Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy http://pia.sagepub.

com/

A practical approach to the hydraulic design and performance analysis of a mixed-flow pump for marine waterjet propulsion
H. W. Oh, E. S. Yoon, K. S. Kim and J. W. Ahn Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy 2003 217: 659 DOI: 10.1177/095765090321700610 The online version of this article can be found at: http://pia.sagepub.com/content/217/6/659

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Additional services and information for Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy can be found at: Email Alerts: http://pia.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://pia.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://pia.sagepub.com/content/217/6/659.refs.html

>> Version of Record - Sep 1, 2003 What is This?

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

659

Technical Note

A practical approach to the hydraulic design and performance analysis of a mixed-ow pump for marine waterjet propulsion
H W Oh1*, E S Yoon2, K S Kim3 and J W Ahn3 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chungju National University, Chungju, Chungbuk, South Korea 2 Thermo-Fluid System Department, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Daejeon, South Korea 3 Marine Transport System Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, Daejeon, South Korea

Abstract: The hydraulic design optimization and performance analysis of a mixed-ow pump for marine waterjet propulsion has been carried out using mean streamline analysis and three-dimensional computational uid dynamics (CFD) code. In the present study, conceptual design optimization has been formulated with a nonlinear objective function to minimize uid dynamic losses and then a commercial CFD code was incorporated to allow for detailed ow dynamic phenomena in the pump system. The newly designed mixedow model pump has been tested in the laboratory. Predicted performance curves by the CFD code agree fairly well with experimental data for a newly designed mixed-ow pump over the normal operating conditions. The design and prediction methods presented herein can be used efciently as a unied hydraulic design process of mixed-ow pumps for marine waterjet propulsion. Keywords: waterjet propulsion, mixed-ow pump, mean streamline analysis, performance characteristics, commercial CFD code

NOTATION b Din Ds D2t Diff Diff g H Imp Imp Ns PS patm Pin ps Q width diameter of the inlet duct nondimensional p specic diameter D2t (gH )0:25 = Q impeller diameter at the exit tip diffuser leading edge diffuser trailing edge gravitational acceleration total head (m) impeller leading edge impeller trailing edge nondimensional p specic speed o Q=(gH )0:75 pressure surface atmospheric pressure input shaft power (W) static pressure volume ow (m3/s)

SS U2t V W Z Z r t f c o Subscripts diff imp u 3 4 1

suction surface impeller speed at the exit tip absolute velocity relative velocity number of blades pump efficiency rgHQ=Pin uid density power coefficient 100 Pin =(ro3 D5 2t ) ow coefficient 10 Q=(oD3 ) 2t head coefficient 10 gH =(o2 D2 2t ) impeller rotational speed (rad/s) diffuser impeller tangential component diffuser inlet diffuser exit

LE TE

LE TE

The MS was received on 13 June 2003 and was accepted after revision for publication on 31 July 2003. *Corresponding author: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chungju National University, 123 Geomdan-ri, Iryu-myeon, Chungju, Chungbuk 380-702, South Korea.
A05503 # IMechE 2003

INTRODUCTION

The propeller as marine propulsion, which propels the marine vessel forward or astern with the aid of the difference
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

660

H W OH, E S YOON, K S KIM AND J W AHN

in pressure on the two sides of the blade, has predominated over the past sail-dominated centuries. However, such a conventional propulsion system is not efcient for very large and high-speed vessels because of the degradation of propulsion performance, for example, ow-induced erosion, hydro-acoustic noise, overload, and so on. On the other hand, the waterjet propulsion system, which pressurizes the water and utilizes the reaction force created by the water leaving the pump as the thrust on the ship, has become the most favorable means of propulsion for increasingly larger and faster vessels. In addition, the waterjet absorbs approximately the same power, regardless of the ship speed at constant rotational speed, that is, the engine cannot be overloaded for maximum acceleration and stopping performance, and no reversible gear box is needed to propel the vessel backward. Koushan [1] suggested a preliminary design and offdesign prediction method for the early design stage of waterjet propulsion systems that is based on laws of conservation of mass and conservation of energy coupled with empirical parameters available in the open literature. Huntsman and Hothersall [2] developed the hydrodynamic design methodology for the waterjet impeller and diffuser components using their own quasi-three-dimensional method and fully three-dimensional ow solver and applied it to the design and performance analysis of a tubular-type waterjet pump of which the meridional shroud line is parallel to the rotational axis. In this paper, taking into account the marine waterjet propulsion system (as shown in Fig. 1) and the required operating conditions, the type of pump available for waterjet propulsion falls into the regime of mixed-ow pumps, 1.9 4 Ns 4 2.5, with the inclined hub and shroud lines in the meridional plane. The present study is aimed at carrying out hydraulic design optimization and performance analysis of a mixed-ow pump satisfying the required operating conditions for a marine waterjet propulsion system. First, in order to determine the overall meridional congurations as a conceptual design phase, this study adopts the design optimization and performance prediction codes developed in previous works [37], of which methods are based on mean streamline analysis using uid dynamic loss correlations. Commercially available CFD software [8], one of the engineering software products whose predictive capabilities have already been veried in the open literature [911], has been employed to determine the detailed three-

dimensional congurations and predict the performance characteristic curves as well as the internal ow phenomena. The following procedure of design and performance analysis for a waterjet mixed-ow pump presented herein can be used efciently as a practical design guide for industrial naval waterjet architects.

ANALYSIS VALIDATION FOR CFD CODE

The prediction performance of the commercial CFD code adopted in this paper is rst validated in comparison with the experimental data. A schematic diagram and photograph of the test set-up is presented in Fig. 2. The waterjet experimental apparatus consists of a long duct-like section mounted inside the test section of the water tunnel. Basic experimental measurements including pump static pressure, discharge ow rate, shaft torque, and impeller rotational speed (rpm) are taken in the present study. The pump ow rate is calculated from the pressure difference across a downstream nozzle. Wall static pressures at the inlet and outlet planes are averaged in a manifold with four duct taps. The bulk total pressure, delivered head, is derived from the wall static pressure measurements and the assumption of uniform velocity at the inow and outow stations. Power absorbed is obtained from the torque transducer and rpm readings. Uncertainties are 1 per cent for head, ow rate, and shaft torque and 1 rpm for shaft speed. Unfortunately, no experimental data for specic ow eld within the pump system were available in this study. The present study introduces nondimensional parameters to describe effectively the performance characteristics of a mixed-ow pump for a waterjet propulsion system. Figure 3a shows model pump I, a scale model based on an existing pump in the industry. The authors measured the threedimensional conguration data of the impeller and diffuser blades in order to obtain the specic geometric data for each blade because the blade data have been classied as competition sensitive by the industry. Figure 3b shows the comparison of predictions by the CFD analysis code and test results for model pump I. Although the computation overestimates the measured performance for the total head rise below the best efciency point ow rate, the predicted overall characteristic curves for the total head, the shaft torque, and the efciency are qualitatively accurate over the normal operating conditions. The employment of this CFD

Fig. 1 Overview of a marine waterjet propulsion system

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

A05503 # IMechE 2003

HYDRAULIC DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A MIXED-FLOW PUMP

661

code for performance analysis required to design a new mixed-ow pump model in the present work has, therefore, been validated effectively.

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

Fig. 2

Experimental test rig: (a) schematic diagram of performance test set-up; (b) view of test section

In order to accomplish the specic geometric modeling of a three-dimensional conguration of turbomachinery, the overall conguration data have to be rst specied, that is, the inlet/outlet blade angles and other design variables for each component in the meridional plane have to be determined from the preliminary design process. The present study adopted the design optimization code, which has been developed for the preliminary design works of mixed-ow pumps in a previous work [7], in order to carry out the conceptual design optimization of a mixedow pump for marine waterjet propulsion. This paper states the loss of waterjet pump efciency, 1 7 Z, as an objective function and then deals with a nonlinear constrained optimization problem. Most of the geometric/uid dynamic design constraints herein are based on the eld data suggested in past studies [6, 7] related to the design of industrial pumps. Table 1 summarizes several geometric constraints additionally required to design mixed-ow pumps for a marine waterjet propulsion system. Figure 4a depicts the overall meridional conguration of a mixed-ow pump system with geometric parameters. The waterjet propulsion system should satisfy the performance of the head coefcient 0.548 at the ow coefcient 0.756 as a mixed-ow pump with nondimensional specic speed 2.43, considering the design target based on the marine performance specications in the present study. The specic speed and the specic diameter of the mixed-ow pump preliminarily optimized by using the mean streamline analysis are 2.43 and 1.74, respectively, which lie on the collected eld data [12] of efcient turbomachines (Fig. 4b). This conrms that the present conceptual design optimization for the meridional conguration has been accomplished within the reliable design regime. As a reference, the Cordier line
Table 1 Additional design constraints for a waterjet pump system
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 0.25 4 D1h/D1t 4 0.50 13 4 d1 4 30 15 4 d2 4 60 30 4 yimp 4 55 4 4 Zimp 4 9 1.45 4 Dc/Din 4 1.48 1.73 4 Lz,diff/Lz,imp 4 1.80 0.6 4 D4t/D3t 4 0.9 1.0 4 b4/b3 4 1.5 15 4 d3 4 60 25 4 d4 4 40 40 4 ydiff 4 55 4 4 Zdiff 4 10

Fig. 3 Model pump I for marine waterjet propulsion: (a) side view of pump system; (b) performance characteristic curves
A05503 # IMechE 2003

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

662

H W OH, E S YOON, K S KIM AND J W AHN

Fig. 4

Conceptual design optimization of model pump II: (a) meridional cross-section of mixed-ow pump with geometric parameters; (b) the specic speedspecic diameter diagram

[12], which is a fair curve through the eld data in the statistical sense, is represented in Fig. 4b.

DETAILED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION OF A MIXED-FLOW PUMP FOR WATERJET PROPULSION

The detailed design work on the impeller and diffuser blades proceeds in consideration of the overall meridional geometric data determined from conceptual design optimization. The present study decides the three-dimensional conguration by using the commercial CFD code that enables the user to create a new blade geometry and analyse three-dimensional viscous ow phenomena within the blade passage in a graphical environment. Investigating the internal ow dynamics and the performance characteristics of a pump system, the iterative design process is continued until geometric feasibility is reached. Some representative design factors to be considered rst in accomplishing detailed design optimization can be briey stated as follows. The blade angles along the streamline should be distributed such that the blade loadings (velocity distributions) are optimized along the blade surface and the incidence, dened as ow angle minus metal angle, has to be designed to improve the pump efciency and the pump performance at the off-design points. In the case of the diffuser, in order to improve the propulsive performance and the maneuverability of a waterjet pump, the blading has to
Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

be achieved to minimize the tangential (or swirl) velocity component, Vu, at the exit of the diffuser. In accordance with the above detailed design procedure, a new designed scale model, model pump II, of a mixed-ow pump for a waterjet propulsion system is specically represented in Fig. 5a. In the present study, the incidence angles are established at 5.6 to 6.4 from hub to tip in order to properly distribute the blade loading within the impeller, which leads to an increase in the momentum of incoming uid onto the pressure surface of the impeller blade. As can be seen in Fig. 5b, the computed relative velocities normalized by the impeller exit tip speed are ideally distributed around the blade surface for the design ow rate (f 0.756), which means that the impeller blading has been well optimized in the present work. As for the diffuser blading, this paper in particular focuses on the fact that the tangential velocity component at the diffuser exit should be diminished and the total head performance must fall in the feasible margin of the required condition (c 0.548) at the design ow rate and rotational speed (f 0.756). Under these circumstances, it is observed that the component matching between the impeller exit ow angle and the inlet blade angle of diffuser becomes unattainable. Consequently, an excessively negative incidence (15.5 ) near the inlet tip of the diffuser blade appears and thus the ow separation on the inlet suction surface inevitably occurs, which deteriorates the structure of the ow eld at the diffuser inlet. Figure 5c shows such reversed ow phenomena between the pressure and suction surfaces near the tip of the diffuser inlet. Figure 5d represents the calculated results for the massaveraged tangential velocity distribution through the diffuser passage at the design ow rate. As can be seen, the normalized tangential velocity at the diffuser exit remains satisfactorily constant at about 0.025. Figure 5e shows that the predicted static pressure of a pump system, model pump II, gradually increases without any abrupt change in the performance curve. Finally, a comparison between the predicted and required total head characteristics of model pump II at the design ow rate (f 0.756) is illustrated in Fig. 5f. It is noted that the agreement between the calculation (c 0.530) and the required design condition (c 0.548, denoted by w) is nearly accurate in the engineering consideration. The present study made a scale model, model pump II, of a mixed-ow pump for waterjet propulsion and carried out an experiment on the performance characteristics of this model pump II, whose conguration was obtained from the previously mentioned conceptual and detailed design optimization procedures. As can be seen in Fig. 5f, the experimental data are in fairly good agreement with the computed performance curves, which were prepared prior to the experimental work, over the normal operating conditions. Although the predicted curve for the total head seriously overestimates the measured data at the low ow region, the overall performance characteristics between them yield the best agreement
A05503 # IMechE 2003

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

HYDRAULIC DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A MIXED-FLOW PUMP

663

Fig. 5

Detailed design of model pump II for marine waterjet propulsion: (a) three-dimensional congurations for impeller (left), diffuser (right) respectively; (b) relative velocity distributions around the impeller at the design ow rate; (c) absolute velocity distributions around the diffuser at the design ow rate; (d) tangential velocity distribution through the diffuser at the design ow rate; (e) overall static pressure distribution of pump system at the design ow rate; (f) performance characteristic curves
Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

A05503 # IMechE 2003

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

664

H W OH, E S YOON, K S KIM AND J W AHN

over the operating ow regime. The torque curve estimated by the CFD code slightly overpredicts the test data; however, the overall performance trends are in good agreement. While such differences between the predicted and measured performances for the torque have an effect on the efciency curve, it is found that the calculated efciency curve underpredicts the experimental data near the design ow rate, and the experimental result shows that the model pump II yields hydraulically excellent performance, that is, the best efciency of model pump II amounts to more than 90 per cent.

REFERENCES
1 Koushan, K. A preliminary design and off-design prediction method for waterjet propulsion systems. International Conference on Waterjet PropulsionLatest Developments, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 1998, Paper No. 3 (The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, London). 2 Huntsman, I. and Hothersall, R. Development of quasi 3D design methods and 3D ow solvers for the hydrodynamic design of water jets. International Conference on Waterjet Propulsion III, Gothenburg, Sweden, February 2001, Paper No. 10 (The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, London). 3 Oh, H. W., Yoon, E. S. and Chung, M. K. An optimum set of loss models for performance prediction of centrifugal compressors. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 1997, 211(A4), 331338. 4 Yoon, E. S., Oh, H. W., Chung, M. K. and Ha, J. S. Performance prediction of mixed-ow pumps. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 1998, 212(A2), 109115. 5 Oh, H. W. and Kim, K-Y. Mean streamline performance analysis of mixed-ow fan impellers covering the low owrate characteristics. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, PartA: J. Power and Energy, 2001, 215(A4), 513518. 6 Oh, H. W. and Chung, M. K. Optimum values of design variables versus specic speed for centrifugal pumps. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 1999, 213(A3), 219226. 7 Oh, H. W. and Kim, K-Y. Conceptual design optimization of mixed-ow pump impellers using mean streamline analysis. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 2001, 215(A1), 133138. 8 CFX-BladeGen & CFX-BladeGenPlus, Version 4.1 (AEA Technology Engineering Software Inc., El Dorado Hills). 9 Sell, M., Treiber, M., Casciaro, C. and Gyarmathy, G. Tipclearance-affected ow elds in a turbine blade row. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 1999, 213(A4), 309318. 10 Koumoutsos, A., Tourlidakis, A. and Elder, R. L. Computational studies of unsteady ows in a centrifugal compressor stage. Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs, Part A: J. Power and Energy, 2000, 214(A6), 611633. 11 Hu, P. and Zangeneh, M. CFD calculation of the ow through a water-jet pump. International Conference on Waterjet Propulsion III, Gothenburg, Sweden, February 2001, Paper No. 14 (The Royal Institution of Naval Architects, London). 12 Balje, O. E. Turbomachines: A Guide to Design, Selection, and Theory, 1981 (John Wiley, New York).

CONCLUSIONS

A practical design and performance analysis procedure of a mixed-ow pump for marine waterjet propulsion, in which the conceptual approach to turbomachinery design using mean streamline analysis is followed by detailed design and analysis based on validated CFD code, has been presented in this paper. The additional design constraints for the waterjet mixed-ow pump system selected in the present study have been described in Table 1. Performance curves predicted by a coupled CFD code were compared with the test data of a newly designed, hydrodynamically efcient, mixed-ow pump. The results agree very satisfactorily with the measured performance curves over the normal operating conditions. Future work is denitely needed to improve the blade loadings of the diffuser blade by investigating the incidence distributions along the diffuser leading edge and to eliminate the swirl component of the diffuser exit ow. It would also be of great interest and value if research work could be carried out to obtain an optimal conguration of a mixedow pump for a waterjet propulsion system under the simultaneous consideration of pump efciency and net positive suction head required to suppress blade cavitation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by the Dual-Use Technology Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The authors express their sincere gratitude and would also like to thank all of the people who have helped them in carrying out this research project.

Downloaded from pia.sagepub.com at National Univ of Sciences and on November 21, 2011

Proc. Instn Mech. Engrs Vol. 217 Part A: J. Power and Energy

A05503 # IMechE 2003