Theory of centrifugal pump

Pump operates - Energy is added to the shaft in the form of mechanical energy.
In the impeller it is converted to internal (static pressure) and kinetic energy (velocity) By means of velocity triangles for the flow in the impeller in- and outlet - The pump equation can be interpreted and a theoretical loss-free head and power consumption can be calculated. For fluid flowing through an impeller : Absolute velocity (C) as the sum of the relative velocity (W) with respect to the impeller, i.e. the tangential velocity of the impeller (U). velocity vectors are added through vector addition, forming velocity triangles at the inand outlet of the impeller.

U C

Here U describes the impellers tangential velocity while the absolute velocity C is the fluids velocity compared to the surroundings. The relative velocity W is the fluid velocity compared to the rotating impeller. The angles and describe the fluids relative and absolute flow angles respectively compared to the tangential direction.

Inlet
assumed that the flow at the impeller inlet is non-rotational. This means that 1=90
C1m is calculated from the flow and the ring area in the inlet. The ring area can be calculated in different ways depending on impeller type (radial impeller or semi-axial impeller), For a radial impeller this is:

The entire flow must pass through this ring area. C1m is then calculated from:

The tangential velocity U1 equals the product of radius and angular frequency:

When the velocity triangle has been drawn based on 1, C1m and U1, the relative flow angle 1 can be calculated. Without inlet rotation (C1 = C1m) this becomes

Outlet
For a radial impeller

Eulers pump equation

Eulers pump equation is the most important equation in connection with pump design. control volume

A control volume is an imaginary limited volume which is used for setting up equilibrium equations. The equilibrium equation can be set up for torques, energy and other flow quantities which are of interest

The torque (T)

From the drive shaft corresponds to the torque originating from the fluids flow through the impeller with mass flow m=rQ:

By multiplying the torque by the angular velocity, an expression for the shaft power (P2) is found.

At the same time, radius multiplied by the angular velocity equals the tangential velocity, r2w = U2. This results in:

According to the energy equation, the hydraulic power added to the fluid can be written as the increase in pressure ptot across the impeller multiplied by the flow Q:

and the expression for hydraulic power can therefore be transcribed to

If the flow is assumed to be loss free, then the hydraulic and mechanical power can be equated

Blade shape and pump curve

If it is assumed that there is no inlet rotation a combination of Eulers pump equation and other equation show that the head varies linearly with the flow, and that the slope depends on the outlet angle 2