CIRT, Bhopal

Turbo machinery (ME 502)

Tutorial/Assignment Sheet 5 (centrifugal pump)
1. Discuss various heads involved in centrifugal pump.
2. What do you mean by manometric efficiency, mechanical efficiency and overall
efficiency of a centrifugal pump.
3. Draw and discuss the main and operating characteristics of a centrifugal pump.
4. If a centrifugal pump does not deliver any water when started, what may be the probable
causes and how can they be remedied?
5. What is meant by priming of a pump? What are the different priming arrangements
employed for small and big pumping units?
6. Define specific speed of centrifugal pump. Derive the expression for specific speed of a
centrifugal pump.
7. Show that the discharge of a centrifugal pump is given by:

[
], where
N= the speed of the pump in rpm, D= the diameter of the impeller, g= the acceleration
due to gravity, H = the manometric head, = viscosity of fluid, = density of fluid.
8. A centrifugal pump delivers water against a net head of 14.5 metres and a design speed
of 1000 rpm. The vanes are curved back to an angle of 300 with the periphery. The
impeller diameter is 300 mm and outlet width 50 mm. Determine the discharge of the
pump if manometric efficiency is 95%.
9. A centrifugal pump delivers water against a head of 25 m. The radial velocity of flow is
3.5 m/s and is constant. The flow rate of water is 0.05 m3/s. The blades are radial at the
tip and pump runs at 1500 rpm. Calculate (i) the diameter at the tip, (ii) the width of the
blade at the tip, (iii) inlet diffuser angle at the impeller exit.
10. Two geometrically similar pumps are running at the same speed of 1000 rpm. One pump
has an impeller diameter of 0.30 m and lifts water at the rate of 20 lps against a head of
15 metres. Determine the head and impeller diameter of the other pump to deliver half
the discharge.
11. A centrifugal pump running at 1500 rpm with impeller diameter of 200 mm discharges
0.12 m3/s of water working against a head of 40 m with an efficiency of 90%. Calculate(i) the specific speed, (ii) the performance of a similar pump twice in size keeping the
speed constant, (iii) the performance of a similar pump at twice the speed keeping
diameter constant, (iv) the performance of a similar pump if the speed is doubled as well
as size is doubled.
12. A centrifugal pump is required to deliver 50 litres of water per second to a height of 30 m
through a 100 m long pipe of 15 cm diameter. The inlet losses in the suction pipe are
estimated to be 0.35 m. Assuming an overall efficiency of 70% and taking Darcys
friction coefficient 0.015 for the pipeline, determine the power required to drive the pump.
13. A centrifugal pump is designed to start against a static head of 15 m. The impeller inner
and outer diameters are 225 and 450 mm respectively. Accounting for a manometric
efficiency of 75%, calculate the minimum speed at which pump will start operating.