CENTRIFUGAL PUMP PERFORMANCE DURING TRANSIENT OPERATION

The effect of transient operation on the hydrodynamic performance of a centrifugal pump impeller was investigated experimentally. All experi ments were conducted in the Naval Undersea Warfare Center's Impeller T est Facility (ITF), which was designed and built for transient and ste ady-state operation impeller research. The ITF provides transient oper ation through simultaneous control of both impeller rotational speed a nd flow rare over time. The impeller was accelerated from rest with pe ak angular accelerations up to 720 radians/s(2) and inlet flow mean ac celerations up to 1.7 g, reaching a peak rotational speed of 2400 rpm and a flow rate of 416 l/s. The impeller was then decelerated to rest. Results showed substantial transient effects in overall impeller perf ormance and demonstrated that the quasi-steady assumptions commonly us ed for the design of impellers that operate under high transient (acce lerating or decelerating) conditions are not valid.