Title: Operational management of a centrifugal slurry pump through strategic CFD modelling

Authors: Rakesh Joshi; Bikram Jit Singh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Sadopur, Ambala (Haryana), 461, Phase-2, Urban Estate, Patiala-147002, Punjab, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Sadopur, Ambala (Haryana), 461, Phase-2, Urban Estate, Patiala-147002, Punjab, India

Abstract: The objective of this present work is to study the performance characteristics of a centrifugal slurry pump, handling water at different operating speeds using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT. Three-dimensional numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the flow field inside the pump passage at 'design' and 'off-design' conditions. Turbulence models namely, eddy large simulation, standard k-ε and k-ω models are being used for simulation of flow through pump. It indicates the accuracy of each model by conducting comparison with experimental values through quantitative tests like ANOVA and generate linear regression line plots for corresponding models for strategic implications. This paper has a limitation that water as a standard fluid has been used as a working fluid instead of direct slurry as it is easy to simulate through CFD. It is rare to see literature regarding statistical comparison of various existing simulating models for slurry pumps at different rpm ranges.

Keywords: centrifugal pumps; CFD; computational fluid dynamics; FLUENT; one way ANOVA; meshing; GAMBIT; head; large eddy simulation; LES; k-epsilon; k-omega; simulation; operations management; slurry pumps; strategic modelling; turbulence models; fluid flow.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOM.2013.058334

International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 2013 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.241 - 266

Received: 06 Mar 2013
Accepted: 27 Aug 2013

Published online: 29 Jan 2014 *

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