasure of the unstable pump performance and cavitation. The results show that the combination of semi-closed impeller and J-Groove can be applied successfully and improves both the pump performance and suction performance.