ME 310: FLUID MECHANICS LABORATORY

CENTRIFUGAL PUMP INVESTIGATION

Pressure contours on a centrifugal pump impeller

Ref: NASA Glenn Research Center, Dr. Rodrick V. Chima,

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/5810/rvc/swift.htm
ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

I. Objective

The objective of this laboratory is to explore the operating characteristics of a simple centrifugal
pump. Tests will be conducted using an experimental apparatus manufactured by Armfield, Inc. which
will allow for various parametric variations in a closed loop pump/pipe system. Data acquisition will be by
means of a computer-controlled interface. Data will be reduced and presented is a form typically used to
analyze pump characteristics. Results will be discussed in a laboratory report.

II. Background

Pumps used to transport liquids, gases and slurries are an integral part of our everyday lives.
Homes, appliances, businesses, factories, schools, and vehicles all depend upon pumps to move fluids
for process heat transfer, indoor air comfort heating and cooling, domestic water supply, and industrial
processes. Gasoline and natural gas are pumped hundreds of miles though underground pipelines to
distribution terminals and processing plants, including one in Champaign, Illinois. There are
approximately 95,000 miles nationwide of refined products pipelines. Refined products pipelines are
found in almost every state in the U.S. These refined product pipelines vary in size from relatively small
at 8 to 12 inch diameter lines up to 42 inches in diameter.

Figure 1. Major refined petroleum products pipelines in the 48 state US region

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Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Crude oil is pumped across the tundra of Alaska in the 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline
System (TAPS), which is one of the largest pipeline systems in the world. It stretches from Prudhoe Bay
on Alaska’s North Slope, through rugged and beautiful terrain, to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in
North America. Since pipeline startup in 1977, Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, the operator of TAPS,
has transported over 15 billion barrels of oil.

Figure 2. Photograph of a portion of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and map of
pipeline

Sanitary sewage is pumped to treatment plants for eventual discharge into creeks and rivers.
Specialized pumps are used to pump concrete in new building construction when access for a truck is
limited. It has been estimated that industrial pumping systems account for nearly 25% of industrial
electrical energy demand in the United States. With the national goal to dramatically reduce our
dependence upon foreign energy sources in the next 2 decades, providing pump users with strategic,
broad-based energy management and performance optimization solutions will reduce electricity
consumption and also can improve the bottom-line profitability of businesses.
The pump is the oldest fluid-energy transfer device known, with at least two designs dating to
250-1000 BCE: the undershot-bucket waterwheels used in Asia and Africa, an example is shown in
Figure 3;; and the Archimedes screw pump, shown in Figure 4, which is still being used today to transport
solid-liquid mixtures such as concrete slurry.
Machines that move fluids are categorized by the type of fluid, e.g. liquid or gas, and the amount
of pressure rise it causes in the fluid. A machine that moves a liquid is typically called a pump, while other
machines that move gaseous fluids have different names, depending upon the approximate pressure
increase produced. A fan causes a pressure rise on the order of a few inches of water (small pressure

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Centrifugal Pump Investigation

rises); a blower increases pressure in the range of 1 atmosphere of pressure (moderate pressure rises);
and a compressor increases pressure much higher, up to many atmospheres (large pressure rise). This
laboratory will focus only on pumps.

Figure 3. Example of an early undershot waterwheel. Flowing stream water is used to turn a large
wheel, providing power for a mechanical operation.

Figure 4. Archimedes screw pump. Rotation of screw traps liquid and raises it from a river to a
canal

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Pumps are categorized in two basic types: positive-displacement and rotary-dynamic (or
dynamic). Positive-displacement pumps (PDP) force fluid movement by changing the volume of a
chamber through which the fluid passes. The chamber increases and decreases in volume by application
of external power. Fluid is drawn into the chamber as the volume increases, and is forced out the
discharge port as the volume is reduced. Examples include piston pumps, gear pumps, and hearts of
mammalian animals. In the case of the piston pump, fluid is drawn into the chamber (or cylinder) as the
piston is moved to the bottom of its stroke, maximizing the cylinder volume. When the piston begins to
move to the top of the stroke, minimizing the cylinder volume, flow begins out of the discharge port. A
series of valves causes the flow to move in the desired direction. In a mammalian heart, the chamber
increases in size, drawing blood in through a vein; the chamber is then contracted due to muscle action,
causing blood to flow out through an artery. A check valve (one-way valve) prevents flow from going
backwards through the inlet port. Because of their design, PDPs provide a pulsating flow due to the inlet,
trapping, and outlet processes (in animals, known as a “pulse”). If the discharge of a PDP is blocked,
very high pressure can result, which may damage the pump or attached pipe network. Common
applications of PDPs are engine oil circulation in automotive engines, medicine metering in syringe
pumps, and gasoline filling station dispensers.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 5. Three examples of positive displacement pumps: (a) manual water well pump; (b)
double rotary gear pump; (c) mammal heart

Dynamic pumps move fluid by imparting a momentum increase to the fluid via a set of rotating
blades or vanes, typically of a specialized design. Unlike the positive displacement pump, there is not a
closed or trapped volume. Fluid continuously moves into the pump body, around the blades, and out

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

through the discharge port. As a result, the flow is steady, not pulsating like the PDP, and they also tend
to produce a higher flow rate. However, they are not very effective with high viscosity fluids, and also
require the inlet chamber to be primed, that is filled with liquid, in order to start the pumping action,
whereas PDPs are self priming.
For this laboratory, we will confine our study to rotary dynamic centrifugal pumps, or simply
centrifugal pumps. As seen in the Figure 6, a centrifugal pump consists of an outer casing, an impeller
(which rotates), and an expanding area scroll. Fluid is drawn into the center of rotation of the impeller (1),
and is accelerated by the movement of the vanes on the impeller as it moves tangentially outward. The
fluid velocity and pressure increase while in the impeller and as the flow diffuses (decelerates) in the
expansion area, a further increase in pressure results at the discharge point (2). The most common
design of impeller blades is backward facing, as shown; however other special designs include radial and
forward facing. Fixed “vanes” may also be used to help “steer” the flow toward the exit, resulting in
improved flow and/or pressure increase.

Figure 6. Schematic of centrifugal pump

III. Basic Output Parameters

The pressure rise across a pump is often referred to as the “head” and is given the symbol h. The
units of head are feet or inches of water in the English system and mm or m in the SI system. The net
head, H, is an important parameter in characterizing pump performance. It represents the maximum
discharge pressure (or pressure rise above the inlet pressure) for a pump at a particular flow rate. The
easiest way to visualize this is to imagine the discharge pipe from the pump being connected to a very
long, vertically oriented pipe. The head is literally the height of the column of water that the pump would
support. One can also think of it as the height, h, in a manometer.

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

We will assume steady state flow, and use the Bernoulli equation to determine the head rise
between the inlet and outlet of the pump, points 1 and 2 in Figure 8. If losses due to viscous work and
heat transfer are ignored, the change in head H is shown as

 p V2   p V2 
H =  + + z  −  + + z  = hs − hf (1)
 ρg 2g  2  ρg 2g 1
where p is pressure, ρ is fluid density, V is fluid velocity, g is the gravitational constant, z is the elevation,
hs is the pump head supplied and hf the losses.
We can simplify this equation for our pump further by assuming the change in height z is very
small. In general, many pumps are set up so that the inlet and outlet velocities are the same (same pipe
area) or very close to each other and negligible. In this lab, the inlet and outlet pipe diameters are not the
same; therefore we will include the change in velocity contribution to the total head. With the elevation
change simplification the head is

 p − p1 V22 − V12  ∆p V22 − V12

H =  2 +  = + (2)
 ρg 2g  ρg 2g

In equation (2), the pressure term is called the static head and the velocity term is called the dynamic
head. A change in elevation or Δz is called the elevation head.
The power required by a pump is another important parameter, especially in light of the desire to
operate a pump at its most efficient point, which is the condition at which the minimum power is supplied
to effect the needed change in flow or pressure to the fluid. The power delivered to the fluid Pw can be
expressed as:
Pw = ρ ⋅ g ⋅ Q ⋅ H (3)

where Q is the volumetric flow rate of fluid through the pump. This term is often called the “water
horsepower” or hydraulic power implying that it is the measure of power imparted into the fluid stream.
While sometimes given the term “horsepower”, it does not automatically mean the units of the hydraulic
power are horsepower. In the case of our pump the power will be in units of Watts.
The power required to drive the pump Pb, called “brake” power or mechanical power, is
determined by measurement of the shaft torque and rotational speed:
Pb = ω ⋅ T = 2π ⋅ n ⋅ T (4)

where n is the rotational speed in revolutions per second, and T is shaft torque. If there were no losses in
the pump, one would expect Pw and Pb to be equal, but of course this is never the case. Thus, we can
define a pump efficiency η to be the ratio of power added to the fluid Pw to the power supplied Pb (via an
electric motor or other source):
Pw ρ ⋅ g ⋅Q ⋅ H
η= = (5)
Pb 2π ⋅ n ⋅ T

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Obviously, one goal as a designer of a pumping system is to make the efficiency as high as
possible to minimize power consumption. But this can be difficult as centrifugal pumps often are required
to operate over a wide range of conditions. In this case, the designer needs to optimize based on the
most likely operating conditions that the pump will be operated for the largest part of its duty cycle.
Shown in Figure 7 are curves for Power, Efficiency, and Head vs. Flowrate for a typical
centrifugal pump operating at a constant speed. Note that as flow decreases to zero, the Head becomes
maximum. Conversely, as flow increases to maximum, the head goes to a minimum. This relationship is
called a “rising characteristic curve.” A stable head-capacity characteristic curve is one in which there is
only one possible flow rate Q for a given Head, as shown here. For this pump, the maximum head is
slightly greater that 1.1m. The optimum efficiency for this pump is around 40%, at a flow rate of about 0.7
3
dm /s. As noted earlier, though, if this pump was required to operate over a flow rate ranging from 0.3 to
3
0.9 dm /s, it would operate at a non-ideal point for much of its duty cycle. In this case, it would be better
to find a pump that had either a flatter efficiency curve or one that peaked at a lower flow rate. Notice on
the power-flowrate curve how below the optimum efficiency point, the power required is almost constant
over a wide range of flow rates. However, the change in head is significant over this same range.

Figure 7. Centrifugal pump characteristic plot at constant speed

Cavitation
Cavitation occurs when the local static pressure falls below the vapor pressure of the liquid. At
this point the liquid flashes to vapor forming vapor cavities in the fluid and changes the flow pattern. The
flow may become unsteady which can cause the flow to oscillate and the pump to vibrate. If the local

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

surface pressure of the vapor cavity becomes too high, the vapor cavity collapses and causes surface
damage to the impeller. Cavitation can be avoided if the pressure everywhere is kept above the vapor
pressure of the operating fluid, in our case water. The vapor pressure is the saturation pressure at a
temperature. We can look up the vapor pressure at the temperature of the water in a thermodynamics
book. For water at 20°C, the vapor pressure is 2.34 kPa.

IV. Experiments
Apparatus
Figure 8 shows front and top view schematic diagram. Key components are noted below:

Component Identification
1-Water reservoir
2-Gate valve to control
discharge flow rate
3-Turbine-type flow sensor
4-Pump and motor
5-Pressure sensor
6-Ball valve to control inlet
(suction) pressure
7-Temperature sensor
8-Baseplate
9-Drain valve
10-Drain hole
11-Extra impeller
12-Drain valve in pump casing
13-Pressure sensor

Figure 8. Schematic of centrifugal pump apparatus

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Water is held in a transparent reservoir (1) and supplied to the inlet of the pump (4) through
plastic tubing. A valve (6) can be used to change the inlet restriction to the pump, causing a change in
the inlet suction pressure. A pressure sensor (5) and temperature sensor (7) are used to measure the
inlet conditions of the water. The pump housing is transparent so that the impeller can be observed while
rotating. The discharge from the pump is through plastic tubing, with a valve (2) used to vary the flow rate
and pressure. A pressure sensor (13) is used to measure the discharge pressure, and a turbine flow
meter (3) measures the volumetric flow rate of water. Water returns to the reservoir (1), which contains
baffles to settle the flow and separate air bubbles before is it drawn into the inlet tube.
The general operation of the apparatus will be through a software control panel on a PC. The
operator will set pump speed through the computer control panel, and adjust valve settings on the
apparatus that will result in changes in pressure, temperature, and flowrate. These values are monitored
on the computer display, and once the desired set points are achieved, data is collected. The operator
will enable the software to record data through a data acquisition system directly to an Excel spreadsheet.

Experimental Procedure
In this lab, you will be collecting flowrate, pressure, temperature, torque, and pump speed data so
that you can prepare pump characterization plots, similar to Figure 7. Two different impellers will be
tested, a forward facing or reverse impeller and a backward facing or normal impeller, as shown in Figure
9. Each impeller will be tested at four speeds. Your TA will inform you what speeds will be used. Each
group will collect data for one type of impeller, then the raw data spreadsheets will be shared among the
groups.

Backward Facing Forward Facing

Normal Reverse
Figure 9. Impellers used in pump experiment

The centrifugal pump control diagram window is shown in Figure 10. Labeled in the figure are the
locations for the on/off switch, the buttons to switch between the control diagram and the table windows,
the record data button and the button to create a new data table. Also shown is the location to set pump

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

speed, which is done in percent of the maximum speed possible. To set the speed you can either type the
percent desired in the box or use the arrows on the side to adjust the speed. The red flow control valve
(outlet valve) is shown, as well as the flow direction on the pump schematic in Figure 10. You will use this
valve to vary the flow rate during the experiment. The on/off switch is labeled in Figure 10 and is a “1” to
indicate the pump is on and a “0” to indicate the pump is off. Clicking on the 0 or 1 will turn the pump on
or off.
A sample of the table window with a set of sample data is shown in Figure 11. Notice the units of
the measured parameters in the table headings. You may need to convert some of the value to different
units for your calculations. Also needed for your calculations are the pipe inlet and outlet diameters, which
are 23.5 mm and 17.5 mm, respectively. Note that the inlet and outlet pressures are measured with
respect to atmospheric pressure. This is why it is possible in this lab to have a negative inlet pressure. In
your calculations you will need the pressure difference between the outlet and the inlet.

View
View Table Record New data
diagram
data table

Valve

Flow Direction

Set Pump Speed

(% of Maximum) ON/OFF button

Figure 10. Centrifugal Pump Control Diagram

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

Figure 11. Example of table in pump software where the data is recorded.

Procedure Steps
1. Open the FM50 Centrifugal Pump Software. It should look like Figure 9.
2. Set the desired pump setting speed.
3. Make sure the flow control valve is fully open.
4. Click the on/off switch to show a “1”.
5. Wait a few minutes for the pump to reach steady state.
6. Make sure you have an empty table for the data. If not, click the icon for a new data table.
7. Once steady state is reached, click the record data button. This may be done with either window
open (control or table).
8. Close the valve one quarter turn.
9. Wait a minute to establish steady state again. Then click “record data”.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 until the valve is fully closed and there is no flow rate.
11. After the last data point is taken at zero flow rate, fully open the valve for maximum flow rate.
12. Return to the control diagram, if needed and change the pump setting speed to the next speed
needed for data collection.
13. Repeat steps 5 through 11 until you have completed 4 sets of data, one for each speed.
14. When you are finished recording data, save the table as an excel document in a folder
designated by your TA.
15. When everyone is finished recording data your TA will demonstrate cavitation with the pumps.

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Centrifugal Pump Investigation

V. Report

A formal written report is not required for this experiment. You are responsible for the plots, table,
and the discussion questions listed below. Your responses to the discussion questions are to be typed
with 1-1/2 to double spacing, using a character font no smaller than 12 point on 8 ½ by 11 inch paper.
The margins should be at least 1 inch on all sides. As this represents the discussion and results of a full
lab report, the length of the discussion question responses should be no longer than 2 pages. Grammar,
spelling and sentence structure will also be taken into account as part of the formatting section of grading.
Also include a reference section if necessary.
Plots, tables and other figures, should be prepared using appropriate software such as Excel,
KaleidaGraph, TecPlot, or equivalent. For the plots, keep all axis limits and divisions the same so that
you can easily compare results in different plots. Be sure to connect the data points with lines or trend
lines, and use symbols that allow easy discernment of the different data sets. Read the Laboratory
Technical Report Requirements handout and follow the guidelines included for all aspects of plot and
table preparation.

Data Reduction
You will need to calculate the total head, brake power, water power and efficiency for the plots
and table. Remember to check units and the “T” in brake power equation (equation 4) is torque in Nm not
temperature.

Plots and Tables

You will prepare a total of 12 plots and 1 table of the results as follows:
1. For each speed, overlay the data for both normal and reverse impeller installations on the same
plot:
a. Flow rate Q vs. head H, and pump efficiency η. Put head on the left y-axis and efficiency
on the right y-axis. (4 plots, reflecting the 4 speeds tested.)
b. Flow rate Q vs. water power Pw, brake power Pb, and pump efficiency η. Put Pw and Pb
on the left y-axis and efficiency on the right y-axis. (4 plots, reflecting the 4 speeds
tested.)
2. For each impeller orientation overlay all 4 speeds on the same plot:
a. Flow rate Q vs. head H, and pump efficiency η. As before, put head on the left y-axis and
efficiency on the right y-axis. (2 plots, reflecting the 2 impellers tested.)

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ME 310: Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
Centrifugal Pump Investigation

b. Flow rate Q vs. horsepower Pw, brake power Pb, and pump efficiency η. As before, put
Pw and Pb on the left y-axis and efficiency on the right y-axis. (2 plots, reflecting the 2
impellers tested.)
3. Prepare a data table showing the following for each impeller and speed tested (8 cases):
maximum head; maximum flow rate; head at maximum flow rate; optimum efficiency; brake
power, flow rate and head at maximum efficiency.

VI. References
th
1. Fluid Mechanics, 4 Edition, Frank M. White, WCB McGraw-Hill, 1999.
th
2. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 4 Edition, Robert W. Fox and Alan T. McDonald, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
1992.
3. Instruction Manual: Centrifugal Pump Demonstration Unit, Armfield, Inc.
4. The Hydraulic Institute, http://www.pumps.org/

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